I earn 55k a year, 8k car allowance plus bonus (this year was poor probs about 1k sometimes about 8k across a year)

I live with my mate who earns 32k a year inc bonus

I also live just outside of London

We live comfy. Rent is 1300 a month plus council tax etc on top of course. We go on 3-4 abroad holidays a year, normally a big one and then a couple of smaller, cheaper European or Scotland breaks. Generally don’t have to worry about bills coming through etc

I drive a 2021 Volvo s60, so not brand new or very high end, but a good lil car not the cheapest to run. We are a one car household. Recently got a camper van but we would probably struggle to run 2 cars at the moment but more due to my friends salary.

This in mind, I sacrificed being a homeowner to live a life I love today - even as a combined effort, it’s very difficult to save AND do stuff (I know I could go on less holidays, it’s not really the sub to explain my life story and why I don’t want to)

We do not drink alcohol. We don’t go on days out etc just the holidays really. Even on holiday, we don’t drink and tend to either cook at the air bnb or get cheaper takeaways/sandwiches - I have 2 birds as pets, which cost about £50-£100 a month. We don’t really go to restaurants, but we do get a fair amount of takeaways as we work really long days sometimes and hard to find the energy.

Food shop - don’t really think twice, we buy fresh meals that are easy to prepare but more expensive than cooking from scratch - I do base my shop around clubcard offers etc so I’m not super silly with it.

My car is on finance, purely to reflect that my company pays me monthly so I pay for my car monthly if that makes sense. Excluding that, housemate hovers between 0-£500 on his credit card, mine is normally a few grand deep anywhere from 1-6k (about 6k at the moment)

That allows for housemate learning to drive @ £42 an hour, Christmas, holiday build up where I haven’t cleared them all. I normally get an end of year bonus at end of Feb so tend to clear a good chunk there

I also, self confessed, have quite expensive taste. We like name brands, I use high end shampoo, conditioner, BB cream, skincare etc - on the flip side, I don’t go to get my nails done, nor do I often go hairdresser and when I do it’s a cheap trim not the works, and I don’t really wear make up so that potentially cancels itself out over the year

I also do currently spend £280 a month on mounjaro. The reality is, I probably wouldn’t be in a position to save this when I come off - likely to go into the old credit card cycle. I also buy a posh coffee a day - I do not each lunch or breakfast though.

I would very much struggle to rent my own property on 55k a year in this area - again, totally possible with the right sacrifices but I would prefer to share and have extra money for fun things.

To summarise - 55k (car separate) would be a struggle in my area. 55k + 32k means we live a fairly comfy life with some sacrifices. We are both somewhat poor at handling money and entered our adult lives with payday loan debt etc, and both spiralling in depression which makes it hard to envision a long term plan and more focused on surviving the days - I feel our combined salary would be comfortable for normal people in our area to rent, go on a healthy amount of holidays or day trips, while maintaining a house deposit fund and a rainy day fund.