Del_Boy Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 What with living costs pretty high at the moment, is a family of 4, 2 adults 2 young children on a annual household income of 24k a "poverty" income? Bare in mind only 1 person is working Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgksheff Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 What with living costs pretty high at the moment, is a family of 4 2 adults 2 young children on a annual household income of 24k a "poverty" income? Bare in mind only 1 person is working Only 1 out of 42 Adults? Are you Mormon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Only 1 out of 42 Adults? Are you Mormon? Cheeky I think only you can answer that. If you bought your house over 10 years ago and you aren't daft with your money, I don't think you are. If you bought your house at it's peak or are renting I'd guess a very large chunk of your salary will go on putting a roof over your head. You may feel poverty stricken then. This might sound odd, but do you "feel" poor ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del_Boy Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Cheeky I think only you can answer that. If you bought your house over 10 years ago and you aren't daft with your money, I don't think you are. If you bought your house at it's peak or are renting I'd guess a very large chunk of your salary will go on putting a roof over your head. You may feel poverty stricken then. This might sound odd, but do you "feel" poor ? I do not feel too poor, but when you work out how much family days costs it does make one wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I think that the concept of poverty has changed and the idea of how many things one needs to live has changed too. As far as I'm concerned if I've got money to buy food and I've also got a TV, the funds for an internet connection, phone and to pay the basic bills too, then I'm not in poverty even if I do need to budget to buy everything that's not an everyday essential (clothing is bought mostly second hand etc). If I didn't have a very small mortgage and was paying for rented accommodation then I would be in much worse situation though, so I would be in the position of having to forego some of the things that others may consider essential. For the record, I don't smoke and rarely drink. I don't go out in the evenings except for a pub meal every month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anywebsite Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Depends if that is £24k before or after tax & how much your housing costs are, by the official poverty line. http://www.poverty.org.uk/summary/uk.htm £288 per week, after deducting income tax, council tax, housing costs (rent or mortgage interest, plus water & building insurance) in 2008/09 for a couple with 2 kids under 14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Macbeth Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Poverty isn't only about income, its about expenditure too. As a retired couple we live on what would be considered a low income, but I'm with Medusa - as long as we can pay for the necessities, and stuff like the TV and internet then we're certainly not in poverty. Eating and heating are priorities! My OH enjoys a couple of glasses of wine, and we manage to have at least one holiday in the UK most years. Fortunately we both gave up smoking in our 40s, if we still smoked our 20 a day at £6+ a packet, then we'd really struggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Poverty isn't only about income, its about expenditure too. As a retired couple we live on what would be considered a low income But your expenditure as a retired couple will be very different to the expenditure of a family with two young kids. I'd imagine that bringing up two youngsters on £400 a week would be a real challenge. I'd be constantly haunted by the idea that the kids only get one crack at their education and that I'd be the one paying for trips, opportunityes, etc. Life must be easier when you only have yourself to consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Macbeth Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 But your expenditure as a retired couple will be very different to the expenditure of a family with two young kids. I'd imagine that bringing up two youngsters on £400 a week would be a real challenge. I'd be constantly haunted by the idea that the kids only get one crack at their education and that I'd be the one paying for trips, opportunityes, etc. Life must be easier when you only have yourself to consider. I agree, but I wasn't suggesting we get anything like £400 a week! When our kids were growing up, we both had to work to make a reasonable income. It was the only way we could afford to send the children on school trips, and pay for their hobbies like dancing and sports. Our days out tended to be picnics in Clumber park or similar! And holidays tended to be visits to the family in Scotland. Its been very hard to sustain a reasonable standard of living for a family on one wage for a long time, even for those in professional careers. I realise I don't know any couples with children where only one works. Life can be even harder for single parents, where there just isn't the option to have a second income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mecky Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 IMO poverty is relative to the nation in which you live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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