Im looking for staff - any ideas?

[Combat squirrel]

I'd say it 100% comes down to where your living and how irresponsible you are.

In the North East minimum wage is around £20k a year before taxes. Which is more than enough if your alone and your not living above your means with a £400k house on a 5% deposit or living in a house with rent of £700+ that you shouldn't be in. Easy enough to get monthy expenses below 1k up here.

But then you have to factor in what kind of life someone has lived up until that point and how much they have in monthly repayments. Most people have debt of some kind, now now now want want want

Food is where many people go wrong. Ditch the brand names. Easy to eat on under £100 a month without trying (one person) can get it lower if you put the slightest thought into it. I spend about £15 a week.

Completely disagree it comes '100%' down to how people live, you're just offering advise here on how to cope on poverty wages, rather than questioning if that's how it should be.

a lot of people seem to miss that in a society we shouldn't have to go without shelter, food and safety, that was what nature naturally offers.

It's quite simple, the rich are too rich, and if you care for your fellow people it comes at zero cost to you and the rich still remain rich.

You have to have mental health problems if you disagree with that, acting this way only levels up those in desperate need - its complete propaganda and nonsense to spout info that helping the poor lead a minimum level of a quality of life would affect middle class bob - it's really not that much of a mental leap to see how a handful of people owning the vast majority of all wealth are the real 'leeches' - they hoard it, its easy to understand that.

 

[OspreyO]

For sure people can cut their costs and move where the living costs are cheaper and accept a cheaper lifestyle.

But if they do that, they won't filling any of these jobs. So companies will have to move and follow the workers or allow remote working.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Lord above, you continuously miss the point.

THE POINT IS: A person should be able to work any job, and be able to live off it - so YEAH if someone is working full time in a supermarket - given how much the cost is living these days, they will need to be making AT LEAST 30k a year to simply survive in a humane way - much less and it makes no sense to work for anyone as whats the point in working if you can't pay to live, either way you're homeless.

In fact, 30k a year should and needs to be minimum wage for full time work, nothing less makes any sense.

Plenty of money to do this, except its all given away as profits to shareholders right now - you could easily pay everyone 30k a year and those billionaires would STILL be billionaires

You live expensive if you think you need 30k a year to get by.

 

[malachi]

You live expensive if you think you need 30k a year to get by.

From where I see it. Everything is going up apart from peoples wages.

I was on 35K in the Midlands area and I was doing "ok" but this was 4 years ago.

 

[MatsyLR]

Completely disagree it comes '100%' down to how people live, you're just offering advise here on how to cope on poverty wages, rather than questioning if that's how it should be.

a lot of people seem to miss that in a society we shouldn't have to go without shelter, food and safety, that was what nature naturally offers.

My monthly expenses are around £800 without even trying. £1500 base wage after taxes every month. I have everything I want and can buy whatever I want when I want and will be mortgage free in around 8 years (I'm 32)

The difference is, I don't care for fancy things or brand names. Anything I purchase has to have a benefit to me beyond "I just want it"

No brand names
No subscriptions
No phone contracts (I tend to flip between Lyca and Lebera) , currently on a 1p sim with 3gb of data for 6 months. Even get cashback through topcashback.co.uk for my trouble. Had a xiaomi mi 9t since release until recently and now have a Xiaomi poco F5 which will last many many years
No car finance, I own my car outright
No or very little eating out or take aways, just throwing money away
No debt (apart from mortgage!)

I've only worked low pay jobs and no help from mam and dad apart from letting me stay in the family home while I wast saving money for a house deposit.

Easily put away £600+ away in savings every month to spend on what I want. Sometimes over £1k depending on my bonus for the month.
Have a savings pot I never touch for anything that comes up, car repairs, unexpected appliance failure etc
Recently a LG C2 to replace a Panasonic Plasma that has served me well and looking to buy a new sofa.

I don't know what else I could want or need apart from things that I have no interest in. Live my life quite freely and without much worry about money on "low pay"

I cannot wrap my head around how many people are just completely skint. Many of my work colleagues are waiting for pay day every month but they put themselves into that situation. Buy buy buy now now now. Credit cards is not my money so it doesn't matter!

