Can you afford to live!

Stev

Stev

Stev

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Joined
10 Nov 2007
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848
Location
South coast
God damn, well after renting a room from my best friend for a good 7-8 months I have to move out with the missus....but from what I calc i cant actually afford to live !

we have a take home wage of about 1700 a month if I do 0 overtime (I always do at least 10-20 hours peaking at about 60)

and we cant even find a studio apartment for less that 700 a month! not including bills and council tax (which is nicely £200 above average in all bands (yaaaay))

jeez this real life malarky is expensive! my final working out after ALL bills (food car council guesstimates at elec gas and water etc phones) is that we have about 60 a week to spend.... now have I had it too easy most my life or is this the way of the world!


How much money do you lot have after bills and such per week?
 
Not really no, If I am lucky I will only just go over drawn each month.

But you have to struggle on don't you... :(
 
I have plenty, but then I am probably much older than you and a professional.

In order to be constructive though have the two of you considered having a room in a shared house at least until you get some savings etc. It should definitely be cheaper than renting a studio by yourselves.

Real life is expensive and you should try to build a buffer in to your expenses for emergencies etc without needing to resort to borrowing to live if possible.
 
Bennie-Mac said:
£60 a week after bills, food etc etc. Sounds like you can afford to live to me.

I'd kill for £60 a week :D
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lol well guess im just too used to have at least 150-200 to *****!

So this is the way of the world eh? guess I gotta slog it with the rest of you plebians! lol
 
I only work to earn the Minimum to live as I don't like work.
My extras come from doing other jobs like PC repairs/builds, car sales & general buying & selling.
I have good months & bad ones but the minimal work i do covers what it costs to live so I only have to hussle for my extras.
I am rich in time though & only do what I want to do. :cool:
 
I take home roughly the same but my wife also works so its 2 grand + but even then when she stops work when she gets up the duff we would be screwed.

We concidered renting but anything under 700 quid and your looking at a very small place which is rather "poky" I think I will just stay in my 1 bed housing assciation flat! its cheap (350 a month) means I can save

don't fancy having a baby in here as I have a right chav above me who plays music all night but I have little choice.
 
AtticusFinch said:
I have plenty, but then I am probably much older than you and a professional.

In order to be constructive though have the two of you considered having a room in a shared house at least until you get some savings etc. It should definitely be cheaper than renting a studio by yourselves.

Real life is expensive and you should try to build a buffer in to your expenses for emergencies etc without needing to resort to borrowing to live if possible.
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I would also suggest this idea...

TrUz
 
Sounds about right. Welcome to the real world.

Even at the age of 41, I still don;t have as much disposal income as I did when I was 21.

Cicumstances meant that for almost a year I was living with my parents paying £25 per week which got me food, washing and a room. At the time I was taking home £200 per week. £175 per week disposal income was a lot 21 years ago.

It helped that fuel was cheap and I was only running a £300 car.

Nowadays with mortgages, bills, car loans, pension contributions, insurance, medical cover etc I have around £60 per week disposal income.

Although to be fair, my other half who earns more than double I do, has about £500 per week disposal income :(

EDIT: Which does raise issues sometimes as I have to think about what I can do and save for things and she can pretty much just get what she wants when she wants. Although she does quite often pay for meals out, buys clothes for me and paid for our holiday last year but I always feel I don't want to do this too often as it feels wrong.
 
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Some maths tells me you combined earnings are pretty much at minimum wage levels, which just aren't enough to get your own place with. Houseshare is your only real option until you guys can get your earnings up.
 
For a 2 bed new flat in Wrexham, with all bills and food and petrol it would cost me £1080....

Guestimating £40 water, £20 elec, £20 gas, £75 c tax, £200 food, £180 petrol. for 1 person. £10 contents insurance, £30 BB and BT line etc

Dont know if that sounds similar at all to where you are lookin at?
 
I'm currently saving £850 a month, although I'm looking at new jobs on £5k more a year so I'm not doing too badly atm.

MW
 
BENJAMIN HERBLE said:
why not go homeless, and get council or HA flat?

Foxxy, your either extremely tight with power, or you got your numbers wrong...gas £5 a week?? elec £5 a week?
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Its what Ive been told by my collegues and friends who live in the same area of what they use... Hmm lol. Im moving out in 2 weeks so this better be right!! lol
 
Foxxy said:
For a 2 bed new flat in Wrexham, with all bills and food and petrol it would cost me £1080....

Guestimating £40 water, £20 elec, £20 gas, £75 c tax, £200 food, £180 petrol. for 1 person. £10 contents insurance, £30 BB and BT line etc

Dont know if that sounds similar at all to where you are lookin at?
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Council tax we are budgeting for band C which is £1449 or something daft over 10 months


we arnt on minimum wage as she only does 34 hours a week but her boss wont up the hours till she is fully trained!

I guess i will just have to live as spartan as possible.... I have to try and remember thats £60 to spend on what we want after food and bills are done!
 
Stev said:
God damn, well after renting a room from my best friend for a good 7-8 months I have to move out with the missus....but from what I calc i cant actually afford to live !

we have a take home wage of about 1700 a month if I do 0 overtime (I always do at least 10-20 hours peaking at about 60)

and we cant even find a studio apartment for less that 700 a month! not including bills and council tax (which is nicely £200 above average in all bands (yaaaay))

jeez this real life malarky is expensive! my final working out after ALL bills (food car council guesstimates at elec gas and water etc phones) is that we have about 60 a week to spend.... now have I had it too easy most my life or is this the way of the world!


How much money do you lot have after bills and such per week?
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Like Atticus, My disposable income is a lot higher than yours, in fact it is higher than your total income, but I am older and have two incomes aside from my wife's contribution.


However there are a lot of people who would love to have £60 spare cash each week.

You would probably qualify for Housing Benefit to help with the rent and Ccouncil Tax benefit for that.

At 24, you are young so a shared room would be a good start.
 
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i take home about 1800 a month before overtime, my mortgage and bills ex food comes to 750 a month, food is usually another 200 a month and then another 150-200 for my travel to work, petrol and phone etc. You just need to manage everything and accept that at times you're going to be skint.

We're saving to do the Bathroom and 3rd bedroom so while we have money to spend, we are doing our best not to.
 
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