Cost of living

[TW]Fox · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:07

Moving into and buying a house on your own is, as you are now finding, eye wateringly expensive.

Find a nice girl. Decide she is awesome. Buy together. Be happy and richer. The end.

Trifid · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:12

Thesaff said:
£280 on food learn to cook, £30 a week and your eating well for a single person

Am I the only one who thinks it's not too much? £4-5 for food at work a day and decent cuts of meat for dinner and that is easily used up over the month.

Glaucus · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:16

Trifid said:
Am I the only one who thinks it's not too much?

Nope, i think it's totally sensible, it depends what you eat.

daz · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:19

Trifid said:
Am I the only one who thinks it's not too much? £4-5 for food at work a day and decent cuts of meat for dinner and that is easily used up over the month.

It's not too much if you like to eat nice food, and can be easily justified when you compare to the cost of even a couple of cheap takeaways or eating lunch out rather than bringing your own.

Rroff · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:26

:O at £280/m on food... I don't exactly eat cheap and I spend closer to half that... infact probably a little less on average as I tend to spend more one month and not so much the next.

£250 a month on mortgage down here would just about scrape you in at the cheapest place (probably studio style/1bed flat) in a less disreable neighbourhood.

Infam0us · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:38

I spend £70 a month on food and eat fairly well

goldilocks · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:42

obviously it'll depend on the type of property / area but our mortgage is £980 and council tax £155!

Foyman · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:46

paradigm said:
Quite.

It would appear that the house market there must be vastly different to here in mid Cheshire.

I can't even find a decent TWO bedroom house for less than £130k.

But he states that he has a large deposit so would obviously not be paying a 130k mortgage for £250/month. Doesn't mean he can't afford houses for that much and more though. You have an idea of what constitutes "large" in your head and it is obviously less than the OP's.

v0n · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:49

Deadbeat said:
I'd say you can easily get by on £25 - £30/week, and that's generous

eatcustard said:
£280 on food, I feed 4 for less

Judgeneo said:
food bill is too high, I spend about 20 a week, so 100-150 a month is more than comfortable, and allows for lazy takeaways and stuff.

All of you guys cannot count. £30 a month is under a pound a day. Unless you live on bag of raddishes and slice of toast per day, there is no way on earth any adult, cooking or not, could possibly survive on under one pound a day comfortably. £1 a day was close to impossible to do when I was student in 1994, and back then we would be talking 27p Qwiksave baked beans and 19p loaf of no name white sponge bread.

The guy that starves family of 4 on less than £280 a month. Her Majesty Prison Service has in house cooked meal budget of £11.80 per prisoner a day. Small children wards at NHS minimum budget for three meals is set at £3.20. Your family survives on £2 per head a day? We called child services, they're on their way.

gas electric water might be too high depending on the size of your place. I'm in a student house right now (6 of us, 5 bedrooms) and were spending ~£100 a month of combined gas electric

So.. each one of you use only 50p for gas and electricity a day per person? £15 per head a month? Respect. Electricity alone - considering average person in UK use something like 15kW a day, and you lot seem to be using less than 3kW, either you're paying estimated bills or you should start teaching the rest of the country how you do it.

paradigm · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:50

Foyman said:
But he states that he has a large deposit so would obviously not be paying a 130k mortgage for £250/month. Doesn't mean he can't afford houses for that much and more though. You have an idea of what constitutes "large" in your head and it is obviously less than the OP's.

Quite possibly, although I was classing "large" as being around 30%~

v0n said:
All of you guys cannot count. £30 a week is under a pound a day

Irony much?

Deleted member 77746 · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:50

Relook at them figures they seem alittle way out from what I can tell.

Freefaller · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:53

AcidHell2 said:
living alone is 25% discount, I would still expect it to be over £100 with discount.

.

Mine is £69 pcm without the 25% discount!

Gotta love wandsworth council!

Foyman · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:54

paradigm said:
Quite possibly, although I was classing "large" as being around 30%~

The problem is it's all relative. I'd consider mine as "large" and it was ~60%.

Freefaller · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:54

Thesaff said:
£280 on food learn to cook, £30 a week and your eating well for a single person, cook in bulk and freeze off reheating when you get back from work. Broadband say £20 that gives you 10MB on virgin, £30 on car tax and insurance how old are you i would look at those figures again. I would in all honesty find someone to share with you, just try to avoid the weirdos.

I spend over £70 a week on food and I'm quite a good cook... maybe he likes his food quality? Maybe he's a sportsman and requires more food? Sure you can rationalise a little, but I'd never cut my food budget over say alcohol or frivolous purchases.

v0n · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:55

paradigm said:
Irony much?

Nice. I can't read today.

Freefaller · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:55

[TW]Fox;17687078 said:
Moving into and buying a house on your own is, as you are now finding, eye wateringly expensive.

Find a nice girl. Decide she is awesome. Buy together. Be happy and richer. The end.

That makes it harder to see other people though

Foyman · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:57

Freefaller said:
I spend over £70 a week on food and I'm quite a good cook... maybe he likes his food quality? Maybe he's a sportsman and requires more food? Sure you can rationalise a little, but I'd never cut my food budget over say alcohol or frivolous purchases.

Or maybe, like me, he hasn't a clue in the kitchen so eats out all the time. I'm sure I could save so much if I learn't how to cook.

Rroff · 31 Oct 2010 at 13:58

v0n said:
The guy that starves family of 4 on less than £280 a month. Her Majesty Prison Service has in house cooked meal budget of £11.80 per prisoner a day. Small children wards at NHS minimum budget for three meals is set at £3.20. Your family survives on £2 per head a day? We called child services, they're on their way.

Starves??? think about it - when your feeding that many people you can buy stuff in larger quantities usually saving money, its much easier to cook cheaply to feed a larger number, etc. £280 is ample for a family of 4 if you don't eat out every other day. If your sensible thats equivalent of closer to £3-4 a day.

Freefaller · 31 Oct 2010 at 14:00

Foyman said:
Or maybe, like me, he hasn't a clue in the kitchen so eats out all the time. I'm sure I could save so much if I learn't how to cook.

Good point. I eat out a couple of times a month - but because I enjoy spoiling myself

Pawnless Endgame · 31 Oct 2010 at 14:04

These are my outgoings as a single person:

Mortgage - £318 (based on £70k property and large deposit)
Council tax - £72 (based on band A, single person's allowance)
Electrics - £33 (British Gas, but soon changing to Scottish Power)
Gas - £29 (again, soon moving to Scottish Power)
Water £14 (£25 seems expensive)
Broadband £20 (Virgin 10 Mbit)
Food £180 (yeah I struggle to spend less than £45/week, but it does include booze, household stuff and toiletries)
Mobile phone £25.50 (Dolphin "30" but with loyalty discount)
Contents/building insurance - £22
Disposable income - £180

No TV
No car