Can two people live on one person's wage?

Kim_kim

JGB1955 said:

Until the late 1980s it used to be normal for 2 people to live off one wage - those were the days of SAHMs.  

My oldest sister was born mid 50s, I was 60s.  My mum always worked.  

Kim_kim

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

The past nearly two years I’ve done little other than work, watch tv & sleep.  

I’ve been working from home since march 20.  

It’s surprising how fast it has gone past.  

I won’t be rushing to book any holidays just yet.  

Kim_kim

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

grandadgolfer

tacpot12 said:

I don't think two people can live one one person's wage, even if the gross wage is £20,001, and neither do the government. A couple earning that little would be entitled to c£178 per month in Universal Credit - assuming that they were renting their home and paying a lowish rent (£460 pcm). 

£20K gross is £1,438 per month net of tax and NI.

Assuming the non-working partner is able to claim Class 1 NI credits, we can ignore the cost of providing a pension for this person as they will receive a state pension based on their NI credits. 

Their basic monthly expenses are likely to be: 
Council tax is likely to be £100
Water: £30
Electricity & Gas: £100
Food: £360
Broadband: £25
2x Mobile Phones: £20
+Rent: £460

Total: £1095 pcm.

If they couldn't receive any UC because they paying a mortgage instead of renting, this would leave them with £343 pcm or £40/week per person for clothes, entertainment, travel, presents on family birthdays and other occasions, replacing appliances and furniture, and maintenance on their home. It would certainly not allow them to run a vehicle, so if the working partner needs to travel to work, it would have to be accessible by bus or foot. I don't think that you can provide for all these costs from that little.

If they are renting, then with the contribution from Universal Credit they would have £521 pcm or £60/week per person to cover these costs. This is much better but still very tight. I could not save for a holiday if that was my income.  

So that factors are: 

• Renting or Owning own home
• Energy efficiency of the home 
• Necessity to travel for work (living within walking distance of your work is a major benefit)
• Ability to save carefully for major costs such as replacing appliances and furniture (and maintenance on the home if you own it)
• Frugality when it comes to food, clothes, entertainment, and buying presents 
  
• Ability to use the internet to get good deals on Broadband, mobile phones, appliance replacements (some of the best deals are available on eBay where the better-off are shifting nearly new appliances following a kitchen makeover.

That's assuming they pay rent or mortgage......could be mortgage free

74jax

grandadgolfer said:

tacpot12 said:

I don't think two people can live one one person's wage, even if the gross wage is £20,001, and neither do the government. A couple earning that little would be entitled to c£178 per month in Universal Credit - assuming that they were renting their home and paying a lowish rent (£460 pcm). 

£20K gross is £1,438 per month net of tax and NI.

Assuming the non-working partner is able to claim Class 1 NI credits, we can ignore the cost of providing a pension for this person as they will receive a state pension based on their NI credits. 

Their basic monthly expenses are likely to be: 
Council tax is likely to be £100
Water: £30
Electricity & Gas: £100
Food: £360
Broadband: £25
2x Mobile Phones: £20
+Rent: £460

Total: £1095 pcm.

If they couldn't receive any UC because they paying a mortgage instead of renting, this would leave them with £343 pcm or £40/week per person for clothes, entertainment, travel, presents on family birthdays and other occasions, replacing appliances and furniture, and maintenance on their home. It would certainly not allow them to run a vehicle, so if the working partner needs to travel to work, it would have to be accessible by bus or foot. I don't think that you can provide for all these costs from that little.

If they are renting, then with the contribution from Universal Credit they would have £521 pcm or £60/week per person to cover these costs. This is much better but still very tight. I could not save for a holiday if that was my income.  

So that factors are: 

• Renting or Owning own home
• Energy efficiency of the home 
• Necessity to travel for work (living within walking distance of your work is a major benefit)
• Ability to save carefully for major costs such as replacing appliances and furniture (and maintenance on the home if you own it)
• Frugality when it comes to food, clothes, entertainment, and buying presents 
  
• Ability to use the internet to get good deals on Broadband, mobile phones, appliance replacements (some of the best deals are available on eBay where the better-off are shifting nearly new appliances following a kitchen makeover.

