Smoker mother struggles on £100k a year!

[JaneParker]

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2661705/Get-hankies-ready-mother-lives-100-000-year-STILL-moans-shes-broke.html

If she got a better job rather than free lance writing she would be okay. She is the architect of her own misfortune. No one makes much money freelance writing.

It's in the DM it must be true!

OP you sound delightful.

PossumPoo
My brother bought a house in Kensington less than 7 years ago and for less than her flat's cost.

some people are just lucky, look where others dont. There are cheaper than average properties in every affluent area, ex council, bungalows, side garden/land for sale and the like; homes come up all the time on probate and auction for less than 700k, or the woman may be living on the not so nice part of Kensington, or bought yonks ago, got lucky etc. You think those selling houses for 3,4 million quid all bought it at these current values?
You can live in Kensington earn 100k and educate privately, it can be done; most of the private schools in that part of London, fees are under 20k a year, does she have 2 kids, can be done, but it will be tight, not surprised she is broke. :)

Facts are simple, you want something that is not free you have to pay. If you do not have the money, you have to earn it/make it, if you feel there is no way to generate it, earn it or make it then alas shut up about it and cut your cloth according to your size.
She has the power to change her life by making changes, the sky is not the limit when there are footprints on the moon.

She really needs to budget doesn't she? She doesnt need to buy premium brand makeup & toiletries, that money could be used to feed her kids. Her lifestyle aspirations could be manageable on her income if she was clever with her spending which she isn't. She could live in the next area to Kensington to save on housing costs etc. She could sell some high end items to make additional cash but she chose to talk about it in a national newspaper instead.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/

this is what she needs to read!

Fucking hell, i have a crap, part time, minimum wage job and rely on tax credits.

in total my annual income is probably about a quarter of what hers is.

my son does not have to eat from a bin ffs.

at Westfield being upmarket

Wow I have zero sympathy for her. I earn less than £9,000 a year!!!! I would live their income!

Assuming the article is genuine, the couple sound a bit clueless. They're trying to have it all but their income doesn't allow them to have it all. They need to sit down and talk to each other and decide what their priority is - private education, living in Kensington or an Audi? If her youngest is due to start school soon then maybe she could look for a better paid job? She may have settled for freelance writing so she could be a SAHM while her kids were small.

The worst thing she could have done is go public. Those who struggle to survive on a much lower income will scoff at her first world problems (as many have done here). Her upmarket neighbours will probably avoid her in case austerity is contagious. The school are probably wondering if she's going to pay the next set of fees. She would have been far better off seeing a financial adviser or even reading some of the threads here on mumsnet.

Zero sympathy. I earn a decent wage. Dh does too. We have a nice 2 bed flat we saved hard for. We have nice things. We have nice holidays but not to to the detriment of paying bills or mortgage.

If I had kids at private school but couldn't afford it they'd have to go to a state school. I'd also stop smoking.

She'd save probably £13k a year there.

A few years ago I was possibly in her situation (except lower wages). I smoked had huge phone bills enjoyed holidays shopping etc. All that stopped.

Smoking cost me around £2k a year. Buying 2/3 coffees a day at work set me back £25 a week. Buying lunch set me back the same.

I thought that because I had holiday from work I had to go abroad.

I didn't run to the papers and bemoan my lot. Because actualy it was my own stupid fault.