WWYD - live alone or house share

[Makemeaname]

I've just left uni and have an job interview coming up. Without getting ahead of myself, I've had a bit of a look at rent nearby (restricted to 1 mile atm so I could walk there as no car).

My options are roughly 500 a month, 80 council tax plus however much other bills to live alone in a 1/2 bed place (most seem to be 2 in that area).
Or 400 a month all in to live in a shared house. I don't like people and hate having to plan my life around others - when I shower,when I cook etc. I was looking forward to escaping after 4 years of uni.

For you, would you pay the extra ~300 a month to be comfortable in your home? It's only a 17k job so that's a fair chunk of the salary. Would be on 21k in 3 years by which time I would definitely be living alone.

I know it would be tight. Trying to work out if this job is even doable before the interview (I have another offer where I could live with my parents but that's a v short term thing with no progression).

In terms of other bills, I don't watch tv (use sister's Netflix) so wouldn't need licence. And I only spend £30-40 a week on food, clothes etc. Might be a bit higher I guess once I'm working. Wouldn't leave much for savinge/holidays etc though.

I know the sensible thing would be to live in a shared house, but I'm just scared after my experiences. Are "professionals" house shares less awful than student ones? I'm also seeing some which are like a 6 bed house with 1 bathroom which seems ridiculous, we struggle with 1 between 3 at the moment.

I would absolutely pay more to live alone if you wouldn't be stressed about money doing that.

I'm biased as I've only had awful experiences in house shares but I really enjoy living alone, cooking when I went and spending as long in the bathroom as I want etc

What are your priorities?
Nights out/holidays
Or
Living alone?

I think it's entirely doable on that wage to live alone if that's what's most important to you, but only if you sacrifice life's luxuries.

If you spend £160 a month on food, possible single occupier council tax discount, minimise bills, no tv licence you'd have around £250 a month to spend after food and bills are accounted for.

I don't really so nights out - a bit of a loner hence not wanting to live with people. It would be nice to afford a holiday every other year maybe, my parents still take me on theirs which is cheap though.

I would love to buy a car but that doesn't seem to be in my future unless I take the job living with parents - even with a house share I wouldn't save enough really. And still young so insurance would be 600+.

It's so hard. I know the order of sensibleness, but it's the opposite order to what I want to do! Being an adult is so difficult.

Are there any tools online to help work out exactly what this would cost? Or do I just need to look up each element individually and add it all up (put this maths degree to a bit of use!)

I need privacy. I would much rather spend money to have peace and let my brain rest. A house share is an absolute last resort.

I would initially house share and give myself a very clear goal: 6-12 months, during which X amount of money would be saved.
Once you got a cushion in savings, go ahead and rent alone.
Whilst house sharing, I would seriously think about getting an evening/weekend job, that would add to my little nest.

A deposit on a house share is less than on a flat you solely occupy.

Start small and build up over time.

Google statement of affairs, it’s a good tool.
But the bills are:
Council tax (£80 in your case, you were saying)
Gas&electrics £40
Water £20-30
Internet £25
Phone £?
Food ?
Transport ?
I don’t know, roughly £350-400?

Why are you looking at that sort of starting salaries? You have a degree in maths. Be bold, go for something you feel underqualified for from an experience point of view. Don’t undersell yourself.
A lot of it is not what you know but who you know. And it’s not about climbing up the ladder the back way, it’s about taking what’s yours.
You only have one life, you decide how much and when.
Good luck.

In terms of starting salary, I've applied for about 30 jobs at a range of salary and level. These are the only ones that have wanted me.

I've been out of uni since Feb with depression/anxiety which doesn't help either - my savings are no longer as healthy as they were. I have 1500 which I would use for deposit/furniture etc but should have been 3000.

Living yourself is definitely doable!

I left uni (also with a maths!😁) and when I left I went in to a job in insurance where my salary was £17128 a year. After tax and National Insurance I was left with £1280 a month and decided to move out and live myself to be closer to work. My bills were:

£400rent
£90 council tax (and water as it's done together in Scotland)
£35 gas and electric (1 bed)
£20 WiFi

Total: £545

I also didn't have a TV Licence as only used Netflix!

On top of this I still had £50 a week train fares for work to pay, £40 a week driving lessons, phone bill and food and I also paid £18 a month contents insurance but for all I had I didn't need this really.

