The Great 'Single MoneySaving' Hunt Revisited

The pleasure of living on your own
You have a bed to yourself, that you can get in and out of when you decide and you'll never be disturbed or woken up by someone else getting in an hour after you and bugging you, or who wants the lights off when you're reading a really good chapter, or who hogs the duvet, or who has annoyingly cold feet and wants to warm them up on yours, or who snores or kicks out or has terrible morning breath.

You can cook what you fancy when you're hungry and do the washing up whenever you're ready to. You don't have to avoid ingredients you love just because somebody else hates them, you don't get irritated when you've cooked three nights in a row and its not your turn but you'll have to do it again tonight because otherwise you'll go hungry or have to put up with a!!!! Sandwich.

You know that whatever was in the house when you left will be there when you get back. If the milk's gone its because you finished it, if there's hardly any loo roll left its because you haven't bought any new, you won't be taken by surprise!

You can keep the place as clean or as messy as you feel like depending on your mood, and you've only got your own washing in the basket to worry about.

You can decorate and furnish exactly how you want without having to compromise and without having to constantly defend your lovely home from assaults by horrible shelves, ugly paint colours and bad DIY that you are then expected to be grateful for.

You can use as much water, gas and electricity as you are comfortable with, you don't have to try and sneak around a skinflint who would rather see you get frostbite in January than turn a radiator on or someone who leaves every appliance in the house running at full power 24/7.

This is not my work I copied it quite a while ago but I can't remember from where so I have no idea who to thank but it's so true Lol

Think Viv pretty much covered it all :rotfl:

If i want to go out to the pub, and stagger in at 3am, I can do, without getting the cold shoulder off anyone. If I'm hungover and feeling like crap the next day, I have no-one to moan at me, and can laze around feeling sorry for myself without getting ear ache!

No dealing with "the mental". Its a generally peaceful life! So many people are under the thumb and unable to do the simple things like go for a pint without getting ear ache!

Bed to yourself is ace. No-one next to you chucking the covers off because they are too hot, or stealing the covers because they are too cold!

I don't know any different than being single. On the odd occasion it would be nice to have someone to share my life with, but on the whole, its nice being single

I guess the obvious tip is to only buy as much food that might go off as you need (ignoring the tempting bogofs) and make good use of your freezer.

I make a batch of, say, the Hairy Bikers sweet and sour chicken at the weekend (adding more veg to really bulk it out)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sweet_and_sour_chicken_52908
then freeze it in individual portions using little takeaway containers from the pound shop.

I can just tip it frozen into a bowl, cover and microwave it from frozen if I come home on a busy weeknight and need tasty food fast!

Other tips involve clubbing in with friends - say I want something from an online shop but need to spend £30 for free delivery, I'll ask my friends if they want anything from there too so we can share the delivery

A slow cooker is great for making a pile of food which can then be put into individual containers and frozen.

If you need (or want) to stay in a hotel for a night or two, go for the chains like Premier Inn or Travelodge where they don't charge extra for just one person in a room, and look for their 'special offers' at certain times of the year. I'm going to a wedding in August and have just booked two single rooms for my brother and myself at £23 per night with Travelodge near Croydon (before the invites go out officially and all the other guests start booking up and the price goes up!). The only drawback is that this price is non-refundable, but since I'm not expecting the wedding to be called off...

If you enjoy a pint or two (like Netwizard - and me!), join Camra and look for pubs which offer discounts to Camra members. Not only that, when you join, you get a whole load of '50p off' vouchers to use in Wetherspoons pubs, which practically covers the cost of membership.

If you live in 'TrentBartonLand' (in Derbyshire), get a Mango card - not only does it save money on your bus fare but they have great offers to be used in shops, food pubs and restaurants. I enjoy eating out on my own, as well as with friends, and you can get up to 35% off in some places! (I don't eat out all the time, or there'd be no point in trying to save money! ).

Now my children are young adults I have the urge to go on holiday by myself but why do I have to pay a single supplement if I'm staying in a single room? I would like to go on a cruise but single supplement is around £300 yet the room is only designed for 1 so why should I have to pay extra just to travel on my own? This is so unfair.