My salary is “above average” in the UK, but I’m living payday to payday

r/

A week after I have been paid, my account is empty. After rent, utilities, house costs, vehicle costs (can’t get to work without it) and food I’m now totally skint until payday which is in 5 weeks time. I have no money for hobbies, days out or recreation at all. I’ve cancelled all subscriptions (apart from Spotify, headphones at work or work in silence…noisy atmosphere, ear defenders)
If anything breaks, I’m fucked. Any unexpected bills, fucked. The prospect of saving is a joke.
I work 50 hours a week and travel 2 hours a day so real time work is 60 hours. As I said my salary is above average for both my profession and the UK, £49,000 before tax. How the hell is anyone managing to do anything these days? I haven’t got the time or energy for a second job and even then I’d be working my entire life for nothing.
Honestly fed up with this entire system of existence, just needed to vent…thanks for listening.

Comments

  1. Affectionate_Team679 Avatar

    Are you living above your means?

  2. StitchedQuicksand Avatar

    Can you break-down your expenses?

    Do you have an overview of what is coming in and going out?

    Everybody goes through these fases. It is not something to be ashamed of and it will help you out becoming a more complete human being.

    But do post numbers, we’d love to try and give you a hand!

  3. usx-tv Avatar

    You need to budget.

    Count every penny spent, identify where you are over spending, and adjust accordingly.

    Budget budget budget, this is the best thing you can feasibly do.

    You don’t even need to pay for it, you can just manually use a Google spreadsheet.

    Here’s what to do:

    Create all your categories, rent, insurance, electricity, water, petrol etc

    Add on other spending categories, groceries, fun money, kid school stuff

    Add some savings category as well, financial goals like an emergency fund, holiday fund, etc

    Stick a number to those categories, make sure it doesn’t surpass your income and all adds up.

    From there track every single purchase, to the allocated budget.

    You will quickly see where you are over spending, and will be able to re-assess your budget, or re-assess your spending habits.

  4. Ihavenolegs12345 Avatar

    Yes, that’s because you’re bad with money like the vast majority of people.

  5. Dramatic_Succotash54 Avatar

    Can you breakdown what your spending money on

    I don’t want to sound rude but this shouldn’t be happening

  6. losescrews Avatar

    Download one of them expense tracking apps and try to learn where you are hemorrhaging money.

  7. GlitteringVersion Avatar

    As frustrating as it is, I imagine this is mostly down to the fact at you’re a single person household who has children living with them half the time (they’re bloody expensive, especially as they get older).

    Could you get Child Benefit, if the other parent isn’t receiving that? It isn’t much but it’s something that could help increase your income.

    Solidarity though – I earn similar to you, we have another very decent income coming in, and some months we’re still struggling by the end of the month. We don’t have holidays, own two cars which we’ve had for years and bought outright – it’s the childcare, utilities and food costs that really do us in. Costs have just increased an insane amount over the last few years, and it makes surviving on a single income (even a very good one) challenging.

  8. Peachybbyyxx Avatar

    nah it’s sick how £49k don’t even mean stable anymore. like u can be doing everything right and still feel like ur drowning lmao wtf is this life.

  9. hijabiexplorer Avatar

    I notice many are budgeting for him but overlooking a major expense: child support (assuming if he needs to pay it unless its 50/50 custody) and costs for the children while they are in his care.

  10. SavagishlySleepy Avatar

    2 bedroom home?

    After reading other comment I found your solution.

    Stay in your kids room and rent the other room for half or more of the rent.

    Use that saved money to down payment on a more affordable place.

    I had the same set up(2 bedroom) apt and I gave the “masters’ bedroom up which had its own bathroom, for more than half the rent I only paid 40% of the rent and that saved so much fucking money it’s wild. The inconvenience of having to live in The smaller room didn’t even phase me.

  11. Poo_Poo_La_Foo Avatar

    OP I saw you have kids who you co parent, do you pay child maintenance or a similar arrangement to their other parent?

  12. dendarkjabberwock Avatar

    49000 before taxes sounds like a good money.
    What number is actually yours after taxes and after you paid for medical insurance and retirement funds?
    I am living on much lesser salary and can afford traveling with wife too. Around 32k in pounds after taxes. But I’m from much less expensive country.

  13. ImpressiveGrocery959 Avatar

    Join the club mate. County is in the gutter

  14. eFbot30 Avatar

    I think if you’re on your own anything under 70k a year will be a challenge… it’s absolutely shit mate.

  15. TheRealMouseRat Avatar

    You gotta marry someone who makes as much as you. Or live with friends. Sharing housing costs is a must.

  16. Logical_Response_Bot Avatar

    That’s the majority of developed countries atm.

