34 on 42k a year and feel poor

[User6404]

I'm supposed to be in a 'good' job, work all hours and lots of pressure. Im told this is a good salary but I never seem to have any money after paying mortgage and bills!

Is anyone else in this position and wonder why it is worth working so hard for little return? Am I deluded? I dont talk about money with friends.

There are some really spiteful comments here when the OP is asking for help.

Those of you who have children and manage on 1 salary of less than the OP do not forget to include your child benefit, tax credits and any other forms of benefits OR you lower outgoings.

For every £1 you get in benefits, the OP is losing 25% (tax and NI) .

She may also have a hefty amount deducted each month for a student loan.

Don't be so critical till you know all the facts and also dont be blind to the extras you get by having children.

Op you can export a months bank statement from your online banking to excel. Sort the money out column highest to lowest and look at the top 10 outgoings. Make a note of them. Then order the transactions alphabetically. Now you'll see spending grouped together - all the transactions at amazon or asda or Starbucks etc. Use autosum to add up totals for your regular shops. You'll have a much clearer view of where it's all going.

Why is your take home only £2300? I took that home when I was on £36k

she could have as much as £200 a month deducted at source for a student loan.

Your salary is good. Your outgoings may be higher than necessary. Have you gone through them all to see if any reductions can be made? You can save a lot by shopping about.

I went through a months bank statement and was shocked at how much little bits added up too. —McDonald’s—

Now we limit unnecessary crap. Feels so much better and the house is less cluttered too. You really shouldn’t be feeling poor on that wage.

Just a note that when doing a budget be very thorough. I used to be a financial adviser and people would come in wanting to borrow the most they could on their salary. I used to get them to do a budget to see if that was genuinely affordable for them and it often wasn’t. People invariably left out things like haircuts, dentist costs, prescription glasses or contact lenses, birthday and Christmas presents, MOTs etc. If you add up what they are likely to cost every year and divide it by 12 it’s a pretty big chunk out of most people’s income.

So, op, give us some figures.
Dh and I have a simple excel spreadsheet.
Surely you have done the same?

I have exactly what Oblomov has. I have a tab for each month. I can look back to 2015 and compare my outgoings etc. cos I'm a sad fuck I'm not perfect, I have CC and things on finance, but it's all managed by my spreadsheet.

OP I don't do a spreadsheet, but on payday every month I transfer the bills money into a separate account. What I have left, I divide by 4 and "pay" myself every week. It works well for us (although this month has been a disaster due to an unexpected bill).

Well it’s not much to run a household on but if it’s just you it’s not quite poor.

You must be spending a lot of money on something, £2,300 take home a month should be plenty if your mortgage is £750.

What are the rest of your bills total? Once all bills are paid what is your dispoable income left?

101, i agree. It is hard for lots of people to manage their money and it does not always correlate to what they earn. I can see in mmy university acconts book I wrote down every penny I spent and had coming in - I was scanning them recently and it's very interesting but then I ciollected stamps and had an index card for every book I bought. I am that kind of trainspotter mentality (which is pretty useful if you're a lawyer and if you want to keep note of what you spend). not everyone is like that and life is expensive. It is a question of looking at what is a want rather than a real need. it is surprising how many things are really just wants not needs if you want to cut right back.

£2300pcm and a mortgage of less than 750pcm indicates that you have a major budgeting issue. I'm assuming you're not about to mention DC that haven't been discussed yet!

You need a spreadsheet. I used to be a bit shit with money but my much more sensible husband helped me to learn how to manage it better so now I am equally good.

I earn £2100 pcm, pay £850 into a join account for mortgage and bills (this will be a Bit less than you pay I guess on your own?). I then pay £300 into savings, £25 into each of my DC isa, and pay my phone and lenses and still have a few hundred left.

I only buy lunch at work once a week and I never buy coffees. DH and I eat out once per month, otherwise we cook from scratch, drink in at the weekends and have people over if we feel social. I buy around 1 item of new clothing per month. You need to know what your money is going on and where you can make cuts as you shouldn't feel poor

Retired, 67, 10000 pension. 😨

Problem is we spend to our income. We have nothing today despite earning double that. I don't feel rich despite that top 10% of incomes statistic. Average income is £26k in the U.K. but average housing cost is £523 per month (I pay double that). Doing a spreadsheet of outgoings is helpful, we saved £200 without even noticing by cancelling tv we weren't watching and memberships to places we rarely visited. I'm not telling you you are wrong because I can feel like that too, but actually you are doing well so it's more management of money that's the issue. As for us, university living costs for DD's are a killer!

People invariably left out things like haircuts, dentist costs, prescription glasses or contact lenses, birthday and Christmas presents, MOTs etc. If you add up what they are likely to cost every year and divide it by 12 it’s a pretty big chunk out of most people’s income.

Mainly choice items and cost reducible according to budget.

I have wear spec savers styles, NHS dentist, keep gift giving/cost to a minimum. I have maintained my own hair for many years, I do spend about £5 every 8 weeks for a box dye, but I have done my own trims since I was a teenager.

None of those things need to be costly.

I do think some people are under estimating bills here - mine come to over £1000 a month, gas&electric are £142 on their own! My council tax is £212 (band e).

Money advisory service has my favourite budget planner in their website

Mrsoutnumbered you could put “unexpected bill” £40 per month in a separate account so it doesn’t bugger up your budgeting xx

To be honest, I think virtually everyone in the UK feels poor.

There used to be a lot of services and support. There used to be a safety net. Now so much of that is reduced, restricted, underfunded or totally withdrawn.

And we are all diminished, we all feel a bit more easily scared, we are feel that life is more precarious. We all feel more isolated and alone. So if something does go wrong, we’re pretty much on our own.

It’s more to do with we used to have a sense of security from a belief in a shared common decency and a society built on that. Now that’s gone.

void you think someone on 42k and someone on 12k both feel poor on the same level?

If the 42ker's rent and work travel costs and full time childcare costs takes them down to £12k then they are on a month by month basis on a par.

Well, not really last time I checked, those on 12k have to pay rent, travel costs and childcare out of their wages too.

@ivykaty44 yes I really should, I think I will start after Christmas.

Even though I'm strapped at the moment, as long as the bills are paid and I have food in the table I am happy. I know that these basics are a struggle for a lot of families.

Things could be better, but things could also always be worse.

2300 and 1560 goes on necessary outgoings including servicing debt of 7k.

Necessary outgoing - ie everything except food and socialising.