Single income home

[Deleted User]

So far, in just the last week, we've had the following people posting that they should get extra help:

Single without kids, single with kids, couple with kids, pensioner, someone who works from home, someone who lives rurally, someone who lives in a flat, someone with economy 7, someone finishing a fixed rate deal and someone moving into a new house.

We know that lots of people are worried.  There's nothing wrong with being worried, and we will try and help or advise where we can.  I'm sorry, but it's not callous to say that we can't just give help to every one of the above groups because they've decided they deserve it.

maxmycardagain

sharrison21 said:

Coffeekup said:

sharrison21 said:

I live on my own, why is nobody talking about people who live on their own, there is no help out there but it costs the same to heat a house with 1 income as it does to heat a house with 2 my mortgage still costs the same. ? 

Actually you'll use less energy being than having a second person on the house. As they may want the heating on when you out, they may cook when you're not in or have a bath/shower when you not in. The energy usage won't be (or shouldn't be double) but it'll be in my experience about a third more.

However as you say a second person living with you can pay half the bills... 

i work from home so i am using gas and electric all day… and I would expect that you would cook for both you and your partner so you wouldn’t cook at different times also would put laundry in together. And it still costs the same to heat a house if there’s 1 income or 2,3,4,20 incomes. Also as you said if they were cooking and cleaning at different times its still a third more more not double. Also my mortgage has gone up no matter how many people live here it still costs the same. 

I hope your employer is contributing to you costs if you work from home, if your self employed claim half against your income tax

Alnat1

The employer could just as well say they are helping the employee keep their travel costs down by allowing them to work from home and offer them the alternative arrangement of coming in to the office.

400ixl

Very few employers are contributing to employee costs of working from home, what makes you think they are?

As an employee you can claim some tax back if your employer makes you work from home (as opposed to you deciding you want to). Hopefully the OP has done this if it is relevant.

Lets not set false expectations though on what employers are doing in general.

EssexHebridean

maxmycardagain said:

sharrison21 said:

Coffeekup said:

sharrison21 said:

I live on my own, why is nobody talking about people who live on their own, there is no help out there but it costs the same to heat a house with 1 income as it does to heat a house with 2 my mortgage still costs the same. ? 

Actually you'll use less energy being than having a second person on the house. As they may want the heating on when you out, they may cook when you're not in or have a bath/shower when you not in. The energy usage won't be (or shouldn't be double) but it'll be in my experience about a third more.

However as you say a second person living with you can pay half the bills... 

i work from home so i am using gas and electric all day… and I would expect that you would cook for both you and your partner so you wouldn’t cook at different times also would put laundry in together. And it still costs the same to heat a house if there’s 1 income or 2,3,4,20 incomes. Also as you said if they were cooking and cleaning at different times its still a third more more not double. Also my mortgage has gone up no matter how many people live here it still costs the same. 

I hope your employer is contributing to you costs if you work from home, if your self employed claim half against your income tax

Be very careful,with this approach. In an awful lot of cases, if you go to your employer with this approach they will simply say that’s fine, they have a well lit, adequately heated space they can provide for you to work in, it’s called your office, and you can return to it full time. If the employer no longer has office space due to all employees converting to WFH then that’s a different matter. 

Hopefully the OP and others are at least getting the small amount of tax relief that is available for those who WFH at all? It’s not much, but regardless is still worth having. 

Chrysalis

sharrison21 said:

I live on my own, why is nobody talking about people who live on their own, there is no help out there but it costs the same to heat a house with 1 income as it does to heat a house with 2 my mortgage still costs the same. The ONLY help is 25% off council tax but if I settled for a subpar partner I could only be paying 50% of everything not 100%. It’s already difficult and it’s just getting worse. What am I supposed to do? What help can i get? 

Sadly its always been like this, the ideology perfect home is a couple with a couple of kids.

Singletons are seen as a dont matter sort of thing.

As you said council tax only 25% off, almost same energy costs, almost same food costs (due to bulk buy discounts) and heavier hit from SC on a per person basis.

In addition the new warm home discount has only 7% of low income people living in flats as meeting the criteria.

When I took my sister in, my disposable cash went through the roof.

[Deleted User]

So not only is it a discount on energy for singles now, it's a discount on food too?

Chrysalis

[Deleted User] said:

So not only is it a discount on energy for singles now, it's a discount on food too?

What do you mean? there is no discount on either, and food costs more as large items designed for families are very heavily discounted.

Hedgepigs

PM22 said:

...but what I really wanted someone to say was that it must be hard being single as all the responsibility is on you and you alone and there is no one to share the problems with.

I think this is the crux of the issue here. It can feel very isolating having to cope with big challenges alone. And of course it feels like others don't understand or appreciate how difficult it is, when there is no one going through it with you.

Many people, in many different circumstances, are and will be finding things very tough. We are not all-in the same boat - just all in the same storm, and will all weather it differently.

This forum isn't necessarily the best for tea and sympathy, but it is very good for practical solutions (even if you don't much like the practicalities of them!!). As a single person living alone, I am reading with interest for tips on making life easier and stretching the budget a little further. I think I already use energy as sparingly as I can - I have a health condition that can flare up badly in cold so have to keep some balance between 'money saving' and staying well - but I am sure there are little improvements to be made still. This weekend for instance I picked up a cheap air fryer, having seen the difference in cost to turning the oven on just for one portion of something. 

At the moment, unfortunately, I think we have to assume no one is coming to help us, so we best do what we can to help ourselves!

Trynsave2

At the moment, unfortunately, I think we have to assume no one is coming to help us, so we best do what we can to help ourselves!

One thing we can all do is start planning an MSE Christmas now. If you haven't had the 'Martin' conversation with family and friends do it now before the annual obligation to buy unnecessary gifts begins.