That's assuming they pay rent or mortgage......could be mortgage free

Totally.  And 1 persons wage could be 40k.  The question posted in the op is too open to interpretation and would have been better worded 'can 2 people live on 1 wage under £xxk' rather than 'can 2 people live on 1 wage over £xx' 

zagfles

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Kim_kim

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

zagfles

Kim_kim said:

zagfles said:

Kim_kim said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

kimwp said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

I agree that there should be more to life than simply surviving, but holidays are not necessarily the only avenue to that. Many people go on holidays where they visit pretty tourist spots, eat nice food and learn absolutely nothing (I'm not saying this is necessarily you). Others may not travel, yet enrich themselves with walking in their local countryside, volunteering and watching programmes about other cultures, politics and lives outside their own - which are much lower cost (financially and to the environment). Large sums of money are rarely required to have an interesting life, merely a high consumption one.

Well i think even visting tourist spots and eating different food in a different place is a good experience to have. Getting out and about and going somewhere different, experiencing different things and doing different activities i think is important in life. Yes you can watch programs about different places on TV but it doesn't beat actually getting there and doing something.

I think there are diminishing returns to simply visiting though. I've travelled and lived abroad in Europe, America and Asia and while it's fun to see new things, I can't imagine many people learn about the worst jobs in South America, what it's like to be LBTQ in Russia, how the new young millionaires live in China when they go on holiday, so I think TV programmes probably beat tourist travel from a mind-broadening point of view once some travel has been done. Not that I am advocating watching TV all the time, just that I don't think tourist holidays are necessary for an interesting life or a broad and educated mind.

I would agree with you.  I’ve learnt more from geography, world, travel, political programmes than I have holidays - far more.  

It’s nice to see some things in person, but my holidays aren’t really about fact finding missions.  I’ll visit the local places of interest, but I’m there for the sea & the beach, the cocktails & the nice meals.  

Depends on the type of holiday, obviously an AI holiday where you barely leave the hotel grounds except to go to the beach isn't going to broaden your horizons and teach you anything about other cultures, and of course some, or even most people don't want that from a holiday anyway.

But ones where you travel independantly and interact with local people and get into the local culture can give you a better and broader perspective than TV programmes which often have an agenda eg a particular issue they are investigating, so can give a slanted perspective from the point of view of one particular issue or group. 

As an example the thing that surprised me most in my travels is how the ex British colonies are generally positive about their colonial past and how much they love the British. After years of having being taught in school and by TV programmes how evil colonialism is I was expecting them to have a dim view of the British but that wasn't the case anywhere, and seeing so much colonial history, stuff like street names, area names, monuments etc in independant successful countries who seem to want to celebrate and preserve their colonial past, rather than see it as a period of occupation and oppression and rename everything, tear down statues etc, which ironically seems to happen more here!

Ireland doesn’t hold fond memories of hundreds of years of British occupation.

They did change the place names & tear down the statues.  

Well they still have the Wellington monument in Dublin, the "tallest obelisk in Europe"! You couldn't get a much bigger figurehead of the British colonial establishment than the Duke of Wellington, UK Tory PM, house of Lords, led campaigns in India, commander in chief of the British army.

Ireland is actually one of the places I was most surprised by - I first went there before the GFA when the IRA were still active, and I expected some level of resentment towards the British, but experienced the exact opposite from everyone we met. It was by far the friendliest country I'd ever been to. Going into a pub was joining a party, everyone was so friendly, up for a chat and laugh, wanted to know where we're from, gave us advice on what to see where to go etc. First night we stayed at a B&B in the Wicklow mountains, car wouldn't start the next morning, didn't have any breakdown cover, the B&B owner who knew a bit about cars spent about an hour fixing it. Wouldn't hear of accepting any payment. Car fine for rest of holiday.

RogerBareford

Kim_kim said:

RogerBareford said:

There is far more to life than simply "managing well" and there are many interesting things and places in this world to see and explore i can't imagine never going on holiday like some people on here have said.

Some people just go work, eat, watch TV and sleep in a contstant routing and that no life at all and think everyone should have atleast some interesting hobbies and get out and about often and have enough money to do this.

The past nearly two years I’ve done little other than work, watch tv & sleep.  

I’ve been working from home since march 20.  

It’s surprising how fast it has gone past.  

I won’t be rushing to book any holidays just yet.  

Well if you enjoy being at home and just watching TV then there isn't anything wrong with that and some people can live their whole life like that, but that's not for me and it's nice to get out and about.

pickledonionspaceraider

Depends on a few different factors - if you are talking mere survival, ie JUST scraping by each month or exactly what surviving means to you or if you want to LIVE as per the op - and have experiences and hobbies

How much IS the one wage?  What are your outgoings?

One wage could mean £18,000 as a private renter and be struggling to survive
or 
One wage could mean £40,000 with no housing costs and livin la vida loca

Who jolly well knows.