25k isn't sufficient for a single person nowadays.

[MintAnt]

I'm 33 and earning this in public sector, so I'm currently applying for promotions. I am single and live alone, the vast majority of my colleagues are either in their 20s and live at home, or live with a partner/spouse.
I had to dip into my savings so having to build them up again, I only have £500 which is shameful. I've just signed for a tiny studio which is £600 pcm including all bills and just over a third of my take home pay.
My plan is to do a lot of overtime whilst applying for promotion and have the savings I hopefully need this time next year. Fortunately I live in an area where it's very cheap to buy, you can get a 1 bed flat for 70k.
It is depressing though.

Well £25k isn’t a great salary for someone in their 30’s, and we’ll below average salary, but it sounds like you live in a very cheap area so are actually in a good position. £600 rent for a studio including bills is excellent, and having £1200 left over a month for food, savings and extras is more than a lot of people have.

I agree with you OP. I earn roughly £30k and I'm a single person.

That gets me
my house and all it's running costs.
Food, dental and phone, hairdresser, supermarket clothes
a small cheap car
2 foreign city breaks per year
2 cheap nights out a week, ie, cinema, meal, quiz night, bingo.

I am content with my lot in life. But I wouldn't work for less. If i'm going to work full time, I want all the above. If I can't have that I might as well not work. Thats why I won't work for less than £30k which I think is the absolute minimum amount a single person needs for a reasonably modest lifestyle.

I think you might have forgotten to add

child benefit
housing benefit
universal credit
council tax reduction
PIP
DLA
free prescriptions
free dental care
free eye tests

maybe

And bills, my dear, and bills.
How much were you expecting it to cost?
As @mrsm43s pointed out a grand a month 'spare' is a lot. Even if your food, transport etc came up to £500, you'd still have £500 left to save.
You only need 7K deposit for the flat, which you'll have in a year and a bit, so.. what's your problem? Unlike most of us you seem to live in a place that's actually affordable? Not sure why you'd expect any sympathy.

Only get the first three on that last. No reductions or anything free unfortunately. Slightly presumptuous there. Most people on UC have to pay for those things. Why do you find it hard to believe?

Running a car, regular hairdresser appointments, 2 foreign holidays a year, 2 nights out a week (cinema, meal, quiz night, bingo) are not a modest lifestyle!

Seriously DH and I are in the much hated on MN for being "super rich" (we're not) £100K+ household income group. We most certainly can't afford 2 foreign holidays a year and 2 nights a week out! For our family, one foreign holiday every two or three years and a night or two out a month is closer to our affordability.

Just to add we don't get housing benefit. We have a mortgage.

20 years ago we earned 10k plus 9k as a couple - £19k in total. We rented a tiny place for £450 then paid bills on top so over your current rent plus feeding 2 adults. We didn’t go out much but still lived nicely. While it’s a tight budget, I’ve person on your salary can manage okay - many do. I work in the nhs and that’s a band 4 salary so those on bands 2&3 earn less. It’s not an amazing salary but not as bad as you seem to suggest.

It's hard. I take home around £1700

Bills
Mortgage 385
Service charge 200
Gas and electric currently 100
Water 27
C tax 130

£842 and I haven't even included contents insurance, dental plan, car insurance, fuel, food....

And working in the public sector you will be building up a pension entitlement that those in the private sector could never afford.
I'm sick and tired of public sector workers pleading poverty, I've worked in both and the public sector is a doddle particularly WFH post covid. I worked with colleagues who did precious little when they were in the office god knows what they do when working at home

It's 2 foreign city breaks (3 nights) not 2 foreign holidays sorry not to be clear.

I think I live a modest lifestyle. My point is - if I work 30 hours a week, which I do, then I want all those things. And if I can't afford a relatively modest but nice life, then I don't see any point in working. Might as well be on benefits.

My adult DS only earns £25k and he saved £10k a year for about 2 1/2 years into a LISA to get a deposit on his house. He bought a 2 bedroom terraced house in Midlands for £165k that needed some work done on it. We helped him with deposit but insisted he saved up £25k on his own as well. He now pays £400 pcm for his mortgage. You could save up a deposit too and get a LISA whilst they are still available.

I will give you some sympathy - I paid £45000 for my first three bedroom house which was about three times my fairly shit wage. It was in cheap area but was a cute cottage - the third bedroom was a cupboard really but there was plenty of room and gardens front and back. It’s shit what has happened to house prices.

Two nights out a week is so far from affordable for most, even those on much higher salaries than your own Nothing about your lifestyle is modest! Part time working, foreign holidays and two nights out a week. Modest? 😂

I can only assume you're on a wind up!

