Money Struggles

[KTeachMom]

Is £4k a month a good income for a family of three?

in the past we’ve been perfectly fine, but lately it seems as if we’ve been having squabbles over money.

Sounds like a good income to me, it depends on what your outgoings are though I suppose, any way you can make any cut backs?

It's a pretty pointless question without more context like who the 3 people are, where you live, what your mortgage or rent is, what benefits you get etcetera

Popcorn 🍿 is out for the replies..

Depends on your outgoings really.

😂

£4k with a £1.5k mortgage? Probably a bit of a stretch. £4k with a £600 mortgage? Probably ok.

Op it depends what you are forking out each month.

OP, list out your monthly outgoings

• mortgage
• council tax
• utilities
• childcare
• transport
• food
• water
• phones & broadband
• Insurances
• cars, servicing, fuel

Then see what is left.

Depends what your outgoings are. If you have £4 of outgoings then no it’s not a good salary, if you have £1k then it’s very good.

As others have said it depends on your outgoings. But even food is getting horrendously expensive - it's not a penny or two being added to items but more like ten to twenty pence per item. Add that to a weekly shop and things will escalate when it comes to a shop never mind anything else!
We had a quote for removing a tree from our garden - the guy couldn't give a firm figure as he didn't know how deep the tap root would go. £120 just for starters and add on whatever he felt like on the day depending on how hard he had to work digging out the root. We decided to do it ourselves and enlist SonIL for his help in removing the root. It is the unknown factor of the cost of living that is so scary nowadays.
Life is difficult enough now without getting into arguments over money - are you both on the same page when it comes to money or is one of you a saver and the other a spender?

In Mayfair probably not
In Motherwell probably fine

Context is everything.

Everything combined paying out £3k, a little over. My husband and I, plus our daughter, who is school age. Our mortgage is £2 of that.

2k mortgage - steep - leaves 2k left

you should be ok - 1k on food and household bills leaves 1k left - half to save and half to spend on treats and clothes and petrol …

but if you have childminder to add in it gets tighter and if you are used to being free with money it could fall apart quickly

its a good enough amount for a nice life but only if you practise good financial management

A £2k mortgage on a £4k income is crazy!

I thought this myself. We weren’t paying this much. We moved almost two years ago and my husband kept telling me “it will be fine, nothing will change, we can keep living as we always have.” At first all was the same, but now after some time. I’m feeling it. I believe it’s coming from the higher mortgage…

Yes, very good financial management. I’m finding though, that with this income to outgoing expenses there is little left that is able to be used on holidays, etc. especially if I am trying to save.

Mortgage at 50% of your income is too high.
Can you increase your income?

That sais 2k should’be enough to cover bills. Suggest you do a written budget.

You’re paying £2k mortgage on £4k a month? That is a very high mortgage. In that case, no £4k a month income is low for you.

I’m really surprised that any lender was willing to offer a mortgage that would equate to repayments which amount to 50% of your income. Has your income reduced since you got the mortgage? Or did your repayments increase with the interest hikes?

That mortgage is 50% of you're income no wonder you're struggling
Just because you can borrow such amount doesn't always mean you should
Go through statements with a fine tooth comb to see where the money is actually going. Look at mobile/ energy/ broadband etc costs and see if you can change
Meal plan and stick to it using cheaper supermarkets
stop takeaways, unnecessary coffees etc
Gym/ hobby subscriptions
There are things you can swap to avoid compromising your lifestyle too much but you identify your spending first.

The mortgage payment went up with the new interest rates being higher

I'd say your income is sufficient to sustain the family, but there won't be much extra for savings or luxuries.

Is there any scope to increase income? What's your current work situation, are you both working full time? Any scope to do overtime? Can either of you get additional qualifications? Do you have jobs with career progression opportunities?

Yes 😁

Years ago they used to say 30% of income on rent /mortgage - 50% is steep but equally know several friends due to interest rates and pay half their salary

you say £1k on bills so leaving £1k left

so yes doable