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Original poster

Household income- how are you coping?

112 replies

Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 22:41

I know Money and salaries is always a bit of a touchy subject for some, but with the current ridiculous economy crisis as it is, I’m just interested as to how people are coping?

Me and my wife have a little boy ( 1.5 year old) so are a family of 3. We own our own property so pay a mortgage and have 2 cars. Both work full time and have a combined salary of roughly 76k for the household. Live in the outskirts of London.

As with everyone, whilst we are certainly not struggling by all means, you can definitely feel the difference in what stuff is costing at the moment. Luckily i have savings which always gives me a buffer, but i feel so sorry for people struggling in this awful climate at the moment.

How are people coping? What’s your situation at home etc ?

just a curiosity thread really to see how people are coping. Totally understand if you don’t want to disclose information etc

OP posts:
catfunk · 05/01/2023 22:47

Not much different tbh. 80-85k combined, SE. Modest sized house. one old car, 1100 mortgage pcm. We save and overpay mortgage every month.
Lifestyle hasn't changed although have noticed groceries are £££ but it might do Dec 2023 when we remortgage (doubt we'll get 2% interest rates in our lifetime again)

Original poster
Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 22:51

catfunk · 05/01/2023 22:47

Not much different tbh. 80-85k combined, SE. Modest sized house. one old car, 1100 mortgage pcm. We save and overpay mortgage every month.
Lifestyle hasn't changed although have noticed groceries are £££ but it might do Dec 2023 when we remortgage (doubt we'll get 2% interest rates in our lifetime again)

Nice one. Yes, I wouldn’t say lifestyle has changed much either but obviously we pay childminder fees for half a month. Luckily i do shift work, so my boy isn’t at childminder full time. Food expensive agreed. An absolute rip off the energy costs too.

OP posts:
babynoname22 · 05/01/2023 22:54

We are feeling it. I feel like we're on the shit end. We don't qualify for any help but don't earn enough for things not to be very tight. I'm on maternity with our second baby. We have a 2 year old. I have to keep him in nursery because if I don't I will loose his place and I need it for when I go back to work.

Nursery fees are £600 a month. Mortgage is £650 energy don't even ask. Food bill gone up. DH earns around 35k a year. I'm in SMP. It's a bit dismal.

Original poster
Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 22:56

babynoname22 · 05/01/2023 22:54

We are feeling it. I feel like we're on the shit end. We don't qualify for any help but don't earn enough for things not to be very tight. I'm on maternity with our second baby. We have a 2 year old. I have to keep him in nursery because if I don't I will loose his place and I need it for when I go back to work.

Nursery fees are £600 a month. Mortgage is £650 energy don't even ask. Food bill gone up. DH earns around 35k a year. I'm in SMP. It's a bit dismal.

it’s an absolute farce the current crisis. I really hope your situation gets better. I know,
don’t even get me started on the energy costs. An absolute joke.

OP posts:
TheShellBeach · 05/01/2023 23:00

Journalist

Original poster
Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 23:02

TheShellBeach · 05/01/2023 23:00

Journalist

Definitely not Sherlock

OP posts:
OnMyWayToSenility · 05/01/2023 23:06

Not bad tbf but I'm old, late teens and a few bits of cash lying around. 65k pa but no mortgage.
Food ridiculous amounts
Gas and electric £297 for December 😱😱
That's not what I'm used to but I can afford it, don't like paying it at all.
We are comfortable, but I have friends on 35k pa and 4 kids in social housing and I've no idea how they are paying for stuff.

Original poster
Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 23:10

OnMyWayToSenility · 05/01/2023 23:06

Not bad tbf but I'm old, late teens and a few bits of cash lying around. 65k pa but no mortgage.
Food ridiculous amounts
Gas and electric £297 for December 😱😱
That's not what I'm used to but I can afford it, don't like paying it at all.
We are comfortable, but I have friends on 35k pa and 4 kids in social housing and I've no idea how they are paying for stuff.

Madness. £300 for gas and electric is disgusting isn’t it? We pay about £180 which isn’t as much as some, but considering it was roughly £60 before, it’s more than doubled

OP posts:
noideabutstilltrying · 05/01/2023 23:14

Live in Suffolk on £45k a year with a company car. Lone parent of 2 teens and rent of £720 a month.

It's getting harder.

The teens understand and are being mindful about not wasting food and electricity.

My electricity is £250 a month and oil heating

Overthebow · 05/01/2023 23:15

We aren't really feeling it yet. We are lucky in that pay rises over the last year have covered cost increases so far although we would obviously have rather saved the extra money we're getting. We're expecting nursery costs to go up and more bills rises this year so we will take a hit but we can afford it. It will mean we have less to save/disposable money each month. Our household income is around £92K.

OnMyWayToSenility · 05/01/2023 23:15

Bloody ridiculous seeing as 10 years ago I was paying £68pm and always in credit for a 3 bed house heating on most of the day when the kids wee small !!

