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.

It's not a case of being bitter about benefits we don't need, obviously. Just pointing out that there are safety nets for virtually everyone shoild they need them with single people being the exception.

As for you not claiming benefits, I assume that's because you were financially privileged enough not to need them.

No, but a little bit of recognition from parents getting those benefits that childfree people don't have the massive safety net they have would be nice. And even parents who don't claim those benefits - at least they know if things go wrong financially the state will step in. Added to that couples are either benefitting from 2 tax free allowances or having one person home keeping the house - feels pretty luxurious to me. There's also more options if one person gets sick.

I'd especially like recognition, primarily from the government, that the current benefits system supports businesses in keeping wages artificially low by providing so many people with top ups. This screws over single, childfree people the most as they are some of the least likely to be eligible for benefits and they don't get two tax free allowances.

On top up benefits with 2 dc to look after compared to just me now; it is much harder now.
food I could easily stretch for all of us. Now though it doesn’t seem worth buying decent food for one. And I do freeze portions.

Think I’ve made my feelings on this quite clear 🤣 whilst I largely agree with you, even as single people if we were out of work we could claim UC but would have to wait months so that is sort of a safety net. I have unemployment insurance as a back up because I’m fully aware I am my only safety net and I couldn’t wait I think it’s 4 months for UC. Still a months wait on the insurance front tho. But for me it’s about being self sufficient, think it came from being brought up by a single mum, I’ve never had that safety net during child and adulthood.

In fairness when I was single I used to work in a nursery that catered for low income families. I was poorer in reality than most of those families. They all lived in nice modern social housing and had fairly decent houses. I lived in a shitty rented shared house that was not great. They did seem to have more money than me in general as well.

No it doesn't but presumably you've lost your late husband's income

Sorry for your loss x

Why do you think that is? You didn't make a neutral statement like the post you quoted, not once. You immediately launched in all angry and twisted and you've been really horrible throughout this thread, consistently and for no reason. Multiple people have expressed exasperation with and been taken back by what you have posted but you've blared on, relentless. I'm sure it's not nice to be called names but equally it has been so very unpleasant to read your abrasive and insulting posts that doubtless people feel that they are responding in kind.

@EG94
Unfortunately I can't afford the insurance that would cover me off sick as being a cancer survivor the premiums are too high and wouldn't cover the cancer if it returned anyway. I have to just pray that I don't get sick again because otherwise I am truly fucked as a single person. Something so many on this thread just don't seem to understand. Makes me want to shove their tiny violins somewhere unpleasant...

So much anger 🙄

For the most part, we are in the situations we are in, good and bad, because of choices we made. It's really hard to acknowledge that though so people don't like to. So there is a lot of lashing out at each other 🤷‍♀️

I'm finding it tough financially right now and I have a good job but also have a mortgage to pay. It is what it is. There are always options, I just haven't seriously considered any yet.

lone parent to a 16 year old here and I hear you

You do have the safety net of UC, JSA, DLA/PIP etc.

The only benefits that people with children get that those without don't are ones to support the children THAT YOU DON'T HAVE. So you don't need them.

Do you think there's a special state benefit for people in relationships? Because there isn't. Indeed, it's almost the opposite, a partner's income stops you from being eligible for means tested benefits that the equivalent single person would be able to claim, regardless of whether they are able or willing to support you..

Oh yea didn’t think of that, but that’s why I like mostly this forums you learn things and see things from other peoples perspectives. Thankfully my insurance is £33 a month but saying that, I had it for years then during COVID was £80 a month, I cancelled it for 3 years until prices were more reasonable because as a single person, £80 a month was unaffordable on top of everything else. Another example, my darling dog just cost me £670 at the vet then the other darling dog cost me £90 within a week!! I’ve had to push my dental appointment back because I can’t afford it. Pretty sure insurance isn’t going to pay out either. But i accept this is part of being alone, it does make it scary and I do miss having the security of saying babe I’m a bit short, can you help but just life. Get on with it.

im glad you are a survivor, as destiny’s child would say.. I’m a survivor, keep on surviving 🥳🥳

@mrsm43s Have you ever lived on JSA as a single person? I have. I could not afford to buy luxuries like yoghurt. The amount of money stops you starving to death, but it is an incredibly basic safety net as a single person.

@EG94
I hope the doggies start behaving themselves and stay well.

The thresholds for income based benefits are much lower if you don't have kids though. Really a single person barely qualifies for any of those. Incidentally this includes single parents whose children are now over 18, who have been hampered in their ability to secure high pay due to child raising.

