For my husband to earn £65,000 per annum and we still can't afford to live in this bloody country!!

[winegoddess]

Mortgage has gone up, electric has gone up, 5 mouths to feed, 3 children to clothe etc etc and month after month is a bloody struggle. Am fed up with straping money together when my husband earns a good wage and we should be able to get by! I now need to search for a way of 'me' bringing in some money but with a young baby at home and 2 others at school i am at a loss as to how! Please give me some job ideas or ways to make money!!

WWW has narrowed it down to house prices and I agree. That is the crucial divide between London and other parts of the UK.

If you have a job that requires you to work in London, particularly the City, you have to stay in a commutable area. You are jostling with other professionals all of whom want to work as close as within as easy access of the City as possible. You can almost tell what people's household incomes are by how close to the City/train/tube station they live.

I will say it again, £65K does not go very far if you want to live in London commuter belt.

yes, I agree with that. BUT the OP was claiming that life is a struggle as she cannot afford her 4k mortgage, which is a considerably bigger than £227k house!!

true fanjo, true. You can afford to live in the UK on £65k, you can, of course. Whether you can have a NICE life (or the life you want) is debatable. And I don't think you can afford a nice life on £65k. Well, you might be able to if

a) you had a mortgage of less than £1k a month
b) you didn't pay school fees
c) you didn't have to buy a house anywhere in the SE on that salary alone.

and I must point out we live in Edinburgh which is not exactly cheap and manage OK on 38k...

I agree with her though, she CAN'T afford a £4k mortgage on that salary, no way! It's more than her income! And a £4k mortgage I agree does get you someone ok but still by no means a mansion in London.

Susie, if people realised how the banking system worked there would be rioting in the street before lunch time.
You as an individual are never meant to win, at best you get to stay in some comfort but only after you've been shafted over and over and over again.
This is why benefit threads wind me up so much, not because I begrudge my taxes to old ladies and single mums, but because in being dependant on the state they are playing into their hands and being a minion.
Debt is the slavery of the free, I really wish one bank had gone to the wall, don't mind which to make the point.
People need to educate themselves, but they won't and then wonder why money or lack of it is controlling their lives.

WWW.I suppose it depends on what you class as a NICE life and what you feel is essential to quality of living..I suppose if you are used to having quite a lot then anything less will seem like not managing!!

£4k mortgage = about £700k, so actually, it probably does get you somewhere ok. But not a mansion (except in the countryside, maybe)

I admit I sometimes think of us as poor but then I realise lots of people have a lot less and we are actually pretty well off really.

katieDD: "Do you not realise that letting the likes of Northern Rock burn as an example to the other would be a good thing ?"

Letting Northern Rock burn would have done nothing. The rot had already set in, the bad lending done. Allowing its collapse would only have hurt their savers, dented the confidence in UK and would be closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

I am not defending silly lending decisions -insane multiples of income, no deposits, NINJA (no income, no job, no assets) loans. If one thought rationally, that was silly thing to do. But many banks were doing it and making big money out of it. Other banks started jumping in on the act. Not saying it was right, and hindsight is 20-20 vision.

Now the banks are fucked, we are also fucked. Should the government let us all go down the plughole, things being what they are? You might see the government as bailing out greedy bankers, but really they are bailing out the innocent man-in-the-street, perhaps even the same man who thought it was a good idea to take out a loan on 5x their income multiple and spend on multiple credit cards.

WG dont take this too hard,what you a lively thread.it happens.get back in the saddle post again

i think any topic discussing money, will cause upset/offence.inevitabily as many will be struggling by on considerably less

get onto your bank fix your mortgage interest rate so you know what you will pay monthly

cut up any credit cards

online tesco - less prone to impulse shopping if you cant see stategically placed products

own brands

lidl
aldi
iceland

cook and freeze your own food

buy one get one free deals

take sandwiches etc if going out,sandwich to work too

make your own bread

harissa paste is v easy to make. Tomato paste, chilli powder, cumin, line juice and a little oil. Blend. Cover with cling film and leave to blend for 24 hours.

