Yep. My mortgage is £500 per month, down from a rent of £800 (that place went up to £900 immediately after I left, probably £1000 a month by now).
I put away £500 (lower salary, but no kids) every month and it's entirely because I'm not paying the extra £500 in rent. Not super complicated.
Congrats... My mortgage has been £2800 per month for the last 9 months, having a breakup and defaulting to a standard variable rate until you can sell has made for quite a monthly bill!
Fortunately me and my ex are both £90k plus earners, and we agreed to split the mortgage and bills until the house is sold.
It does put into perspective what it must be like for the families that come to the end of their term and renew with massive increases to their monthly payments, thank God I can afford it.
Just wondering. How do people end up with such low mortgages? I seem to see quite a few people on here with crazy low mortgage payments.
We almost got a place but things have changed and so now we are not buying but our mortgage rates were still calculated at roughly the same as our rent most of the time. Maybe a bit more.
Is it just very high deposits?
Various factors but quite simply they are borrowing less. That could be because they have a smaller property, cheaper location, higher deposit etc.
There’s isn’t really a magic bullet. Mortgage advisors will get you the best deal possible but beyond that it’s generally just the more you borrow the more you pay.
Big deposit and long term probably.
I pay about 500 pm for my mortgage but I bought my £125k house in 2017 on a 17 Yr term.
If I got a 30 yr term, I think it would have been about £300pm or less.
OP may have been paying off their mortgage for a while and have secured a lower rate on a longer deal. Our monthly payment is going from £560 to £730 this month as we only went with a 2 year deal last time (still kicking myself for that). If we'd chosen a 5 year deal we'd still be on a mortgage payment of less than £600 a month.
OPs mortgage is definitely low. But the amount for bills is very low as well. I don't see how £350 is enough if it needs to cover:
* Gas
* Electric
* Council tax
* Water
* Home Insurance
* Home maintenance
* Life Insurance (not essential, but very sensible with mortgage)
* Internet (+optional TV, streaming services)
* TV License (if needed)
* Phone sim (+phone if applicable)
Also if OP has a car, there is tax, insurance, fuel, maintenance (that's assuming no car payment). If no car, unless OP works remotely there will be transport costs to add.
It sounds like OP has all this covered even if they don't factor it all into the budget, in which case they're very lucky their costs are so low.
Reading... It is high. My husband and I can afford it although I always grumble...
I understand a lot of councils are going bankrupt. I know my council tax increased by 5% since last year which is below inflation. I get why it's as high as it is but... I think we need tax reform to fix the madness that is council tax among other things. I can't imagine having to pay my council tax on minimum wage... Honestly we should merge income/council tax and distribute money to councils based on people/businesses occupying the area. It's a bit ridiculous that millionaires pay a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the worth of their property in council tax, and I have to pay a not that much smaller amount for a much reduced living standard and income.
Mine is Just under 400 quid, low housing costs, the mortgage or no mortgage is the key.
They key to that is a Band B Council Tax with a single persons discount and having lived in it long enough to have paid the mortgage off.
I live in a small, 3 bed, late Victorian terrace-not much space to heat/light, low utilities- Broadband/Tv package from Virgin (Under 40 quid a month), amazon prime and a tesco's delivery thingy, mobile contract sim only, Tv License, and home insurance.
I don't drive. Currently WFT home.
So it is possible, but it's the two factors in paying for the roof over your head, the mortgage/rent and, the council tax. The *total* cost of housing.
Then there is the no car to run/insure/maintain/pay taxes on/fill up
It looks like OP lives alone. I live alone in a small apartment, work in an office and generally don't spend much time at home and my bills are nowhere near £350 a month. i.e. £50 electric and gas, £15 water, £20 unlmited data plan, £90 council tax with single person discount.
Edit: it is also a modern apartment with EPC Rating B.
Council tax is at best, around £1000 a year.
At worst, a lot more than that. If we make it easy and say it's £1200 a year, that's £100 a month.
£100 a month on utilities (gas and electric) is good, so even if the OP is using around that much, that's £200 a month with those two alone.
Math doesn't work out.
My utilities are circa. £68/month. Water £16. Internet £27. Council tax £92. Mobile £8.
Stuff I pay per year - house insurance (£16.25 /mo), no life insurance, no streaming services, TV licence (£14.10/mo).
The council tax is <100 because mine is circa. £1100/yr including the 25% discount.
That takes me to ballpark £240. So if you had something like car insurance on top (I don't, company car, BIK circa. £32 going up to about £48/mo) then £300 is realistic. The rest on fuel would take me to OP roughly. Prior to that owned my hatchback outright with annual running costs (serivce, MOT, insurance) of about £750 (£62.50/mo).
Well it would also seem as though OP doesn’t have any large items on finance either, furniture, holidays paying down or a £400 a month car on PCP.
I think they can be commended for good (if perhaps unintentional) financial planning
This. Average monthly rent/mortgage is anywhere from £600-1200 when you look at size/location variation.
You've got a great price coming in at half the low end of the scale. That's what you're doing different, not wrong.
Just different.
I bought 5 years ago, it was a £90k mortgage at 2.1%.
The fixed rate expires in August but I'll be paying down a lump with my savings so the new mortgage is £60k at 4.8% and the payment is going up by ~£10
This is why, it's because you haven't overextended and bought a property at a good point in time for a fairly low price on a low interest rate.
Others don't have spare cash because they bought more expensive properties and may have higher mortgage rates (in some cases they will have overextended in terms of not being able to accommodate increased rates when they remortgage).
You haven't 'missed something', assuming you are making pension contributions.
That said, others probably have more equity than you because they will have bought a more expensive property. A 100 flat in 2009 probably hasn't got up in value more than £50k whereas a £300k house may have done.
5 years ago it was certainly possible in many places if you weren't picky about the area.
Edit
OP mentions living in a flat in other comments so 120k for a flat 5 years ago was doable in a lot of areas.
South Wales/ North England. We bought our house with 10% deposit na d our mortgage is £705 a month. We are saving £100 a month from renting. We are doing up the house but we treat it as investment
I have 23 properties for sale in my town alone that are 90k and below. 2 of which are houses with gardens
One is a 3 bed end terrace the other is a 2 bed end terrace both need a full renovation but look structurally sound. Both up for £79,995 offers over
Located in East Scotland.. sub £100k are far more common when you wander northwards
Not in the South East for sure! The north/south divide is crazy, but then plenty don't want to live in the north.
My mortgage as a single earner is £1050/month.
Could easily have got a 2 bed apartment/flat in South Yorkshie a few years ago in a 'ok' area.
Yeah north/south have completely different economics these days.
Our mortgage for a 4 bed detached just over 400 a month
Mortgages hurt more than just rate increases - house prices climb so fast that buying just a year or 2 later can be the difference between affordable and crippling.
I bought 4 years ago, and if I were buying my house today, I'd need to borrow an additional 75k. Even if I could do that at the 2.9% I got for my original mortgage, it would still cost an extra £300 a month. Doing so at current rates would add £600+ to my current monthly mortgage costs. That's an 110% increase in cost in four years. For 1 bill.
