AIBU to feel deflated after payday despite a decent salary?

[Wtfisisfor]

Do you ever just get paid and think seriously is this it… I got paid this morning 3100 was put into my account, I transferred 1400 to the joint for bills and household expenses. And I’m left with the rest, but when I look at it, I just think, is this it? Anyone else? Just feeling a bit defeated today! I know to some people this is a lot of money. But these days it really doesn’t feel like it. Come and join for a moan

Totally agree. It seems like the more I technically “earn,” the less actual pay I see! To the point I’ve applied for redundancy and a lower paid job where I’ll have much less stress and still come home with the same money. Madness

It's more than I have before bills . Same as many people

I think some some people hear “bonus” and imagine it as a nice unexpected gift you get from your employer, so it is chyurlish to complain about it being taxed as you ought to be terribly grateful for it.

A bonus is a way of incentivising people to work harder. A company can actually get away with paying lower basic salaries by offering larger bonuses tied to results you actually deliver. A bonus is money you have earned. If you earn £20k and only receive £5.8k of it I think you are entitled to feel a bit miffed.

People in this country often seem so passive about salary and tax - as if you must be grateful for what you get, don’t dare grumble. I think it is a sign of how much power has shifted to the employers - with a loss of power from the employed.

It's not a race to the bottom, just other peeps talking about their own situations.
It's difficult for most ton here o feel sympathy or empathy for OP's situation, when they have their own problems and bills to pay on much less income.

I earn nowhere near £100k, but even I can see that the cliff edge is just stupid.

Taking away the personal tax allowance is just lazy, thoughtless policy making, with no logical or theoretical basis.
Compounding that by taking away childcare subsidy is even worse.
There are obvious consequences to creating such disincentives.

The people who set this system up are utterly incompetent.

I say this as a socialist, who is absolutely in favour of "taxing the rich".

I always naively click on these threads thinking it’s going to be something I relate to but it never is. £2000 goes into my account and by the time I’ve paid bills, mortgage, childcare, student loan (I have 2), house repairs, fuel, direct debits and paying off debts, I’m back into my overdraft which I never seem to clear. I spend a bit of money on clothes and days out for my daughter but don’t buy anything for myself. I feel deflated and trapped all the time. I honestly don’t think I would if I had £1700 left after paying the bills. I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to be dissatisfied with your lot just because someone else has it worse, but to me it feels tone deaf complaining about having more than the equivalent of many people’s entire monthly salary left over to spend or save as you wish.

Lots of people work hard and have tough home responsibilities and only get the £20k, not that on top of their salaries!

if you are healthy, have a home and food on the table, and extra cash to do nice things, you are one of the luckiest people in the world. We all need to remember that because it can change so quickly - so many people have very tough lives

Exactly but you’ll still get people of a certain age (some, not all of them) saying oh we managed to buy a house, a car and an annual trip to Spain on X amount of money back in 19XX 🙄

If it wasn’t for my job allowing me to continue to work remotely post pandemic I don’t know what I’ve had done. Them allowing this enabled me to move out of London to a small boring town but I’m grateful as the rent is HALF that what I was paying for a smaller shabbier place in zone 5 London. I don’t know what if anything can be done but rent is out of control.

I hear people are now paying £1200 for flatshares in London which makes sense as back in 2019 I paid £900 for what was a nice flatshare with an ensuite but a flatshare all the same. Crazy prices.

I've found that earning a decent amount of money, and paying some tax, is infinitely preferable to not.

Try the alternative, and see which you prefer,

Gosh poor you....if it makes you feel any better you'd be absolutely devastated then if you got what I got today in my pay check 😂 Definitely none left over for savings that's for sure!!!

