Money, Money, Bloody Money...

Money makes the World go round, unfortunately!

I am becoming increasingly annoyed at the cost of living vs people's salaries. It just doesn't compute. Everything costs so much, and it just keeps on rising. Whilst salaries, don't.

When my parents were in the situation I'm in now; married, living in their second home, with a 2yr old, my Mum a SAHM like me, and My Dad a full time worker like DaddyBear- they were living the life of bloody Riley! 

It was the 80s and times were good. My Dad worked with computers, which was where the money was. He was earning mega bucks; 3 x the value of the house we lived in. That's the equivalent of DaddyBear currently earning £750,000 a year; suffice to say, he isn't! 

My Dad had a company car with all petrol and services paid for. He took work trips to America and took us all along with him. 

We had at least 2 mega holidays every year, took horse riding lessons, had frequent family days out to theme parks, had our Mum home all the time to take care of our every need.

We weren't spoilt, we weren't 'rich', but we were 'well off' and times were indeed good. 

We moved to our third house when I was 10 and it cost £250,000. I couldn't believe it and I must admit I did go around showing off that I was living in a quarter of a million pound house.

I didn't know how lucky I was.

Times have changed and things are a different matter now. 

DaddyBear's on a decent salary, decent enough that I don't have to work. But we're by no means 'well off'.

The house we live in now is our 'forever home'. It's not big and fancy but it will do us. It cost £250,000 but I don't go around showing off that I live in a quarter of a million pound house anymore, in today's market that is considered cheap, especially for where we live.

But if we hadn't had help from our families I don't think we could have afforded to buy it.

We've done some work to extend it, again thanks to the generosity of family. 

It makes me wonder where we'd be if our parents had nothing to give???

I don't feel like Boo is deprived in anyway at the moment. I use all my money to make sure she has everything I had. And I think that's the issue. I don't want her to miss out on anything, I want her to have what I, and DaddyBear, had. But I guess in doing that we're kind of trying to live a 'champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget'. And I know that things are only going to get more expensive as she gets older.

Hubs doesn't think that the cost of anything will fall until our parents' generation die out, which I guess is true. Because until then, they're still around to lend a hand; to pay for big family trips out, to pay for big family holidays, to pay for family meals out- all things that we couldn't afford without them.

I was complaining to DaddyBear last night that I have a trip to visit friends in London planned for mid August, and a Hen Do in York in October, that I just don't know where I'm going to find the money for! 

Since having Boo I hardly ever spend money on myself. Clothes and going out are a rare treat because I have to budget them in, and that's always a struggle.

A friend asked me yesterday if I can go out with her in a couple of weeks, and if I'd be up for a spa day for her birthday in a month. But I'm going to have to make excuses because I simply don't have the spare cash. 

Now I know for people who are really struggling with money, these issues will seem pitiful, and I agree. I'm not living on the bread line, I am extremely lucky to be able to stay at home, and I am grateful for all that I have. But never the less I still feel I have money issues.

My earning potential is pretty crap. I am a trained Teacher but never worked as one because I couldn't stand all the background stuff. I wanted to work with kids only. So I worked as a Nursery Nurse, and when I left to have Boo I was earning around £15,000 a year. Crap.

Just as I was leaving, DaddyBear finished his 3 years training as an accountant and got a pay rise of £12,000. That's why I can afford to stay at home.

We've talked about me going back to work, but it's just not worth it while I still have babies. Once I have school age children I will look for a job in a school, so that I can still be there for them when they're not in school. 

But until then we struggle on, battling against the rising cost of groceries, holidays, activities, clothes, toys, travel...

Thanks for reading,

MummyBear X

Find me on Twitter:
@ToddlerSlave

Email me:
toddlerslave@outlook.com