to wonder how anyone can live off 15k a year?

[SheelaNeGig]

Is minimum wage actually doable?

I mean, can you pay rent, run a car, eat, ordinary bills etc. Nothing fancy, just live. Can it be done?

Is it feassble for a single person with no children?

And if not what the bloody hell do you do?

My friend gets 900.

450 - rent with water in
75 - council tax single person discount
electric on the meter
no gas
house insurance - 10

She has a fair bit left over and goes out drinking 4 nights a week.

Its very easy.

No car, small flat but a very happy and comfortable life for me and DD.

Oh, and I get less than 15k a year

That is true lopsided and we get a council tax reduction as well, so it isn't all bad.

Remember when there wasn't minimum wage?

God yes Kayano - my best friend had a baby at 17 and moved in with her 19yo partner who worked 50 hour weeks in a kitchen. He was on £2.50 an hour . That was in 1998 so pre-WTC as well.

bronster - pre minimum wage times were a lot easier imo.I will say it is harder nowadays and you have to be able to accept something a lot smaller

yes, I used to get £2.20 an hour working at Burger King :o

BeeBee - what do you mean, 'accept something a lot smaller'?

We are a family of four on 20k. You cope because you have to

Presumably you are claiming tax credits on top of that ?

Well in 2000 in my town I owned 2.60 an hour same as my friend but our flat was huge.We went to tenerife as well.Nowadays on minimum wage all my friends who do rent are in teeny places in comparisons.You get new build houses then for 63k my mum brought one and now they are 229k upwards.

It is very possible.
I did this for years in London, and managed to pay the fees for a MA as well.

A flat-share is pretty much the only way you can do it, though.

OhDearNigel

No as I sad that's with tax credits, we get £80 a week, no HB, we also get £33 a week child benefit.

It is possible and i think that you are being very judgemental

I guess that rather depends on where in the country you live. It would be pretty near impossible where I live (East Sussex) where the cheapest studio flat costs £400 a month.

I've often wondered how people who work in the shops/restaurants/cleaning jobs on minimum wage in central London survive. Assuming it's about £800 a month after tax, can you even house a family within commuting distance of the centre for that, let alone feed them, bills etc? I just did a Rightmove search for all of London for a 2 bed place for less than £400pcm and got zero results?

we are a family of four soon to be 5 & earn under 20k a year. we own our own home (still mortgaged) & cope by having very little luxury's. we have one car so minimise the out goings there and I try and cook simple healthy meals that we all eat.

I just made the same search as you and found 3 results MrJasc. But then a single person wouldn't need a 2 bed place would they? They'd be in a house share/studio flat, which returns 250 London results.

I think it's difficult for people who aren't on a lower income to get their head round having lower expectations.

A person starting their working life on 15k isn't going to buy a house and they're certainly not going to have a sub 300 mortgage. Comparing with households who managed to get on the housing ladder a decade ago is not really fair.

it is doable, I have done it (on less), but obviously I had to house share, not have a car, walked places a lot, went out only if I could afford it, very rarely eat out, had 2 pairs of shoes (one pair for summer, one pair for winter).

I think it is harder if you have ever been "richer" or are used to spend more on yourself (if , eg, you live at parents' home rent free, used to buy whatever you fancy, think nothing of buying coffees everywhere etc.

Funny thing is, I never thought I was poor. I guess I wasn't. It is all about expectations.

Teeb, I was considering someone who had to support a family. Hence the 2 bed place. I agree, possible for a singleton.

When I was (much) younger and a live in groom I got paid £100 a week! However I didn't run a car as one was provided with the job and I also got some of my meals provided.
I had more money then that I do now!

She'll do it because she has to do it.

We have done it for years, and have 5 DCs, 4 still at home now, but I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to hang on if I'm honest.
We've never been "poor" as such, we've always managed - we go camping, have a nice Christmas, birthdays and suchlike, but just lately we're slipping. We've always had a knife edge between income and outgoings but lately everything has gone up, and up, and our income has gone down so we now have less and the gap is getting wider each month. If we're still here this time next year (in this house I mean, paying the mortgage and with enough to eat and shoes etc) it will be a miracle. I don't think it's going to be doable for many people for much longer if things keep on this way. DH and I already only eat once a day, and my mam bought the kid's school stuff. DD got school shoes for her birthday present from her nanna basically :( and goodness knows if we'll be able to have even a weekend camping next year. This Christmas is going to be a lot "smaller" than usual too I think. It is upsetting because DH works bloody hard and always has, and we are so much worse off now than we have been, even allowing for having had DCs, the difference is more than that.

I have no idea nowadays?

I suppose I used to when I was younger - had a car etc but I pad rent to parents which was £120 a month and included food. CHEAP!

I don't want to put the combined amount me & DH earn on here as it makes me feel like a twat compared to what some people are struggling to live on but we get by OK now.

Things were tight when I was a SAHM the 1st 2 years with DS but I work 30+ hours a week now & we are very comfortable & paying off a lot of loans etc we did have. In the past 5 years we've paid off our wedding (30k) a new kitchen (15k) and new windows, doors, conservatory etc on the house (20k) on top of all the usual stuff like stamp duty on new house, I paid off my car loan, my Next account had £1,200 on it which I just paid off.

Apart from the mortgage which should be paid off in 10-12 years we now have only a 4k loan and we're done. Can't wait!