It's not possible to live on the living wage!
The national 'living wage' in the UK is currently (for 2022-23) £10.42.
If one works a solid 40 hours per week, that's 8 hours of actual paid work a day for five weeks of the year that gives a monthly wage of:
£10.42 * 40 * 52.3 /12 = £1816 a month.
After tax and National Insurance contributions that would mean you'd take home £1560 a month.
Which would be fine, except for this:
A perfectly reasonable budget sheet...
I started working out a REASONABLE budget sheet for a single person who lives alone, and owns a car, nothing special, hardly REACH goals for a life, and look:
Note that I've been VERY tight on many of these - the car costs, for example, are actually £1000 a year BELOW the national average spend, and utilities are pushing it given the cost of heating a house.
Appliances at £50 a month are for high expenditure items that wear out.... washing machines/ fridges/ computers/ televisions/ even phones if yer on a SIM only contract. That's VERY tight.
And look, I've got as far a the basics and there's only £50 left a month for, well EVERYTHING ELSE.
And as to mortgage/ rent.... that £600 wouldn't even get you a room in a shared house in the South East, let alone a place of your own.
Not that it matters....
Because the above income is based on working for 52 weeks a year, so you wouldn't have time to spend that £600 you might be able to save up in a year on a holiday, assuming you have a good year and you don't fancy a night out and no unintended expenditures arise as they never/ always do.
Surely we need to raise the tax threshold....?
I have to ask WHY we start taxing people at £12.5K when even take home pay of 20% more than that ISN'T enough to actually live on?
It's just bonkers!
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That wage seems very low, do many people earn that?
I'll have to double check - around 20% of full time workers I'd estimate. So a few million people.
Hopefully wages rise and lower the tax bracket.
I dunno I think it's staying put!
Forget having a girlfriend.
Unless she's worse off - still plenty to choose from!
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Its just too bloody expensive to live here (I'm in the UK too) - unless you want to start doing without. I simply dont know how some people manage.
It's grim here isn't it - if yr on minimum wage yr looking at a 50 hour week if you want a month off in the year!
It is a must to increase the tax threshold in an inflationary economy for workers.
100% agree - but the government's opted to freeze it that and the upper one!
The more our salary is increased the more tax is cut.
Life is really tough for some people in what is supposed to be a wealthy country. The wealth is not well distributed. I'm sure I'll have to keep helping my kids out. Who can afford to have kids now?
It's the working poor I feel sorry for, it's fine for me with a low mortgage and having already worked for two decades, I can get by on the minimum wage, but imagine being 25 and looking ahead?!? I can't imagine factoring in kids to the budget!
Imagen having kids :)
Total non starter!
It is the same over here. I don't know how many older folks, singles or young ones just out of school are managing. It is not even coming close to making ends meet. It seems as though it is by design, so we fail and are then reliant on the government. I believe those folks need to come to Hive/Leo and see that there is more to life than the abject poverty many now find themselves facing.
I'm surprised Hive isn't more popular - side hustles are becoming essential for survival!
We have the same problem in Portugal nowadays. Living alone, and with the increased costs, things are starting to get really difficult for a lot of people!
Sad to hear!
It's an insanely expensive country, isn't it? I've always loved the thought of living somewhere in the south of England for a little while, but so far, it's just a pipe dream. Compared to other European countries like Spain or France, it's just too much. Interesting calculation, though. I keep wondering how we've fucked it up so badly that one human being in the brief time they're here needs to slave away nearly all their life only to survive.
I think it's because a few just suck the wealth upwards. You could probably leverage UKers floors on Hive if you ever wanted to visit, you're welcome at mine anytime.
I've had the same thought about visiting the States for a while. Not the same as living but it's an option!
Plenty upvotes for posts about it, I am sure!
Thank you! :)
Posts like this interest me because I get to see the contrast in our realities. It might sound weird but the minimum wage in Nigeria is around $35. Bear in mind this is an import reliant economy. I earn five times more from my content and that is barely enough to maintain my very frugal lifestyle. A lot of people in this part of the world would jump at the opportunity of earning the amount you mentioned. That would put them in the top 10% in our country. LOL! I can't wait to leave this place.
It's bonkers.
In this country you have to be in the top 10% to have a decent quality of life, otherwise you're just fucked!
It's mind-boggling how the "living wage" doesn't seem to match up with actual living costs. Even with tight budgeting, it's like trying to fit an elephant into a mini car! Everyone deserves a fair shot at a decent life without scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Why tax so early when it's clear that people are just getting by?
Yes I don't know about the tax thing, it makes no sense to me at all!
It is a fact that a person cannot run his house with the amount of money he earns in a month and if he is not living by borrowing a lot of money from here and there, then the governments do not understand this. The prices of things are increasing day by day and the salaries of people are not being increased.
You need to be doing a fair bit of overtime to get ahead down under as well.
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