Can We Talk About The Cost Of Being Single Right Now? | Single people who live alone already pay £7,564 more in living costs each year than those in a co-habiting couple
Can We Talk About The Cost Of Being Single Right Now? | Single people who live alone already pay £7,564 more in living costs each year than those in a co-habiting couple
26 comments
I imagine that’s by design to incentivize coupling people and increasing the chance they multiply.
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Why do single people only get a 25% reduction in council tax? My property is band D and I pay £118 a month which is pretty extortionate for a single person.
_Beforehand I was spending maybe £200 a month on petrol, whereas now that’s probably doubled._
Christ. She really needs to find another petrol station.
It’s not the cost of being single, it’s the cost of living alone.
The trick is to stay a couple and not have kids. All those savings go way the fuck out the window
What we actually need is more decent housing that’s actually designed for single person households, not shitty studios or one bed flats with no outside space, nowhere to park a car, no space for storage or guests, and no pets allowed in the lease.
As someone that’s thoroughly enjoyed living alone for the past 4 years after a 9 year relationship that ended awfully I don’t ever see myself going back. £7k per annum is a small price to pay for living a life of peace and quiet on my own terms.
It’s nice to see the news acknowledge that single people are struggling as well, for once.
This issue really doesn’t get talked about enough.
As a single dad I’m basically stuck living at home for now despite having a good job because rents and now energy bills are far too high.
My plan was to move out within 6 months but property rents in my area skyrocketed so I decided to stay longer and save to buy somewhere as a mortgage would be far cheaper than renting.
Now with these energy bill increases I could be stuck here for longer.
Obviously energy bills should be tackled immediately but the main problem lies in availability of social housing. They need to build more properties and find ways of freeing up existing stock that isn’t being used to its full capacity.
It sounds fucking awful, but as a single person a large part of me wanting to actually find a relationship is that I don’t really see a way of being able to afford to live genuinely “independently” otherwise. Part of why I find it so hard when relationships or potential relationships go south is because I know that’s being an adult put on hold for a while longer.
And what’s really shit is you know exactly how cynical that is, and what a horrible way it is to view it, but it’s just how it is and you can’t help it.
It would be interesting to know if London has any influence on these figures.
The source data suggests single people pay £630 more on average, with just over 50% (£360) of this being “bills” (includes rent).
Is it not possible that single people are more likely to occupy city centres, particularly London, where flats are small and rent is high? Maybe offset with higher wages.
They would have benefitted from factoring in this potential variable.
Add to it not being in the bracket to be able to get any help or support. I get leaflets in the post regarding new windows, or insulation yet when I look into it I can’t get anything as I don’t claim any benefits. But I get paid and after everything is paid out I can’t afford to get new windows or insulation. It’s bonkers.
They should reduce council tax by 50% for single people or make it means tested and also allow people not on benefits to get some help, again means tested.
After 9 years of living on my own I’ve ended up back with my parents at 29.. so yeah that’s the effect it’s having, and that’s before October when energy goes up again.
Seems to be a lot of assumption in the comments that single people are part of a couple living separately.
That’s not true of all of us. I’m struggling big-time on a single income right now and would love to have a second income to help out (can’t let out as a house-share – my home is tiny with one bedroom). Providence will be just that. The older you get, the harder it becomes to find a new partner.
THANK YOU.
I see why so many young women rely on relationships, get into and stay in bad ones…because it’s super difficult to get a house when you’re alone.
And it’s scary if you haven’t family and a social circle to support you.
I cant afford to live alone. Sharing with family at the moment, maybe 1 day I’ll move in with a partner. But nothing will ever be the same in this country now it’s gone too far. I think many will become homeless, many will die, and there’s no way people will live longer anymore.
Wait it’s more expensive to not split bills? Well colour me shocked
Try being married to someone who doesn’t work. It’s like all the costs of being single but you’re paying for someone else too….
It’s quite interesting, I’m seen as ”rich” sometimes by the virtue of being single and living on my own, but when this comes up I explain how I pay more on bills than them, and earn less too. You just have to become better at budgeting because there’s nobody to back you up and cover any gaps until payday.
Really though, I feel for single parents as its even harder to deal with fixed costs such as child care.
Why is it just showing women especially with a baby? The amount of benefits and help they get is insane compared to single men.
Thinking about getting a wife just to share the bills. DM me if interested.
You only have to look at some of the responses on here trying to justify why single people should pay more per head for council tax, refusing to understand or acknowledge economies of scale when grocery shopping, and championing the existing lower tax burdens for couples earning the same total income as one individual in a household to see that this really is the last acceptable form of discrimination. And that’s before we start looking at the higher costs of practically every leisure or social activity such as gym or pool membership (discounts for family members, kids go free), membership of organisations such as the National Trust where single people effectively subsidise families, hotel rooms, meal deals etc etc etc.
Some people in here are talking about the whole “of course it costs more, you aren’t sharing utility costs”. But that’s… kind of the point?
If you’re a 2-person couple, and your utility bills go up by £200 a month, you’re both paying £100 more. For someone in a solo household, we’re hit twice as hard by things like heating bills going up.
Live alone and have a spare bedroom. No way am I living with some other scoundrel, I’ll eat raw flour every day if that’s all I can afford. No ragrets!
Reading through the comments in this post I see the consensus is ; “If you want to live alone you have to pay a premium as it’s a luxury”. I think that about sums it up?