The Cost of Being Single (not single mums, proper single)

lemonjelly

Really2 wrote: »

I was relating it to working as per what the OP said, non of these were available to us as working parents.

Ah! That may be because of the level of income you have in your household.

A low income household can claim the above help. So you could be working p-t & getting help with childcare via working tax credits and housing benefits.

lemonjelly

Really2 wrote: »

I was relating it to working as per what the OP said, non of these were available to us as working parents.

I was stating more that everyone gets child care costs covered by the state no matter of wage by child care places for over 3's.

I am not up on the benefits side of it TBH, but I knew all working people can get some help.

Accepted (though I started to lose track a bit with the edits...;))

PS see my above post re the last sentence you typed.

Really2

lemonjelly wrote: »

Ah! That may be because of the level of income you have in your household.

A low income household can claim the above help. So you could be working p-t & getting help with childcare via working tax credits and housing benefits.

All I know is come sept, we are better off.

edit,

Sorry I kept changing my mind

lemonjelly

Really2 wrote: »

All I know is come sept, we are better off.

Which is the main bit....:)

Radsteral

i remember when i was single, a single room for 1 person was 65 quid.. a double room =45! sort of they wanted to push you to get married '; )

Really2

The pension bit I do find interesting because the government do save money by people being a couple.
At todays rates it is over £1000 per year.

PasturesNew

If you take a fictitious scenario of a single living in a 1-bed flat, on about £15k, they take home £1000/month.

£500 Rent on a small 1-bed flat, !!!!!! neighbours
£ 75 Council tax
£150 Bills
£100 Food
£100 Transport to work
====
£925
Leaving £75/month for everything else in life: clothes, holidays, social life, learning, Xmas, stuff

Now a couple, both on £15k - takehome £2000/month

£700 Rent - fabulous 2-bed, modern shiny place with a lovely balcony, or a 2-3 bed house in some areas
£100 Council tax
£200 Bills
£200 Food
£200 Transport to work
====
£1400
Leaving them £600/month for everything else in life - and - somebody to do it with.

On this "back of a fag packet" calculation, the couple will have 8x the disposable income of the single.

If they all work at the same place, then they probably won't even be friends with the single person because they're boring and never want to do things, like going out/eating out, etc... and they don't want to visit their tiny flat as it's a bit shabby and their place is so much more fabulous. In fact, if they are all working in the same place they probably just saved another £100/month as they're sharing their lift with each other to get to work

It's money - and - lifestyle that's better.

carolt

PasturesNew wrote: »

But if you do the sums, you might find it's just your perception. I don't know anybody with kids (including single mums) who have less than me. People think they're hard done by, but when you tot it all up it's more than they thought they had, they're just spending it.

Might that not be just your perception too? Have you really done the sums on all your married friends?

The reality is that our 1.5 income has to pay for 5 people. Which simple maths dictates is worse than 1 income paying for 1 person.

Not that I'm complaining - obviously I chose to have kids for non-financial reasons. Not as a quick earner.

Anyway, as I said, I expect it's why my perception on this is different to yours, but yes, the kids issue is cluttering up your thread unnnecessarily, so I apologise and I'll leave it there.

Harry_Powell

I've heard it all now. carolt arguing that Child Benefit is not a benefit but some sort of deferred tax relief that her kids will pay back when they're working. Priceless!! :rotfl:

The silly cow doesn't realise that the same argument can be used by all the single mum's she hates in their council houses and benefits... "All this money is jus diferd tax, guvnor. Me kids will pay all back when they get jobs. Honest guvnor". :rotfl:

twirlypinky

Harry_Powell wrote: »

I've heard it all now. carolt arguing that Child Benefit is not a benefit but some sort of deferred tax relief that her kids will pay back when they're working. Priceless!! :rotfl:

The silly cow doesn't realise that the same argument can be used by all the single mum's she hates in their council houses and benefits... "All this money is jus diferd tax, guvnor. Me kids will pay all back when they get jobs. Honest guvnor". :rotfl:

Do you not realise that once you resort to name calling your argument loses any credibility?