To ask how you’re affording everything right now?

[Niftywigglesheep]

We’re two full time workers, 2 kids. We have a level of income per month on which we’ve based our budget on. However I’m unsure how everyone’s managing the increasing cost of life right now.

For example- our mortgage has gone up, our food shop, our petrol etc the cost of just basic living. We think we’re about £1000 less in disposable income each month which is huge due to the increased living costs .

Our salaries have not gone up in line with the increased costs so our normal budget for living like swimming lessons,
clothes etc is being really squeezed.

I find it really depressing- we both work full time, busy with being parents and we really don’t have much to show for it anymore and a bit sad that we work so hard with little to show and stress.

I feel like we absolutely should be able to buy ice creams on days out, go on holidays, not think about buying school uniform or paying for football etc but we really do and it’s horrible.

How’s everyone else dealing with it?

Cutting coat according to cloth. Same as always

This is patronising.
We are high earners so can afford the increases in the costs of living.
BUT we have carefully tracked our expenditure so that we save 20% every month. This is becoming increasingly difficult.
The nursery bill has gone up, the fuel bill, the council tax, the mortgage.
As I say, we can afford it and either cut back in other areas or save less.
But I never thought I would have to cancel the milkman to do this

Nice try OP, but you overcooked it.
if your DHs petrol bill has gone up by £400 then he must have had fuel costs of more than £1000 before and that is just not realistic unless he drives for work, in which case surely the fuel costs are a business expense and/or passed through to his customers.

I WFH most of the week so that has brought down fuel costs and insurance costs as my mileage is so much lower.

I bought takeaway cups and take my own drink with me rather than buying.

Make my own lunches instead of buying them.

Buy stuff and then sell it on eBay.

Set up a business on Etsy that can I easily run alongside my day job which brings in extra income.

Cashback sites, entering competitions, selling unwanted gifts.

Only buying things on offer in the supermarket.

Do not buy books, get everything from the library.

Make my own gifts reducing buying as much as possible.

God I feel really awful reading this because I have just had to put up my swim teaching rates as they haven't increased in years. That being said, I do work a full time + weekend job + run an online business (3 jobs). Can you sell one of the cars and rent your parking space out? Can you have the kids share a room and take in a lodger?

I just don't spend any money. I have no car, I cycle to work. I use the local library for entertainment, take my bike into the city for entertainment/sport and fresh air and I get to use the pool I teach at for free. When I meet with people I go to places that don't charge money.

Two kids sounds very expensive atm. I also rent out my bedroom and sleep in the living room which really isn't as bad as it sounds. You have my condolences.

I also don't plan to have any children until my mortgage balance is completely cleared because of how bloomin' expensive they are. :'( (Would also ideally like him or her to attend private school in lieu of a mortgage)

We are trying to make the most of our money by spending on what we really enjoy or are out priorities , and making the most use out of the money we have.
The way we do it is we eat in a very frugal way which many people would maybe hate , but something has to give !
this way we are able to afford holidays, but we have not replaced a gutter pipe in our house and it looks scruffy , be we dont care enough, despite it lookimg not as we want , as we actively choose a holiday instead.
We save all year for our month’s holiday for eg.
this can mean we are not included in nights out with friends etc as we need to direct anything to the holiday.
people are sometimes taken aback when we go away as they notice how frugal we are - and perhaps assume that we have no/ little money..
its just that we make daily very conscious choices that may be uncomfortable for others for example our food is cheap , healthy , but very boring .
But spending lots on food or going out for meals - week in week out that money is used in another way .
for eg this evening we had lentil loaf with lots of veg and thick gravy- of course we would prefer a less frugal tastier choice , but then the other choices ie a holiday would have to go .
The thing for me is if we are extremely frugal in one respect - and its boring and hard - there has to be a ‘ reward’ for doing so somewhere- wether it be a holiday or an occasional treat - seven small- as that motivates and rewards.
It can also empower to keep going .

That is great, and genuinely good for you!

I think what some people fail to grasp is that there is no “choice” for others. They eat boring food, never eat out BUT in addition they also never go on holiday. So life is pretty tedious. And struggling when you’ve got professional jobs must be disheartening

My cost of living hasn’t gone up that much tbh.

Maybe £100 a month but we have a disposable of £3500 a month so it isn’t noticeable.

We have our mortgage which is in a 5 year deal. We cook everything from scratch and ahead of times, our gas and electric is fairly consistent. Council tax has gone up slightly but coincided with my oldest son no longer needing wrap around care.

Our food shops we’ve manage to save £85 a week on as we’ve started going to Lidl and the butchers instead of Tesco and prepping everything for the week.

Biggest increase has been fuel.

