Cost Of Living (how much do you earn?)

[SouthMan28]

Sorry if this is really personal for you all.

But just wondering, how much you all earn? And can you afford things ok? Would you be able to afford a holiday this year?

As me and my partner earn £2,300 take home per month (is this a good wage per month?) And we feel like we can't afford anything and are just are home bound all weekend as we don't have enough for extras once bills etc are paid for!

Is anyone else feeling the pinch?

Do eith if you have predictable hours? Could one of you take a second job? Or could your partner find a job with greater hours? Or are there kids in the equation that make either of those hard?

Your household income will be below average, I'd guess. Hiw peasy ut us to ouve on will depend on where you live and other outgoings.

This.

Our household take home pay is around £7.5k. We're financially comfortable, though live a very average life in suburbia, 3 bed house, run 1 car, only 1 DC. How does that help you?

Sorry, that got totally mangled.

Do either of you have predictable hours? Could one of you take a second job? Or could your partner find a job with greater hours? Or are there kids in the equation that make either of those hard?

Your household income will be below average, I'd guess. How easy it is to live on will depend on where you live and other outgoings.

What do you want from this thread OP?

It is pretty low income, but there will be lots of people on similar.

That’s quite low. Probably worth looking at retraining as you’re still young. We bring home 7k a month, so have plenty spare.

She does a really important job for the community. It's a shame that caring jobs aren't better paid. If it was your OH posting I'd ask what she is interested in doing in the future. Some kind of training course might improve her confidence as well as opening up other work opportunities.

Just to find out what other peoples income streams are and to see how they fair with the cost of living crisis.

OP the care sector are crying out for staff. She could definitely get more hours. Might have to look at changing employer.

I take home similar to you, just under £1400. That has to pay for me and a 16 year old, so essentially two adults. I get £200 in tax credits as well. So I'd say having two wages is pretty good. How many in your family?

ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

"With a household after tax income of £502 per week, you have a higher income than around 44% of the population - equivalent to about 29 million individuals"

On that income you are right in the middle of the income distribution, in the 5th decile grouping. So you're pretty representative of an ordinary household.

That's a really interesting tool, surprisingly it says my household income is a bit above average even though we both earn just slightly above NMW - the reason being we have no children! Good to remember especially on Mumsnet where every other poster seems to be on a super high wage.

What is your job?
What do you like doing?
What are your strengths, ie are you good at making stuff, organised, good at making logical decisions, finding solutions, IT.....?

At 30 I was on £28k as a manager in a call centre, I'm 38 now on £80k in an IT governance role. I am not massively IT literate but I am good at cutting through crap, managing people, identifying improvements to processes, delegating, maintaining a calm and controlled approach and getting stuff done.

I have A-levels but no university or vocational qualifications, working class parents with very little money and both had passed away before I was your age.

If you can live the lifestyle you want on the salary you have and you are happy in your jobs then keep going. If you want or need a higher paid job then you'll need to identify a route that will get you there and push for it.

I think out of London, without children, that is fine, so long as you manage and budget and save for emergencies, but it will seem a pittance to the 100k-pluw South-based mumsnetters, just to warn you!

£512 a month. Disabled and unable to work, just receive ESA.

Op, I really don’t think people telling you about their income is going to be helpful. If only the people who are struggling respond, you might get a sense of solidarity, but you have to remember that the economic crisis has not Impacted everyone equally. There are actually sectors where salaries are increasing. The economic class divide is growing even more pronounced and mumsnet has participants from across the economic spectrum.

The big variables other than family size are housing, transport/commute and debt.

If only one of you currently works

What's stopping the non working person from working evenings, weekends, nights around the other person ?

I would say it's a very low income to be honest. 16.5k is not far off NMW for a fulltime post. I suppose your OH could up their hours to full time for more income or if not available take additional work elsewhere.
At least you're not paying much tax and presumably you'll be able to access tax credits.
Could you look at upskilling in your role or transferring to a more lucrative sector as you said long term prospects and career progression opportunities are not great.
There are alot of courses to retrain for mature students. You should gain some confidence and aim bit higher.

I think your DP coukd easily pick up additional hours in care sector, if they want to. There's a huge shortage Of carers

It’s a dilemma because I took a job outside my normal industry (but related to my long term volunteering) in lockdown 2, and now have the option to go permanent there. It’s not as well paid as my normal freelancing work, but obviously it’s steadier, and it’s also more socially useful.

This is a horrible economy to be making career decisions in but I love my “real” job, which was hard-earned and a second career for me already. I didn’t want a third, but Covid pretty much killed my industry for a while.

Diamond shoes though, I guess. I really admire people coping on low incomes ATM.

Very interesting tool.

Not working atm due to health issues.
id have said DH has a good enough job/pay, above the national average.
but with 2 teens and me, it actually places us in the lower 1/3 centile!

Id say we are still ok. We are still going away in hols, doing stuff etc..
BUT we have a low mortgage, have always been careful with what we spend. Or rather we both prefer to spend that money on ‘experiences’ rather than fashion, take aways etc.. (not a judgemnet btw, but a choice in our part iyswim).
Do we feel the pinch? Not just yet but I suspect we will soon. I’ve seen the cost of our weekly shopping skyrocketing in the last couple of weeks. Filling the tank is a nightmare. So yes…. It’s getting worrying.

Sorry. I didn’t RTFT. Rookie error.

Why don’t you feel able to do anything else? The good news is we are approaching full employment so it should be easier than normal to make a change. If things are very tight for you, you don’t have much to lose if you can find evening courses or apprenticeships that pay okay.

Is there nothing that appeals?

Why is your partner only working part time? Assume you don't have children as you'd be eligible for benefits then on that income

That tool overestimates the cost of kids imo. It puts me and DH in the top 20% with no kids, but drops down to 50% when I put in that we have 3. We’re quite fortunate financially and it doesn’t seem accurate.

That seems a rather low income to me. My DH and I take home around 6k a month and we both plan to go for promotions within the next few years. We have started to think a bit more carefully what we spend with the cost of living increases but I can't say we are worried about it. Not sure what you what from this thread, but there are always ways to increase your income.