 

[FloppyPoppy]

From where I see it. Everything is going up apart from peoples wages.

I was on 35K in the Midlands area and I was doing "ok" but this was 4 years ago.

I’m currently on 35200 a year in the north west and have over £1200 a month spare after my necessities & bills. That imo is a lot better than “ok”

being thrifty saves a fortune for example i pay £6 a month for my phone sim which gets me unlimited calls and texts and 30gb of data. Opposed to the ludicrous contracts i regularly see these days of £80 + a month. I won’t get a new phone until my current one breaks. And even then i would try to fix it.

We budget the food shop and don’t go above what we budget. If we want “treats” then it needs to fit in the budget and necessities always come first.

we have a cheap internet package and don’t own a tv nor any tv / streaming subscriptions.

I could easily spend hundreds of pounds extra per month on just the above but what do i gain from doing that? a phone that does exactly the same as mine. more treats from the shop and a faster internet package to browse the internet… it’s all worthless to me i have no justification for spending so much money on stuff that we would never use heavily

 

[OspreyO]

Sounds like you've splashed out on new phones and internet when you could just used free internet and 2nd hand phones. Or used the library for free.

Four Yorkshire men did this a lot better.

 

[malachi]

I’m currently on 35200 a year in the north west and have over £1200 a month spare after my necessities & bills. That imo is a lot better than “ok”

being thrifty saves a fortune for example i pay £6 a month for my phone sim which gets me unlimited calls and texts and 30gb of data. Opposed to the ludicrous contracts i regularly see these days of £80 + a month. I won’t get a new phone until my current one breaks. And even then i would try to fix it.

We budget the food shop and don’t go above what we budget. If we want “treats” then it needs to fit in the budget and necessities always come first.

we have a cheap internet package and don’t own a tv nor any tv / streaming subscriptions.

I could easily spend hundreds of pounds extra per month on just the above but what do i gain from doing that? a phone that does exactly the same as mine. more treats from the shop and a faster internet package to browse the internet… it’s all worthless to me i have no justification for spending so much money on stuff that we would never use heavily

My point wasn't about spending. My point was you can be on the OK salary for years but inflation and cost of living will eat away at your salary. Long term you end up poorer and your OK salary isn't OK anymore.

Budget all you want but it doesn't increase your salary. But if you have an two income house hold you don't really notice as much.

 

[A2Z]

My monthly expenses are around £800 without even trying!

I wish I had that.. just my rent is £1k

You say you don't understand how people are always skint.. I'm curious, how many times have you been on holiday during the last 10 years?

 

[Lopéz]

My monthly expenses are around £800 without even trying. £1500 base wage after taxes every month. I have everything I want and can buy whatever I want when I want and will be mortgage free in around 8 years (I'm 32)

The difference is, I don't care for fancy things or brand names. Anything I purchase has to have a benefit to me beyond "I just want it"

No brand names
No subscriptions
No phone contracts (I tend to flip between Lyca and Lebera) , currently on a 1p sim with 3gb of data for 6 months. Even get cashback through topcashback.co.uk for my trouble. Had a xiaomi mi 9t since release until recently and now have a Xiaomi poco F5 which will last many many years
No car finance, I own my car outright
No or very little eating out or take aways, just throwing money away
No debt (apart from mortgage!)

I've only worked low pay jobs and no help from mam and dad apart from letting me stay in the family home while I wast saving money for a house deposit.

Easily put away £600+ away in savings every month to spend on what I want. Sometimes over £1k depending on my bonus for the month.
Have a savings pot I never touch for anything that comes up, car repairs, unexpected appliance failure etc
Recently a LG C2 to replace a Panasonic Plasma that has served me well and looking to buy a new sofa.

I don't know what else I could want or need apart from things that I have no interest in. Live my life quite freely and without much worry about money on "low pay"

I cannot wrap my head around how many people are just completely skint. Many of my work colleagues are waiting for pay day every month but they put themselves into that situation. Buy buy buy now now now. Credit cards is not my money so it doesn't matter!

Holidays
Clothing
Hobbies
Social activities

Or do you not do any of those things?

I see from another post you allow £15 a week for food, that doesn't sound like a great deal of fun.