I still went on nights out during the month, ate proper meals etc and was much happier living myself!
Obviously you won't be "flushed" but I'd definitely say it's worth it and you'll still be able to do things you want! I saved between £30-50 a month depending on money I'd spent on other things each month and still went on holidays etc, I'd definitely say it's worth it!😁

Plus, it may mean watching money a bit closer for a couple of years but as you say in 3 years you'll potentially be on an extra 4K a year which will feel like a big difference having the extra money to enjoy each month.

And as someone who also has bad anxiety, you mentioned that you've been off uni since Feb, when living with other people isn't something you're comfortable with or don't enjoy it isn't going to help with that at all, whereas you might find living yourself and having that freedom and space will massively help with your mental health, I know it did mine!

Makemeaname I saw you pop up on the other thread too.

If you are offered this better job I would live alone to look after your mental health.

In a year or so once you are into the swing of things with the job and have some work experience you could look into other things you can do with a maths degree that pay well e.g. finance/data analysis/software. With a Maths degree your long term earning potential is good.

I've had some great house share experiences- why not go and look at a few options and see what they're like? If you don't like them, you don't have to move in.

In your shoes, I'd probably aim to house share with 1 other person for a year or so, build up savings to get a bike/car, and then reassess.

After a bit more research, worked out it would be around 740 a month to live alone, plus 150 for food would leave me with ~300 a month for clothes, transport, fun etc which seems doable.

Or there's currently a flat share available with 1 other person that would be 350 a month for everything, leaving me with like 700 a month spare. Which obviously seems worth it, but is sharing with 1 other person better or worse than with more?

I'd look into the share with the one other person. Meet them and take it from there.

I would see what they are like - and then maybe try for a short period of time ...check out the notice period etc..

I wasnt great at house sharing (deeply introvert)but did much better when just sharing with one person - esp as got an extra job as my job had fixed hours ... so actually we were more like ships in the night as she was very social so out a lot......and actually ended up quite enjoying some company on an adhoc basis... sometimes when having a crap day its good to have someone to chat to that was different

after a while i had a buffer and was earning a bit more so lived on my own - which i liked but it did delay my house deposit saving as my disposable income was so much less...

I'd arrange to go round and see the flat and meet the person. I had a fabulous flat share with 1 other person - we became best friends despite not knowing each other beforehand. She was incredibly supportive when I was having a tough time.

With the right person, a flat share can be fantastic.

I would go for the house share for a short period of time (max 2 years), hope that your salary increases in that time and be VERY fussy about who/where you live (don't panic and take the first place you see or go for somewhere that is too cheap to be true). It sounds like this will really set you up financially rather than stretching to a place alone on a low salary. Sharing does suck but sadly that or living with parents seems to be the reality for the majority of graduates in their first job. My list of requirements for a house share would be:

-One or two sharers max, professional people with their own jobs and 'normal' lives that take them out of the flat at least some of the time. You could even look into being a lodger with a someone (probably older) who owns their own home as usually this means peace&quiet and a well looked after house.

-Meet anyone you are sharing with at least twice before moving in, any weird vibes you get at all, even if totally unjustified, say no. Trust your instincts. Have a VERY upfront and honest conversation re their expectations for cleanliness, use of shared areas, noise and visitors, if there's anything you aren't 100% happy with again say no. Small annoyances like someone not washing up or expecting you to be out of the living room by 9am are massively exaggerated by living together as I'm sure you know from uni.

-Look for a nice big room that you are happy to spend quite a bit of time in, ideally en suite or with sole use of a bathroom and perhaps big enough to store your own food in or have a mini fridge (can't be too careful!), and perhaps have a little sofa or comfy chair and telly of your own? This avoids too much conflict over use of the lounge and gives you a nice space to retreat to and pretend your housemates don't exist! I've seen people set their shared house room up as a little bedsit and effectively barely see their housemates

If you struggle with depression and anxiety + you're only very young, wouldn't it be nice to be in a house share? Sharing with one other sounds much better than sharing with a larger number if you like peace and quiet and doing your own thing. It might also suit you better to rent the spare room in a house where the owner lives rather than with a bunch of young professionals who might be more likely to want to party etc if that isn't your thing.

I'd prefer living alone. House share could work if you don't have to share too many facilities and have the sole use of a room that could be a sitting room. Sharing kitchen is OK but not bathroom.

Good luck.

Does extending to 2 miles get you any more? A 40 minute walk is still doable.