Living / Livable Wage ?

RichIbizaSport

RichIbizaSport

RichIbizaSport

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Joined
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London
Hey guys, im just about to finish uni and im pretty certain i have a job in the bag, which im sure i would actually enjoy. The thing is it only pays £18k a year before tax. Its 350 miles from my perents, so i'll have to rent. I know its a waste etc. but i need to start somewhere right?

So the question is, what does everyone think a "livable" wage is for living and renting on your own? Specifically down south (job is in Cornwall).

Im really unsure whether i'll have enough to live a reasonably decent life. If its not enough im more than happy to spend another year a uni doing a year in teaching, so I do have a backup.

Permanent outgoings (i think):

-Council tax
-Income tax
-Rent
-Utilities (gas, water, elec, internet, phone)
-Insurance (car, house?) - if im renting will i only need to pay contents?
-Food

I guess a more generic question is how much do you think you could live on comfortably, with reasonable luxories e.g. car, internet, a few hobbies.

I've never really had to think about this sort of thing so im sorry if ive missed a few things.

thanks :)
 
Depends a lot but expect to pay approx:

£90 council tax
£450-600 rent
£100-150 utilities
£100-150 insurance
£100 food

I dunno what rents are like but you might find somewhere quite a bit cheaper if your looking for like 1 bedroom or house share.

Utilities you can keep to a minimum if you don't go mad, specially electricity and again food will depend hugely on your habits, if you eat out every night, get take aways, etc. then its going to be a lot more expensive than if you make your own meals.

Bare in mind I've erred slightly on the more expensive side.
 
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I know for a fact I couldn't maintain my current lifestyle living alone on £18k/yr. I'm probably going to wait until I'm on more like £30k (should be about a years time) before I move out, just so I don't have to give up my luxuries. If I had to though, £18k is plenty to survive on. I think having a car would be a big drain though, if you can survive on public transport/cycling then it will save you a fair wedge of cash.
 
Renting isn't a waste. You're paying for somewhere to live and that's what you get. We're needlessly obsessed with property ownership in this country.
 
vonhelmet said:
Renting isn't a waste. You're paying for somewhere to live and that's what you get. We're needlessly obsessed with property ownership in this country.
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Long term invetments ( god why do people always say this ) , do I want to be paying rent at 65 when I retire ? No i do not . Short term renting is fine ,long term it is money down the drain .
 
St0rmer66 said:
I know for a fact I couldn't maintain my current lifestyle living alone on £18k/yr.
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I survive on about 20k annually with the wife and 2 kids (this includes working tax and child tax credit).

I manage to rent a flat, run a car, kids pre-school etc...bloody tight mind lol
 
Bald-Eagle22 said:
Long term invetments ( god why do people always say this ) , do I want to be paying rent at 65 when I retire ? No i do not . Short term renting is fine ,long term it is money down the drain .
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Indeedy.
Plus if you have youre own house when you come to retire, or get older you can shop it in for a smaller one (assuming you had a big family one when you had kids etc) and get a bit more money to live comfortably on.

Alternatively if you were renting you may have savings - but if you were paying what you'd pay for a mortgage as rent... then you'd have savings then too... hmmm.

Owning is good, imho. Stupidly inflated property prices are not.
 
richb_83 said:
I survive on about 20k annually with the wife and 2 kids (this includes working tax and child tax credit).

I manage to rent a flat, run a car, kids pre-school etc...bloody tight mind lol
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Am i right in assuming your wife doesn't work, as she's looking after children, or is she working too?
 
Bald-Eagle22 said:
Long term invetments ( god why do people always say this ) , do I want to be paying rent at 65 when I retire ? No i do not . Short term renting is fine ,long term it is money down the drain .
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Only if the rent you fork out is < than the drop in property prices and all the interest charges. Over a million people are now in negative equity, go figure why people always say this. We really are quite different over here compared to the continent, nobody really "expects" to own a home over there.
 
Jono said:
Am i right in assuming your wife doesn't work, as she's looking after children, or is she working too?
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Yeah shes at home with the kids atm, they only 2.5yr old and 16 month old. We both agreed that we didnt want her to work until they at school.

She has been looking for a weekend work but thats hard to come by atm.
 
You should be able to live on 18k assuming you haven't built up any stupidly hug credit card debts whilst at Uni.

You will struggle to live by yourself though and will almost definitely need to find a house share.

When I first got a job from Uni I was only on 17k and in London and managed ok.
 
Mulder said:
Only if the rent you fork out is < than the drop in property prices and all the interest charges. Over a million people are now in negative equity, go figure why people always say this. We really are quite different over here compared to the continent, nobody really "expects" to own a home over there.
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Renting would be more common here if we had long term letting, as is common in France. Anything more than a 12 month let is unlikely here, 3,4,5,10 years is common over there.

Renting is quite a sensible thing to do just now - indeed, I've just sold my house and am now renting.
 
Ekim said:
You will struggle to live by yourself though and will almost definitely need to find a house share.
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Thats what I was going to say a house share will save you loads and give you an instant social life in a new area that is important. Lots of people on the UK get by on wages lower than you'll be on so go for it.
 
[TW]Fox;13918005 said:
£18k a year in Cornwall is quite a lot of money - the cost of living is lower there.
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I was about to say the same thing. In London you'd probably just about scrape by with a pittance of an existance on that amount, not what you'd consider 'living', but down there things will be easier. It's only for a year or two anyway while you get your feet on the career ladder, then your income will start to ramp up.
 
While I don't live in Cornwall I recently moved back to the south west from London and I don't find it that much cheaper.

While I would aim to get a mortgage in the long term rather than renting - right now really isn't a good time to be buying.
 
You can easily do it, just depends on how you're willing to live. I earn a reasonably good wage but I live on an absolute pittance, in order to save a larger deposit for buying a house. I usually take home after tax about £2000 to £2500. I pay £200 to my parents per month. Then I spend about £100 per month on essentials. I bank the rest. I eat cheap food, made at home, take food to work for lunch. I walk everywhere that I can. I also do every possible hour of overtime I can get. This earns you more money and gives you less time to spend it. I really don't buy anything basically.

It will pay off in the end.
 
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I strongly suggest a house share - it is MUCH cheaper and frankly the company is nice if you have not been used to living alone. Once you have some experience of that under your belt you can start to consider the pros and cons of a little place of your own.

If you live in Cornwall you will almost certainly need a car. To live in a wonderful place like that and not have a car to fully enjoy it would be a crime.

If you don't like the coast and the countryside DON'T go to Cornwall!

PS Although it doesn't look so far on a map, Cornwall is a very long way from anywhere. It took me about 5 hours fast driving to go from Warwickshire to central Cornwall last time I did the trip. If you need to vissit friends and family in other parts of the UK this will be a financial consideration.
 
I currently pay around :

£700pcm Rent
£100pcm Council tax
£40pcm Electric
£15pcm Water
£11pcm BT landline
£10pcm Internet
£10pcm Contents Insurance
£120pcm Food

and earning less than £18k, I've survived quite happily the past 3 months :)
 
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