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

With no rent/mortgage or debts? It should be, many many people live in an awful lot less.

It's plenty, I've lived off around 700 per month after rent/mortgage but before other bills and food etc with 2 dc, a cat and a car.
Less at one point but I can't remember the figures.
Probably no better off now to be honest but brain too tired to do the maths. I'm a student and my income is 9.5k , no benefits except child benefit but now household bills are roughly halved due to dp paying his share so hmm... after we split bills I have about 575pcm left for my personal bills myself and dc, roughly 250pcm on deisel, plus car tax and insurance, then whatever is left is what I spend on food and activities.
I get a small sum of child maintenance which I never see as it just about covers my childcare bill, i top that up out of what s left too.
We don't really go without though, so treats us sometimes when he's had a good month money wise so lucky in that sense.

It does depend on people's bills my gas and electric are lot more than people on here are quoting, council tax is less though,running a car can be incredibly expansive my dh,19 yr old dd can't afford to run a car as insurance is ludicrously expensive due to her age ,so even if your utility.bills only can't around £500 ,allowing £200/month for food that's only £300 for incidentals perfectly doable but it's not a huge amount.

It's enough for one person alone with no debt.

It is doable, but depends on previous lifestyle. Could be that there was a lot of leisure/entertainment/holiday in the budget, in that sense it could be a bit of a shock.

Like everything it depends on how much it costs to run the home in question. If it's 400 for bills, then 600/month left is enough for a person to pay for needs and some wants, though like people said it may not leave huge amounts for savings for emergencies. But if you had 50K in savings, that would make a big difference too.

I don't think unless you know further household costs and what additional savings there are, you can confidentially say one way or another.

Nah, that’s not enough sorry. The people saying it’s loads to live on are used to living in poverty and need to raise their standards, mentally.

There’s no buffer in that £1,000 for long term saving, medium or short term saving. You still have to pay council tax and utilities out of it. What if something major breaks or you need new shoes, etc? There’s not enough buffer there to pay for incidents without causing severe hardship or sending you into debt.

This isn’t just about what some MN posters count as “frivolities” in the oppression olympics on here, but genuine quality of life — long term with reduced (financial) stress. Just because you’ve had to live on that amount or less over the years doesn’t mean that it’s actually enough to live on properly. £1,000 isn’t sustainable for a good life and retirement in the long run.

And my post doesn’t even address things like holidays, buying gifts for loved ones or replacing a car, going back to school, etc.

No rent, but all other bills still- food, petrol, council tax, depending on the cost of them as well yes of course it possible but there may not be too much left after that. It's not as simple as no rent so much be loaded.

It’s not loads but workable, but could be an issue as far as savings particularly house repairs.

Just because the isn’t rent there’s still council tax, electricity, gas, internet/phone, tv licence, car insurance, car tax, home insurance etc... I couldn’t live on that amount and be happy

It's enough with no mortgage or children.

Council Tax
Water
Gas and electric
Buildings insurance
Contents insurance
Car insurance, MOT , service, road tax
Broadband
Phone
Tv Licence
Food
Clothes
Presents
Replacement of household appliances as needed
House repairs and decorating as needed
Dental appointment
New glasses

Adds up.

I have calculated I need £14k a year to live in when I retire (as a single person) to live a very non-lavish lifestyle, no cruises factored in.

I just can't see how it can be done.

I budget £200-250 a week...that does not include bills but does include food.

It's a struggle. I don't drink, smoke or go out. Rarely buy clothes for myself..if I do, it's primark. I live frugally

If you don't mind my asking @formerbabe, what do you spend £200-250 on every week? Are you including travelling costs in that? Do you buy your lunch every day?

£200-250 is my monthly budget for shopping, that includes food and extras like toiletries, cleaning products etc. I always make lunch for work, otherwise it would cost me a small fortune. I also only live a few miles from work, so my travelling costs are quite low.

Here's a rough breakdown of my monthly spending, I have about £1030 per month after my mortgage:

Council Tax - £128
Insurances (life/car/contents) - £65
Tv & Broadband - £32
Netflix - £6
TV License - £13
Gas & Electricity - £50
Mobile - £10
Factoring fees (inc buildings insurance) - £10
Fuel - £40
Food shopping - £250
Savings (for birthdays & xmas) - £100
General savings - £300

Total spend = £1004

I don't smoke or drink either, and socialising with friends tends to be at each other's houses, so inexpensive. Don't get me wrong, it is a tight budget, and I obviously wouldn't say no to a pay rise, but I live quite comfortably within my means.

For a person living in their own without kids, maybe. For a family, not for us.

I've just been going through our finances this morning to see how much we live on after reading another thread earlier. There are 4 of us (2 adults, 2 teenagers) and we have £1800 a month left to cover food, petrol, clubs, general living (no bills).

Every month we have to dip into our savings as we overspend but we do have takeaways, nights out, coffees out, etc. quite regularly. So although I know we're lucky and could cut back, it's easy to see that for some people £1000 a month doesn't seem like a lot left after bills.

@okletsdothis

I'm a sahm so no commuting costs...I pay for food, petrol, kids extra curricular activities and anything non essential.

So I'd say..

Petrol £20
School lunch money for ds £15-20
Food shop...£60-70 plus might need a £20 top up in week. I only shop in lidl/aldi
Then I take out £10 a week to pay for my dds brownies subs £2..give the rest to ds in case he goes to the shop after school.

So that's about £150

Then invariably my dc need something...last week dd needed new school shoes and week before I got my ds a new coat. This week I need to replace my ds school bag.

They are both going on residential school trips this year which I'm paying for. I owe £100 for one which I pay off each week...maybe another £10-20..

Then odds and ends...might take kids swimming at the weekend or to McDonalds...maybe buy a gift if they have a party to go to. Nothing especially outlandish

@TubbyPony £450 per year National Insurance sounds very high if you don't earn enough to pay tax. Are you sure you're not paying too much there?

But the OP is about a single person with no housing costs and no dc so comments about it not being enough due to DC costs or rent etc are irrelevant.

Back to the OP, £1k pm is plenty for basic bills, some emergency savings and some leisure costs so it's by no means a breadline budget, but it will obviously be easy to spend that amount of money and more if you expect to be able to spend freely on eating out, travel, clothes, treatments and accessories, gadgets, expensive hobbies etc etc.

I think you'd need to know more about their finances in total to be sure. It costs us £450 a month for basic house bills (council tax is very high). I used to spend £250 a month on petrol (for essential commuting). It's possible their bills are higher than this. They need to either save for a new car down the line or at that point they will have to have finance (even if that's 10 years away). It they live somewhere where council tax is only like £120 and they work a 5 min walk away then yes, but in other circumstances no. It's not enough info to judge fully.

I mean, there's plenty of families living off that once you take housing costs away. Mine included.

@barbaraofseville there are still housing costs such as council tax to consider and then the utilities.

And clothes are not something people are even trying to “spend freely” on as you say. People need to replenish clothes at some point, whether it’s shoes, underwear, new work shirts or a coat. You can delay the purchase as much as possible but eventually you’ll need to spend at least a bit of money on clothes during the year. That’s not frivolous at all.

This person may have savings though.

I think it's enough for one person with no housing costs but life style creep etc..

Wouldn’t be enough for me.

I get around 2k a month and after all Bill's inc shopping minus petrol so diesel etc I have around 400 left and that's okay

If bills are around£400 (and that’s probably average for most) then £600 actual cash is about doable, just, but depends on variables such as commutes etc. Doesn’t exactly leave loads. Lots who are saying it’s plenty as they manage on less have probably already allowed for the bills!