Do you earn enough for a minimum acceptable standard of living?

mystic_trev

http://www.minimumincome.org.uk/

Enjoy!

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/minimum-income-standard-2010

PasturesNew

I did this last night and it said I needed £22k (I have about half that at the moment).

Puddleglum

I'm struggling too according to this. Like Boxer in Animal Farm - "must work harder".

chucky

Chaos_A.D. wrote: »

I'd say many, many people are living like this and have done for some time, and for some the difference has been made up with loans and credit cards, leaving the country in the debt death spiral we find ourselves in today.

I'm truly staggered by the cost of living in say.... London, I have no idea for instance how someone on minimum wage can possibly live any kind of existence unless they live 10 to a house, or just rent a room.

you can still buy flats in London for £100k ish and maybe a 2 bed house for £150k (pushing it) in maybe not the nicest of areas but they're ok. commute a little bit and you can get some decent sized places for not London prices.

most major European cities are the same - very few people live in them but commute in.

PasturesNew

To do stuff in London seems cheaper. The transport is cheaper (per mile) than in most of the rest of the country - and you can go in loads of different directions (not just in/out of town centre) and at all kinds of times (e.g. my first train here leaves at 10:30am). I had a friend who goes to some highly recommended indian restaurant and the cost of a sit down meal is cheaper than I've ever found at a takeaway. There are loads of free things to do in London and the cost of accessing goods/services is lower too. More choice, more competition, lower prices if you go looking for them.

The calculator above seemed to think that a single could rent somewhere for £53/week, where I live now the LHA is £111/week, so I keyed that in for a rental figure. Also, council tax on the calculator seemed low, so I had to adjust that up. Rent and council tax .... there goes most of what you need.

The calculator said I need £22k - yet the average salary for a full-time female where I live is allegedly £16,500. I say allegedly as it'd be rare to find a job advertised and paying anywhere near that.

flea72

using basic info it says i need a minimum of £36k to live, currently have income of £22k

once i input bills, it says i need £44k a year to live!

F

PasturesNew

I just spotted the food bill.... £44/week it says, for ONE person to eat. Blimey - I'd be the size of a planet if I spent that much!!! That's over £6/day every day.

It also allows £42/week for social and cultural activities.

Overall, those are the two things I don't spend my money on. My idea of a social life is getting online

So that's £70/week saved on food and going out/doing stuff.

And personal goods and services... nearly £9/week. Not sure what they are, but I can bet my last dollar I'm probably spending £9/year on it at present.

I am also not spending the £4.69/week on alcohol that they list. More like £10/year.

phil_b_2

Not convinced by that. Nearly £100 per week on food and alcohol? I think my monthly food shop is about £70 and that's for 2 of us. Don't buy that much in-between I don't think.

beecher2

£44/week on food is just ridiculous - no way I spend anywhere near that. I wouldn't see £42.16 a week for social and cultural activities either. Don't feel a holiday is 'essential' either.

flea72

wow, i didnt look at the breakdown. £115 a week for food, and £43 on clothes

i prob spend those amount monthly, rather than weekly

however, they are way off on the utilities, we pay double what they quote for gas, elec, water and council tax

F

michaels

2 adults, 3 kids - rent will be about...77 quid a week then - what planet are they on. 60% mortgage interest only on a low rate costs about twice that and to me a 3 bed is the minimum size property for 3 kids? Rents would be 4x their estimate!

The food estimate was about right (110 pw) but luckily we don't spend 130 odd on 'social and cultural activities' (that's right, we don't have Sky)

Finally 40 quid on public transport? That would not get me to London for 2 days let alone cover getting the kids to school, shopping trips or any others like doctors appointments...