It’s very tough being on a single income in a society increasingly being based on two incomes per household. I’m a single parent and I’ve struggled to provide single handedly and once my youngest leaves education I’m then unable to get any help towards my living costs even though I’m probably still supporting semi fledged children. I’ll also be considered to have too many bedrooms so need to consider what to do about that, although the rents on smaller properties aren’t always much lower.

One was teeth out and the other was jabs. Luckily no fucking about accidents. But in the 9 years I’ve had them, they haven’t cost me anything and bring me so much joy. 🥰

that’s another thing, because of my doggies, the home I need to live in needs to be adequate for them and that comes with additional cost, wouldn’t have dogs in a flat, I don’t think it’s fair so a garden is essential.

although the rents on smaller properties aren’t always much lower.

I think this is what people don’t necessarily realise. There’s certainly not much difference between 1 and 2 bed rentals in my local area.

You both do not have to work at the same time. There are 168 hours in a week. If someone works 40 during the regular office hours then that leaves 128 to play with at all other times. This will mean no childcare costs but it would mean the other partner doing things like bedtime, homework, clubs and evening meals.

The thresholds are lower because there's only one of you, so you do need less. Again, you want the benefits to support the children that you don't have and aren't supporting.

You only need to support one person, you don't need to support anyone else, so you don't need as much money, so therefore, obviously the threshold is lower.

(Over 18s in the household should be earning, or can claim benefits in their own right).

And a single person is more likely to qualify for benefits than someone in a couple, as they go on household income. So the presence of another wage earner in the household almost certainly will render you ineligible for benefits, which you would have been entitled to if you were single.

If I lost my job tomorrow, I would have to wait 4 weeks to get less than £400 per month. My mortgage is £800 per month on my flat. Not much of a safety net.

An eligible person with a child gets about double what a single person without a child gets looking at UC and child benefit. That's before you add in the extra housing elements. That more than covers the additional cost of a child. They also have far lower expectations placed on them in terms of seeking work.

You've completely ignored my point about the 2 tax free allowances and the back up of dual income in instances of sick etc. I guess because you know that is where couples do benefit and you just don't want to acknowledge it.

And as with single people, benefits for couples are often income related. So of course the state will expect one half of a couple to support the other, if that doesn't happen then it is financial abuse. The couple rate for UC is greater than for a single person, although it does at least take into account that some of their bills will be lower per person.

YANBU. It's incredibly hard, and most government supports are aimed at couples and families. Our housing market especially is not fit for the sheer amount of single people who need homes. Singles get forced into uncomfortably close quarters with strangers, in often precarious house shares, because we as a society are just ignoring the reality of how demographics have changed. It shouldn't be that hard to provide singles with a space where they can have community and third spaces to mingle in, but also the basic dignity and privacy of their own space to retreat to.

Many people aren't single by choice (bereavement, disability and other factors very much exist) and even if they did choose to be single, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Punishing people for being single is perverse, and especially horrible for women. Living with strangers is always going to be stressful and unsafe for women, in ways it just won't be for men, because of the sexual harassment factor and the threat of violence. Women end up pressured to stay in unhealthy relationships too, if there's no safety net of family and friends to fall back on and they literally can't make it on their own. It's harder to leave an abuser if there's nowhere to run to.

youre also penalised if you have savings and a mortgage, dont know if you know. But the expectation is blitz through all savings and sell they will see that as viable means to not pay benefits.

does seem a bit if you fall on hard times you are penalised and like an insurance company they find anyway to not pay.

if you just get pregnant as a child yourself you get rent paid and benefits. The whole system is a farce!

there was a thread few months back, woman deliberately working under 16 hours to get her benefits, 2 kids, a huge whack of CM, was bringing home not including CM £3000 a month!! There’s people who know how to rinse it for all its worth and that needs fixing, single, single with kids, married, widowed irrespectively.

the system is broken

Benefits for children pay for the costs of the children. You don't get an extra adult amount because you have children.

And the benefits safety net is removed if you live with another wage earner. So, in the same circumstances, single, you'd qualify for benefits. Live with a partner, you don't. But you can't make a partner pay for you, so...

You made me curious so I just checked rightmove for my town. Rent for a studio is £800, 1 bed flat typically £1,100 a month and 2 bed flat £1,300. Only a £200 price difference between a 1 and 2 bed, the rental market in this country is a mess.