Household income- how are you coping?

[Tblock1800]

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

Me and my dad live on my £13k disability benefits, and he gets carers allowance. Thankfully house is owned outright, but we need a car due to my disabilities so i can get about, and that's bloody expensive.

Single Mum after separation. Dd 5. 21k income. Shared ownership so small mortgage and rent to pay which has gone up each year despite my wages not.

I'm being super careful. Only turned the heating on in December and even then I tried to avoid tuning the heating on, however I discovered I wasn't actually saving anything, because when the heating did come on, it took ages to get up to temperature so I've turned it back onto timer.

I managed to accrue credit in my energy account over the summer by overpaying on my dd so I'm doing OK at the moment but feal genuine fear about what my dd will be when my fixed runs out in Feb.

Thankfully my mortgage is fixed until 2026, when I am hoping I will have managed to change my circumstances, but I am already worried about what thet may mean, and am trying to overpay on my mortgage.

I'm frugal with food. I cook food up for myself and make it last several evening meals. Don't really buy much meat. Try qnd prioritise food for my dd. Thankfully she gets a free meal at school currently, so I jyst need to give her a nutritious snacky tea. We eat lots of veg, pasta etc.

All of my clothing is second hand but that's nothing new.

For a while diesel was frightening, as I drive a lot for both work and personal reasons. Thankfully that's come down somewhat.

Somehow I've managed to save a buffer, so that things like a broken washing machine, school trips, care repairs etc aren't the end of the world.

The problem is, how do you cut back further when you feel like you've cut back as much as you possibly can? I'm not sure there is any more fat to cut to be honest.

We are ok, not great, not terrible. Income of about 35k, one child (school age so no nursery fees) another on the way. We bought our first house last year which was very exciting, and our mortgage is fixed for 5 years which is a relief. We have about £3k of debt and no savings due to DH being unemployed for a bit after we bought our house, so the main aim of 2023 is to pay that off and a build a small savings buffer before I go on mat leave.

Single mum
46k income
Two teens
Big mortgage
Struggling

Myself and my dog Princess

No mortgage or rent - I am very thankful for this, and appreciate it.

I earn 22500 year not much ! Been looking at different jobs and what I can do courses to improve my wages, and would enjoy!

I do have health insurance which costs £280 month that's my mortgage - too many conditions to mention!

House needs a lot of work!
But also dog costs money!

Also live in Suffolk, income £21k, single foster carer, rent £700, my car is mine not a company one, electric around £130 a month with a healthy credit balance, oil & logs around £70 a month. Managing to keep my head above water, just.

DH and I are fine, income only £18.5k pa but mortgage paid off.
Still managing to have a couple of hundred pounds left over at the end of each month, gas bill for December £174 and it was on all day and night set at 19 so not cold.

The future is worrying if prices keep rising.

Energy us a particular concern.
Petrol, food also.

Carefully consider each purchase and look for alternatives.

Mortgages rate quotes late last year were eye watering however seem to have improved a bit now.

Basically cutting off all final bits of social life I had - not paying for dinners out that could go towards my children’s activities- and trying to get a better paying job. I earn c. 50k but two kids and modest terrace house in zone 4 London it’s difficult at the moment- still a lot better than others I recognise!

A bit worse than you... both work full time, roughly 50k combined income which includes my sales bonus so not guaranteed. 3DC youngest 8 months. Had to return to work when baby was 10 weeks because we couldn't live on statutory maternity pay. Renting £900pcm, one car on finance.

Generally eating poorer quality food and doing less activities than before because we can't afford the lifestyle we had before everything went up.

There are 13 of us in the house and 7 are teens/ adults. Our shopping bill has gone from around £120 a week to now £180/90.
That includes toiletries we need and washing powder every two weeks which is a large box.
I have also had an almost 50% increase in fuel costs but that said I have upgraded to a MPV so it is partly down to that
I don't drink or smoke so I'm glad of that as couldn't afford it.
We are managing and thankfully I have an emergency fund for large unexpected expenses, so while we are just about juggling it all we are certainly having to pull back on treats and unnecessary car trips.

