Living alone is tough financially

[Addictedtofizzydrinks34]

If you have a mortgage or rent a home alone..maybe different if you're mortgage-free or perhaps only renting a room or something.
You have to make sure you can afford everything each month. If anything breaks/needs repairing, you foot 100% of the bill. All renovations are paid for solely by you.
You have to make sure you have money aside for various things.
Living alone has many advantages, but financially it's tough and I'm not sure I can do it for much longer. It's stressful unless you have a lot of savings I think.

Yes it's expensive but it's SO much better than living with other people! Lived alone since 1999, mostly.

I have always had a clear budget and saved as much as I can. When I got my first pay rise I turned the hot water on. Fortunately things were less tight later. And even more fortunately when I became unwell and couldn't work I had paid off the mortgage and got savings. (Hopefully will get back to work some time this year)

Sure, but you can vet the people (to an extent). You know, sometimes it's a case of needs must, so maybe OP could get a lodger in for a year, maybe two and build up her savings, making herself less financially vulnerable?

For a single person, Council tax should be 50% off.
The old ''poll tax'' was probably much better for single people

Not if you have a child with additional needs. I've been sole earner for the household, DH is desperately trying to earn enough to cover his costs and keep the car going while also needing to be available for DS and I'm going to be made redundant this year.

But let's be honest, being made redundant is difficult for most people regardless of other circumstances.

It's a struggle and quite overwhelming at times.

When my daughter turned 19 and left sixth form for uni I lost her child benefit, tax credits (I was part time self employed having had to give up my job to care for elderly parents through the pandemic) and maintenance. Combined with cost of living I found myself down by about £800 a month.

I'm now approaching 50, working two jobs to make ends meet whilst studying for an OU degree to increase my earning potential.

I wouldn't change my circumstances and I'm incredibly fortunate to be in a position to be paying a mortgage rather than rent, but it is tough.

That's fine, and I understand why people choose to live alone, its much more pleasant. But obviously a private space is rightly going to cost more than a shared space (unless you're financially supporting the people you're sharing with, which is often the case in a family set up).

Some of these comments are nuts and patronising

Did you not consider buying a bigger property shared with a friend or sibling, rather than your own property by yourself? Most people need to share to make property ownership affordable.

Oddly enough, my married sibling and her husband didn’t want to buy a flat with me to share with them and their baby. I don’t have friends close enough to buy a property with who are in a similar position to me.

That's the downside of the luxury having a place all to yourself, surely?
DH and I get to share bills, sure, but we also have to share space. Not to mention two children who we also provide for. So 2 incomes pay for 4 people...

I mean, if sharing your space with your partner and children is that much of a hardship, I wonder why you chose that life.

Would it not be cheaper to rent a room in a shared house, take in a lodger or rent a 2 bed place with a friend?

There vanishing to none options for a shared house/a place with a friend once you’re past 30. A lodger would mean a bigger place with an extra bedroom so no real benefit.

Anyway, those are my grumpy responses, not OPs. But for gawd’s sake wheel in the patronising comments and let her have a moan. I hear you OP.

'But if you want the luxury of private, non shared space, you have to accept that comes at a higher cost than shared space. You pay more, but you get more.'

If you're single, this isn't a chosen 'luxury', it's just the way it has to be, unless you go down a risky and potentially unpleasant housemate route, if there even is a spare room for one.

It is funny but I’ve always found this on MN, that when you mention this some people get very cross at the idea someone should live alone! Yes, I’d rather have my own flat or house than share with randoms; I’m picky like that

It is tough going on one salary, especially if your salary is just ‘okay’. But there are advantages too, of course.

The big thing is that when you’re single, it can get lonely but often reaching out and trying to connect with people can prove expensive.

It’s not just the rent and utility bills, though, it’s things people don’t even think about. Someone mentioned NT memberships upthread, and there are a lot of places where joint membership costs less than 2x single membership. Food is more expensive because you often can’t take advantage of bulk buys, or things come in pack sizes you can’t actually use. My mother hasn’t found her food bill decreasing by much at all since she was widowed (and I hope nobody will now try and claim it’s her choice to live alone…)

“Food is more expensive because you often can’t take advantage of bulk buys, or things come in pack sizes you can’t actually use.”

You don’t have freezers where you live? So you can’t batch cook and freeze half for later?

If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.

My partner and I cook and eat separately but we still share some meals every week where it is easier to share them than not due to the packaging. I previously lived alone and the same stuff would need to have been thrown out, or I would have to eat a double portion. Not everything is packaged in a helpful way to allow for single servings, or having the option to freeze half.

Please tell me how you batch cook and freeze things like soft fruit…

And actually, if you’re in the house share arrangement that some people on here think single people should be in, you may well not have freezer space anyway.

You can freeze soft fruit in zip storage bags.

We buy frozen soft fruit in our (shared) home.

Oh I get it. We batch cook and freeze half because the DC are now at Uni. The difference going from 2 to 1 can’t be much more than from 4 to 2.

It is

This is how I feel. I'm a lone parent. Would never live with anyone again despite being skint half the time.

Yes but it’s horrible. Nothing like the fresh stuff.

So now single people need to accept lower quality food as well as shared accommodation?

You can, but quite a lot of things get worse when you freeze them, like soft fruit. Strawberries are not the same defrosted as they were before they froze.

So then you spend your life limiting your recipes to only things that work when they are reheated/defrosted. That's obviously doable but we don't have to pretend it's not an inconvenience.

Some homes don't have big freezers believe it or not. The way you have to buy some products also means they need used or they will be wasted.

It is different - you’re still able to use packs for two people! The whole point being made is that a lot of standard packaging is for two rather than one, so one portion is often wasted as it can’t be reheated or frozen.

Yah ok, you have it SO hard earning your wage and having to make it stretch to just little old you compared to me earning my one wage and having to make it stretch to myself, plus another adult and two DC. Ever had to pay 4 sets of dentist and optician bills? School uniforms? Clothes for 2 adults? Food for 4 people? Rent on a home big enough for 4 instead of 1?

But go ahead and cry your tears….poor you all your money has to go on just you. Only you.

You can freeze everything or eat it two days in a row.