Household income- how are you coping?

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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

Awwww that’s funny ❤️

£85k with two adults. We pay a mortgage but luckily the kids are older so no nursery fees. I’ve definitely noticed food going up.

Can you switch to electric? If your car is run on petrol or diesal you know it’s a Benefit in Kind so you’re taxed on it?

We don’t get the automatic free council tax months in our area 😢 I’m new to the area and only realised it recently. Tbh, we’re in a band E and at £235 a month, I don’t think we could afford me to put it at 10 months anyway 😆

It's not 'automatic free months' of council tax, you pay the same amount either way.

Some people like to pay 10 monthly and have a couple of council tax free months so they can catch up after Christmas, put money in savings, or be able to spend a little more freely, whereas others might find it easier to pay the same amount each month.

Your council website will show the different options in your area and I'm surprised they don't let you pay 10 monthly, because they get their money faster. We pay ours over 12 months on the 28th of each month. I figured they could wait as long as possible for it .

Family of 4, household income £88,0000, mortgage, 2 cars. Doing fine at the moment because our outgoings are relatively low, no childcare costs, limited commuting costs, but it's our mortgage that will cause us pain. We bought with HTB and were hoping to mortgage out, if we can still afford to do it I think our payment will more than double and could go as high as £2000 so will change our lifestyle. I've set us a challenge to try to earn £500 more a month in 2 years which would cushion the blow.

Thank you @teachingbean!

We are ok at the moment but have definitely noticed how much the price of things is rocketing. Coping by no longer eating out, no take out, growing more ourselves, reducing portions and bulking out with home made chips (we make lots of lasagnas and similar then portion up and freeze. Whereas we might previously have eaten a large portion each we now share one and bulk out with chips. Until recently we were using our home grown potatoes. We’ve run out now but will be sure to grow more this season.

We have a lot of work to do to our house so trying to save for that but also want to pay down as much of the mortgage as we can prior to fix coming to end (luckily not until end April 2027) but that will have to wait until sept 2025 as have extortionate nursery fees until then.

I am also selling a lot of our old stuff (particularly baby stuff) on a local FB group. It’s a pain in the backside to list, message address etc but it really does add up

Single parent on £30k, near London.
Trying to get back on my feet and go on holiday this year- but spending more than I earn each month- so no realistic chance of saving.

Prioritising DC sport clubs and equipment in my monthly spending.

Never buy clothes or eat out.

Actually planning to look for lower paid part time job to help me cope better. But need to weigh that up against having enough money.

Bit worried to be honest

Income including dh state pension £18,600 pa. 1 older teen in full time education and a dog. No mortgage or rent. 1 car, rarely used. Electric/gas is our most expensive bill as dh really feels the cold. I mostly cook from scratch and meal plan/buy special offers and reduced to clear items. We don’t eat out or go on holidays and takeaways are restricted to birthdays/Christmas. We don’t have subscription tv but adult ds lets us use his Netflix. I cancelled the pet insurance this year as it is getting more expensive as he gets older. That really worries me. If I can save enough (and I’m not able to save much at the moment) I will probably take it out again next year.

Its definitely tight. I am concerned about the further increases in utilities but generally, I think we live quite comfortably and don’t feel we go without much.

3 person household- stay at home dad so no childcare costs.
I was earning 22k a year and we got Uc top up of around £400pm
I managed to secure a promotion at work and will now be getting 28k a year I worked out that I will still qualify for Uc until I earn 37k
just shows you how low our wages are against the cost of living.
I thought I’d not get any UC with the promotion but will still get about 300pm

We earn well but have a big mortgage 2300/month (London) renting same house would be at least 2600 in this area currently. We r a family of 3. I work PT. DH full time but can work 2 days from home some weeks. Our gas and electricity was over 500 for Dec. We have turned thermostat down to 16 from 18. Will see what effect that change has made in the next couple of weeks.

