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?

Hi op. A quote that always stuck me is that you make a pound but spend 99p you are are rich but if you make £1000 and spend £1001 you are poor.

Trying to put that into practice mind! Ours is about 4k but we are shit with money and are now always overspending mainly on entertainment combined with increased col.

Short term get a spreadsheet with all your bills and find out what's leftover and I don't count food as a bill as we always over spend. Work out how much you have and if possible give you self some pocket money.

Long term I think that you both need to be working full time if possible and I'd try and get one of you into a larger company so you can move to different better paid departments. Good luck op and it's really tough atm x

I would get a flat mate if I were you, or move in shared house to save money long term

Basic take home is around £4500 per month combined for me and my wife, but I have an extra job working one day a week and take home from that £1000 pcm. So combined take home is £5500. Our outgoings would be fairly small (mortgage is only £625) but we have debt from our home renovations and a car loan (total repayments £725 per month) which pushes them up and we spend a lot of money on renovating (half the house is left to do), so we save about £1000-£1500 a month.

Ours is about 3k. 2 children No mortgage anymore (we are very lucky) but high council tax, energy etc like everyone else. We have two older cars bought outright and no debts so feel pretty fortunate. Cheap sim only mobile contracts. We try to save and put as much as we can into pensions.

We don’t go out much, but the children do have activities that cost money, plus we have Netflix, Disney etc which is cheaper than the cinema!

We definitely do feel the pinch more. I’m public sector and salary has not really risen in many years. But we can heat our homes and eat well and for that I’m grateful. Holidays have taken a hit, we would only expect a sun holiday now every 2 or 3 years.

But we do appreciate our privilege compared to many.

Reading through this thread, I'm starting to wonder where I went wrong! Plenty of qualifications/A levels/Degree yet not earning anywhere near £80k a year! Please can someone elaborate what type of jobs pay that type of income?!

Director of Information Security.

This is tech focused but it gives an idea of salary by role type

www.roberthalf.co.uk/salary-guide/industry/technology

I'm 57... I pick up more than both of you together ( I am semi retired with a pension and part time hours x 2 days).....I don't think you have great wages....maybe your partner could do a 2nd job.....but I guess it depends what your expenses are.. I don't have rent or mortgage and kids have left home and no loans or credit....so my and my partner could live on your wage....but it would be a pretty frugal lifestyle

Family of 4 here, two teenagers in the house. DH and myself are both working full time with just above NMW. We are at our early 40s. Combined monthly take home pay is £3000, we have a small mortgage, no debts, but I don’t seems saving any money each month, however living comfortably.

Not good if that's both of you working full time ? Is there any scope to increase hours or earnings?

We have a combined take home pay of £5100 our bills come to £2400 so this leaves us with enough left over to save etc. Not felt the pinch as of yet but I come from very humble beginnings so the cost of living crisis is never far from my mind.

It really depends on outgoings. Someone who bought a 3 bed house in the 90s on a similar wage would be far better off than someone who bought a house in 2020 with the same wage.

We earn £4K joint and live comfortably. After all bills/mortgage/phone/car etc I have £1K disposable income (to include food) and dp has his own. Think he has about £600 (i earn more). I also put 400-600 in savings. For me your joint income seems quite low.

Take home is £3100 per month, single parent but my business pays for my car, fuel and phone, and have very minimal outgoings with no debt so am not feeling the pinch but still like to be careful...I've been on less than you in the past and really had to budget for everything and go without, and I never want to be in that position again

I'm a single parent with an 18 year old at home
My take home pay is less than yours, with a contribution from my son, I have roughly the same as you. I have booked 2 UK holidays for the summer and a couple of long weekends
But I have no mortgage, my son pays his way. So I have wriggle room which younger families dont have.
There are lots of ways you can gain qualifications and improve your earnings, including apprenticeships.
What would you like to do ?

Our take home is around £5.5-£6.5k. We have a very low mortgage now. I’m aware of costs increasing and trying find ways to be frugal - to offset a very expensive holiday planned in 2023. We’re savers rather than spenders so it helps.

It's not about how much you earn and if you're happy with your current jobs and have no intentions of retraining that's fine too. It's all about what part of the UK you live in, your outgoings etc. For someone who lives in London your combined income would be difficult to live on. However, if you live up North it would be manageable.

If its more about not affording a holiday, you can do day trips with the kids, or camping on the cheap. Kids don't care about expensive holidays, they only care about the fun activities that they can do and spending time with you. The country is obsessed with money at the moment due to the cost of living and if you are seriously struggling speak to Citizens Advice who can support you further.
Hope this helps.