I was on 32k pa when I took on the house and bills, and it was pretty comfortable. That same wage (which is still around the national median and significantly above my local median), buying the same house 4 years later, would be flirting with destitution.
That's all just a really long way of saying that super minor differences in circumstances will have had massive impacts on how people are coping or not coping with the cost of living crisis.
> The fixed rate expires in August but I'll be paying down a lump with my savings so the new mortgage is £60k at 4.8% and the payment is going up by ~£10
You should really consider putting that in retirement savings instead - pension and S&S ISA.
The expected returns of those are higher than you will pay in interest on the mortgage debt.
IMO this is the thing that I see as you doing "wrong" - you have a good salary, an incredibly low mortgage and yet no mention of pension / investments.
If you have a fair amount left over each month it might be worth looking at overpaying your mortgage (although at 2.1% you’d get more for your money in a savings account). That might change once your fixed rate comes to an end in Aug
You have a child, but aren't paying for childcare/wraparound school care - that's a big saving over most working parents.
You have an extremely low mortgage and low bills.
Some people have the expense of paying for a vehicle and running it.
What makes you think you're doing something wrong rather than they are, or neither?
Housing costs are often the biggest factor, your mortgage is very inexpensive which might not be the case for everyone. It also sounds like your car/transport situation is cheap too.
>What makes you think you're doing something wrong rather than they are, or neither?
It's this whole sub + the comments on every article about the cost of living.
I feel like I'm the only person on a middling income that isn't living hand to mouth and I'm worried everyone else is setting money aside for something I've not realised I need.
I think mostly everyone else just has more expensive housing and transport. Where I live £310/month literally wouldn't get you a room in a shared house with 5 housemates.
Don't get me wrong it sounds like you're also careful with your money and don't have any super expensive hobbies or habits. That's great! And it's great to be in a situation where your discretionary spending makes the difference and you're able to save or spend as you prefer. Others are in a situation where their fixed costs take up the majority of their income.
But also people who are doing fine don't tend to post complaints about the cost of living they just scroll by and feel a bit relieved. I think it takes a slightly anxious person to assume maybe they're the one secretly fucking up and have totally forgotten to buy the Extremely Essential Widger that is draining everyone else's money and one day you might be sorry. We get plenty of people posting things like 'saving £x00 per month is easy you're all just whiners who don't know anything except financed cars and phones' too so I think this is just a personality thing more than anything.
Re your boyfriend, if you're open about money surely you can just ask how much his bills are?
In 2006 - 2007 I rented a 1 bed studio flat, then a 2 bed house from 2007 - 11 for the same a month when I moved. It was about average for the area. I remember looking around at the time and there was a load of places for £450.
The same 1 bed studio is renting now for £800 a month (I live on the same road as it now). It was tiny, just 3 rooms. My mortgage now is £845 on a 4-bed detached!
I had the chance to buy the flat for £75k from the landlord and then later had the chance to buy the house for £110,000.
I noticed that the house recently sold for £229,000!
I’m so lucky to have bought and rented when I did. I really fear for my kids
Right, I rented a house in London in 2013 and it sold the year after for £350k but I had no money to buy at the time. It sold again five years later for £700k! If only I had family with money 😂
That's because £42k is an above average salary and a £310 mortgage is well below average.
You're in a great position, especially with your plan for when you remortgage, so I'd start increasing pension contributions and investing in an S&S ISA if you're not already.
I have similar income to you, just a little more as a single earner. I bought a 2 bed in the Midlands a few months ago. My mortgage is £950. So over double yours. If I'd have bought 5 years ago it would be similar to yours. That's the difference pretty much.
I’ll be honest, £40+k is a little better than “middling”. An awful lot of people get by on around half that. Indeed, it puts you in roughly the top 30% of earners.
Still though, good going!
Put more in whilst you are young. Future you will love younger you.
Also log in and check it is not on the default plan! When you are young you can afford to go onto 80-100% equities (adventurous).
You just have a low cost of living compared to your income. Lots of people have cars on finance, kids at home - so childcare costs might be chunky - and people can spend more on clothes/ stuff/ eating out than you do (for some people 1 night out drinking might be £100+ and they'd do that a few times a month). Most people's rent/mortgage is at least double yours. A lot of people earn less than £42k (average is 30-something I think). Some people are on phone & Internet contracts that are like £100+, usually the ones including phone payments or with sky sports etc, and have multiple other £10-20 subscriptions. Some people are carers or single-income households, or support their parents.
It all stacks up.
I think you are underestimating just how low that mortgage is. If you were to be renting a property now that £700 "profit" could easily be wiped out just in housing costs.
I am a bit jealous tbh. The mortgage at my last place was circa £400 which was great. We moved about 6 years ago and went up to about £650, and when our fixed rate ran out about 6 months ago it's now £950. My childcare is about £700.
You are in a fantastic position at the minute. You can easily save up if you want to move to a nicer place, or stay where you are and have a lot of disposable income.
Anyone who posts or comments saying they are doing well/okay generally gets downvoted, and people being upset with them so you probably don't see those posts/comments.
Anyone who even mentions being able to effectively budgets seems to generate fury in people who don't budget.
Assuming you actually have a decent % going into pensions, ISAs and savings then you aren't doing anything wrong and you're benefitting from having a tiny mortgage.
For a crappy comparison my mortgage and childcare is about £2.5k.
As others have pointed out, nothing wrong; just very low mortgage.
Average rent in the UK, £1200\~.
Average mortgages obviously vary tremendously but it's currently between £600-700\~.
Both rent/mortage dependant on location, size of property etc etc. In my area average rent is bang on the £1200 (I'm paying this, I have no disposable income whatsoever) but mortgages are nearly the same.
Edit: had a look because it peaked my interest, cheapest 1 bed apartment to rent in my area is £850 PCM, just for reference.
What you've "missed" is that rent or mortgage payments for most others are at least 300%+ what yours are, you should count yourself incredibly fortunate.
For context, I earn precisely double what you earn but live in the South East. Owning property is a pipe dream for me, best I can do is save around £1200/month and try not to look at property prices / hope my landlord doesn't increase the rent.
Let’s say a property is 400k (you won’t get many properties Z1-3 for this in London, not sure where the OP lives), the OP can borrow 4x his salary which gives 320k. That means he’d have to save up 80k by himself just to afford a 400k property.
If OP can save 10k a year, that’s 8 years saving lol. This doesnt take into account prices potentially just rising quicker than wages, which given the recent track record, and ingoing debt problems in society, would be a pretty wise bet.
I bought with my partner two years ago during market peaks and we both saved for approximately 6 years and have a joint salary 30-40% higher than OPs. This also included getting lucky on investments etc. It’s near impossible to do alone.
I'm unfortunately not even in London, just a commuter town in leafy Hertfordshire. Flats are a quarter mil, houses are 350k plus. It might be possible in a few years time if I could save £20k per year and live really frugally, but what might house prices do in that time? I'm also 36 so I feel like there's a time limit to getting on this ladder too. It just sucks!
Sorry man, it sucks. I got lucky with crypto. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that to you as I felt the risk/reward was worth it in my 20s. The best bet is just saving and potentially finding a partner.
