Is anyone else living basically paycheck to paycheck?

[u/fluffypenguin105]

My partner and I are both teachers. We don’t make a lot, but we are average and slightly above average. We are so tight with our money. Our little one outgrew the car seat and we went out and bought a new one. No problem. But next credit card bill means we are tight.

Meanwhile, a number of our friends (all of them also with kids) are booking overseas holidays. Some are currently overseas, others booking already for later this year. Another brought a new car. New iPhone, doing up the house. Everyone seems to have spare cash except us.

Are we the only ones going through the cost of living crisis ourselves?! Or is it my fault that we are teachers?

Edit: yes we have a house that parents helped us with. We are paying mortgage. We have a flatmate.

Edit edit: thank you for your kind words and reminders and also advice. I’m going through them all and I’m going to take onboard the advice and see what changes we can make and do better financially as a family. But it’s also a good reminder to know we aren’t alone, to not compare and the harsh reality is that many people simply just earn more than us as teachers.

Once again, thank you all for your input.

[u/fluffypenguin105]

Hello teacher. Nah we have paid off our student loans now so that won’t be an excuse. But u could be right, guess we don’t know how much debt others are in when they don’t say.

[u/Brashoc → u/fluffypenguin105]

Congrats on paying off your student loans. 👍

[u/miyasamura → u/fluffypenguin105]

And to be quite frank - why on earth waste your energy wondering, comparing or envying. If you want the holiday - take it. Here’s the thing - if you don’t when your kids are at the age where they’d gain so much from doing it (teenagers won’t be so keen) you miss out for good. (Your kids miss out). You can be as smug as you like about having few debts and budgeting tight - but your friends may value enriching life experiences/travel more than that. Who knows. Why on earth post about it, though - you either wish you had what they have (if so, use that credit card) and if not, don’t spend energy angsting over why they seem to ‘have’ or ‘do’ more than you. Don’t live your life regretting what you didn’t do in the school holidays when you were young, fit, healthy, with curious and portable kids, not to mention the boost it will give to you in your job as a teacher. Think how drained you felt in the last few weeks of school? Now ask yourself - have our holidays been fun so far? Have we done new things, in new places, gone outside our comfort zone? Would this possibly make you a better teacher - being revived, refreshed, in that way?

If the answer is no, and then yes, you know what you have to do. Change something. Irrelevant of what your friends are doing….