    Capitalism is eating its own tail and is near the end stage mark

    Expect and advocate socialism for the future

  17. lightreee Avatar

    Do you have a gambling or alcohol addiction? I have an alcohol addiction and it’s fucking expensive

  18. mejok Avatar

    I live in Austria and can say the same. It also has to be said that it is a lifestyle thing. We own a house and have kids. Of course we didn’t have to buy a house. However the primary driver of us living paycheck to paycheck is just inflation. and the increased cost of living. I looked back over the last 4 or 5 months and was shocked at the amount we spent on groceries, but I was thinking “I don’t feel like we buy more stuff than we used to.” Then I looked up some data and saw that grocery prices here have risen by an average of 25%-30%.

  19. Mininabubu Avatar

    I feel you and believe you. It’s crazy how things are now. There was a time my husband and I did together around 230,000 yearly and we still couldn’t get a mortgage in the bank… even thought our contracts were full-time unlimited. Without a huge down payment (30% + notary fees), no way. And that to me is insane…

    The world’s economy is not for the weak of heart. The dream of owning a house, having a good normal job and being able to enjoy life is not a thing anymore. Even above average is struggling.

  20. Hermiona1 Avatar

    You are living in an expensive area, that’s the only thing I can think of that would make sense. I make about 27k before taxes and I save a ton of money but I pay little rent and other than gas and food don’t spend that much.

  21. RedsChronicles Avatar

    Put your incoming and outgoing finances into ChatGPT, ask it to come up with a budget plan or how to optimise your finances.

  22. Odd_Instruction519 Avatar

    To live well in the UK as a family with kids you need 2 decent incomes and some help from parents.

    That’s the reality.

  23. makeitmakesense44 Avatar

    I don’t mean to sound harsh but unfortunately £49K in the UK is just not much any more, especially with kids. The cost of everything is just insane.

    You already work a lot, so I can see why you wouldn’t want a 2nd job. Is moving jobs an option? Is moving area? Those are the two things I think could offer the biggest potential impact.

    Not sure how much extra you’d like a month to enjoy hobbies as that’s relative but could you potentially explore something like Vinted to sell clothes you don’t want to make a bit of passive income? It’s small sales but over time can add up to an extra hundred or so.

    Personally if I were you and if I had transferable skills I’d probably explore a new job, sector or industry to up my salary or take a drop in hours and pay then look for something more lucrative I could do in my spare time.

  24. LeTrolleur Avatar

    I earn around 10k less than you and have no problem supporting myself, maybe you can provide more specific numbers regarding your costs, type of car you have, etc. so we can help rather than just speculate…

  25. Bearing1991 Avatar

    To have a decent / confortable life in the UK. You need 2x household incomes and to be on £100k combined.

  26. FewTelevision3921 Avatar

    My boy was living on less than $25k in Chicago. We did fill up his fridge every 3-4 months but he made it on his own,

  27. towser420 Avatar

    Cocaine and hookers

  28. OneDayYoullBeFree Avatar

    How do you have 5 weeks between paychecks? That’s ridiculous

  29. Amnesiaftw Avatar

    Get a roommate, a cheaper place to live, or a cheaper car. I spent £19,500 for the whole year last year in the US.

  30. Bionic_Push Avatar

    That sucks man. Have you considered a different career path?

  31. DismalCut9876 Avatar

    Honestly eating out is huge if you do the math on it. So it’s a good idea to do a monthly tracker. When you get an accurate picture you might see where some expenses are happening that you’re missing. I did this and eat at home/meal prep for lunch now and it made a big difference for the end of the month savings.

  32. EvolvingEachDay Avatar

    Are you living alone on a sole income or do you have a working partner? Also, do you have kids?

  33. lottienonchalant Avatar

    Getting paid monthly shouldn’t be a thing. 

  34. federicovidalz Avatar

    We need political action to change this. The situation in rich countries is becoming like the one I knew in my poor country and that’s simply rich people owning more and more that’s it. It’s outrageous, unbearable and unacceptable especially in rich countries that working class people experience this and it’s normal now.

  35. unserious-dude Avatar

    I used money (software) and then Intuit free for decades. Counted every penny. Literally. I am very comfortable now and do not need to that. I am in US though.

  36. SavagishlySleepy Avatar

    This post seems off, or OP is just stubborn and dumb and doesn’t want to let go of things like his Audi s3, or small but expensive house or listen to any real advice.

    The real title for this post should be:

    “How to up-skill and get more money that I’ll eventually lose because I’m stubborn and financially illiterate; are stocks and bitcoin a good investment”

    You’re locked in a loop bro you gotta give something up.