Home Home, Law & Money
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

How much do you need to live on???

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I have left university now and am looking for a job, hopefully find one, a permanent one and not these short term jobs, move out and live my life right?

Well someone told me the other day that you need at least 15k a year gorss and 12,500k net to live on.

They said with tax and bills and such, int heir experience anything less and you can't afford to live basically.

Well that sucks for me. I have'nt been able to get a permanent job since leaving uni and am going for an interview on friday for a job at my old uni thats paying 11,709k to 12,335k a year.

I was hoping to move out, get a student style flat and be truelly independant and grow but what if I can't afford to do that?

Someone else told me that 11k to 12k is sa good starting salry and is fine to live on, plus there will be pay increases and such so who is right?
«134

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It depends where you are, in London a wage of much less than about £15k if you are living by yourself is probably going to be a bit tight.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    depends how much your rent and council tax is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Indeed.

    Well good jobs in London pay over that usually, but this one I am going for is in Leeds.

    I was looking at places that are 45-50 something a week. I have no idea what the council tax would be though :confused::(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well that's utter bollocks for a start, as a couple we live on £1500 a month.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ohh thats megga cheap for renting - you can probably live on about £12k I guess if your only paying that much in rent.

    In london you'd be lucky to get anything for under £100 a week so wages tend to be higher. Though i'm sure i'd cry if i had to pay that much.

    What you would need to do is work out how much you would pay a month in:

    Rent
    Bills
    Council Tax
    Getting to and from work
    Going out and food etc (I budget about £250 a month for this which isn't enough for London but might be enough for leeds)
    Student Loan
    Anything else

    Hope that helps...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Walkindude wrote:
    I was looking at places that are 45-50 something a week. I have no idea what the council tax would be though :confused::(

    cheapy places tend to be band A or B. these are the leeds rates this year, although they are said to be rising a fair bit next year :(

    it cost me and mr. kaff £500 a month each to live happily. that includes everything from the mortgage payments to our dinners at work. everything we earn on top of this is disposable income.

    if you are on a lower income, you can get by quite happily, you just need to budget a bit and look for ways of saving where you can. like renting a room in a shared house rather than living alone. if there's a few of you, you'll save on bills and you'll have company, but you'll still be independant.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    true but I have no idea how I'd be with strnagers. Don't wanna riks losing money and stuff or have a bad time.

    Kermit - how mcuh does £1500 a month come to in a year?

    I can't see the link yet but wil check it out. Thanks for the advice, more welcome.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Walkindude wrote:
    Kermit - how mcuh does £1500 a month come to in a year?

    About £18,000.

    If you're by yourself, living with other people is the best bet. Most places will let each room out separately, so you won't be liable for other people's losses. And it makes council tax cheaper.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    About two gold bars...ARRRRR!! :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    About £18,000.

    If you're by yourself, living with other people is the best bet. Most places will let each room out separately, so you won't be liable for other people's losses. And it makes council tax cheaper.
    Can I ask how thats divided up? need some budgeting tips!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't how good I'd be living with strangers though...

    Not at uni anymore either so can't really go intwith the students, thats why I thought flat would be best, but a student flat like.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So you reckon 11K to 12K isn't enough to live on independantly?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Walkindude wrote:
    So you reckon 11K to 12K isn't enough to live on independantly?

    If you are sharing a house in a relatively cheap part of the country it should be fine. You wont be rich though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Could it be enough for a flat in Leeds, smallish, living on your own? Enough to pay bills and have some spends?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I dont really know about this personally, but if you live somewhere that the rent is reasonably prices, and you know how to manage your money i dont see why you cant live off £12k, an still be able to have little treats.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my sister lives on around £11,000 i think. but she house shares.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Walkindude wrote:
    Could it be enough for a flat in Leeds, smallish, living on your own? Enough to pay bills and have some spends?

    if it's a small flat in a shitty area, then yes. but then if you live alone you'll have to shoulder all the bills yourself, which will wipe out the rest of your income. you'll get a single person discount on council tax, but it'll still be the best part of £600 a year, at least.

    personally, i think if you don't share you would struggle.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    11-12k should be more than enough to live off in leeds mate, i was living on about 950 a month in london for a while after uni (with 300 going straight on rent) and i managed fine, okay that was after tax but london's bloody expensive so i'm sure you can do it......you probably won't have to live in a ghetto either so consider yourself lucky :yes: .........shared housing is definitely the cheaper way to go though, anyways you'll get bored on your own unless you have lots of mates in the area, and i always go for places that have bills and council tax etc inclusive so i don't have to worry about all that shit......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    £11,000 will not be enough in a single-occupancy flat in Leeds, unless you want to live in Seacroft.

