Cost of living caught up with me and the wife last year.
We were living in Hertfordshire, a place called Bishop's Stortford right on top of Stansted airport. Nice place, but right on the commuter belt to London and Cambridge. We were renting an end of terrace Victorian 2 up 2 down house, the bathroom was a flatroof-ed extension out the back which was always cold and damp and the 'garden' was a patch of grass just about big enough to put up a washing line.
All this to the tune of £1095 per month.
Not so much of an issue when we first moved in as an un-married couple. But after the first was born, my wife had to jack in work to become a full time mum, because the cost of putting the boy into nursery in that area would basically have eaten up the part-time wage the wife would be earning while he was in nursery, so financially there was no point.
My wife fell pregnant with our second... to move to a place with 3 bedrooms we were looking at having to spend another £200/£300 a month rent on top of what we were already paying.
I was earning £46k at the time, which is a pretty good salary... and yet we simply could not afford to live there anymore if we wanted our kids to have the luxury of a bedroom each and a garden to play in.
6 months on, I've actually taken a pay cut and we've moved to Norfolk. The 4 of us are now living in a 3 bed detached house, with a garage and garden big enough for all of the kids outdoor toys you could imagine with space to spare for the veggie patch at the back. This is for £1k a month. Even with the pay cut, we can afford the nursery fees around here (we're paying £9 for a morning session, as opposed to £10 an hour in Herts) and still have a few quid to squirrel away at the end of the month.
The house we moved out of is now up for sale for over £400k. The price you pay for living in and around London is criminal.
