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

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Comments

  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    chucky wrote: »
    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.

    Cheapest 2 bed house I can see on RM is £165k at auction - not a thorough search, though
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    It is supposed to be a "fun" calculator, based on how much the general public said would be needed for a good life, so it's not "to live on". So this is how much we'd all be happy at, I guess.

    Anybody earn more than they need? .... thought I'd ask as I take Paypal.
  • beecher2
    beecher2 Posts: 3,677 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    michaels wrote: »
    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...

    Wouldn't the figures be based on rent, taking housing benefit into consideration? People without cars probably spend less on public transport than you imagine - I tend to shop where it is easy to get to, rather than where I could get to if I had a car.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Cheapest 2 bed house I can see on RM is £165k at auction - not a thorough search, though
    I guess that's partly where you think London is.

    For me, if somebody's in Herts/Essex it's London. Anybody living "over that way" is London. Surrey to Suffolk is London to me.

    For those living in Zone 1, I guess only that middle bit is London.

    If I type in "London" into RM, I get this at £115k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25503377.html
  • chucky
    chucky Posts: 15,170 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 6 July 2010 at 9:27AM
    Cheapest 2 bed house I can see on RM is £165k at auction - not a thorough search, though
    I guess that's partly where you think London is.

    For me, if somebody's in Herts/Essex it's London. Anybody living "over that way" is London. Surrey to Suffolk is London to me.

    For those living in Zone 1, I guess only that middle bit is London.

    If I type in "London" into RM, I get this at £115k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25503377.html
    not done any searches but i'm sure if you looked in the extremities of E17 or even if you looked at some obscure SE postcode i'm sure you would find £150k ish on Rightmove for London.

    maybe even Croydon but as PN says some people would class that as Surrey... it''s a good commuter location for London.
  • beecher2
    beecher2 Posts: 3,677 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm not sure the minimum acceptable standard of living should look at mortgages - buying a house isn't essential for life.
  • flea72
    flea72 Posts: 5,392 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    beecher2 wrote: »
    I'm not sure the minimum acceptable standard of living should look at mortgages - buying a house isn't essential for life.

    no, but in my case, my monthly mortgage payment is lower than the rent on a similar property. so in that case, i would need to have an even higher income to be able to rent

    F
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    beecher2 wrote: »
    I'm not sure the minimum acceptable standard of living should look at mortgages - buying a house isn't essential for life.
    I just plugged in my LHA for a 1-bed for that figure when I did it.
  • beecher2
    beecher2 Posts: 3,677 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    flea72 wrote: »
    no, but in my case, my monthly mortgage payment is lower than the rent on a similar property. so in that case, i would need to have an even higher income to be able to rent

    F

    To be able to rent a similar property, yes but could you live in a cheaper one and still have a minimum acceptable standard of living? This is why these things are so tricky to judge and to put a figure on.
  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    I guess that's partly where you think London is.

    For me, if somebody's in Herts/Essex it's London. Anybody living "over that way" is London. Surrey to Suffolk is London to me.

    For those living in Zone 1, I guess only that middle bit is London.

    If I type in "London" into RM, I get this at £115k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25503377.html

    More than the middle bit, but Abbey Wood's the !!!! end of nowhere. More or less Thamesmead.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
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