Same in the US:

• Living on Teacher Retirement. no mortgage but truck payment.
• Grandson is going to local college/working part-time because I can't afford Uni for him. This hurts the most!
• Food costs up 25% but no eating out or ordering delivery in. No beef.
• Cancelled pet insurance and switched to a cheaper brand of dog food.
• Cancelled family Christmas party and cut out Christmas cards and no gifts for anyone but close family.
• Sitting in the dark with only one light on to work with.

I totally get this, just had twins and going back to work at 12 weeks part time and back to full time at 6 months. I'm expressing a huge breatsmilk stash in preparation for this.

We are in the North and on a combined salary of about £90k. Big mortgage at £900 ish per month, £280 per month energy and two kids 4 and 1. To be honest it’s the nursery fees that are killing us at the moment, £900 per month and also £200 per month after school club. We don’t have any grandparents near to help out so are reliant on childcare. We don’t really eat out and I’ve become more mindful of randomly spending on things I don’t need. However we are lucky and doing ok, we have some savings and I haven’t had to compromise on presents for the kids, their clubs and food too much etc. although we have accepted that in the two years we are paying full nursery fees for the youngest we probs won’t be able to afford holiday abroad unless we dip into our savings

Apart from food and general stuff being more expensive not really noticed it. Both mortgage and energy bills are fixed till September. Am a bit worried about Sept onwards. Have swapped shopping to Aldi.

Single parent
2 teen
40k
Rent £1100

Was doing OK and managing to save but Had now feeling the pinch. Had hoped to go away this year for a 16th birthday present but I can't afford it now. Wondering what the point is as we just seem to be stuck in a circle.of no money.

I’m not working at the moment as my last job was destroying my mental health, dh’s salary is around 80-85k. I will end up getting something around 20-25k I imagine based on my skills and experience, but jobs are really hard to get right now considering there are so many of them! Our mortgage is around 1200 a month, we pay £386 gas and electric, I have really noticed food bills sky rocketing and we have lowered the quality of the food we eat. Christmas was expensive but we are now trying to have a super tight January/February with no frivolous spending. We have a holiday booked (UK) for May, but this year is the first year we haven’t booked a summer holiday (yet) - due to uncertainty about costs. I think we will use my parents holiday home for a freebie rather than spend tbh (uk again). As a family our biggest expense is kids football clubs and subs and travel for that, we don’t do days out often or spend loads on meals out or new clothes. I’m sure we could tighten our belts a little more, and if/when I find some work we will definitely notice an extra £1k or so a month, I can’t wait!

We're planning to sell our house and buy a cheaper one, mainly to pay for healthcare needs.

Are these salaries quoted the advertised salary eh when you apply for a job or what you are getting per year after tax, ni, pension etc taken out as that's quite a difference!

We are on one salary I'm a SAHM / carer and feeling the pinch. There's 6 of us so obviously higher costs to everything.

@Decafflatteplease ive quoted the advertised salary..after tax etc take home is a lot lot less!

Tbh, we're doing ok. Joint take-home is about £4.5k, mortgage is £600 and fixed for another 3 years, energy bills are about £150. I wfh most of the time so travel costs etc are limited. Our biggest expense at the moment is supporting ds at university with rent and bills but that will end this year. We're not chucking money around but it's not quite as bad as I was expecting.

However, we are a bit older, in secure jobs, no childcare costs etc. I work with a lot of younger families who were managing ok, and now are really struggling and it is heartbreaking.

My mum has recently been widowed. £297 energy bill. It's a worry how she will cope.

Mortgage has increased significantly (we're on a variable rate) so we're overpaying as much as we can every month and thanking our lucky stars that we've benefited from very low interest rates for the past 15 years.

I've increased my hours at work from 0.5 to 0.8 FTE (this decision was unrelated to the cost of living - I'd already decided to do it now the DC are older - but it has turned out to be good timing) and am making an effort to save on the food shopping (buying own brands etc). DH is wfh 3 days a week since covid which saves on commuting costs. We had a relatively low key Christmas.

We're doing okay, but we're lucky to have been able to make the changes described above.

@HarrysNeighbourhood it will be okay I promise.

The first week was hard, I felt so alien being at work when I had a tiny baby at home but after that it felt totally normal. I reduced to 30 hours over four days and the balance is really good, I recommend that if you can do it.

You will probably be a bit bitter towards people who have 1 year olds and still enjoying their mat leave (I am) but you'll be safe in the knowledge you're doing the best for your own family x

Why is the white cat bloody? Poor cat!