Oh how my heart bleeds!

[MarioandLuigi]

the Nouveau poor

Hmm

Guess I'm just a bit jealous of their income BecauseImWoeufIt and thus find it hard to be sympathetic. Not nice of me I know!

I didn't know there were posh areas in colchester

WoeufIt - no sympathy because I know far too many people who have recently lost jobs and have next to nothing to live on, whilst these people are complaining about having to move to a smaller house. I've read the linked article and my first thought was 'oooh diddums'. It may sound harsh, but when good friends around you worry whether they're going to end up homeless, the plight of these people just does not matter all that much. Tough.

What pisses me off is when people who are well off plead poverty by saying 'but I have a really big mortgage' - yeah well you have a pretty big house to go with it, it's an asset. You might as well say 'but I have my personal jet to pay for'.

This article wasn't about people who have lost their job and are coping with those massive changes. This is about people who are being a bit squeezed by the cost of living, and these squeezes being felt by us all, and are proportionally harder for those earning a lot less than £54k.

Or even £69K, Bumperlicioso. But I couldn't agree more.

The point is that for any of us to experience a drop of income makes life more difficult.

Why is that so hard to sympathise with?

And note - it is the Daily Mail that is casting the slant over the story - do you have any sympathy?

Why wouldn't you sympathise with someone who is going through this experience?

If you can't imagine it for the family in the article, why not imagine it happening to your friends or - horror of horrors - you?

It's irrelevant what they were earning. The fact is, they have seen their income drop.

Just imagine that happening to you - whatever your current level of 'wealth' or 'poverty'.

Too many people here are too quick to criticise or ridicule. Just try a bit of empathy for a change. It makes you a much nicer person.

Because 'oh no I can't afford wine and holidays any more' is not the same as 'I can't afford another pair of shoes for my kids'.

Bumper - no-one was trying to make that comparison. Of course it's not the same. But it doesn't stop the fact that losing a significant proportion of your income is very concerning. It has made me ill, actually. Not that I'm asking for or expecting any sympathy.

SGM - too right. If I ever ended up in the DM I would be horrified/mortified!

I think a drop in income at the moment is common place. It is just that some peoples cut downs are different to others. As a family our spending is different to a few years ago when our income was higher - not unusual. Money is a worry now but I am aware worse for others and buying value range/supermarket shoes/cheap wine is hardly the end of the world! However worrying about job security does cause anxiety for lots of us.
It is all relative and the couples in this article would be naive not to expect a backlash from their position of 'relative' [ to many people] affluence.

Sorry you are feeling ill BecauseI'mWorthIt.

BIWI but you've said you've had a drop in income of 50%, which is shit and no wonder you are worrying. But the family I was quoting doesn't seem to have had a drop in income, and I'm not sure that was the point of the article, it's more how the same money (or pay freezes) isn't going as far as it used to.

We had an employee the other day, whose overtime payment was delayed through the company error. He lived on such a tight line that after his bills were paid (and he brought copies of everything in) he could not afford the bus fare to work. Therefore he asked for an advance and we were happy to do this. He had a family to support on a very low income (below the average earnings). These are the people who should be unhappy and in my experience they are less likely to moan when there is a change to anything. The ones that always moan are those on the higher earnings. I remember sitting down with a Director who was having to leave the pension scheme because he could not afford contributions after paying the payments on the £1m plus bridging loan on his home. He was really moaning, much more than the guy who could not afford the bus fare. People's priorities are so different and sometimes you need to accept that you can't have everything but remember the heirarchy of needs. Shelter, food and warmth. My DCs ask me whether we are rich as we live in a 4 bed house in a nice area and they go to a good state school. We have a similar income to those people in the article. I tell them we are. These people should watch the programme 'How the other half lives' to really understand that their sacrifices are not real ones.

The worst for me was the guy who earned a very high income and asked for a doggy care allowance and a gardener because his work place was moving further away. I thought I had seen it all!

I wouldn't know what to do with it all if our earnings were that high. We live on less than £20 K per year and still manage. We are fortunate cos we overpaid our mortgage in the good times and it is omnly £30K on a house worth £200K. Everyone is so materialistic and forgets what is truly important. Kids are happy in a modest house if they are loved etc...

Having a big mortgage doesn't mean you've got a big house or a giant salary. Ours is nearly £700 on a very small 2 bed semi in an "undesirable" area and that's just the interest so we do try and overpay most months when we can. House is only worth about 85k now but what can you do, it's one of the cheapest in the area and when DP bought it about 5 years ago it was all he could get a mortgage on.

Our joint income is about 40k and we pay nursery fees etc. I do agree with people asking wtf that couple are spending their money on! They must have some other debts surely?

We have enough left after we have paid out to be able to buy a bottle of wine in the supermarket, get new shoes for the baby, do things in the garden, go camping etc. Not a champagne lifestyle but nice enough, a cava lifestyle perhaps :) It'll do, I would like a bigger house but I'd rather have some spare cash for the things that make life a bit sweeter. We're outside when it's fine anyway. We could save but at the moment overpaying seems a brighter idea and we don't have any other debts apart from the house.

I don't understand how they would be struggling with nearly 2 grand to play with every month, there MUST be some other huge outgoing not reported in that story!

They probably are victims of shit DM "journalism", they'll have missed that they're paying off a 350k remortgage or something. Either that or they're whiny gits. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but wonder wtf you would willingly appear in the Mail?

I'm with you on the 'cava lifestyle' redvelvet.. Just bought Tesco cava at under a fiver and will happily pretend it is champagne in the garden later!

Redvelevet - can I ask how on EARTH you are paying £700 on an £85 K interest only mortgage???

We have a mortgage at least five times that and pay a few hundred quid a month more only. Interest only.

We earn more than that and struggle. £770 mortgage, £114 council tax gas and electric £135, childcare/school £1200, petrol £200ish per month (essential work travel), plus a loan and credit card bill to pay £200. The debt was accumulated during my mat leave. I do have 3 children, so high childcare costs, so it will ease eventually, but we don't live anywhere flash or even go on holiday :(

It depends who the mortgage was with. My neighbour was paid £1600 interest only on a £270k (120% mortgage) mortgage with a bank who charged a high rate. She has just handed back the keys because the cost of childcare means the mortgage is too much. She got pregnant with 2nd child after the mortgage. For many, childcare is huge and not taken into account when people look at salaries alone. Fortunately both of mine are out of that now but it was crippling at the time.

Agree with London. Have been looking at the possibility of relocating for my job. Same house in not as nice an area in London is £1-200k more or £1200 extra on the mortgage. Cheaper to put up with a longer day but even then train costs would add extra £300 cost per month. Will only move down if I can afford a nice pad in Belgravia! So that looks like never!

It depends who the mortgage was with. My neighbour was paid £1600 interest only on a £270k (120% mortgage) mortgage with a bank who charged a high rate. She has just handed back the keys because the cost of childcare means the mortgage is too much.

Dear god - have some people no brains?

Sorry, not much sympathy here either. If you start to earn less, you have to spend less, it is simple. And I have no sympathy for those with massive mortgages. We earn about £37000 between us and we manage very well. We don't have our own house though because we didn't take up any of the ridiculous offers ie 100% mortgages that came our way in 2007.

Discussed incomes for the first time with my best friend a few weeks ago - her and her DH earn ALOT and she was astonished at how we could survive on what we earned, i mean she was flabbergasted and actually said that she was shocked because my dds always looked so well dressed .
Truth is we live in a fab area and shop in charity shops a lot and i trawl shops for the best bargains.