It’s all relative though - I earn decent money and take home between £3000 and £3500 (2 jobs and hours vary)
Direct debits are £1600 and I try to save £400
Which leaves £1000 for food, diesel, leisure beauty hair etc
Ive not included things like car insurance, tax, house insurance etc as I pay them in a lump eg this month my car insurance is due of £600 so I can’t save anything and will have less to live on
Holidays are carefully budgeted for - rarely eat out - never have takeaways
For context I am a lone householder, DS contributes but only to cover his share of food bills and extra council tax
I also help out others who are worse off than me

I think this is a bit odd. Sometimes I have slightly less than that after bills etc and cant say i have ever felt "deflated".

Yeah agreed it is madness. They really need to rethink current tax rules and policy if this is what it’s come to for some people.

That has to cover
my fuel
clothing (half of dc’s)
savings
separate holiday pot savings
any birthdays for my family etc

it all adds up and something always pops up tbf

I think you're doing pretty well op! I supposed it's all relative and depends on your job etc but I'd be thrilled with that amount.

I got paid today too, after bills and a bit in savings I'm left with £400 for myself. I probably won't even spend it all to be honest but I'm lucky to have very low travel expenses and the kids stuff comes out of our joint account.

In all honesty op i think YABU. I dont really know what you want? If you have 1700 left after bills go blow it. Book a night at the savoy. Go away for a weekend. Dont bother saving it... buy yourself a designer bag!!

Genuinely what do you want?

Yeah the tax system is pretty crap. Fiscal drag is crap. Cost of living increases are crap. 10 years ago i earned 20k. Now i earn 65k I look back and think "God we had loads of money then..." but reality check- ive moved house (upgraded) 2x now i live in a really gorgeous house in a great location and 10 years ago i paid 550£ mortgage. Now i pay £1800. Thats my choices!! And the increase in bills... yeah guess what hardly anything left over BUT we have a holiday every year I have 2x nice cars we have a lovely house and the occassional night out and theatre show through the year. (Before anyone asks DH earns 60k so I dont have a hidden millionaire funding my lifestyle)

So to go back to what do you want?! Save it. Spend it. Its more than alot of people have

It’s not a race to the bottom at all, the op is entitled to feel how she feels but also other people are entitled to share their opinions/experiences on a thread.

I mean i get £2k a month and partner just a little more (it’s fine, i save, i have a pension, overpay mortgage and we are not on the breadline, even have holidays!) and maybe @Wtfisisfor can see that she has quite a good amount left over after reading others points of view.

Whilst I realise it isn’t a race to the bottom, I do wonder if any of the posts have given you perspective. I do think you’d benefit from a shift in outlook.

Ive had a big change in circumstances and money is tight right now. But I have my children, we have our health and we have a roof over our heads and food in our tummy.

I am lucky to have some disposable income and my children are able to do extra curricular activities. We don’t really eat out much anymore as it’s just become so expensive but can still afford some treats.

Life certainly isn’t how I planned / envisaged it but certainly can’t complain

It can be depressing, but with the recent terrifying news about the likelihood of the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), I'm trying to put things in perspective and appreciate today.

Our children could, within their lifetimes, be living in temperatures of -20 degrees and that's what's mostly on my mind. We could even be living it in our own old age. There's a more than 50% chance.

I think what I have today is actually great.

I was thinking the same thing
a lot of people only earn £1700 or near abouts
there are a lot of people in a much worse situation than you

So you can save, and save for a holiday - non essential things that give you a bit of contingency in case something crops up and you have to forgo your saving/hol savings for a month or two.

Youre in a very, very good position. Far better than a lot of people who still manage to be happy. Be thankful, you have no reason whatsoever to feel deflated 😊

My stoppages this month. I can only hope I reach to pension age so I can get back some of what I put in. And my student loan doesn’t seem to have budged in years.

Or even retire completely. I got to the stage at 54 it made absolutely no sense to continue to work and pay tax. Large amounts of savings,ISA’s and pensions allow me to live very very comfortably and for now pay zero tax or NI to the government by living off tax free allowance and savings.
Due to greed, the labour government has lost me from funding their welfare pot any further

Same, pay goes mostly on bills and emergency savings fund. Still at least we’re not on the breadline. A lot of people are rn.

Scary thing is, it’s only going to get worse with all that’s happening in the world