living alone costs

catoutthebag

I may be living alone soon in a flat. I've lived with parents and Partner before

I know prices varies wildly

I'm not in South of the country

Want to know if things are subsidised for singles

For 1 bed what am I looking at?
Guess broadband will be 20 pcm
Rent 400-500 pcm
Food 60-80

What about water
Gas
Electric
Council tax

on no benefits

Ant rough ideas helpful

duchy

"20 sounds expensive for broadband
Council tax and water will depend on which bit of "not south" you are planning to live.....There is a single person discount for CT and some but not all homes have water on a meter which would be cheaper for you than water rates.
If you've lived with a partner before rather than only with parents you should have some idea of your consumption levels for gas/electric.

Do you seriously think £15 to £20 a week for all food is sustainable? It's do-able if you plan really carefully but quite difficult.

pmd123

I live with my little boy (Northern England), and can give you a general idea on my costs...

Rent £600 pcm
Council tax £110 (25% single person discount)
Gas & Electric £80 combined
Water £10 (metered)
Broadband £20
TV Licence £12
Contents Insurance £7

Then additional expenses which you may incur depending on your lifestyle...

Mobile phone
Car (Insurance, petrol, MOT)
life insurance
subscription TV package
landline

Food, how long is a piece of string, entirely depends on how expensive / cheap your tastes are, only you know this one.

Entertainment / days / nights out, could be nothing, could be hundreds of pounds per month, depends on your lifestyle.

If you are thinking £500 per month rent, I'd suggest £800 per month minimum if you live frugally, and have no outstanding debts, but more likely £1,000 if you want to treat yourself a little more.

TakingControl

I live on my own and also work mainly from home so have 'extra' heating cost during daytime in the winter.

Rent: 650
Electric&Gas combined: 51 a month DD
Water: 36 a month (none metered)
Council tax inlcuding single person over 10 months: 98 a month
contents insurance: 9 a month
TV licence: 12 a month
Broadband/Telefon: 32 a month (however need a stable fast one and employer pays half)

moneyistooshorttomention

Bills for a single person are darn nearly as much as for couples between them.

Sorry to say the only saving we make is that we pay 75% of what couples/families pay for Council Tax (ie even your CT bill will be half as much again as it was when you were in a couple and splitting 100% of the bill between you).

TV licence - costs the same

Insurance - costs the same

Telephone/broadband - costs the same (assuming you have the same type of contract as I do for instance = unlimited broadband and unlimited phonecalls up to 1 hour in length at any time). The only difference to your phonebill from being single is the calls to mobile phones the OH would have made (with phonecalls to mobiles being chargeable)

Water rates - probably won't be that much less

Fuel - will be darn nearly the same

It is very much dearer to be single I'm afraid.

No, I don't know why the whole billpaying system penalises single people so much (presumably a leftover from the days when most households were a man supporting a wife and children??? and hasn't been updated since then?) or how to get it changed to be per person (not per household). We seem to be stuck with this set-up....grrrr..

EDIT: I would say that its more realistic to allow £25 per week for food if you eat in a pretty "standard" sort of way. If you eat healthily, on the other hand, make that £35 per week.

PasturesNew

Putting a "round figure lump sum" on it - I'd say £300/month.

I've no idea how much mine is as I've just moved into a house from an adjoined annexe that had (some) bills included.... and I set up DDs and money just goes out. But I expect to pay:

£110 council tax (after 25% discount)
£30 phone/broadband (couldn't pick cheapest, just wanted the job done for now, I can look again in 2 years' time)
£70 DD set up for gas/electric (their guesstimates were more like £120)
£20 water (guessing)
£18 contents/buildings (can't remember precisely)
£12 TV license

===
£260

So with my £300 lump sum figure that still leaves me £40 room for maintenance, gas boiler servicing and minor repairs.

lee111s

I currently pay all the bills in my house as my gf is finishing up on her masters degree. Here's a breakdown;

Mortgage £525
C/T £120
Gas/electricity £80
Landline/Broadband £15
Sky TV £47.50
Buildings/contents £13
TV licence £12
Water £30 (large garden)

So about £850! Then I have dog insurance/food for my two pooches. Gym membership/food and fuel!

trailingspouse

I was a one-woman household while my OH worked abroad, and to be honest I hardly noticed any difference cost-wise.

In fact, because I was used to cooking (and buying) for two, I wasted quite a bit on that to begin with.

And some things cost more - for example, on cold winter nights I would keep the heating on whereas if himself had been home we would have snuggled up instead...

We're on a water meter, so that was a saving - but pretty marginal in the grand scheme of things.

catoutthebag

Hmm thank you for the replies

May just stay with parents as much as I don't want to given the above costs!

macman

I'm curious-how do you expect anyone on a forum to know what you will spend on food in a month? Surely you know that already? And your rent will depend on the kind of accommodation you require, and the area-it could be anything from £400 to 5 times that.
There is no 'subsidy' because you are single, apart from a 25% single person discount on your council tax.
Costs are higher for singles because the fixed charges are not divisible: for example, if doesn't cost any more to heat a one b/r flat for two people than for one.

moneyistooshorttomention

trailingspouse wrote: »

I was a one-woman household while my OH worked abroad, and to be honest I hardly noticed any difference cost-wise.

In fact, because I was used to cooking (and buying) for two, I wasted quite a bit on that to begin with.

And some things cost more - for example, on cold winter nights I would keep the heating on whereas if himself had been home we would have snuggled up instead...

We're on a water meter, so that was a saving - but pretty marginal in the grand scheme of things.

Just to say how much I appreciate you making that comment.

I've long since lost count of how often I have had "steam coming out of my ears" from "halves of couples" trying to make out that singles aren't way worse off than someone who is "half of a couple".

I've given up trying to explain to them just how much dearer it is to be single by now, as I've realised there are so many that "Don't want to believe me = so they wont believe me" whatever I say and however many "facts and figures" I present them with to prove it.

Good for you:T:A:T for saying this.