OK, OH earns 125k, his secretary probably earns 35ish, how much should he spend on her Christmas present?

[DontWantToLookTight]

Just that really.
Hev namechanged cos don't want you to all think I'm minted!

alot of it is luck - when you bought your house/flat

And no one is forced to live in London after all. We're all born with free choice. Except those at the bottom of the pile of course.

Agree with Carmenere. Case of wine is perfect.

I agree Twinkle.

As soon as we fell pregnant we moved away so we could get a nice family home for our money.

There is no way we could have affprded this type of house in London.

We miss the life but know that we made the right decision for the kids.

We have loads of space, garden and everything they need now.

Twinklemegan, but if you follow certain career paths, all the best jobs are in London. DP started working in Wales but as he moved up the career ladder there was no choice but to move to London.

I said that hours ago (in wishful-thinking style )

(about the wine that is!)

It really does depend on how much he values/appreciates her.
His earnings only come into play in terms of relative spend.

I don't earn anything like that and whils tmy nanny has her bad poins,we really do appreciate her and want her to feel valued-that comes from everyday behaviour,not just gifts.However,we have given her over a weeks salary plus prensents worth over £100-probably way over the top but we DO appreciate her.

I think you are great to do this for your OH but hasn't he/you left it a little bit late? Perhaps this is indicative of his feelings towards her and maybe just anything would do?

it seems like poetic justice to me that alot of london will soon be populated by rich londoners and cheap immigrant labour.

all the good guys i suppose will just move upwards, or to wales .

Lots of people have family and history in Cornwall or the Yorkshire Dales or wherever. But they can't afford to live there, even rent sometimes, because they've been priced out of the market by Londoners buying second homes. I know this is off topic but it makes me mad as hell.

Lyra - that's the choice we all make. Life or career. No one forces you to get to the top of your career. If that's what drives you then fine, you'll get the salary to go with no doubt (unless you're a public sector or charity worker) but there are obviously downsides as well. As I said before, that's life.

I'm sensing a slight anti-Londoners vibe coming from Twinklemegan

the south will soon sink under it's own weight of it's own importance

i hope

I do like London though - honestly. I went to university there, but nothing whatsoever would tempt me to live there now.

That's nice southeastastra

WW, people who don't earn 125k don't live in places where it costs half a million for a bedsit

We're mortgaged to the hilt and have a 3-bed semi in a London borough, but don't earn anything like the OP's DH on two full-time salaries. There are still places you can live near decent schools and good transport links yet still afford food.

We live where we do because a lot of our family is here and the boys get a great deal out of growing up within a community of loving adults. It means I'm not able to stay home with them 24/7, but there are trade-offs and this is one we're (mostly) comfortable with.

Oh, don't worry, the north will suck itself into a small puckered dogs bum mouth of envy before the south sinks under the weight of its own whatever it was SEA said

I bought my secretary a bottle of champagne and some chocolates but also a set of nail varnishes for her little girl who is 8.

I love London.

Am there often and always have a good time.

I like a big city though and the buzz you get from it.

It was great for when we were young and free - recommend everyone lives there at some point in their lives!

I thought you lived in london southeastastra

well that's how i see it.

people are too obsessed with their own wealth/education for their (no one elses) children/supposed opinion on how everyone else must think

It's alright, I've got a similar problem with parts of the north too.

And now I'm in Scotland I find myself thinking the same things about the blardy English coming up here. Bah humbug.

(Points out that the dogs bum mouth comment was in direct response to SEA's post and in no way indicative of my feelings regarding the north of this beautiful country. Half of my genes are northern )

By the way, I truly don't understand why it matters what your OH earns in the context of this question.