Everything is always more expensive when single!

RobM99

Single person supplements for holidays.
Ever see a Table For One?
Taxi costs the same for 1 as for 4.
Electricity standing charge.
Gas standing charge.
Broadband.
Landline.
TV Licence.

mi-key

It's true it is expensive to run a house on your own. And the council tax give us a whole 25% off as a single person discount ! 

Ksw3

It's a very common reason why victims of domestic abuse don't leave their partner or spouse. They can't afford to leave. Especially, if they they have faced financial abuse. 

Single people have much less options. All my single friends rent a room as it's all they can afford. Definitely not something I would wish to go back to. 

silvercar

I’ve asked for this thread to be moved to a more appropriate board as it isn’t relevant to mortgages.

SensibleSarah

Having been single for a long time and with no intention of ever changing that, there's no getting around that running a household on one income is tough. The world isn't particularly geared to permanently single people and it can be frustrating, but on the plus side, I always get to be in charge of the TV remote and there's no one to complain that I'm stingy with the heating or when I have coco pops for tea because I can't be bothered to cook sometimes. 

I was fortunate in that I was able to buy a little house cheaply over a decade ago (in the cheaper North) and despite spending most of those years since just getting by rather than doing the work on the property that it needs to stop looking like a 70s nightmare, at least I have a bit of housing security with my patterned carpet and textured asbestos walls and ceilings. 

DullGreyGuy

RobM99 said:

Single person supplements for holidays.
Ever see a Table For One?

Only if you buy package holidays... the per head will be more booking a room for 1 than 2 but there is no supplement

I see tables for 1 very often as I travel extensively for work... an increasing number of places these days have some form of bar or communal seating so you arent there billy no mates but even if you do occupy a whole table alone there is no surcharge for doing so, 

KxMx

[Deleted User] said:

IAMIAM said:

And its also annoying that all government help always geared to being a couple or with children!

Council tax is less when single.

And the thing about government help for folk with children, it doesn't eliminate the costs, just mitigates them.

Still I am of the view that when it comes to purchasing property, trying to do it based on a single person with average income, is much harder that a joint venture with 2 incomes. 

A single person pays 75% council tax.
Many couples with both working would arguably pay 50% each. 

Gavin83

Living alone is a luxury and given the lack of housing is a scenario that should be discouraged. If you want to save on costs then live with someone else, such as a friend or a lodger. Or accept living alone will (and should) attract a premium.

MattMattMattUK

Life is more expensive as a single person as base costs are divided by one rather than two. Extra benefits are often not aimed a couples, but those with children as children cost more (not that I agree with subsidising low wages, which economically depresses wages). Whilst it would benefit me in the short term if there were handouts for single people it is not the government's place to subsidise living choices (I do not agree with housing benefit in it's current form either), as a single person one can house share, get a lodger etc. Living alone is a choice. 

p00hsticks

IAMIAM said:

And its also annoying that all government help always geared to being a couple or with children!

thst's not true of the latest Cost of Living payments though - they're being handed out whether you're single, in a couple or a family with children and as they're aimed at households single people actually get more than half of a couple.

E.g.

£150 COL payment for those in Band D or under council tax - so £150 for a single person, £75 for each of a couple.

£400 rebate over six months on your electricity bill - so £400 for a single person, £200 for each of a couple.

A single pensioner under the age of 80 will get £500 Winter Fuel Allowance this year, each half of a pensioner couple only £250.

And £650 for those on Universal credit, whether it is a single or joint claim.