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.

It’s not that great to pay £600 sharing if you have to live in one room.. in a cheap area, where a 1bed flat is under 100k. It’s not like paying that to live in a room in London is it?
OP yanbu. Reading MN often makes me v depressed realising the masochistic flaw in the British character that enjoys progressive hardship and makes a virtue of how much shit you can stand. Other countries riot when their living standards fall so low but a certain section of the British population ( judging by this site) seem to fucking love it.

Unfortunately, savings are a huge luxury. Every single thing is designed to take your earnings. If you're managing to save at all, you are doing well.

Are you content @mrsm43s ?

So £1770 take home of which you pay £600 in rent & utilities. If you have a studio your Council Tax will be small, maybe another £100 a month. So that leaves £1070.

Food -maybe £150 a month.

Leaving £920 for transport, clothes, insurance, fun and savings.

Sounds ok to me.

I completely agree @PontiacFirebird .

Such a race to the bottom.

We are paying FAR above what other successful EU economies do for a wide range of goods and services. The UK is a very, very expensive place to live. Germany for example has much better rental arrangement, municipal services, transport, etc.

@Meadowfinch OP said the studio price includes bills, so utilities are covered and maybe also council tax.

Is it possible to opt out of your pension scheme? Whilst you look for a private sector job of course - although you might find the T&Cs that goes with the private sector not as generous - if the grass seems greener go for it.

As it happens, yes. I'm in a whole different situation than you, but very, very happy with my life decisions and my lot in life. I wake up every morning delighted for the new day. I'm so lucky to have an amazing husband, fantastic children and a career than I love.

It's much harder as a single person. You'd be paying half what you do now if you shared with a partner. Maybe nothing if a man ended up paying for it all.

Nothing stopping single people having a room mate or pairing up with a non-sexual partner to have the same advantages as couples such as no private space, lack of privacy, constant compromise etc

Exactly, I don’t know why some people try and deny this obvious fact.

When I was about 30, an old friend of mine couldn’t seem to understand why I couldn’t afford to go her super expensive destination wedding. I mean to be fair this friend happened to have a high earning job, but even if she didn’t she would’ve been much better off financially than me because throughout her 20s - even when she lived in flatshares or studios or one bedroom flats she split it with her boyfriend she’d been with since she was 19. So she never had to foot the cost alone. Shopping for two is cheaper per person as well.

A single person can’t reasonably/comfortably share a room or a one bedroom or a studio flat with a friend. Strictly speaking ok they can, there’s no law against it but it would be very uncomfortable for the majority of friends to be living in such close quarters. Much different from snuggling up with a partner in a room. The privacy concern is absolutely not the same - there’s no comparison between having to strip off in front of a friend when you’re getting changed and stripping off in front of a partner you’re likely have sex with. I actually shared a studio flat with a friend for one week, it was meant to be longer but let’s just say that was all we could manage before we ended up jeopardising the friendship. I have lived with partners for longer periods much more easily.

The fact is having to live with a mate purely to save money and living with someone you are in love with , can envisage a future with and would want to live with in the long term anyway are not the same.

How is 30 hours a week full time? I work 32 hours a week and that’s part time.

Good god. DO NOT DO THIS.

what terrible advic! OP it is depressing how much life costs now ( my half of bills is over 2.5k - not much fun or luxury here these days)

but you are single and have left over money so you’re all good, focus on your goals and you’ll get there

It isnt.

Gosh the responses on this thread.

Wages have lagged far behind inflation, thus lots of people who by this stage of their career should be doing ok, are struggling to afford things.

I was in a similar situation but 25 years ago. On 25k, flats were £70k to buy. I was ok financially but this was a time when council tax, food and energy were a lot cheaper.

OP is scrimping by living in a studio flat, which frees up 2/3 of her income. It's not comparable to people living in family houses and having less disposable income.

Is it possible to opt out of your pension scheme?

So you can be poor in retirement too, YAY!

I don't disagree with you on the general principle that low-to-average salaries nowadays don't go very far compared to what they used to get you, and that property ownership is much harder to achieve. That said, you're not in too bad a position compared to many areas of the country, in that it's possible for you to pay your rent and bills and still save after that.

If your income is a little under 1800 a month and 600 is going on rent and bills, then barring any financial circumstances like massive debts you haven't mentioned, you should be able to save a good 500 a month without too much trouble, if you focus on it.

If you were to look at a 70k flat with a 10% deposit (which you could save in a year or so) there are plenty of 25 year mortgage deals around that would cost you about £360 a month, so even after adding bills on as well, you'd then be in the position to overpay your mortgage/save more/add value to the property.

Or, how much is a 2-bed flat, roughly? That would give you the flexibility to take in a lodger, if you needed, or future-proof things a bit more.

Either way, you're closer than you think to being able to make owning a home a reality.

Adding to the maths I just did above - if you bought a 70k flat as above, and then ploughed the difference from your current rent/bills, plus the proposed monthly savings amount, into overpaying the mortgage, you could be mortgage free on it within 7 years. That's something that's actually achievable and in your grasp, if you go for it.

30 hours a week is at least a day short of full time.

What kind of flat can you buy for £80k?! She doesn't say where she lives but a studio flat in London and the South East is £250k min.

Presumably you get UC though? Or tax credits. Plus child benefit x 2.

@LostittoBostik she says she lives in a cheap area and a flat would be 70k in the OP

DO NOT DO THIS OP…..absolutely shit advice….I’m nhs….a colleague opted out when financially stretched….meant to be for a couple of years ….ended up being 15 years……Im 59 now took my pension at 57 ….I work 2 days a week and bring home the same as I did when I worked full time ….my colleague will be lucky to get a 10k pension, and will have to work til 65 for this…..a public sector pension should be protected at all costs

That figure includes that. No freebies though!