Can I afford to live alone on £18k?

MandM90

I wouldn't worry about furniture too much. When I first moved out all I brought with me is my boyfriends brothers old tiny tv and a smelly old futon from a friend of a friend (popped it in the living room as a sofa-!!!-bed) Within a year, little by little, I collected what I needed from second hand shops, IKEA and friends. All you really need is something to sleep on and a laptop, really (and a few kitchen bits but your parents might give you a few)

Cloudane

Revised:
Mortgage £400 (just going by various calculators out there for 25 years)
Council tax £100
Insurance £35
Gas+Electric £60
Water £15
Food £120
Internet £15
Laundry/toiletries £10
Car insurance £30
Petrol £55
Car tax £10
Car MOT+maintenance £10
TV license £12
Phone line / calls £15
Mobile £10
Clothing / Gifts / xmas / repairs / misc £60 (consolidated and increased these as things would get shuffled around)
That comes out at £947, with a disposable income of £290. It's almost looking possible to even consider a pension... hmm.... of course it depends whether I'm being an idiot thinking I can get somewhere for 65k and that there aren't catches like it's completely knackered and about to fall down :P


Edit: Ahhhh wait a minute:
"Each property allocated to one of eight bands according to it's market value on 1st April 1991. "

1991? It would've been a lot less back then I would have thought. Hmm.

Cloudane

demelza1953 wrote: »

so 65k house with 10% deposit means that when interest raes return to normal levels the payment will bec.585a month. At normal interest rates each 1 borrowed on a trd. repayment mortgage of 25years cost about £8per month

Ah so rates are super low at the moment?
!!!!!!.

An increase in payments by like 185 would be a shock to the system that's for sure.

Thought I was getting somewhere there :rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

Cloudane wrote: »

Council tax - honestly I have no clue but it is an expensive area, right on the edge of the Lake District. I'm going by this page http://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=842 which would put me on band C or D depending on where in that 65-80k value it'd sit. I had a quick look on rightmove and there was a cheap (albeit a bit haggard looking) terraced for 65 and one a bit nicer for 80. Maybe there's a catch if both of these seem a bit low - I was surprised myself as I thought I'd never be able to manage it in the first place until I saw those. It's quite a nice area in Cumbria, am I being overly optimistic in the first place?

Cloudane wrote: »

Edit: Ahhhh wait a minute:
"Each property allocated to one of eight bands according to it's market value on 1st April 1991. "

Yup, these are way off now ...... I'm a Band D and the value (in my area) is stated as £45 - £58k - house is worth waaaaayyyyyyyy more than that!

caeler

Hi OP - a double check you could do on council tax is find a house on rightmove, track down it's address (Zoopla/maps, etc), then check http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0 to find out it's band. With a properly currently worth £65K, I can't see it being higher than an A but check it out to put your mind at rest, this means your monthly CT would be £77 over 10 months or £65 over 12 months.

As for pension, does your employer have a scheme you could join? It might take the stress out of it for you, yes more money to find, but they put in a percentage and you might even benefit from tax and NI savings depending on the type of scheme. I understand your desire, I've been in a pension scheme since I was 18, granted not paying a great deal in but it is something.

redlady_1

I live in an expensive area and am on trainee wages. If you cant manage then get a second job. It makes a big difference. My council tax is £76 as you get your 25% discount and I save £265 per month. It can be done but you need to be disciplined. I also know that if rates rise by at least 3% I will still be ok.

My recommendations would be dont save for the first six months but make sure you have savings behind you. It will take that long for you to get your head around the various bills and where you can cut back. You will manage, just make sure you dont have any debt.

mum26

I'd imagine your buildings and contents insurance could be lower than that too, that is about what we pay for a 4 bed townhouse with tv's everywhere etc, plus I got £75 cashback on it (which if you were to do similar you could put in your christmas fund or contingency). Also phone and broadband, we pay sky approx £30 for broadband, line rental and unlimited calls, if you have a good mobile package you might not need the unlimited calls option and could avoid high home phone bills (we have a 16 yr old daughter ....).

Don't forget to save for things like solicitors fees, survey and search fees etc etc.

freakyogre

I rent, so it's slightly different (although my rent is higher than your estimated mortgage payments!)

Some of your estimated bills seem a bit high though.

I'm on a lower salary than you and I live on my own and wouldn't say I struggled. I obviously need to keep an eye on things and I suppose I save a lot of money as have never been one for going out every weekend and I don't drink/smoke, but I can still have a meal/evening out/shopping spree without worrying about it as well as putting some money into savings each month.

So, yes i'd say you can afford to live on your own if you wanted to.

Oh and just to add to what others have said about saving. I'd make sure you still have some savings when you do move out. I moved out of home in 2007 (luckily I was promoted at work at the same time) and then moved to a more expensive place in December 2008. I was then made redundant the following March so I was very thankful for what i'd managed to put aside as was out of work for a couple of months.

Cloudane

@caeler - great tip on the voa lookup, thanks! The 65k example I saw is band A

(It does worry me that it's costing people more just to rent. Maybe anything I can afford is a horrible heap falling to bits and I'll lose all my money on it or something, that's always a bit of a worry. OTOH maybe I can "do up" such a heap and sell it on for more and ascend the ladder)

My employer has nothing pension-wise (and never will, they're very tight that way)

@redlady_1 - yeah, a second job is always a possibility too. I do IT, so could probably make some extra in general fixing PCs too, like I did when I was in school.

Indeed, any form of saving would be a bonus at first.

@mum26 - interesting, and yeah I'd kind of not really thought of all the fees. Might as well add another k or to to what I need to save up on top of the deposit.

I'm a big internet person so don't mind paying a little extra for a quality connection. That's the only "luxury" I'd be bothered about though.

Also I have computers all over the place at my parents. I have a Mac Mini in my bedroom just out of pure laziness. I know it'd put an end to that (and doing business with Apple too) and I'd probably sell stuff like that to help with it.

lemontart

Yes a single person can afford to live on that wage, and it is simply a case of cutting your clothe so to say - in other words rent or buy what you can afford comfortably. I was earning less than that until recently and managed with a little help ( well a lot of help) from the advice on this site.