overtime just to cover living costs
- Thread starter ozaudio
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2013
- Posts
- 9,350
We've bought the kids used stuff before, although the vast majority was brand new. I can see the savings, although we weren't stupid enough to buy something like a silver Cross pram bran8c new
. There's a lots of things I wish we'd bought used as there are massive savings, although now the kids are older (5 and 8), I think they enjoy stuff being boxed and new.
Sky is being cancelled at the beginning of April and I will have to start doing some more hours to cover things going up. We could suck the extra costs up but I just don't want to live so close to the bread line. I'd rather work 6 days a week than have to scrimp and scrape though every month.
I'm self employed and earn decent money but I also have 2 kids and a wife that is about it start her own business venture
I'm self employed and earn decent money but I also have 2 kids and a wife that is about it start her own business venture
They wont, its been happening for years and the government is well aware of it.
Its a strategic way of keeping the poor, poor. The same people who choose to work less than 16 hours and claim benefit are the same people who, will never be in a job to be promoted, never be leaders, never be managers, never be home owners. Basically never be rich or well off, the less people at the top, the better. That's the way the government wants to keep it.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Apr 2010
- Posts
- 5,289
- Location
- Ipswich
Some
Of these new prices are ridiculous.
One of my friends electricity went up to I think it was £360-390 a month, was previously just under £200 if I am remembering correctly.
They see a family and so their usage may be a little higher but generally this is completely unaffordable for some, it’s a significant amount of their minuscule left over income.
A lot of people are not wasting their money on frivolous things and they still won’t be able to afford it.
Of these new prices are ridiculous.
One of my friends electricity went up to I think it was £360-390 a month, was previously just under £200 if I am remembering correctly.
They see a family and so their usage may be a little higher but generally this is completely unaffordable for some, it’s a significant amount of their minuscule left over income.
A lot of people are not wasting their money on frivolous things and they still won’t be able to afford it.
Do you have a source for this? Looking at income percentiles published by the government it's only the bottom third that earn below £20k from what I can see. Take away the top 10% and the mid-point would be around the 45th percentile.
As for buying kids second hand stuff I definitely think it is worth doing because there will be so many things that other families no longer need due to their kids outgrowing them, that are in great condition. I don't practice what I preach too much but I look at all the kids books, toys etc we have acquired new over the years and we could probably have saved over £1000 buying secondhand with little discernible dip in quality.
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
- Posts
- 8,077
Good god, landlords really are milking it aren't they no wonder the BTL market has gone mad in this country and to think one elderly person I used to know was complaining the rental on her 3 bedroom council house she lived in alone had gone up to £55 a month...
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 13,122
- Location
- The Orion Spur
Same down here, makes me angry, who on earth can afford those prices?, I understand having to raise rents due to costs but landlords are milking it, greedy *******, I'm at the point where I'm temped to move up north and grab a cheap terraced house for 30k in a crap run down area and just try and make the most of it.
Rental prices are nuts in the south. I found out recently that my bud is paying £1600 per month for a 2-bed terrace. He could mortgage one for significantly less than that but of course the bank says it's unaffordable.
Soldato
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 13,001
I honestly worry about how some people afford things,
Generalising but when you see people getting in credit for crazy new car deals and credit for holidays etc, I just cringe. How do people do it?
I must be doing something wrong, I am on a fairly ok wage with a low mortgage, no car payments and even I am considering cutting back for future fuel and energy prices. I don't even have netflix lol
Generalising but when you see people getting in credit for crazy new car deals and credit for holidays etc, I just cringe. How do people do it?
I must be doing something wrong, I am on a fairly ok wage with a low mortgage, no car payments and even I am considering cutting back for future fuel and energy prices. I don't even have netflix lol
Cool flex bro, LOL!
I think this is off base. According to the ONS the median salary for full time workers was £31461 in 2020. I'd use this number for comparison. You are probably quite a bit behind where you thought you were compared to others.
I think this goes towards answering your question
https://www.ft.com/content/52b91b92-1780-4c84-ae11-4017a315ada7
I knew there were a lot of people not very good at maths (I know plenty!) but that's shocking. If they're struggling with basic numeracy then throw on top of that financial planning, understanding credit %'s, APR and they really just don't have a clue so they stick their head in the sand about it all.
I am crap at maths, I got below a grade C in GCSE. But its common sense to know, if you cant afford it then don't buy it. Too many people don't follow that rule, too busy chasing the new and shiny, shiny.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 13,122
- Location
- The Orion Spur
I don't understand how he is being refused a mortgage paying £1600 on rent! is he single?
Deposit probably.
It's hard to guage. London and high earners skew the numbers, which I doubt many statisticians care to correct for. According to wage comparison sites I'm "overpaid" by about £5k for my job title (London) but I could probably get another £5k if I were to move jobs, having looked around. That's a big discrepancy, something isn't right
I'd say you are not doing something wrong actually.
Watch those people you talk about with the fancy cars etc, it'll catch up with them at some point.
deposit, or that [house price less his deposit] is worth more than 5x his income.
High earners don't undesirably skew the median. Regional differences probably do need to be accounted for to paint a more accurate picture but to some extent it's just that the higher paying job types are more frequently located in London.
The fact that you could get paid an extra £5k by moving jobs doesn't mean something isn't right. It's totally normal that you have more negotiating power during the hiring process than when you are a long tenured employee. Comparison sites just use self reported data from employees, whereas ONS data uses PAYE information across all employees.