EnglishGirlApproximately · 05/01/2023 23:19

We are a family of 3, similar salaries, mortgage and two cars and we're ok at the moment. We live in the Midlands so although we're feeling the prices rises in food and fuel we do live in a pretty cheap area for everything else. We're saving less than we'd like but aren't close to having to cut back on spending yet. Gas and Electricity were £330 in December though which is just ridiculous.

Cornishclio · 05/01/2023 23:24

We are retired in receipt of private pensions totalling around £3.5 - £4k net per month with good savings buffer so coping fine. No mortgage. Two cars. We notice food and energy price rises most. I feel sorry for those with mortgages considering recent interest rate hike or those with high debt and no savings.

lovemelovemesaythatyouloveme · 05/01/2023 23:25

TheShellBeach · 05/01/2023 23:00

Journalist

Oh it's you again 🙄🙄🙄

Andi2020 · 05/01/2023 23:32

Get paid on a Friday by the Monday nothing left all goes on food and bills nothing left to save live in Ireland. 2 incomes 3 teenagers
Just working to pay bills.

belowfrozen · 05/01/2023 23:41

Depressing. Wages in public sector in effect going down for years & bills going up. Can't do stuff we'd like to do with DC

Original poster
Tblock1800 · 05/01/2023 23:46

Andi2020 · 05/01/2023 23:32

Get paid on a Friday by the Monday nothing left all goes on food and bills nothing left to save live in Ireland. 2 incomes 3 teenagers
Just working to pay bills.

No money leftover? Absolutely ridiculous. Hardworking and you get punished for it

OP posts:
ChiefWiggumsBoy · 06/01/2023 00:09

I feel genuinely so lucky at the moment, so please ignore my post if it might upset you!

DH has been a SAHD for years, no luck applying for jobs. We manage ok on my salary (£45k, NW, £600~ mortgage) but are starting to feel the pinch, especially as we have three boys. Not to mention we have quite a lot of debt that we really should be paying down quicker than we are.

Anyway - DH got a job! While it's not anything hotshot, it means we're now £1500 better off every month. And he's really enjoying it. As it's full time I'm going to hire a cleaner and start pricing up some decorating as well. I'm so proud and genuinely feel a weight has lifted.

RaininSummer · 06/01/2023 00:30

Heating bill is up as expected but not by anywhere near as much as I feared. Food is obviously up a bit but again nothing too bad maybe because I cook from scratch and bulk cook mainly. Two of us live on one pretty average income but luckily I don't have a mortgage any more and walk to work as the buses are unreliable and very pricey. We don't eat out as it's so expensive and generally underwhelming anyway. Haven't had what people call a proper holiday in 25 years and not bothered about that. So coping ok I guess.

addictedtotheflats · 06/01/2023 08:45

We have the same household income in yorkshire. Financially we are fine, managed 2 holidays in the last 4 months and still manage to save £300-£400 a month. Having said this we are living in a house we have well and truly outgrown with a small mortgage and debts we had a few years ago have all been paid off. Weve fixed in to a low mortgage interest rate until 2024 and have been on a fixes energy tariff since 2021 so havent felt any of the energy cap rises. Ask me again in 18 months and it will probably be a different story 🫠

BarbaraofSeville · 06/01/2023 10:47

Why do you want to know? You'll only see a snapshot that is unlikely to tell you anything new (we know some people are really struggling, some are just about managing, some are doing OK but have really noticed that their money doesn't go as far as it used to, some are carrying on as they were, but might be saving less, some are just as rich as they always were etc etc) and it's unlikely to be representative of the population as a whole because you don't know who is responding and anyone who is currently doing OK/better than they ever were are not going to say this, because it's considered in poor taste to wade into a virtual room full of people who are scared to put the heating on and struggling to put food on the table, let alone pay for everything else and say they're doing just fine thank you very much.

Uni68 · 06/01/2023 17:10

Managing with costs ok despite taking about an 8k drop in wages to join public sector (high commute very unstable job security in previous employment) so we have felt it but would of felt things either way if that makes sense. still not great for mental health though. Should be back to old wages within the next couple of years mortgage renewal won’t be bad as I have a fair bit in savings to cushion us.

honestly feel for those on single householders/pensioners/minimum wage though as god knows how they are coping

MotherOfRatios · 06/01/2023 17:18

£32.7k No kids
But my rent is £1.2k a month and I'm struggling I can't afford to save at all.

MintJulia · 06/01/2023 17:28

Single mum with a small mortgage and one teen ds on a scholarship at independent school.

My mortgage is up about £40, I've kept my food bill down with careful choices and a bit of extra effort. Heating is up, but I've sorted the damp patch in the sitting room, so that cancels out a bit of the increase.

But we don't go out to eat any more, I'm very careful about buying clothes and I haven't had a proper holiday since before covid when I was furloughed. I've paid the last installment on ds' school ski trip today so he'll have a break, which is a relief.

So I'm keeping up, and things will get easier with warmer weather. But certainly not feeling flush.

thaegumathteth · 06/01/2023 17:28

Doing ok day to day but definitely having to be more careful with the extras.

50k single salary, 2 adults and 2 kids. Luckily our mortgage is less than £200 a month so that helps a lot.

I really feel for so many people working their arses off and still seeing no real benefit of it.