How much to live on?

lemontart

studentphil wrote: »

I have tried and battled all my life to be something and I do get a bit annoyed that this degree has made me into nothing. What sort of life is that where you can not even get a job that allows you to earn enough to live on?

How old are you phil?

I returned to study in my thirties and did a degree in business and finance in an effort to find work - did not work out so ended up starting my own business............10 yrs on things have changed again and I am back studying to quantify my it skills to help get work ............

Just because you have studied and worked hard it does not give you the right to a job - we all have to compete in the real world for work, as for living wages yes we all want one of those,...............if memory serves me right you are quite young with no dependants mortgages or such like - in which case you take what is offered and work your way up through hands on experience in a job just like everyone else has to,

Carmina_Piranha_3

studentphil wrote: »

You are talking at 300 pound in rent even for a bed sit. Then you have CT, utilities, travel, food, which all adds up.

okay, 300 rent. but how much is the council tax? taking off the 25% discount for being a single occupant. water bills would be tiny in a bedsit or shared house.

when i was a student i lived in a flat and my total income was 3k for the year, that was ten years ago though. a single mum with a kid would get less than a thousand a month nowadays though wouldn't they?

Unknown1234_2

lemontart wrote: »

How old are you phil?

,

he is about 21

lemontart

Melissa_Hewett wrote: »

he is about 21[/QUOTE

so 21 what part of the country and what sort of work wanted with what qualification............and what experience to offer a potential employer..............

wake up time methinks for phil to the reality of workaday world.

Liz
xx
45 with mort and 18 yr old in full time study to support in middle england

studentphil

Carmina_Piranha wrote: »

okay, 300 rent. but how much is the council tax? taking off the 25% discount for being a single occupant. water bills would be tiny in a bedsit or shared house.

when i was a student i lived in a flat and my total income was 3k for the year, that was ten years ago though. a single mum with a kid would get less than a thousand a month nowadays though wouldn't they?

I think ct will be about 800 a year. As for water and other bills I am not really sure.

Graham_Devon

Carmina_Piranha wrote: »

a thousand pounds a month just for one person to live on? that's a huge amount of money for one person.

you live up north somewhere don't you? how much is rent on a bedsit? what about a one bedroomed flat?

It's not at all. Not if you want to live and run a car so you can actually get to work. It's hardly anything as demonstrated in my post.

£1000 a month you could live on should you really scrimp and save and dont run your own car (in which many many case smeans you can't work to get that £1000 a month in the first place).

Especially if you are young and just bought, just starting to rent or are needing to get your own accomodation. £1000 a month is nothing.

Look at my costs, £1600+ a month. Sure, I could cut down about £300 of that....if I wanted to. I don't, as I work to be able to have those benefits that that £300 a month brings (broadband, sky, second car). If I cut it down to £1300 a month, I would be working purely to put a roof above my head, have basic amenities and pay tax.

Carmina_Piranha_3

my husband earns less than that and he keeps a wife and 2 children.

when you get your first job most people are working just to scrimp by, or they stay with their parents for a bit longer.

the average wage in this country is lower than yours. what do the people earning less than you do to survive?

cupid_s

studentphil wrote: »

What sort of life is that where you can not even get a job that allows you to earn enough to live on?

One where you obviously waste ridiculous amount of money!

If I had a full time job paying only the minimum wage I could afford to live - even if I was on my own paying the mortgage on my house.

You've had several posts of people saying they could keep their whole family on around 1k a month but you're not listening to these and still seem to think you 'need' a job paying 15k just to survive. Just what are you planning on spending this money on?

For the record - though you know this already. I worked my !!! off for my first degree. By that I mean literally revised at least 15 hours every day for a month before my exams started. I got a first, then I averaged over 70% in my masters and now I'm about a year off finshing my PhD, which often involves 16 hour days in the lab and usually 6 day weeks.

I am looking at applying for some jobs that pay about 15k, after 7 and a half years HARD work at Uni. If I can't get a job paying better I'll apply to work in a call centre or pub, anything really. What I wont do is come on here moaning that I'm only earning 12k and have 3 great degrees and how unfair life is treating me. I'll just get on with it.

studentphil

lemontart wrote: »

Melissa_Hewett wrote: »

he is about 21[/QUOTE

so 21 what part of the country and what sort of work wanted with what qualification............and what experience to offer a potential employer..............

wake up time methinks for phil to the reality of workaday world.

Liz
xx
45 with mort and 18 yr old in full time study to support in middle england

I should in theory be in a good position for a job as I have a fair amount of unpaid experience and hopefully a degree soon.
I know the north has less jobs than the south but still.

lemontart

Many in my area earn a lot less than that and manage.........as just starting out go for shared house - cheaper - opt for place near bus route or train station if possible or once offered a job as no ties look for somewhere walking distance...........when I first left home at 18 i often had to choose between money for the metre, money for milk or bus fair...........so walked the 3 miles each way to work, started drinking black coffee so could watch tv or cook. .........you do what you have to do to get by - back then I did not have the usefull resource of this site and was brought up with staff to cater to my every need so it was a major shock to me - but dad told me I had to stand on my own two feet if I choose to leave home - I did just that taking on a second job in the evenings so I could afford a nite out or a outfit or record (u know those black discs with a hole in the middle).

Liz
xx