Could you live decently on £14,400 a year?

Prinzessilein

I could live on £14000 a year.


I live on less than this at the moment. (ESA support DLA lower rate....help with housing and council tax, but I have to top both of these up...sheltered housing.)


Do I live 'decently'?...Freeview TV....£5 monthly mobile bill....no car....no designer labels...no holidays....non-smoker...almost teetotal.....(Some of this from choice, but mostly because I need to be careful with my benefits, they don't give me anything like the luxury lifestyle some seem to imagine.)....but I make rent each month, cover the bills and put food on the table - and there have been times in the past when I didn't always manage this! ....So I guess it all depends on how you define 'decent'!


I can't give much in the way of birthday/Christmas presents...but thankfully family/friends are understanding - and actually seem to appreciate the home-made presents!

Marisco

Prinzessilein wrote: »

I could live on £14000 a year.


I live on less than this at the moment. (ESA support DLA lower rate....help with housing and council tax, but I have to top both of these up...sheltered housing.)


Do I live 'decently'?...Freeview TV....£5 monthly mobile bill....no car....no designer labels...no holidays....non-smoker...almost teetotal.....(Some of this from choice, but mostly because I need to be careful with my benefits, they don't give me anything like the luxury lifestyle some seem to imagine.)....but I make rent each month, cover the bills and put food on the table - and there have been times in the past when I didn't always manage this! ....So I guess it all depends on how you define 'decent'!


I can't give much in the way of birthday/Christmas presents...but thankfully family/friends are understanding - and actually seem to appreciate the home-made presents!

But surely to god there must be more to life than just having enough to pay bills??? Is this what people have been reduced to in this country, being thankful to get enough of a pittance to cover bills, food and sod all that else that makes life worth living?

milliemonster

Prinzessilein wrote: »

I could live on £14000 a year.


I live on less than this at the moment. (ESA support DLA lower rate....help with housing and council tax, but I have to top both of these up...sheltered housing.)


Do I live 'decently'?...Freeview TV....£5 monthly mobile bill....no car....no designer labels...no holidays....non-smoker...almost teetotal.....(Some of this from choice, but mostly because I need to be careful with my benefits, they don't give me anything like the luxury lifestyle some seem to imagine.)....but I make rent each month, cover the bills and put food on the table - and there have been times in the past when I didn't always manage this! ....So I guess it all depends on how you define 'decent'!


I can't give much in the way of birthday/Christmas presents...but thankfully family/friends are understanding - and actually seem to appreciate the home-made presents!

But with respect, you are not going out to work to earn this money, by that I mean you don't have additional costs like transport to and from work each day, work appropriate clothing to buy for example etc and you would get help with additional needs like prescriptions, dental care etc which if you are employed for your £14k pa you're on your own and expected to be entirely self sufficient.

lazer

Marisco wrote: »

But surely to god there must be more to life than just having enough to pay bills??? Is this what people have been reduced to in this country, being thankful to get enough of a pittance to cover bills, food and sod all that else that makes life worth living?

Its not money like makes life worth living - it family and friends.

Richard_Cranium

lazer wrote: »

Its not money like makes life worth living - it family and friends.

Yes, if you have family and friends.There are those that don't have either.

Heycock

Yes. Doing it now quite easily.
But only because I live as a single man in the north-west in social housing. If I was still renting privately or in the SE, no way. It would be subsistence only. People who work full-time should be entitled to a life above subsistence.

melbury

dori2o wrote: »

I keep hearing this but other than housing I don't see what else is cheaper with the exception maybe of train fares.

Council tax in some areas of London is actually cheaper than what we pay, and our gas and electricity is also more expensive per unit that it is in the SE.

So whilst housing and some transport is cheaper it certainly isn't everything.

But housing is surely the most important thing - I hear you can buy a house up North for a few thousand still can't you?;)

Vejovis

If I lived alone I could easily manage on that.

Linda_D_2

14k a year is a hell of a lot of money, I think most people would live very comfortably on that sort of money.

hayday75

If it was tax free ....yes i could certainly live on this amount.