May not be authentic but it's bloody nice!

And it's cheaper. So £65k would buy you lots and lots.

No, but many people think it's completely normal to have:

central heating and to be able to put it on when needed
internet/broadband connection as necessity, not luxury
at least one holiday a year
new clothes when they need them
new shoes when children grow out of them
2 cars, especially if both parents work
a dishwasher, which means buying dishwasher tablets and salt
a washing machine, meanig buying washing powder
sky or other broadcasting, monthy subscription
a mortgage on a house they will, eventually, own (25 years after starting to pay for it)

and all of this contributes to needing more income to pay for all these things. I don't think many of them ARE necessities, I think many are luxuries.

I also think having a SAHP is a luxury, not a right. (sadly)

i heartily disagree WWW.

dh and i earn (joint) earn a little more than the stated amount. we dont have school fees. we have a modest mortgage of £1200 pm and we have a nice little house on the south coast in a not too shabby area. I realise that part of this is relative, and having been on the bones of our arses, we reckon we are in clover! We don't live beyond our means. last month was pretty tight - ended up shopping at iceland, but we bought xmas pressies and i went to oldham which costs a couple of hundred and we had a structural survey done on the house and the tax was due on the car.

We are THE worst financial planners. and if my car went KAPUT ( its an old sciento 6 years old) tomorrow then we would be pretty screwed as we have no savings.

but barring huge things like that fucking up, i really really really really really really really don't see how you can't live a pretty fabbo life on that money.

I agree that having a SAHP while also being able to afford to live comfortably as a family is a luxury.

However, a lot of SAHP's make huge material sacrifices to do so, believing that their children/families will gain greater benefit from their presence at home than from extra income.

Saw your name and thought you might custy!

But you are agreeing with me if your joint income is around that and you're not rolling in it!

things moved on a little it was in response to the 700k in the country house post

"Millions of people living on 24k or below will be paying less tax and will probably be eligible for tax credits etc.."
We are living on 24k and at present get the princely sum of £62 a month in tax credits...hardly a fortune is it. We are a family of 5. Other than child benefit (which you will be entitled to as well) the only other benefit I receive is carer's allowance on which I pay tax because I also have a part time job.
Yes we undoubtedly do pay less tax than you because we earn less. You don't pay any more tax of the 1st 24k you earn than we do on what we earn.

Oh ok, well, I then disagreed with myself on the £700k but I agree with the OP, she CAN'T afford a £700k house, imo they can afford a £227k house/flat/cupboard, which is an entirely different kettle of fish!

If I dare say we are on a similar income but I also work part time. I am going to be bold and say that yes we do have to watch what we spend - remember guys anyone can overspend at any level of income.

BUT you must cutback it is 'do-able' we have downsized car, cancelled sky, gym, contact lenses subscription, magazines, - made sure we've did a full audit of service providers. I shop for food weekly and only buy reduced, value brands or special offer items I cook nearly all meals from scratch.

Forget clothes - Theres plenty time for luxuries later when little ones have grown. I dont have expensive hair appointments.

I take DS to park and library - free

We do live in a 'nice area' but house is modest and below national average house price and for region - you need to review your mortgage in earnest

Full advice from matin lewis website money saving expert.

OMG first post on here in very long time and look what I'm getting into agghhhh

We have all that listed and manage on less than half of 65k and consider myself to have a perfectly nice life thank you very much.

If you earn £65k you pay c £20k in tax and NI. That is a decent contribution to the UK plc, no?

No-one ever seems to appreciate that higher earners pay higher tax which could be considered a GOOD thing!

I'm not in an 'alternative universe' - but I have lived and worked in London and I do live in the SE and I do know how much houses cost!

no way can she afford that i agree i knew we would!

i agree re your luxiries list.

i dont think tv, sky, virgin, boradband, mobilephone on contact, xbox, and games console, computer, laptop, dishwasher or mortgage is a right.

i do disagree re: the washing machine - thats a right wheras a dryer isn't