 

[Vince]

15 quid a week for food? How does one even manage that? I spent over a tenner today on lunch. A loaf of bread is £2 down here in the south east. I'm not convinced 15 a week on food is even doable down here. Perhaps it is but I couldn't do it.

 

[Quartz]

I'm not convinced 15 a week on food is even doable down here.

Maybe he's military and gets most of his food for free in the staff Mess.

 

[Vince]

Maybe he's military and gets most of his food for free in the staff Mess.

Taking those rations seriously!

 

[MatsyLR]

15 quid a week for food? How does one even manage that? I spent over a tenner today on lunch. A loaf of bread is £2 down here in the south east. I'm not convinced 15 a week on food is even doable down here. Perhaps it is but I couldn't do it.

Loaf of bread is 45p up here.
Is it branded? No, just used for beans on toast.
Tin of beans 45p. Three slices of toast around about 2p each so 51p for a filling meal around 600 calories

99p for a 750g box of cereal. About 100g per portion so around 12p. 200ml of milk around 15p. There's say 30p for a bowl of cereal for around 400 calories.

Around £1 for 2 chicken burgers (Iceland 26 for £10) with buns and a handful of frozen chips whacked in the air fryer for dinner if I want chicken otherwise can be much cheaper.. Around 800-900 calories.

Bowl of oats with milk costs barely anything. Always keep a bag of just essential oats in the cubboard for something cheap and filling like 10p for 300 calories.

That's around 2000-2200 calories at around the £2 mark without trying. Lots of ways to get enough calories on the cheap. This doesn't include fruit/veg ofc but easy enough to mix it in.

Do I treat myself? Yeah of course sometimes but I don't buy brands. Supermarket own stuff is perfectly fine. I have a big sweet tooth and aldi dairyfine milk chocolate 200g 99p is always at the ready. I also have takeaways sometimes which obviously break the £15 a week but I'm talking base food shop, the essentials. Have plenty in savings to splurge when I want for biscuits, chocolate etc whatever I fancy. Get £50 a monthly interest in chip which of sets most of the "extras"

Just bought a TV for £1100, and a sofa for £700. And weighing up options to redo my bathroom and get new flooring laid in the entire house which will be around 6-7k for both. Don't need to worry about the money as I have it already just waiting till early next year so I don't dip below a certain threshold in savings that is my buffer zone I never want to go below (10k). Also paying 10% of the mortgage every January without much issue as I can save plenty during the year to offset it (currently £33k remaining of a start of £38k this february) so that will be finished in around 8 years or so.

I don't eat breakfast and I rarely eat lunch if I'm at work though. Usually skip it unless I'm at home (work 4 days a week)

 

[MatsyLR]

Holidays
Clothing
Hobbies
Social activities

Or do you not do any of those things?

I see from another post you allow £15 a week for food, that doesn't sound like a great deal of fun.

I don't care for holidays. I unwind by reading a good book or good tvshow.
I don't need more clothes, havnt bought anything apart from socks and underwear in a few years. Plain t-shirts and shorts mostly, tend to wear the same thing every day (apart from work cloths which are provided). Even when I need to you can get plain tees that last a long time for like £5.
I don't like the company of people so social activities are non existent for the most part.
Hobbies are things that just need electric for myself.

I'm I a boring person? Yeah probably. I live a simple life.

 

[Lopéz]

I don't care for holidays. I unwind by reading a good book or good tvshow.
I don't need more clothes, havnt bought anything apart from socks and underwear in a few years. Plain t-shirts and shorts mostly, tend to wear the same thing every day (apart from work cloths which are provided). Even when I need to you can get plain tees that last a long time for like £5.
I don't like the company of people so social activities are non existent for the most part.
Hobbies are things that just need electric for myself.

I'm I a boring person? Yeah probably. I live a simple life.

Aye, tbh you sound like a riot. But if you're happy then all good.

 

[A2Z]

I'm I a boring person? Yeah probably. I live a simple life.

That explains it then

Most other people like to live a little and explore. I couldn't imagine not going abroad at least twice a year, every year.

I've been spending £5k-£10k a year just on holidays for the last 10 years or so (no children). Seeing new thing, new experiences , making memories, that's priceless IMO.