To think that £40K is not a 'paltry sum' to live on?

[Megatron]

This is basically a rant! My sister is driving me round the twist with her moaning and groaning about not being able to buy what she wants. Her DH earns around £40K, she does not work, they have 2 young DC's (both at primary school), no debts apart from mortgage (not huge) and she has just spent an hour on the phone to me telling me that her DH is a loser because he doesn't have enough ambition to 'go out and get a better job with a more acceptable wage'. She is now in the huff with me as I told her that perhaps SHE should get a job and contribute if she's that desperate for more cash and to stop acting like a spoilt brat. I know this is not a huge amount but jeez, it's not exactly peanuts either. I'm guessing I should ring her an apologise for calling her a brat but !

There's not point in saying I live on half that and in the SE because that implies that as you're in the SE you have a large mortgage.

I just don't see how it's possible to live on 20k a year with kids and a large mortgage. How is it done???

YANBU - she should stop being a whinger.

DH earns less than £40k but then we don't have a mortgage so life is not a real struggle for us (at the moment!).

Some people are never happy! If she had to go out and work then she'd know all about it...rather than whinging about how 'bad' she has it, perhaps she should look at how lucky she is to be in her position and not having to work.

Materalism isn't everything.

It makes no difference that other people earn less than that. If she says it's a struggle, then it's a struggle. DP and I wouldn't want to live on that and we don't have kids yet.

But yes she is BU if she thinks she can sit there while her DH has to bring in the bread.

they are obviously able to afford living on £40k, it's just OP's sister who is complaining about the amount. As the OP said, they don't have a big mortgage so it's not like they are struggling by any means.

We live very comfortably on a combined income of £31K per year (I work 2.5 days per week, DH works FT); however our total outgoings per month are only £850 for all bills but not including food (including £120 per month into a savings account for Christmas/Birthdays), we also run a car and have a holiday every year. We are a family of 4 in a 2 bedroom house up North and we are very happy. I am very at people not being able to survive on £40K+ per year, but if you have massive outgoings then disposable income would probably be the same or similar to ours.

That, of course, Madame Gazelle, is exactly what it boils down to, the outgoings.

its only the loser bit, refering to your dh as a loser. thtas not nice/right.
you can't moan about money if you choose to be a sahm. actually, you can. my sil does. but it washes over me. i choose to work pt. dh has a reasobale job. i wouldn't describe a salary of 40k as paltry. but its not alot. not in surrey. not in my eyes.

I earned 11k before having my son, my other half is on 22k, wish we could afford a mortgage tell her to get a reality check.

Who is she comparing herself with? I reckon THAT is her problem!

Did you hear how deprived we are? We don't have Sky

According to my (well this site's calculations, a gross salary of £40k would mean a take home salary of £29,524.20. So not that much really, for two adults to live on, but then not a "loser's salary" either (whatever a loser is).

cough