>work full time + weekend job (£200) + run online business (so I work 3 jobs)
>rent out my bedroom (£500)
>rent out my parking space (£40)
>rent out an additional property (£0-100 at the moment tbh...)
>cycle to work and into town
>use libraries
>deleted my Deliveroo/JustEat
>only shop at Aldi and Asda now
>don't turn heating on, only use electric blankets (£100)
>since I WFH some days I only shower every other day now (gross I know but I do use baby wipes in between and this saves a lot)
>make overpayments on my mortgage (£200 in interest saved)
>cash ISA and other ISAs filled to the max (£100)
>buy food daily rather than weekly to avoid overbuying and overeating
>only buy things secondhand (except knickers)
>buy Boots 17 own brand makeup (cannot recommend this enough)
>do my hair at home (£50)
>babysitting and nannying jobs during the summer (I teach so get summers off)
>cook at home and don't eat meals out or get coffees out
>cancelled my wifi and use phone tether instead (£20)
>only run dishwasher once a week

Same here

Depressing ☹️

Our mortgage went up by £200pm in January plus all the other rises. Just been informed childcare is going up by 4.5% this month too.

We were already quite frugal. We’ve never bought coffees out, rarely eat out, hardly ever have day trips with the kids etc.

We have 6 jobs between us and there’s not much else we can do to add income. I’ve always sold on eBay/vinted so nothing to be added there.

Once the cat dies we won’t replace her, as weird as the house will feel without her. She doesn’t cost a lot but we’ll save on her annual jabs (which have increased massively over last few years), any occasional cattery fees and food.

Our house is a renovation project, so that’s slowed down hugely - but we don’t have any building costs so that’s not an issue. The house is very cold and we’re on tank gas so that is a heavy cost for us, as is electricity and I’d like to make savings there if I can. Luckily we’d just spent £900 filling the tank just before the prices rose, so we’ll be ok for a few months hopefully.

I also think we’ll need to cut back further on food as although we bargain shop, we do have some wastage. There’s always wastage with 2 very young kids though.

Ideally I would sell my house and downsize as my last kid leaves home this summer.

but nothing is selling near me and I have been watching Rightmove like a hawk.

so I’m accessing my pension early for medical retirement (disabled) and thinking about getting lodger.

my car gave up after 14 years in January and I was genuinely devastated but I now lease an electric which honestly has been a blessing in disguise with the fuel situation. The electric is cheaper to lease per year than my old Volvo cost me per MOT.

once my youngest is moved out to her new job I do think I’m going to have to get a lodger though.

No new clothes for kids unless absolutely necessary - lots of hand me downs, purchases from vinted. Everything outgrown goes on vinted.
I haven't brought new clothes for me in years, except socks which wear out annoyingly quickly.
I don't do beauty products, just buy soap, shampoo and conditioner, moisturiser and dental care stuff.
I try to avoid buying anything unnecessarily.
I WFH usually 4 days, doing the one mandated day in office to save petrol and parking, but thats a balance because being in the office is way better for my mental wellbeing.
Kids go onto free school dinners with the expansion in September which I am looking forward to.

Her post implies otherwise imo. Someone who hasn’t overstretched themselves to pay a huge mortgage will probably just put less into savings atm.

I think she’s saying that you should only expect what your wages can afford in the current climate. We are all the product of our previous decisions. Some people make better decisions than others. Some people will spend extortion amounts on car financing over their lifetimes, some prefer to travel, some will be frugal to save money so they can weather whatever the economy throws at them.
If you want more money you can either earn more or spend less. It’s a relatively simple concept. I’ve been doing both recently.

And it’s good that we are having fewer children as a population. Of course it will have consequences but in the long term a smaller world population can only be a good thing.

We are making do with having cut out holidays. We barely have the heating on. We have stopped saving any money. We are buying most of our clothes through vinted. We don’t have takeaways.
My side hustle has gone from being a paying hobby to being reliant on for any extras we might be wanting.
DH has a good job. I juggle three min wage jobs and a WFH extra thing and it isn’t getting us ahead.
It is depressing.

A smaller one? Yes
A smaller but older one? Not so much as that’s ££££

But you can make all the right decisions and still end up with less money.

And very few would have predicted the global upset over the last few years so many are on the back foot.

We are cancelling everything we can. We don’t go anywhere. We minimise all energy use and don’t treat ourselves or our children any more. It’s rubbish.

How can you save money and end up with less money ?
The current economic situation is a good example of a ‘rainy day scenario’. We are living in very uncertain times, I would predict many rainy days in the future so I’d start to prepare as much as possible tbh.

You don’t need to spend money to enjoy yourself. Focus on time spent together. Go for walks , cook together, plant seeds and grow some food, learn a skill like crochet and make things. Take pleasure in the small things. Life is more than stuff and days out.

How can you save money and end up with less money ?

I said decisions…..

So not patronising and exactly what you have done?

FFS it’s not a failing to have to budget.

Sold big, old, petrol guzzling car for tiny fuel efficient car. Dug up my planters and planted veg, cooking everything from scratch, paused gym membership, cancelled recurring card payments and actually don't buy anything. Take lunches to work etc. I'm paid well but I'm very worried about retirement or at this rate lack of it.