    The more people who you share with, the lower the council tax as it is shared out between more people. The cheaper the rent.

    To compare, a single-bed flat will cost about £350-£500pcm in rent. A 2-bed flat will cost about £450-£600pcm. You only get a 25% council tax discount for single occupancy.

    Leeds, as you know, is not a cheap city to live in. You could move further out of the city, you could move to Bradford, Halifax or Huddersfield, which are all cheaper, but I doubt you'd want to do that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bongbudda wrote:
    If you are sharing a house in a relatively cheap part of the country it should be fine.

    He won't be though.

    Leeds is expensive.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    Leeds is expensive.

    :yes:

    and it's getting worse.

    ok, so let's work this out. £12,000 a year works out about £800 a month, after tax.

    for around £270 per month, you can rent a bedsit in beeston (with a shared bathroom. yummy). £300 you can get an ok flat in beeston/harehills. for about £350 you can get an ok flat in an ok area. probably the best option

    so we're down to £550 of your wage left. for argument's sake, let's assume your flat is band A, and you're getting single occupancy discount. so about £50 a month. that's half your wage gone straight away.

    contents insurance? well, if you've settled for the aforementioned shitty areas, your insurance will be sky high, but you'll need it, cause you'll be getting burgled approxiamately once every 18 months. let's go with £30 a month.

    bills? not sure how much they'll be, but let's say £120 a month for everything (gas/leccy/water/phone/tv licence/tinternet/mobile phone). now we have £250 left.

    you need to eat. we'll budget for £25 a week. another £100 a month gone.

    travel? god hope you don't have a car, cause the insurance alone in shitty area is frightening, without even considering petrol, tax and maintenance. let's give you £12.50 a week for travel. And we're down to £100.

    so, yeah. if you live on a tight, tight budget and make lots of compromises, you probably could get by. but consider having only £25 a week to spend on anything else you want. and that's assuming i haven't left anything out, which i probably have.

    i think you need to really think this through.

    edited to add: oh, and your flat probably isn't furnished.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    \
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Damn..................

    I was banking on getting one of those flats in that new building over the road from Leeds uni, the ones that say £54 a week rent? Scarlett, you will know it.

    No, my mtaes are al home guys excpet for one and I don't him that well and he is a made rocker dude and while nice, the first thing him an dhi smates did when they moved in was trash the house... I am a fun guy but not sure I am that wild to be honest.

    Very depressing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    £54pw for a new flat? :eek2:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Walkindude wrote:
    Well someone told me the other day that you need at least 15k a year gorss and 12,500k net to live on.

    Depends on how comfortable you want to be. Sounds about right to me, though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Depends on how comfortable you want to be. Sounds about right to me, though.

    That's rubbish. I get 14k, and for the last 6 months got 13K. I rent my own flat (don't share), ride a scooter, go out a few times a month and manage all right, although I don't have anything left over.

    I suppose it depends where you live and how you budget. If you smoke or drink a lot, or run a car, or insist on spending £30 + on phone calls a month, then you will find it a struggle.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    PussyKatty wrote:
    That's rubbish.

    No it isn't. It depends on how you define comfortable, and where you live.
    Comfortable to me is having some left over to save.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah of course it depends on your definition of comfortable. If you've been brought up to expect plasma TVs and unlimited broadband at home, and eating out a lot and expect to save, then yes, I agree.

    My definition of living comfortably is not having to constantly worry about money, not having to live somewhere horrible just because it's cheap, and be able to enjoy yourself, I can do that on my salary, I guess others couldn't.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well I don't drive at all and don't smoke but I would wanna get like ntl cable broadband combined type thing. Buy food to eat, go out a few times a month on nights out or cinema and get a few dvds and such as well as pay my bills and rent.

    Thats the aim.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im moving in with 4 3rd year students in july, and will be paying £60 a week rent (but i see that as expensive cos im paying 45 now).

    if a years rent is damn near £3000, ill put £1000 aside for bills and stuff (its best to round this stuff up), and 2000 on tax, a basic salary of £10000 - £12000 will still leave me with somewhere between £4000 and £6000 to spend on food, going out, and little treats.

    £4000 divided into 50 weeks gives me £80 every week to play with.

    am i missing something? i could easily live off £80 for 2 weeks, 3-4 if i dont go out.

    if i save up £40 every week, i will have £2000 for a trip around the world next summer.

    seriously, am i missing something? i know a lot of people have a car, while i bike, but i still feel that i could save £2000 within one year.
Sign In or Register to comment.