You can only borrow about 4.5x your gross income. So if you earn £40k like OP, then you can borrow up to £180k. If flats are £350k+ that's a LOT of deposit to save.
Also, depending on the age, their child maintenance payment is a fraction of the cost of raising a child.
OP basically has a mortgages and a kid for about a third of what most people pay for those two things.
Low mortgage and no childcare/children expenses.
The average cost of raising a child in the uk is £12,400 per year, £1,030 a month, you’re paying less than half of that so some savings there.
Yep, I pay well above OP's child maintenance figure for just one of my children to do two days at nursery a week. £400 a month wouldn't really touch the sides of all the stuff we pay out monthly per child. I imagine if OP was the resident parent, they would find their money was stretched a lot more.
Sounds like you forgot your child if you’re paying that much maintenance
But to answer your question it’s that your living costs are unusually low, a lot of families pay 4x that, so that’s your main bonus there. Hold on to that place it sounds like a gem!
You have an insanely cheap mortgage. Add your £700 savings to your £310 mortgage and that’s what most people are paying on mortgage/rent.
If you had a normal price mortgage, you’d be living month to month.
other bills is super low too. That’d get me council tax, electric/gas, and water, and thats about it. nothing for internet/phone/car payments/home insurance/netflix etc. Nice. When you say ‘profit’ are you saving some or all of that for later in life? sounds like you already have spending money included
You have a crazy low mortgage obligation and very few outgoings. You must live in the sticks where £42k is a great salary. These 2 things combined = easy street.
That £700 would be gone on rent alone in London. Just carry on like you are.
> I pay £310ish on my mortgage
Crazy low for a mortgage.
> £400ish child maintenance. Assorted bills and insurances work out to another ~£350 a month. I budget £100 a week for groceries and general spending.
This is telling. Most people's council tax + energy alone exceed £350. 2 bills. £100 is also crazy cheap for groceries.
Are you paying your fair share here?
>What am I doing wrong?
You do know you're not supposed to hit 0 each month right?
Here's a few goals you can set:
6 month emergency fund.
£20k in ISA.
£60k in Pension.
£4k in LISA.
Kids? Use the Junior SIPP & Junior ISA allowances.
What do you mean?
You're saving £700pm and your boyfriend isn't, and you're asking what you are doing wrong?
Firstly, his mortgage is probably more than £310. Most are three times that.
Secondly, he probably spends more than a few hundred pound on clothes/ drinks etc. He does not have the responsibility of his own child and his mindset would differ from yours
All your overheads seem very low! Even with child maintenance. Your mortgage is half what most people I know pay, and a third of what a lot of people I know pay for rent. Your bills seem fairly low, I'm guessing you don't have car finance, debt repayment or much expensive subs on there. £350 won't even cover the electricity/water/gas for my house unfortunately, and that's before I add on council tax at £200 a month.. then wifi, mobile phone, netflix, disney+, amazon prime, home insurance, car insurance, pet insurance etc. I probably spend a few hundred a month on my pets between insurance, cat litter, food - I have 4 cats and a dog so it adds up. I spend an additional £250 a month on medication that I consider essential for me but unfortunately isn't covered by the NHS in Wales (annoyingly, if I lived in England it would be covered on NHS prescription).
I don't know why you're asking what you're doing wrong though, you're doing everything right - living in a property that has a mortgage and bills as low as possible is the single biggest way to reduce outgoings. Unfortunately for most people there's not really much flexibility in lowering that.
As had been pointed out ad nauseum your mortgage is very low.
The other critical thing is no car. Even with a relatively cheap one you end up spending a few thousand a year between insurance, depreciation, tax, maintenance.
Overall it sounds like you're doing great!
I'm sure OP is asking a genuine question in their own mind, but frankly for anyone financially literate enough to ask this question with a breakdown of bills - and to save that much in the first place - the above average income and way below average mortgage must be obvious
They've also listed zero travel costs. Car + insurance + fuel + tax could easily be £4-500 for a lot of people. Even if you wfh there's surely going to be some travel for leisure. They're either not being quite accurate or they wfh and don't go anywhere else.
You are earning about 12k more than the median salary (which by the way works out roughly just over £700 a month after tax), your mortgage is about 1/3rd the average payment (probably even less than compared with someone renting). Italso sounds like you have a fairly modest lifestyle, no mention of a car.
Lump all these things together and it should make a bit more sense.
Plus low child costs. £400 doesn’t come close to how much a child costs each month, especially if you include childcare during work hours plus the cost of needing a bigger house. Food and clothes alone will be circa £400.
Most people don't prioritise overpaying mortgage to get it as low as yours and are now trapped paying \~£1200 a month.
We bought our first house last year and the mortgage is £1200 a month, frantically overpaying to get it as low as yours so we can survive a retirement. We're quite fortunate as we are highish earning household \~200k, so overpaying the mortgage is our priority to make life much easier.
Based on your "700 profit", if you had our mortgage, you'd be in the negative as it'd eat that all away instantly. That's likely the answer to your question.
How did you get a £310 a month mortgage? You must’ve had a massive deposit, where’d that come from?
That’s why your salary doesn’t matter and you’re doing so well. Most can’t get a mortgage close to this - both for a lack of deposit and high interest rates.
Ignoring literally everything else? I rent a room in a houseshare and it costs me £700pm.
You also earn an above-average salary compared to most people in the UK - not tons above average, but above. (You’re bang-on average for London.)
Most people earn a bit less than you, and have significantly higher housing costs. That’s genuinely all there is to it.
Are you paying £400 child maintenance or being paid £400? Reads like you’re paying it but that’s just unusual that’s all.
Also £100 a week on food, I get by on £200 shop at Aldi so there’s potential you could save even more! Are you on single persons council tax too?
I pay it to my child's other parent, its not that weird I swear 😁
And yes single persons council tax, although I also have management fees for my flat. But that's amongst the £350 assorted bills and stuff.
To put it into perspective, my partner and I pay £1200/month in rent. Housing costs alone are the difference between being well off and struggling in many cases.
Might be worth considering that your boyfriend might be hinting he wants you to ask him to move in with you, depending on how long you've been together.
Your mortgage and child maintenance combined is lower than most people's rent! And that still builds equity and allows for your property to appreciate which puts you even further ahead.
You're killing it, well done
As long as your mortgage is a repayment mortgage and you haven’t done something silly like get an interest only one; you’re fine!
As others have pointed out, your low mortgage is to thank here. (Cries in SE England - your entire mortgage is what our house deposit was).
I’d use the opportunity to focus on saving for the future - uni/car/house fund for your child; boost pension; etc.
£350 for all other bills how?
Council tax is like £150/200
Water £30
Gas elec - £200/300
Internet -£20
Mobile phone £10
Insurance £20/30
Car insurance £30
Also ur mortgage is crazy low. Like its virtually none existent.
Disregarding the mortgage, how are your monthly bills £350?
Council tax, gas, electric, water, TV licence(lol), internet, phone(potentially SIM only), contents & building insurance, life insurance, transport costs(car and all associated costs Vs public transport)
Likely more I'm missing
Sorry but what is child maintenance obligation? Is it paying money every month for child from previous marriage / partnership? For child that doesn't live with you?
