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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to arrive at the assumption

37 replies

rightthen · 13/01/2009 18:25

that the majority of MN'S are skint or struggling financial. Are there any MN'S that are comfortable, wealthy but feel to wary about exposing there position in fear of being unsensitive, smug?

OP posts:

muppetgirl · 13/01/2009 18:26

what a strange question to ask...

poppy34 · 13/01/2009 18:27

if there are I think its highly unlikely they'd risk posting given likely flaming (remembering a recent thread on how i can't living on £100k bringing out some particular forthright views)...

poppy34 · 13/01/2009 18:28

and are you by any chance looking for a story?

Original poster

rightthen · 13/01/2009 18:32

No, I was hoping for genuine answers. Not all the usual bickering on aibu. Trust me, I am not bored in that I want to start a cake slinging match. Name change if you feel you will get flamed, think of it as a survey.

OP posts:

ChasingSquirrels · 13/01/2009 18:33

From reading posts I think there are a number of wealthy and quite a lot of comfortable.
But people don't tend to post saying "I have £4k per month spare income, what shall I do with it?" or similar.
As i) it would be crass given that there are also a number of MN'ers who are struggling; and
ii) if you have this sort of spare cash you get proper financial advice.
People can struggle on incomes that others would view as quite high, lots of people tend to live to their circumstances, or beyond - hence the current state of the country.

ahfeckit · 13/01/2009 18:34

no poor but not rich, so no idea where i stand in this thread!

not a weird question at all. it's actually quite a relevant question considering it's an economic downturn, but interesting to find out how many really ARE struggling out there....

AnyFucker · 13/01/2009 18:37

rightthen, would you like someone to ask you if you are rich/comfortable/whatever ?

Lauriefairycake · 13/01/2009 18:40

there's lots of wealthy people on mumsnet

we are ok, not rich, and fortunate enough to not be on benefits

ahfeckit · 13/01/2009 18:40

there are some of us who are just nosey gets, and rightthen falls into that category (i know, because i'm nosey myself!).

AndISayHey · 13/01/2009 18:45

Typed a long post about our situation but don't want to get flamed, so will just say we live within our means. Not well off by any means but not struggling either.

But I think people's views of struggling vary wildly (as many cake sling matches have demonstrated!).

Maybe ask people what they consider to be struggling? Or what they find essential to buy with their monthly/weekly shop?

But there's always the potential to upset someone I suppose...

matildax · 13/01/2009 18:46

i am skint and struggling financially. but then again i choose to be a sahm, till my ds is 3 and eligible for a full time nursery place. maybe things will improve for us when i return to work.
there are so much more important things to worry about, as to the finances of fellow mumsnetters.

Thrifty · 13/01/2009 18:53

not rich by any means,not on the breadline either. we both run our own businesses and whilst its not great atm, its not dire either.
we made some changes in the way we shop. we made some changes to reduce our direct debits and by some stroke of genius we changed our mortgage to a tracker last year.
I consider that we are lucky to be in the position we are currently, but as we are both self employed,the tables could easily turn the other way.

DisasterArea · 13/01/2009 18:55

i've got loads of cash. but am just stingy.

beanieb · 13/01/2009 18:56

I always get the impression that MN is full of women with no finacial problems at all. There seem to be lots of women here who live comfortable lives with several children and husbands who rake in six figure salaries so they can give up work

SalBySea · 13/01/2009 18:56

We dont have much spare - wont be booking any expensive holidays or buying any flash cars anytime soon, but we arent struggling, we get by every month and everything gets paid. Would be nice to have a bit extra to start saving a deposit for a bigger place but overall we are not short of anything (as in we have food, heat, a roof over our heads etc)

MadameCastafiore · 13/01/2009 18:58

That will be me Beanieb!

kickassangel · 13/01/2009 18:59

our finances have gone up & down quite considerabley - luckily more up than down as the years go on. hewever, whether we had 10 pounds a week for the food shop or 100 (not that i could eat that much each week) we always lived within our means & even before dh, as a struggling student with 10 pounds per YEAR spending money, i always managed.

i'm a real 'look after the pennies' person & just watch what i buy carefully, then if there's any spare at the end of the month will consider a luxury.

so, whateve our income is, i still put my self into 'doing ok' financially.

interesting though, as i remember a survey last year that showed about 60% of people classed themselves as 'middle class', is it just a state of mind, or is there a financial definition?

beanieb · 13/01/2009 18:59

I made it sound like they have several husbands as well as children!

so haw many husbands do you have MadameCastafiore ?

beanieb · 13/01/2009 19:00

kickassangel - class is a state of mind IMO. that's why you get so many people saying they are working class when they clearly are not but like living on the 'my dad was a caretaker' stories for the rest of their lives

waspriceyp · 13/01/2009 19:01

A lot of peoples circumstances can be down to luck. For example DH and I bought our first house 10 years ago, when you could only borrow 2.5 times your income and upgraded at a huge stretch (for us at the time) 8 years ago. We were lucky. Young, had disposable income and no kids. Not everyone is as fortunate regardless of income. Borrowing and property prices have become ridiculous over the last 5 years and many people are unable to even get onto the property ladder without seriously compromising their lifestyle. By that I mean where they buy food, not how many holidays they take. We have been encouraged to borrow, borrow, borrow at every opportunity and right now I can't see how there is a future for younger generations in the UK without depending on credit or family.
We have an average combined income and a good lifestyle, but a lot of that is down to timing.

pagwatch · 13/01/2009 19:02

and 'rich' is a moveable feast

MadameCastafiore · 13/01/2009 19:02

Have had 2 but unless No 2 bucks his ideas up and puts the kettle on and buys me some more diamonds it may have to go up to 3!

waspriceyp · 13/01/2009 19:06

Exactly pagwatch, the more you earn the more you spend to you might be richer on less income because you had less outgoings. It feels to me now that a lot more people have brand new furniture, lovely big TVs, nice car in the drive, the latest console, but have to shop at Aldi to make ends meet. Not judging, but it's just they way we seem to have been conditioned.

ComeOVeneer · 13/01/2009 19:18

Well several mners know what my dh does for a living so it is obvious that he has good job security in the current economic climate, however we have never lived an extravagant lifestyle and don't spend money simply because we have it. Dh is by no means what you would call an optomist and is extremely cautious about everything including money

lizziemun · 13/01/2009 19:40

I think it all relative. Whether you are skint or not someone will always be worse/better off then you.

The only time it annoyes me is when someone is claiming to be skint then talking about buying something expensive and not needed.

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