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

StevieJ

twirlypinky wrote: »

what about the cost of joining match.com! I was single for three years and it was a nightmare in everyway shape or form. I realise there are pros, but i have no idea what they actually were. It was lonely, expensive and pretty darn depressing. Spent the entire time feeling like a poor unattractive freak.

Did you resort to that :eek:

SandC

I've never lived with anyone else since I left the family home and I'm approaching 40. It would take the absolute love of my life to come along and change that - I like living alone but obviously see the financial benefits of cohabiting. I dunno whether they outweigh the freedoms of living alone. I'm happy to be optimistic about meeting someone and actually wanting to do that.

I have often said if I met someone and even if they only earned min wage and they moved in with me I would feel rich with all the extra household cash. This is because you learn to budget properly. Much more so, often, than couples might because for singles it's a scary prospect to have debt. You are on your own. Nobody to share that burden with. So we prioritise.

I don't think it unfeasible that I won't always be living on my own. I am not lonely so wouldn't be shacking up with a friend any more at age 70 than I would now.

I have to say thought that many don't realise that you really don't get any help when you are single that families do. I recall when he was still PM, Gordon Brown being asked about being single and what help they had - his response was working tax credits. Appears even the PM was unaware that you wouldn't get one penny if you earn over £13k as a single person.

Just so long as people around me realise that being single doesn't equate to career driven high earner then I'm fine with it.

StevieJ

carolt wrote: »

You, or other singles, are not paying for my children - they will pay for themselves, just as you now do.

How to you know that they may be benefit scroungers?

PasturesNew

chewmylegoff wrote: »

i would gladly pay the higher costs just to have the TV remote back for a few hours a week.

Buy a 2nd telly? It's still only one license....

twirlypinky

StevieJ wrote: »

Did you resort to that :eek:

i don't get it - must be having a blonder than normal day!

ninky_2

it depends on the partner though. i would be a lot better off financially if i had been single (or with a higher earner) for the last few years. my husband came with debts and costs and didn't earn at all for a long time (nor eligible for benefits as on a spouse visa). i wouldn't have it anyway as obviously life is about more than money.

however i would say that single households use more resources per head than those with two or more people living in them so perhaps it's only fair they pay more.

of course, single people also have the option of living in shared accommodation of one sort or another, going on holiday with a friend and otherwise enjoying just about all of the financial benefits of living as a couple.

those who get taken for the cleaners in a divorce settlement might also find the benefits they enjoyed slightly offset by the later pitfalls.

PasturesNew

twirlypinky wrote: »

i don't get it - must be having a blonder than normal day!

Highlighted was "pros", you can twist that round to "prostitutes"....

StevieJ

twirlypinky wrote: »

i don't get it - must be having a blonder than normal day!

I realise there are pros sorry couldn't resist.

twirlypinky

PasturesNew wrote: »

Highlighted was "pros", you can twist that round to "prostitutes"....

Crikey, no it never got that bad, even though the dates i got from Match were pretty darn poor. I did have to have a second job, though it was working on the tills in Waitrose, so not really pimping myself.

MissMoneypenny

carolt wrote: »

Your "singles also pay for schools, NHS (giving birth and any treatment the children need), universities", is illogical - presumably those same singles themselves went to school and possibly uni, were born in an NHS hospital and have recived NHS medical treatment. They got that free, but then pay it back in later life through their taxes. My children will do the same.

[FONT=&quot]Your children probably will, because as you say, they have seen your work ethic. My children too are paying back into the system (my son straight out of uni as a high rate tax payer and my daughter a high rate tax payer by mid 20s). However, I think we both know that there are plenty of children who will never pay back what they have been given. That is where the singles come in to boost the coffers. I agree with PN, singles get a raw deal[/FONT]