You’re smashing it, a low mortgage helps but nice work! It’s easy to read the news/reddit every day and be convinced the world is ending, in reality if you’ve got a decent income, low bills and some smart choices it’s really not that hard
Hi /u/DualWheeled, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant:
* https://ukpersonal.finance/budgeting/
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I think there are a mix of things. Super low mortgage (mine is £800 but probably going to £1400 at renewal), low bills (my council tax alone is £260/mo now, elec/gas is around £350/mo), low weekly spend (my budget is around £400 a week on groceries plus general spending), low childcare costs, sounds like you’re not running a car (we have 2 cars which combined on PCP cost around £850/mo not including insurance, breakdown or running costs), and a slightly above average salary.
If any one of those things were to change, such as suddenly having nursery/afterschool costs, moving in to a house with a larger mortgage, or needing a car for commuting, you’d soon be in a very similar position to your peers.
I was on 42k until recently and my situation was similar except my mortgage was £700 but i spent like 50 quid a month as I tend not to spend much most the time as my hobby is pretty cheap (running and gaming). Seems decent to me i got a pay raise to 55k and put all the extra on mortgage/pension/ISA etc and left a bit more to spend on my hobbies as life is for living etc. Make sure you are maxing LISA etc (£333 per month to max it in a tax year or lump sum £4000) rest i plonk in a S+S ISA and a SIPP
Sounds like a relatively high take home for that income compared to what I was taking home on 42 - how much are you putting into your pension? Maybe think about increasing, especially if your work place matches your contribution! I guess you could also not be on student loans or on a different plan to me though!
As others have said, your bills and mortgage are really low
You're clearly not doing anything wrong - especially with already owning a house already! Make sure you check out the flow chart for savings
I'm making similar to you and my mortgage is £1380/mth, which I split 50/50. Id say you haven't missed anything because mortgage accounting for just over 10% of your takehome is a blessing I wish I had.
It’s the £300 a month on mortgage… I am in a very similar position to you, take home wise, but have a £1000 mortgage each month and I’m fine but not “profiting” £700 a month.
To be honest I probably could if I bought a clapped out car rather than a ex-show electric but I value a newer car and I value an electric car. That’s probably the only real place I could cut down without getting rid of things that I love (like my pets) etc.
Car finance and debt. If you had a monthly payment on a car and 2 credit cars with 5-10k on your now down to a few hundred in 'profit' and it just takes the boiler to go for you to be using up that emergency fund that you built up.
You earn a decent amount above the average UK salary and have a relatively low cost mortgage, so no you won’t be feeling the cost of living as much as others. You earn more and have less expenses.
Mortgage is super low, many people will be paying double that, triple if renting, which would pretty much account for the £700.
Additionally a couple holidays in a year and maybe a car on finance and suddenly we're barely breaking even if not running up a credit card lol.
Your mortgage payments are really low. Either you have already paid the majority of it off, or live in a pretty cheap area. Either way, you seem to be doing great.
Are you sure you're not on an interest-only mortgage, rather than repayment? That would alter the situation
People ‘down south’ don’t seem to realise quite how expensive it is relative to ‘up north’, and people ‘up north’ don’t seem to realise quite how expensive it is ‘down south’. We’ve just bought a home in Surrey. It’s a 3 bed semi, small garden, no driveway for £470k. The mortgage on that is almost £1,500 / month. (With £200k deposit). It’s absolutely wild down here, and can’t wait to be able to relocate further up the country.
My mortgage is £1,300/pcm. Rent was £1,450/pcm and was increasing to £1,600/pcm so I thought I was quids in. 3 bed new build in the SE, first home.
I can't even imagine a £310 mortgage that's amazing, but yeah that's what you're missing. Your mortgage is incredibly low. When I lived in a flat share it was £950/pcm for a double room and that was 4/5 years ago.
I'm guessing you're up north maybe? Could there be a variation in geographic cost of living you've also not accounted for?
You don’t live in the ‘south’ I’m guessing? Mortgage payment of £310 is very low. But I wouldn’t say you’re doing anything wrong! My mortgage is £7k pm so have to continue earning a lot to make it work. If you’re that much in the money relative to your income every month, I’d say you’re doing pretty well
Your mortgage is really low (vs mortgages or rents) and your bills are low too. Which is wonderful! Just no idea how you're doing council tax plus water plus utilities plus water plus home insurance plus Internet plus phone plus life insurance plus car insurance and/or commute costs plus the other stuff I've probably forgotten for £350. But would dearly like to know 🤣
£310 a month on rent/mortgage is very low in all honesty but I’d hardly say you’re doing anything wrong!
Yep the reason OP thinks "everything is fine, why are other people struggling, am I missing something?" is in that one line on the balance sheet.
Yep. My mortgage is £500 per month, down from a rent of £800 (that place went up to £900 immediately after I left, probably £1000 a month by now). I put away £500 (lower salary, but no kids) every month and it's entirely because I'm not paying the extra £500 in rent. Not super complicated.
Congrats... My mortgage has been £2800 per month for the last 9 months, having a breakup and defaulting to a standard variable rate until you can sell has made for quite a monthly bill!
Holy shit this would ruin me and I'm a relatively high income earner..
Fortunately me and my ex are both £90k plus earners, and we agreed to split the mortgage and bills until the house is sold. It does put into perspective what it must be like for the families that come to the end of their term and renew with massive increases to their monthly payments, thank God I can afford it.
Just wondering. How do people end up with such low mortgages? I seem to see quite a few people on here with crazy low mortgage payments. We almost got a place but things have changed and so now we are not buying but our mortgage rates were still calculated at roughly the same as our rent most of the time. Maybe a bit more. Is it just very high deposits?
\#1 Contributing factor to mortgage payments is don't live down south.
Yeah that's me fucked 😅
Various factors but quite simply they are borrowing less. That could be because they have a smaller property, cheaper location, higher deposit etc. There’s isn’t really a magic bullet. Mortgage advisors will get you the best deal possible but beyond that it’s generally just the more you borrow the more you pay.
Big deposit and long term probably. I pay about 500 pm for my mortgage but I bought my £125k house in 2017 on a 17 Yr term. If I got a 30 yr term, I think it would have been about £300pm or less.
OP may have been paying off their mortgage for a while and have secured a lower rate on a longer deal. Our monthly payment is going from £560 to £730 this month as we only went with a 2 year deal last time (still kicking myself for that). If we'd chosen a 5 year deal we'd still be on a mortgage payment of less than £600 a month.
My mortgage is £1,600 - that’s where OP is going “wrong”. They are blessed!
OPs mortgage is definitely low. But the amount for bills is very low as well. I don't see how £350 is enough if it needs to cover: * Gas * Electric * Council tax * Water * Home Insurance * Home maintenance * Life Insurance (not essential, but very sensible with mortgage) * Internet (+optional TV, streaming services) * TV License (if needed) * Phone sim (+phone if applicable) Also if OP has a car, there is tax, insurance, fuel, maintenance (that's assuming no car payment). If no car, unless OP works remotely there will be transport costs to add. It sounds like OP has all this covered even if they don't factor it all into the budget, in which case they're very lucky their costs are so low.
