Can’t afford to live

parkrunner

A year will pass very quickly and staying with your parents should mean paying off your debts will be a lot quicker. Plan your new life for 12 months time.

Danday

Autumn86 wrote: »

which whilst is a low salary (well if you live in South East England), there are millions of other people in the UK who also live on that salary (or lower) and yet manage to afford to live, even renting privately.

Trying to live on £20,000 a year is almost impossible in the South East unless you are being subsidised by the DWP/Council in the form of working age benefits.
Housing costs are through the roof as are travel, food etc.
Living in the South East as I do, you have to have approx. £600/£700 a week net to have any form of a decent lifestyle.
What annoys me are the costs mentioned are much cheaper the further North you go, yet the wages are similar.

Autumn86

Danday wrote: »

Trying to live on £20,000 a year is almost impossible in the South East unless you are being subsidised by the DWP/Council in the form of working age benefits.
Housing costs are through the roof as are travel, food etc.
Living in the South East as I do, you have to have approx. £600/£700 a week net to have any form of a decent lifestyle.

Well I have lived in Surrey/SW London for my entire life, and for a large amount of the past 10years I was forced to live on slightly above/slightly below 20k,
But yet I managed to cope ok (living in private rented flat), and tens of thousands of people live here on less.

It depends on what sort of lifestyle you expect for yourself.
As 20k salary = £1,415 per month salary.

But so even if you rent a 1bed flat (£600p/m), add council tax/electricity/sky TV/internet/£35per week for food, (around £300-£350 total);
you still have around £450per month left, every month, just to pay for travel to work costs.

annandale

There’s also more unemployment the further north you go in the Uk. My brother has a full time job and has been with his employer ten years now. I’m pretty sure he earns around 19k now. He started on 14 so don’t assume wages are similar up north. They often aren’t. His wages were so poor when he started he got working tax credit.

I’d suggest talking to citizens advice as well.

Danday

Autumn86 wrote: »

Well I have lived in Surrey/SW London for my entire life, and for a large amount of the past 10years I was forced to live on slightly above/slightly below 20k,
But yet I managed to cope ok (living in private rented flat), and tens of thousands of people live here on less.

It depends on what sort of lifestyle you expect for yourself.
As 20k salary = £1,415 per month salary.

But so even if you rent a 1bed flat (£600p/m), add council tax/electricity/sky TV/internet/£35per week for food, (around £300-£350 total);
you still have around £450per month left, every month, just to pay for travel to work costs.

Privately rented 1 bed flat - £600 a month??? Where on earth are you finding that from? In and around London for a part decent pad you would be looking at something approaching £1000 a month.
£35 a week for food - £5 a day? More like £60 a week for a single person.
I'm sorry but even by your own figures you are existing and certainly not living.

Most professionals that I know work in the city but live in suburbs as they cannot afford to do otherwise. As an example my son in law (37), a lawyer, works in the city earns in excess of £145,000 a year can only afford to live and enjoy life by living 80 miles outside London.

Danday

annandale wrote: »

There’s also more unemployment the further north you go in the Uk. My brother has a full time job and has been with his employer ten years now. I’m pretty sure he earns around 19k now. He started on 14 so don’t assume wages are similar up north. They often aren’t. His wages were so poor when he started he got working tax credit.

I’d suggest talking to citizens advice as well.

More unemployment? I doubt it. Maybe for the unskilled only.
Look at some facts
The minimum wage applies to everywhere except the City of London
Benefits are paid at a fixed rate across the country.
Housing and living costs in the North tend to be up to half what they would be in the South

So those on benefits, living in the North would have more money in their pocket compared to Kent, Surrey, Sussex.
Those on the minimum wage would also be financially better off in the North than in the South.

lisyloo

Those on the minimum wage would also be financially better off in the North than in the South.

Unlesss of course they have parents in the south offering them free rent.


In general I agree with you, but I doubt the OP want to leave his parents (offering cheap/free rent), job and children


There are reasons that people don't want to just upsticks and live where it's cheapest.
A major factor is family ties.

parkrunner

Danday wrote: »

Privately rented 1 bed flat - £600 a month??? Where on earth are you finding that from? In and around London for a part decent pad you would be looking at something approaching £1000 a month.
£35 a week for food - £5 a day? More like £60 a week for a single person.
I'm sorry but even by your own figures you are existing and certainly not living.

Most professionals that I know work in the city but live in suburbs as they cannot afford to do otherwise. As an example my son in law (37), a lawyer, works in the city earns in excess of £145,000 a year can only afford to live and enjoy life by living 80 miles outside London.

For a single person eating at home it's very easy for £35 a week.

lisyloo

parkrunner wrote: »

For a single person eating at home it's very easy for £35 a week.

This is why an SOA is really useful.
I spend £7.50 on my phone each month (and 2G data is loads for me) and it's amazes me the number of people who claim to be broke but spend £45 a month on their phone.


The devil is in the detail.


There are many helpful people who will advise if a SOA is provided.

Autumn86

Danday wrote: »

Privately rented 1 bed flat - £600 a month??? Where on earth are you finding that from? In and around London for a part decent pad you would be looking at something approaching £1000 a month.
£35 a week for food - £5 a day? More like £60 a week for a single person.
I'm sorry but even by your own figures you are existing and certainly not living.

Most professionals that I know work in the city but live in suburbs as they cannot afford to do otherwise. As an example my son in law (37), a lawyer, works in the city earns in excess of £145,000 a year can only afford to live and enjoy life by living 80 miles outside London.

By doing a simple basic search on findaproperty/zoopla...

Using Heathrow in West London as centre-point, search for studio/1-bed flats within 10miles radius, and there are dozens available.

If you were foolish and stupid enough to live in Kensington then yes you would be wasting £1,000 per month on rent,
but if you live in less over-priced areas of London/Surrey you can find lots of flats for £600 p/m rent.



You may need to spend £60 per week on your food if you're overweight & obese yes,
but for everyone else £35 p/w is reasonable and sufficient food spending budget.


If you wanted to eat a takeaway everyday for each meal then yes you would need £60+,
but given that most food comes in multi-serving packs (such as pasta/rice/chicken breasts/sausages/chips/bread) people typically get more than 1 meal per pack of those foods,
all of which cost below £5 per pack.

People don't pay food their food 'by the day',
they buy a week's worth of food, and then spread it out divided to eat during the week,
which is easily done on £35 per week for 1 person.



And your son in law is either imaginary, or, he is real but either a liar/or a very low intelligence individual.

As anyone who actually earned 145k per year (so in the top 1% of the earners in the country) could very easily live an extremely comfortable live anywhere in the UK (including in London).

If they expected to be able to buy a multi-million pound mansion in Kinghtsbridge then yes ofcourse they would fail,
but as mortgages are available upto 5x income, an individual on a 145k salary could purchase a flat priced upto £725,000.



The OP isn't asking (shouldn't be expecting to live a luxury lifestyle though),
they are simply asking how to merely afford to live and not endup becoming homeless (hence the title of this thread) - Which is very easy based on their circumstances & finances.