In not having much sympathy with a couple on £45k plus per year having some benefits cut?

[ssd]

There is loads of this on the news just now about how "middle income" families will be having some child tax credits cut and might be paying more tax. They news are showing what to me looks like comfortable off families having to do with a bit less. Is this really so bad? I know an income of £45-£50k per year might not be much in central London but will keep you in style in parts of the north, but how bad will it be? So people might have to change jobs/give up the second car/holiday at home instead of Spain every year? SO WHAT? There are plenty of us living on less than £25k a year who have had to cut back since having kids and take this as a fact of life.

I know MN is made up of mostly middle earners and I'll get pelters for this, but I don't really care. Anyone I know on a middle income can afford to give up some things _ its called life.

I am a stay at home mum, my husband earns £12k a year, the rest of our money is made up in Tax Credits. We struggle, we have done for 3 years since we had our children, i would love to live on £45k for one month just to see what its like to have that amount of money.

Also please join Don't Let The Tories Take Away Our Sure Start Centres

foreverstudent - a lot of those things which you list are paid for out of what we consider to be disposable income in this household! Clothes, shoes, internet and mobile phones.

violet - I agree, the competitive suffering is one of the worst things about MN, I hate it. Combined with all the reverse snobbery and class hatred going on it isn't very pleasant on here at the moment!

But Riven the people next door to us bought their house in 2000 for £65k, ours cost £230k in 2007.
Same house near Manchester.
Parts of Yorkshire are unbelievably expensive.

What VioletHill & Minx said.

I don't think we did choose to have a huge mortgage - Circumstances meant that by the time DH & I were in a position to be able to take out a mortgage property prices had gone through the roof. Many of our neighbours, colleagues and friends in the area earn significantly less than we do but because they bought their houses as little as 5-7 years before we did they have far more available income.

We claimed CTC for the first year of DS's life, but we no longer do (we were pretty cloe to the threshold and constant fluctuations in my pay made it more hassle than it was worth IMO. We do, however claim CB on both children and if we lost that we would be struggling.

We DO NOT frequent coffee shops. We DO NOT go out to the cinema/meals. We last holidayed abroad over 5 years ago (long before kids)

Childcare costs are going to leave me with around £100 per month once I return to work later this year, so like Minx I cannot wait for the day DS starts school in 2011.

YABU. And bloody patronising.

there have to be huge cuts - whatever government came to power would have to do that.

what I hate is the notion - so often repeated on MN - is that anybody who earns about the £50k mark is loaded and can therefore afford to lose some of their income.

£50k is not what it was, when I was 22 I aspired to earn £50k, got there for 6 months but now to be as comparatively well of it would be nearer £100k.

It's not just house prices (though of course ridiculously over inflated house prices is part of it)

It's the fact that, as others have said, if you spend until your early or mid twenties getting educated, going to University, training for a career, then you get shafted on every level - huge debts, exorbitant childcare costs, travel costs to get to work......

And when you eventually think you've got past the days of struggling to juggle two professional jobs with childcare, and you think you'll at last have a bit of spare dosh, you find yourself paying for your adult children to - guess what? - go to University, get educated, blah blah blah. We are currently paying towards our dd's living costs at Uni. (She works P/T too) She can't get a maintenance loan because... we earn too much. Ha Bloody ha.

One of the fundamental problems in this country, along with lack of proper regulation of the financial industry, is the fact that there is a fear of rewarding people who work hard and have a sense of social responsibility.

our joint income is about £45,000. Without the debt we both have we'd be very comfortable but as we both have loans etc it's sometimes hard.

We do have a comfortable life though in that we have a car, Sky, takeaways.

We are having our first baby in Dec and once I go back to work our ncome will take a big nock because of childcare fees. I am still not sure how we will cover the mortgage when I am on maternity leave.

knock

One thing i find weird, i might not be well off but i dont view Sky TV as a luxury. Although we have just upgraded to Sky+HD and i view THIS as a luxury - but not normal Sky or Sky+.

Sky's cheapest package is about £17/month not inclusive of VAT.

It's a luxury.

Sky is most definitely a luxury - are you serious CPS?

There is a huge difference between being badly off and living in a big house and having little disposable income, IMO. I don't think anyone would be STRUGGLING without tax credits, they might just have to live in a smaller house, as we do.

Thats me! Thats what i think. TBH iv had it for so long now thats its just part of our monthly bills that i dont view it as a luxury although i will do this next month as its gone up by £10p/m for the HD package.

and I do know dual-parent couples on benefits (not carers or ESA) who run a car, have a nice house (not a flat), Sky, smoke, have gym membership, etc.

i'd be a liar if i said it didn't wind me up.

but, hey, now, their days are numbered.

CheekyPink Sox: -

'I am a stay at home mum, my husband earns £12k a year, the rest of our money is made up in Tax Credits. We struggle, we have done for 3 years since we had our children, i would love to live on £45k for one month just to see what its like to have that amount of money.'

Maybe some people would love to swop places with you for a month, and have the relative luxury of being a SAHP. Especially one who considers Sky TV an essential rather than a luxury

We earn that now. But only recently so we haven't got used to be comfortable. So where we live and with our lifestyle I wouldn't complain about losing CB TBH. But I guess those who have got used to a higher standard of living and in a more expensive part of the world will struggle.

There is no one-size fits all.

What I hate is the constant ' but we work hard for our £45k ' which kind of implies that those of us who earn below that figure don't work hard as well! The amount that you earn does not necessarily give an indication of how hard you work!

like i said we have had it for that long that i dont class it as a luxury anymore.

And i doubt someone on 45+ per year would want to swap with a family earning £200 per week, dont you??