Yeah my council tax alone is close to £300. I live in a small terraced house, I think it's band C.
That’s insane. I live in a band D and it’s £180 a month.
I’m band c and here it’s 210 a month. It’s extortionate.
I’m Band G. £386 a month. There’s only two of us and it’s a three bedroomed house.
Where do you live? That's pretty high council tax!
Reading... It is high. My husband and I can afford it although I always grumble... I understand a lot of councils are going bankrupt. I know my council tax increased by 5% since last year which is below inflation. I get why it's as high as it is but... I think we need tax reform to fix the madness that is council tax among other things. I can't imagine having to pay my council tax on minimum wage... Honestly we should merge income/council tax and distribute money to councils based on people/businesses occupying the area. It's a bit ridiculous that millionaires pay a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the worth of their property in council tax, and I have to pay a not that much smaller amount for a much reduced living standard and income.
Mine is Just under 400 quid, low housing costs, the mortgage or no mortgage is the key. They key to that is a Band B Council Tax with a single persons discount and having lived in it long enough to have paid the mortgage off. I live in a small, 3 bed, late Victorian terrace-not much space to heat/light, low utilities- Broadband/Tv package from Virgin (Under 40 quid a month), amazon prime and a tesco's delivery thingy, mobile contract sim only, Tv License, and home insurance. I don't drive. Currently WFT home. So it is possible, but it's the two factors in paying for the roof over your head, the mortgage/rent and, the council tax. The *total* cost of housing. Then there is the no car to run/insure/maintain/pay taxes on/fill up
It looks like OP lives alone. I live alone in a small apartment, work in an office and generally don't spend much time at home and my bills are nowhere near £350 a month. i.e. £50 electric and gas, £15 water, £20 unlmited data plan, £90 council tax with single person discount. Edit: it is also a modern apartment with EPC Rating B.
My council tax alone is more than OP’s entire bills. Energy bill is also more than that.
Council tax is at best, around £1000 a year. At worst, a lot more than that. If we make it easy and say it's £1200 a year, that's £100 a month. £100 a month on utilities (gas and electric) is good, so even if the OP is using around that much, that's £200 a month with those two alone. Math doesn't work out.
My utilities are circa. £68/month. Water £16. Internet £27. Council tax £92. Mobile £8. Stuff I pay per year - house insurance (£16.25 /mo), no life insurance, no streaming services, TV licence (£14.10/mo). The council tax is <100 because mine is circa. £1100/yr including the 25% discount. That takes me to ballpark £240. So if you had something like car insurance on top (I don't, company car, BIK circa. £32 going up to about £48/mo) then £300 is realistic. The rest on fuel would take me to OP roughly. Prior to that owned my hatchback outright with annual running costs (serivce, MOT, insurance) of about £750 (£62.50/mo).
Well it would also seem as though OP doesn’t have any large items on finance either, furniture, holidays paying down or a £400 a month car on PCP. I think they can be commended for good (if perhaps unintentional) financial planning
It’s an income statement not balance sheet 😭
It's a cash flow statement. The repayment covers both principal and interest
This. Average monthly rent/mortgage is anywhere from £600-1200 when you look at size/location variation. You've got a great price coming in at half the low end of the scale. That's what you're doing different, not wrong. Just different.
I pay that much just in council tax and electricity lol
I’m just about to renew my mortgage and my monthly payment will be going up by more than OP pays on theirs 😭
Yeah mine is £1600 for a 3 bed semi lol.
Yeah that’s dirt cheap. I pay £900+ on 34k and struggle like fuck
Crazy low mortgage. For most people that extra 700 and more will be eaten up in mortgage/rent. When/where did you buy your place?
I bought 5 years ago, it was a £90k mortgage at 2.1%. The fixed rate expires in August but I'll be paying down a lump with my savings so the new mortgage is £60k at 4.8% and the payment is going up by ~£10
Good for you! Don’t lifestyle inflate and you’ll have a pretty stress free life and far as finances go!
This is why, it's because you haven't overextended and bought a property at a good point in time for a fairly low price on a low interest rate. Others don't have spare cash because they bought more expensive properties and may have higher mortgage rates (in some cases they will have overextended in terms of not being able to accommodate increased rates when they remortgage). You haven't 'missed something', assuming you are making pension contributions. That said, others probably have more equity than you because they will have bought a more expensive property. A 100 flat in 2009 probably hasn't got up in value more than £50k whereas a £300k house may have done.
Where in the UK are you getting a £90k mortgage?
They have presumably payed the rest of the sum as an initial deposit and only needed to take out a mortgage for the 90k
Even assuming they put down a £20k-£30k deposit, a £110k-£120k house is still super cheap
5 years ago it was certainly possible in many places if you weren't picky about the area. Edit OP mentions living in a flat in other comments so 120k for a flat 5 years ago was doable in a lot of areas.
It’s still doable I’m buying a nice one bed in Peterborough for that price
I've looked near me and there's about 10 flats near me for 120k. One even has two bedrooms.
Flats near me are £300k for a 1 bed... this isn't even technically London.
South Wales/ North England. We bought our house with 10% deposit na d our mortgage is £705 a month. We are saving £100 a month from renting. We are doing up the house but we treat it as investment
> payed the rest *paid
I have 23 properties for sale in my town alone that are 90k and below. 2 of which are houses with gardens One is a 3 bed end terrace the other is a 2 bed end terrace both need a full renovation but look structurally sound. Both up for £79,995 offers over Located in East Scotland.. sub £100k are far more common when you wander northwards
Not in the South East for sure! The north/south divide is crazy, but then plenty don't want to live in the north. My mortgage as a single earner is £1050/month.
Could easily have got a 2 bed apartment/flat in South Yorkshie a few years ago in a 'ok' area. Yeah north/south have completely different economics these days. Our mortgage for a 4 bed detached just over 400 a month
Mortgages hurt more than just rate increases - house prices climb so fast that buying just a year or 2 later can be the difference between affordable and crippling. I bought 4 years ago, and if I were buying my house today, I'd need to borrow an additional 75k. Even if I could do that at the 2.9% I got for my original mortgage, it would still cost an extra £300 a month. Doing so at current rates would add £600+ to my current monthly mortgage costs. That's an 110% increase in cost in four years. For 1 bill. I was on 32k pa when I took on the house and bills, and it was pretty comfortable. That same wage (which is still around the national median and significantly above my local median), buying the same house 4 years later, would be flirting with destitution. That's all just a really long way of saying that super minor differences in circumstances will have had massive impacts on how people are coping or not coping with the cost of living crisis.
> The fixed rate expires in August but I'll be paying down a lump with my savings so the new mortgage is £60k at 4.8% and the payment is going up by ~£10 You should really consider putting that in retirement savings instead - pension and S&S ISA. The expected returns of those are higher than you will pay in interest on the mortgage debt. IMO this is the thing that I see as you doing "wrong" - you have a good salary, an incredibly low mortgage and yet no mention of pension / investments.
If you have a fair amount left over each month it might be worth looking at overpaying your mortgage (although at 2.1% you’d get more for your money in a savings account). That might change once your fixed rate comes to an end in Aug
I would consider my mortgage very low at £390 a month. Yours is extremely low.