DH and I have never really eaten breakfast and will generally skip lunch as our Jobs r very busy when we r in. Main meal is therefore dinner. I go to the local butcher and fishmonger still. Its significantly cheaper per kg than the shop. We generally manage on 1 tesco delivery a month (typical spend ~ £80-90) and once weekly to somewhere local for milk/fruit top up (<£10). Not the best eating habits but it's just how have always been. DC has all meals and prefers vegetarian meals so we can get away with lentils, beans and pasta for them.

We don't save as much as we used to since buying our house but we were not expecting to tbh. We still regularly pay into a savings account for our DC though.

Doing better than most right now, but feel its going to hurt some later in the year.

£31.5k pa, just me and the dog. Was hoping to apply for promotions this year that would lift me to £37ishk but work are now freezing recruitment across the company.

Last summer I booked a holiday for this year - and while I am very much looking forward to it - first in a few years, I regret the timing, I feel like I should be saving this money for later. I would not book anything that required time to save or pay off now, but hindsight and all that.

Mortgage on an OK fix to summer 2024 but worried about interest rates after that, so post holiday will be ploughing into overpayments in anticipating. Had hoped to move but with things the way they are, am staying put. My house has dramatically increased in value but so has everything else!

No debt but not enough savings.

I am conscious of food and utility bills, but am able to absorb a lot of the increases right now, and consider myself lucky to do so.

Thank you for posting this. We are struggling so much- on our knees.

my husband is a teacher and I work
for a local authority. We maybe bring in around £55k a year, take home roughly £3600 a month.
About £2100 goes into the joint account (about half of that covers just rent) , bills, small debt repayments (mostly old student stuff) ect. Running 2 cars (which we need for work). essential outgoings.
£1160 goes on childcare. That’s pretty much all we earn.
we get some universal credit and child benefit which we then live off (food and petrol) but it seems to vary every month. Leaves us with about £500 a month for this and anything else we need. It’s not enough.
This is why teachers are striking people 😣

Have you tried apps like Olio and community larder? Thu are really saving me at the moment xx

We are fine, don’t even touch my salary.
Low mortgage and apart from school fees our expenses aren’t very high

You are an utter knob.

We are retired, just below state pension age on private pensions jointly totalling about £40k, we are fine but we have paid off our mortgage and don't have DC at home which are two large expenses which many younger people have

Super shit. A series of unfortunate events (including sudden and unexpected serious illness and disability) means that our high income translates in to very high outgoings each month (£4000) once food, insurance, mortgage, utilities, debt etc is factored in. I can't see the light anymore, it's just endless. I spend hours each month going over the spreadsheet wondering what I've missed. The increased fuel costs is a nightmare.

My partner is a full-time student & his loan barely covers the bills & we have no disposable income unless we use savings. We have a 12 month old & can't afford to put him in nursery so I am a SAHM and will be until my partner finishes his really intense course in 2 years.

We were saving for a house so we fall in the tricky area of not qualifying for any benefits but we don't qualify for a mortgage either atm through lack of income.

Desperate not to use any savings but it's looking impossible in the current climate. Frustrating as it took so so so long to build up enough money by living frugally but the timings are just all wrong for us.

My friend on the other hand has a baby the same age & gets a lot of benefits with a super cheap nursery place allowing her to go back 16 hours a week. She has chosen to spend all her money on material things up until now so has no savings but can claim universal credit.

Rising living costs are tough atm - just hope we can get through the next few years and buy a house one day.

@123youandme you would likely be eligible for a fair chunk of childcare support if you went back to work and weren't a high earner, worth playing around with the calculators.

Can I ask what your partner is studying? Because tbh studying and not working once you have children is a luxury, it’s not really unfair that it’s hard to pay for life that way.

Do you know if this is still the case if you have savings? As we don't qualify for universal credit & all the calculators seem to suggest we wouldn't get any extra support due to savings but I could be doing something wrong!

They are studying dentistry. It is super competitive and he was very lucky to secure an offer to study which he has worked really hard for, so it was difficult to turn down at the time. This was prior to the current cost of living & prior to having a child, which has meant I have had to give up my job.

interesting thank you.