As I said just one foreign holiday (even if it's a city break) every couple of years, a night or two out a month being affordable on a FULL TIME (40hrs a week) salary is normal. Being able to afford more is either being very fortunate or very foolish (if you're leaving bills unpaid and pensions up topped up to pay for it).

Oh god can we please not turn this into a private secto/public sector war.

Many, many public sector workers work very hard and provide essential services. Yes there are inefficiencies but I have seen them in every industry sector.

Sure the pension is OK if you got in years ago but more recent joiners are on less favourable terms. My retirement age is currently 68 but I will need to keep working till 71 at least as I had some years part time, not from choice, and therefore a shortfall.

Back to the OP... You are totally not being unreasonable. I sincerely doubt £600 is your fixed coss per month, there will be loads of essentials like food, transport, phone, insurances, dental, prescriptions on op of that.

I lived well as a single person on £24k per year. In 2001. I had a small studio, could afford one abroad holiday a year and decent clothes.Doubt I could now. Like you say all the youngsters are either cohabiting or living with parents.

I can't afford nights out or holidays etc
I do have my hair cut once or twice a year. It's just shit to work 40hrs a week and have to save for a new light fitting which is £50
Min wage increase will help a bit though

I'm not on a wind up. 30 hours a week is full time not part time. I haven't explained my self very well I don't think.

What i'm trying to say is, I have a modest income, live a modest life (and yes, I do think it's a modest life for a single person) and I'm content with my lot. So I think £30k is a more reasonable figure to aim for.

Are you content @mrsm43s?

@Peekaboobo 30 hours a week is not full time!

puzzled by your benefits comment.

yes it is. In any case, I don't want to get into a it is/it isn't argument.

For the work/life balance I want - I need to work 30 hours a week, which I do. I could work 60 hours a week if I wanted to, but then I wouldn't have the work/life balance I do.

30 hours a week is not full time. Full time would be minimum 35 hrs a week eg 9 to 5 Mon-Fri with an hour for lunch unpaid. 37.5 or 40 is much more the norm though. 30 hrs a week is definitely part time in every industry I've ever worked.

I get what you’re saying @Peekaboobore. That’s the minimum you expect as someone who works 30 hours per work.

I remember struggling on 24K-27K in London ( I couldn’t find the work in that field back in my hometown) and I was feeling slightly frustrated hearing my friend who was on disability benefits go on holiday twice a year and living by herself while I was flatsharing and scraping by for one holiday every few years. I was able to persevere because I loved my job plus it opened up future opportunities for me but if it wasn’t for that I’d have struggled to see the point and could’ve been tempted by benefits.

Also benefits (coupled with the low wage economy) can be such a trap because sometimes it just doesn’t make financial sense for people to go out and work so they get stuck on it out of fear.

The reason my friend was on disability benefits was she wasn’t getting the counselling /mental health support she needed, which led to a near breakdown plus she was well qualified but many jobs weren’t giving her a chance so she ended up in a stressful low paid call centre job and she became homeless after being unable to pay her share of the rent. So it’s understandable she went on benefits but it’s just sad she faced the set of circumstances which pushed her towards benefits where she really needed help.

I had a second job in a bar when I was hard up. Maybe think about doing that if you feel you don't have enough money.

@Peekaboobo Okay

I do think your lifestyle is good rather than "modest" but that's obviously a good thing.

OP I think you're in a good spot too tbh. It sounds like you have a plan to do extra so you're all set. I did 60 hour weeks till mid 30s, in some periods through overtime, others through second job.

A third of income for rent and bills is amazing! I'm on disability benefits and it's closer to 85% for rent and bills. The last 15% is for food and isn't enough so I'm falling behind with my energy bills to stay fed.

I can't even move somewhere cheeper I'm in the shittyest part of a crap city and have a landlord who just never put the rent up much over the last 10 years. Anywhere else would cost me about 130% of income.

I think you'd have a bit of a shock seeing what living on benefits is actually like.

So 30 hours just isn't full time. You can't make it so just because it's the most you want to work. If you earn £30k for 30 hours, you're on £37.5k-£40k FTE, which is a pretty decent salary, but your are choosing to work part time, which is a HUGE luxury. But that's fine - your choice.

And no, 2 nights out a week is not modest, I don't know anyone past Uni age that does that. Two nights out a week is a luxury. Nor is 2 foreign holidays a year modest. Norm is one every couple of years. One yearly if you are lucky. More than one yearly definitely a luxury.

You're living a very, very good lifestyle.

But that's OK, as you're paying for it yourself out of your own earnings. I have no problem with your choices. But don't try to pretend you're hard done by or living a modest life.