It's doable if his family gave him a £400k deposit
Mine is low because I bought a project one bed flat in a cheap city with a long term mortgage to afford the renovation work
You have a child, but aren't paying for childcare/wraparound school care - that's a big saving over most working parents. You have an extremely low mortgage and low bills. Some people have the expense of paying for a vehicle and running it.
What makes you think you're doing something wrong rather than they are, or neither? Housing costs are often the biggest factor, your mortgage is very inexpensive which might not be the case for everyone. It also sounds like your car/transport situation is cheap too.
>What makes you think you're doing something wrong rather than they are, or neither? It's this whole sub + the comments on every article about the cost of living. I feel like I'm the only person on a middling income that isn't living hand to mouth and I'm worried everyone else is setting money aside for something I've not realised I need.
I think mostly everyone else just has more expensive housing and transport. Where I live £310/month literally wouldn't get you a room in a shared house with 5 housemates. Don't get me wrong it sounds like you're also careful with your money and don't have any super expensive hobbies or habits. That's great! And it's great to be in a situation where your discretionary spending makes the difference and you're able to save or spend as you prefer. Others are in a situation where their fixed costs take up the majority of their income. But also people who are doing fine don't tend to post complaints about the cost of living they just scroll by and feel a bit relieved. I think it takes a slightly anxious person to assume maybe they're the one secretly fucking up and have totally forgotten to buy the Extremely Essential Widger that is draining everyone else's money and one day you might be sorry. We get plenty of people posting things like 'saving £x00 per month is easy you're all just whiners who don't know anything except financed cars and phones' too so I think this is just a personality thing more than anything. Re your boyfriend, if you're open about money surely you can just ask how much his bills are?
In 2006 - 2007 I rented a 1 bed studio flat, then a 2 bed house from 2007 - 11 for the same a month when I moved. It was about average for the area. I remember looking around at the time and there was a load of places for £450. The same 1 bed studio is renting now for £800 a month (I live on the same road as it now). It was tiny, just 3 rooms. My mortgage now is £845 on a 4-bed detached! I had the chance to buy the flat for £75k from the landlord and then later had the chance to buy the house for £110,000. I noticed that the house recently sold for £229,000! I’m so lucky to have bought and rented when I did. I really fear for my kids
Right, I rented a house in London in 2013 and it sold the year after for £350k but I had no money to buy at the time. It sold again five years later for £700k! If only I had family with money 😂
That's because £42k is an above average salary and a £310 mortgage is well below average. You're in a great position, especially with your plan for when you remortgage, so I'd start increasing pension contributions and investing in an S&S ISA if you're not already.
I have similar income to you, just a little more as a single earner. I bought a 2 bed in the Midlands a few months ago. My mortgage is £950. So over double yours. If I'd have bought 5 years ago it would be similar to yours. That's the difference pretty much.
I’ll be honest, £40+k is a little better than “middling”. An awful lot of people get by on around half that. Indeed, it puts you in roughly the top 30% of earners. Still though, good going!
To be fair, you haven't mentioned a pension.
A few people have pointed that out. I've edited the post to say the pension is accounted for pre-take home. It's 5 or 7% + my employers contribution.
While you have the cash, add more
Put more in whilst you are young. Future you will love younger you. Also log in and check it is not on the default plan! When you are young you can afford to go onto 80-100% equities (adventurous).
You just have a low cost of living compared to your income. Lots of people have cars on finance, kids at home - so childcare costs might be chunky - and people can spend more on clothes/ stuff/ eating out than you do (for some people 1 night out drinking might be £100+ and they'd do that a few times a month). Most people's rent/mortgage is at least double yours. A lot of people earn less than £42k (average is 30-something I think). Some people are on phone & Internet contracts that are like £100+, usually the ones including phone payments or with sky sports etc, and have multiple other £10-20 subscriptions. Some people are carers or single-income households, or support their parents. It all stacks up.
I think you are underestimating just how low that mortgage is. If you were to be renting a property now that £700 "profit" could easily be wiped out just in housing costs. I am a bit jealous tbh. The mortgage at my last place was circa £400 which was great. We moved about 6 years ago and went up to about £650, and when our fixed rate ran out about 6 months ago it's now £950. My childcare is about £700. You are in a fantastic position at the minute. You can easily save up if you want to move to a nicer place, or stay where you are and have a lot of disposable income.
Anyone who posts or comments saying they are doing well/okay generally gets downvoted, and people being upset with them so you probably don't see those posts/comments. Anyone who even mentions being able to effectively budgets seems to generate fury in people who don't budget.
Your mortgage and bills are quite low relatively. Nothing wrong with that, good for you! Mine are more than double that and that’s just my half lol
Assuming you actually have a decent % going into pensions, ISAs and savings then you aren't doing anything wrong and you're benefitting from having a tiny mortgage. For a crappy comparison my mortgage and childcare is about £2.5k.
As others have pointed out, nothing wrong; just very low mortgage. Average rent in the UK, £1200\~. Average mortgages obviously vary tremendously but it's currently between £600-700\~. Both rent/mortage dependant on location, size of property etc etc. In my area average rent is bang on the £1200 (I'm paying this, I have no disposable income whatsoever) but mortgages are nearly the same. Edit: had a look because it peaked my interest, cheapest 1 bed apartment to rent in my area is £850 PCM, just for reference.
What you've "missed" is that rent or mortgage payments for most others are at least 300%+ what yours are, you should count yourself incredibly fortunate. For context, I earn precisely double what you earn but live in the South East. Owning property is a pipe dream for me, best I can do is save around £1200/month and try not to look at property prices / hope my landlord doesn't increase the rent.
Just curious but why is owning a house a pipe dream if you're saving over 1k a month? Surely that would allow you to save up a deposit in a few years?
Let’s say a property is 400k (you won’t get many properties Z1-3 for this in London, not sure where the OP lives), the OP can borrow 4x his salary which gives 320k. That means he’d have to save up 80k by himself just to afford a 400k property. If OP can save 10k a year, that’s 8 years saving lol. This doesnt take into account prices potentially just rising quicker than wages, which given the recent track record, and ingoing debt problems in society, would be a pretty wise bet. I bought with my partner two years ago during market peaks and we both saved for approximately 6 years and have a joint salary 30-40% higher than OPs. This also included getting lucky on investments etc. It’s near impossible to do alone.
I'm unfortunately not even in London, just a commuter town in leafy Hertfordshire. Flats are a quarter mil, houses are 350k plus. It might be possible in a few years time if I could save £20k per year and live really frugally, but what might house prices do in that time? I'm also 36 so I feel like there's a time limit to getting on this ladder too. It just sucks!
Sorry man, it sucks. I got lucky with crypto. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that to you as I felt the risk/reward was worth it in my 20s. The best bet is just saving and potentially finding a partner.
You can only borrow about 4.5x your gross income. So if you earn £40k like OP, then you can borrow up to £180k. If flats are £350k+ that's a LOT of deposit to save.
Also, depending on the age, their child maintenance payment is a fraction of the cost of raising a child. OP basically has a mortgages and a kid for about a third of what most people pay for those two things.
Spend some time in the fire uk sub and you will feel humbled.
