Is £1k a month enough to live on?

[EL8888]

I was debating with my mother whether it was possible for a person to live on £1,000 per month. Bearing in mind there is no rent / mortgage to pay (house is paid for), no debts and they own a newish car plus they have a Freedom card to use. They live alone with no dependents or pets. I said it was enough and she said it really wasn’t

@KaptenKrusty - wow! How much is your rent/mortgage?

We're a family of four (soon to be five) and both myself and fiancé work ft with joint income of around £2600 per month. Rent is £850 straight off = £1750, then all bills and food after that. Coping whilst I'm on mat leave is going to be interesting but I'm sure we'll find a way.

So I'd say yes, def manageable if only one person.

@formerbabe but do you live alone? We're talking about bills for one person, not a whole family.

Council tax can be hefty - depends where you live, though, and obv. size of house. Our area is about the highest for CT in the entire country 🙁 - and we’re next door to one of the lowest.

You could live on it, but it would be tight and not much of a life in my view.

Depends how much bills are. Our council tax is £280.

Days.you not get tax credits than @UndertheCedartree?as we get quite a bit on a similar wage we do get extra as we have a disabled child ,but we would still be entitled without the disability premium .

I'm amazed at £50 water for a single person.

That's huge!

Council tax can be hefty but a single person with £1k a month to live on likely won't choose to live in a huge house with multiple bedrooms.

A months bills for one shouldn't come to £300

Mine come to £370 and I live alone in a tiny house with very low council tax. And that's without my car loan payment. Including that it's £540.

Now I still think it's fine for one person to live on £460/month in disposable income. I basically do, with the remainder of my income going to savings. But if you don't have any savings and if you don't have any extra to put into savings, at some point, you're going to be scuppered. And as others have said, you won't have loads extra for things like holidays. I have saved for 2 years to get a new sofa, for instance. It's doable, I agree, but it is not going to feel like you're rolling in it.

According to this (2018, so fairly up to date) you can afford to live a basic lifestyle on 10k a year, so add 2k to that and you could probably (just about) afford a car, Netflix, an annual overseas holiday and a meal out once a month, bearing in mind their figures already include a UK holiday and public transport costs.

"£10,000 for a basic lifestyle

Currently, the State Pension is just £164.35 per week, which equates to £8,546 per year. Is that enough for a basic lifestyle?

Possibly not, according to recent research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), a respected charity. After surveying members of the public on retirement spending, JRF calculated that the income needed for a single retired person to live a minimum acceptable standard of living (more than just housing and food) is around £10,000 per year.

According to JRF’s calculations, £10,000 will provide enough money for a basic lifestyle that includes things like a mobile phone, internet access, alcohol, presents for grandchildren and a week’s holiday in the UK per year. However, the £10,000 figure also assumes that the individual uses public transport only, spends less than £20 per month at restaurants and has no luxuries such as pay TV or a dishwasher. "

www.fool.co.uk/investing/2018/07/29/can-you-really-survive-on-the-state-pension-alone/

Having lived on that amount (or less once you include rent) I would say yes, but I don't drive/own a car, regularly switch to the cheapest electricity and gas supplier, use cashback sites, cook mostly from scratch etc.

@x2boys - I get Universal Credit

@formerbabe

254 mortgage
69 council tax (single person)
7 life ins
18 home ins
61 gas elect.
13 tv licence
32 water
43 three mobiles (me and two DC.)
200 groceries (50 per week)

No benefits apart from cb. Three bed terrace.

Above = £678 with £122 spare for spending on lunches out, weekend day activities, cinema, swim etc and clothes.

800pm
Were not all rich spending addicts.

That's pretty tight for two people, once you've paid council tax, water, gas, electricity, phones, insurance, running costs for car and food for two people. They could probably survive week by week, with no holidays or luxuries. But the moment the boiler broke down or the car needed work, they'd be plunged into debt -- if they were even able to borrow money.

I suggest you give it a try yourself, OP.

Living alone only goes so far.

Tv licence is per household so that doesn't change

Yes you can get council tax discount but you still are paying 75% of it.

Broadband is a cost per house not per person too.

Heating/lighting one room costs the same regardless of how many people are in it.

Home insurance/car insurance...not really affected by numbers in household either.

*I'm amazed at £50 water for a single person.

That's huge!*

It’s pretty standard. If you haven’t got a meter it’s the same whether it’s one person or six. Our water rates are £50 a month.

If they have a public transport pass then petrol costs can be for fun things.
It amazes me how much people spend. We go out a lot but do it cheaply. Go to cinema at cheap times, exhibitions, etc.
The person who says you need £20k per person in retirement is obviously well-off. I don't earn that now, and you always have extra costs when you are working.
Also if older you often already have decent clothes and don't need to spend lots on clothes.
You can also go on holiday last minute. A retired friend is away this week in Spain for £276 including flight, transfers and accommodation and breakfast. Sure you will need say £300 spending money not to worry about it, but still not loads of money.

Above = £678 with £122 spare for spending on lunches out, weekend day activities, cinema, swim etc and clothes.

This is incredibly tight if you have dc. Believe me, I'm not well off by any means and I've lived on really tight budgets. This is really difficult. What happens when your dc need new school shoes, coats, even just socks and pants. What about school trips or extra curricular activities or presents for parties? Even buying second hand it's going to be tough.

And if that single person did have multiple bedrooms, then it would be easy to have a lodger.

No, I think it’s only enough for a frugal lifestyle.

For me bills are £614, of which £300 is flat management charge. (So that's all external home maintenance covered.)

I reckon it costs £200 a month to run a car, if you do any regular mileage. Do they really have to run a car though?

£185 a month for appliances/clothes/food sounds OK to me.

Well that's what I earn and I have a mortgage and bills to pay.

It’s pretty standard. If you haven’t got a meter it’s the same whether it’s one person or six. Our water rates are £50 a month.

I pay £45 for three people, four showers a day, on a meter. If a single person is paying £50 water rates they should probably get a meter. I think everyone can get a meter, if they ask for one?

It's more than enough, some people must be living on another planet if they think it isn't.

A car is a big expense. Sometimes you need a car to get to work. And you also have to factor in money to replace your car.