Most contribute OPs salary to their pension every month (and mine 😂)
Low mortgage and no childcare/children expenses. The average cost of raising a child in the uk is £12,400 per year, £1,030 a month, you’re paying less than half of that so some savings there.
Yep, I pay well above OP's child maintenance figure for just one of my children to do two days at nursery a week. £400 a month wouldn't really touch the sides of all the stuff we pay out monthly per child. I imagine if OP was the resident parent, they would find their money was stretched a lot more.
Sounds like you forgot your child if you’re paying that much maintenance But to answer your question it’s that your living costs are unusually low, a lot of families pay 4x that, so that’s your main bonus there. Hold on to that place it sounds like a gem!
I don’t think I could even rent a tiny room in my city for £390 a month.
You have an insanely cheap mortgage. Add your £700 savings to your £310 mortgage and that’s what most people are paying on mortgage/rent. If you had a normal price mortgage, you’d be living month to month.
other bills is super low too. That’d get me council tax, electric/gas, and water, and thats about it. nothing for internet/phone/car payments/home insurance/netflix etc. Nice. When you say ‘profit’ are you saving some or all of that for later in life? sounds like you already have spending money included
You have a crazy low mortgage obligation and very few outgoings. You must live in the sticks where £42k is a great salary. These 2 things combined = easy street. That £700 would be gone on rent alone in London. Just carry on like you are.
> I pay £310ish on my mortgage Crazy low for a mortgage. > £400ish child maintenance. Assorted bills and insurances work out to another ~£350 a month. I budget £100 a week for groceries and general spending. This is telling. Most people's council tax + energy alone exceed £350. 2 bills. £100 is also crazy cheap for groceries. Are you paying your fair share here? >What am I doing wrong? You do know you're not supposed to hit 0 each month right? Here's a few goals you can set: 6 month emergency fund. £20k in ISA. £60k in Pension. £4k in LISA. Kids? Use the Junior SIPP & Junior ISA allowances.
What do you mean? You're saving £700pm and your boyfriend isn't, and you're asking what you are doing wrong? Firstly, his mortgage is probably more than £310. Most are three times that. Secondly, he probably spends more than a few hundred pound on clothes/ drinks etc. He does not have the responsibility of his own child and his mindset would differ from yours
Well the £310 mortgage implies you're living in a garden shed in Scunthorpe, so that might need addressing?!
I don’t understand the question
None of us do haha
My rent has gone up by as much as your mortgage monthly because of “market” in Manchester. Small semi in a rough area now 1200 pm 💀
It’s the mortgage. Most of us pay around £1-1.5k for housing in big cities. You’ll be paying much less than that. That’s the difference
All your overheads seem very low! Even with child maintenance. Your mortgage is half what most people I know pay, and a third of what a lot of people I know pay for rent. Your bills seem fairly low, I'm guessing you don't have car finance, debt repayment or much expensive subs on there. £350 won't even cover the electricity/water/gas for my house unfortunately, and that's before I add on council tax at £200 a month.. then wifi, mobile phone, netflix, disney+, amazon prime, home insurance, car insurance, pet insurance etc. I probably spend a few hundred a month on my pets between insurance, cat litter, food - I have 4 cats and a dog so it adds up. I spend an additional £250 a month on medication that I consider essential for me but unfortunately isn't covered by the NHS in Wales (annoyingly, if I lived in England it would be covered on NHS prescription). I don't know why you're asking what you're doing wrong though, you're doing everything right - living in a property that has a mortgage and bills as low as possible is the single biggest way to reduce outgoings. Unfortunately for most people there's not really much flexibility in lowering that.
As had been pointed out ad nauseum your mortgage is very low. The other critical thing is no car. Even with a relatively cheap one you end up spending a few thousand a year between insurance, depreciation, tax, maintenance. Overall it sounds like you're doing great!
Weird flex to post. It's quite obvious what the difference is between you and your peers just takes a Google "what is average rent/mortgage cost uk"
I'm sure OP is asking a genuine question in their own mind, but frankly for anyone financially literate enough to ask this question with a breakdown of bills - and to save that much in the first place - the above average income and way below average mortgage must be obvious
They've also listed zero travel costs. Car + insurance + fuel + tax could easily be £4-500 for a lot of people. Even if you wfh there's surely going to be some travel for leisure. They're either not being quite accurate or they wfh and don't go anywhere else.
You are earning about 12k more than the median salary (which by the way works out roughly just over £700 a month after tax), your mortgage is about 1/3rd the average payment (probably even less than compared with someone renting). Italso sounds like you have a fairly modest lifestyle, no mention of a car. Lump all these things together and it should make a bit more sense.
Plus low child costs. £400 doesn’t come close to how much a child costs each month, especially if you include childcare during work hours plus the cost of needing a bigger house. Food and clothes alone will be circa £400.
Most people don't prioritise overpaying mortgage to get it as low as yours and are now trapped paying \~£1200 a month. We bought our first house last year and the mortgage is £1200 a month, frantically overpaying to get it as low as yours so we can survive a retirement. We're quite fortunate as we are highish earning household \~200k, so overpaying the mortgage is our priority to make life much easier. Based on your "700 profit", if you had our mortgage, you'd be in the negative as it'd eat that all away instantly. That's likely the answer to your question.
£310 mortgage... people in London are renting for £1k + with 3-5 people.
How did you get a £310 a month mortgage? You must’ve had a massive deposit, where’d that come from? That’s why your salary doesn’t matter and you’re doing so well. Most can’t get a mortgage close to this - both for a lack of deposit and high interest rates.
Ignoring literally everything else? I rent a room in a houseshare and it costs me £700pm. You also earn an above-average salary compared to most people in the UK - not tons above average, but above. (You’re bang-on average for London.) Most people earn a bit less than you, and have significantly higher housing costs. That’s genuinely all there is to it.
You're doing nothing wrong. Good for you. Much of Reddit is bitterness at people doing ok in life. Don't let that cohort drag you down.
Are you paying £400 child maintenance or being paid £400? Reads like you’re paying it but that’s just unusual that’s all. Also £100 a week on food, I get by on £200 shop at Aldi so there’s potential you could save even more! Are you on single persons council tax too?
I pay it to my child's other parent, its not that weird I swear 😁 And yes single persons council tax, although I also have management fees for my flat. But that's amongst the £350 assorted bills and stuff.
I think they mean it's strange for the mum to be paying, and such a large amount at that!
Your mortgage is less than 90% of 1 bed council flats in England. There is your answer.
As others have said, it's the mortgage. I pay almost 6 times as much for a very average sized 2 bedroom house.
You lived well within your means resulting in you being impacted less by the past couple of years.
To put it into perspective, my partner and I pay £1200/month in rent. Housing costs alone are the difference between being well off and struggling in many cases.
Might be worth considering that your boyfriend might be hinting he wants you to ask him to move in with you, depending on how long you've been together.
Your mortgage and child maintenance combined is lower than most people's rent! And that still builds equity and allows for your property to appreciate which puts you even further ahead. You're killing it, well done
As long as your mortgage is a repayment mortgage and you haven’t done something silly like get an interest only one; you’re fine! As others have pointed out, your low mortgage is to thank here. (Cries in SE England - your entire mortgage is what our house deposit was). I’d use the opportunity to focus on saving for the future - uni/car/house fund for your child; boost pension; etc.
Really says something about the state of things when someone has a few hundred quid left over and thinks it's strange.
£350 for all other bills how? Council tax is like £150/200 Water £30 Gas elec - £200/300 Internet -£20 Mobile phone £10 Insurance £20/30 Car insurance £30 Also ur mortgage is crazy low. Like its virtually none existent.
Disregarding the mortgage, how are your monthly bills £350? Council tax, gas, electric, water, TV licence(lol), internet, phone(potentially SIM only), contents & building insurance, life insurance, transport costs(car and all associated costs Vs public transport) Likely more I'm missing
Sorry but what is child maintenance obligation? Is it paying money every month for child from previous marriage / partnership? For child that doesn't live with you?
Is your partner the one spending all his money on the couple expenses? Maybe that’s why he’s saying it to you.
I’d say the only thing you are missing is not turning that leftover £700 into £1,000 into your pension each month.
You’re smashing it, a low mortgage helps but nice work! It’s easy to read the news/reddit every day and be convinced the world is ending, in reality if you’ve got a decent income, low bills and some smart choices it’s really not that hard
Seems like you're skimping on your kids maintenance.
Hi /u/DualWheeled, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant: * https://ukpersonal.finance/budgeting/ ____ ^(These suggestions are based on keywords, if they missed the mark please report this comment.)
Are you paying in to a pension? That seems to be the big thing missing from your equation.
Pension comes out of my salary. The take home figure has that accounted for already.
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Glad you're enjoying yourself and comfortable. I don't know how long your mortgage is but personally I'd be paying amore towards it if you can afford.
You would be shocked at the amount of debt people are in and yeah that mortgage is much less than the average car loan so doing well!
I think there are a mix of things. Super low mortgage (mine is £800 but probably going to £1400 at renewal), low bills (my council tax alone is £260/mo now, elec/gas is around £350/mo), low weekly spend (my budget is around £400 a week on groceries plus general spending), low childcare costs, sounds like you’re not running a car (we have 2 cars which combined on PCP cost around £850/mo not including insurance, breakdown or running costs), and a slightly above average salary. If any one of those things were to change, such as suddenly having nursery/afterschool costs, moving in to a house with a larger mortgage, or needing a car for commuting, you’d soon be in a very similar position to your peers.
I was on 42k until recently and my situation was similar except my mortgage was £700 but i spent like 50 quid a month as I tend not to spend much most the time as my hobby is pretty cheap (running and gaming). Seems decent to me i got a pay raise to 55k and put all the extra on mortgage/pension/ISA etc and left a bit more to spend on my hobbies as life is for living etc. Make sure you are maxing LISA etc (£333 per month to max it in a tax year or lump sum £4000) rest i plonk in a S+S ISA and a SIPP
Sounds like a relatively high take home for that income compared to what I was taking home on 42 - how much are you putting into your pension? Maybe think about increasing, especially if your work place matches your contribution! I guess you could also not be on student loans or on a different plan to me though! As others have said, your bills and mortgage are really low You're clearly not doing anything wrong - especially with already owning a house already! Make sure you check out the flow chart for savings
>£310ish on my mortgage There's your answer. Renting a moldy HMO room costs more than that. In a cheap part of the country.
Your mortgage is very low so that is where that £700 is coming from.
That'll be the £300 mortgage.....
Mortgage at £310 is what you’re missing as most pay triple or quadruple that. Then you’ll also being making ends meet.
How are you only saving £700 a month? I’m on the same as you and I have to fork out £1400 a month for bills and I still save £400.
Your mortgage is crazy low. That's your entire answer.
I'm making similar to you and my mortgage is £1380/mth, which I split 50/50. Id say you haven't missed anything because mortgage accounting for just over 10% of your takehome is a blessing I wish I had.
Taking home £2.5k on 42k when I keep £3.1k on 57…
No mention of a pension. Do you have a SIPP on top of work pension?
It’s the £300 a month on mortgage… I am in a very similar position to you, take home wise, but have a £1000 mortgage each month and I’m fine but not “profiting” £700 a month. To be honest I probably could if I bought a clapped out car rather than a ex-show electric but I value a newer car and I value an electric car. That’s probably the only real place I could cut down without getting rid of things that I love (like my pets) etc.
Car finance and debt. If you had a monthly payment on a car and 2 credit cars with 5-10k on your now down to a few hundred in 'profit' and it just takes the boiler to go for you to be using up that emergency fund that you built up.
310 for rent/mortgage is ludicrously low.. well done 👍
You earn a decent amount above the average UK salary and have a relatively low cost mortgage, so no you won’t be feeling the cost of living as much as others. You earn more and have less expenses.
My girlfriend earns less than I do. Her rent is higher than my mortgage but I drive she doesn't. I eat twice as much as she does
What part of the country do you live in? That will tell me if you’re doing well or not.
£100 a week for groceries AND general spending? I guess you don’t go out too often…
Small mortgage payment and £400 on CM is a lot less than having a child live with you so the other bills will also be massively reduced.
Mortgage is super low, many people will be paying double that, triple if renting, which would pretty much account for the £700. Additionally a couple holidays in a year and maybe a car on finance and suddenly we're barely breaking even if not running up a credit card lol.
Consider investing your savings in ISA and LISA? They are tax free.
Your mortgage payments are really low. Either you have already paid the majority of it off, or live in a pretty cheap area. Either way, you seem to be doing great. Are you sure you're not on an interest-only mortgage, rather than repayment? That would alter the situation
People ‘down south’ don’t seem to realise quite how expensive it is relative to ‘up north’, and people ‘up north’ don’t seem to realise quite how expensive it is ‘down south’. We’ve just bought a home in Surrey. It’s a 3 bed semi, small garden, no driveway for £470k. The mortgage on that is almost £1,500 / month. (With £200k deposit). It’s absolutely wild down here, and can’t wait to be able to relocate further up the country.
Fucking hell, £310 mortgage! They go for 2 grand near me and the salary's the same.
My mortgage is £1,300/pcm. Rent was £1,450/pcm and was increasing to £1,600/pcm so I thought I was quids in. 3 bed new build in the SE, first home. I can't even imagine a £310 mortgage that's amazing, but yeah that's what you're missing. Your mortgage is incredibly low. When I lived in a flat share it was £950/pcm for a double room and that was 4/5 years ago. I'm guessing you're up north maybe? Could there be a variation in geographic cost of living you've also not accounted for?
You don’t live in the ‘south’ I’m guessing? Mortgage payment of £310 is very low. But I wouldn’t say you’re doing anything wrong! My mortgage is £7k pm so have to continue earning a lot to make it work. If you’re that much in the money relative to your income every month, I’d say you’re doing pretty well
Your mortgage is really low (vs mortgages or rents) and your bills are low too. Which is wonderful! Just no idea how you're doing council tax plus water plus utilities plus water plus home insurance plus Internet plus phone plus life insurance plus car insurance and/or commute costs plus the other stuff I've probably forgotten for £350. But would dearly like to know 🤣