Grand a month might cover bills, food is expensive if you like to eat well, 2 grand, 4? Holidays??
Never mind kids.....
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Grand a month might cover bills, food is expensive if you like to eat well, 2 grand, 4? Holidays??
Never mind kids.....
70k isn't it?
In Cardiff I reckon 60 - 70K would do it
Don't fill your life with materialistic crap and nowhere near as much as you may think
Grand a month to cover bills?Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
I live in Merthyr with a 400 quid a month mortgage and my bills are 1200!!!!
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...ludeSSTC=false
Houses in Gwent can sell for £35,000. That's £140 a month. Council tax would be about £100 a month. Food - if just you, you could easily eat for £40 a week or £160 a month. £400 a month.
Water rates £50 a month
Electricity and gas, about £80 a month.
£530 a month. Add in house insurance, and a bit for a rainy day, and for £600 a month you could be buying a property in Gwent, eating and living in warmth.
Everything else is, frankly, a luxury. So, it's open to definition of what living comfortably is. I reckon you could live a minimal existence for £8000 per year. And, in 25 years, you'd own your own property. If you could get in a lodger, you could feasibly charge £100-£120 a week for rent and you'd be living on less than £4k a year.
Did you send in the above contribution by postcard?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhiw-Blue
I don't think he's claiming he doesn't fill his life with crap. He's just saying that, if you don't, you could live on a small amount of money. If, by definition, living is having shelter, warmth, food and nothing else, then I think he is right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie
I know young folk earning 30k to 40k with kids who find it tough, ie no free cash , however there is a new "tough now " , tough now includes having a car maybe two , high end mortgage in a nice area , £30 pounds a month mobile contracts x 2 , subscriptions,must have two holiday a year. ,I'm not critical ,just seems that the new poor have a lot more than I can remember poor having in the late 60's and 70's , interestingly back then buying consumer goods and day day shopping was expensive , as you had no real big supermarkets selling cheaper clothing for the kids , and no access to credit cards ,and benefits and state aid was hard to come by .Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
You are effing crazy if you think you can live on £8000 a year. Do you really think you can live on £150 pw? You're mad if you think it can be done.Quote:
Originally Posted by CCFCPhil
A decent life = the living wage. The real one that is.
An enjoyable but not extravagant live? 25-35k?
£35 a week mortgageQuote:
Originally Posted by Kris
£40 a week food
£12 water
£20 gas and electric
£107 a week will pay for all that.
:facepalm:Quote:
Originally Posted by CCFCPhil
What about Council Tax? House insurance. Travel costs. Furniture. £150 a week, what an exaggeration.
:facepalm:Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris
Council Tax will add £20 a week. House insurance a couple of quid a week.
Travel - you can walk to the shops.
I'm assuming you already have furniture.
big money...
Very true. :thumbup:Quote:
Originally Posted by life on mars
What is a decent life???
Quote:
Originally Posted by CCFCPhil
Surely the average mortgage is around £500 per month, maybe more?
£200 c tax
£200 gas and leccy
Water £40
Tv bb phone £80
Insurance etc 100
Food £4-500
Guess getting mortgage free is the big one, fancy mobiles like do u need one? Gym subs etc, clothes, cars, eating and drinking out, holidays are all luxuries that change per person, some do none some seem to blow it all every month whatever they earn.
A guy I know, good job, £70k, buys big house in Cyncoed, cars, 2 grand mountain bikes, kids, can't even pay his own tax bill, goes back to daddy fir it....I find this bizarre the need to blow it all....
I guess there is no such thing......it depends and varies. Some people live off peanuts, some I know work hard then travel fir 5 months every year. I guess I mean the basics covered.....contentQuote:
Originally Posted by Tandy
What he is saying is that you can buy a house in some parts of Wales for 35000. That's giving a mortgage of 140 per month.Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
Council tax in the lowest band is not going to be 200 quid.
Gas and electric £200? Who pays that? You need to switch if you do!
Sorry CCFCPhil, I think you may be right!
All depends on what you deem a decent life and as for 'Living Wage' well that's an odd one.
My eldest lives in Guildford and is skint- what she earns just about covers her living costs.
Same money in South Wales would give her a decent lifestyle.
We started off in a tiny house and lived week to week for years and were just as happy then as we re now.
Money isn't everything- love, respect and friendship of those around you are far more important and the good thing is most of the time if you offer these to your family and friends you will get them back
Amen to this sir :thumbup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawnmower
Same story here but when I say house. We lived in a tiny little house with great big holes in the roof! But it was a house to us
I'm sure Maslow's heirarchy of needs has been trotted out on here many times, but maybe it's worth a bump:
Attachment 1449
I'm still in my thirties, so it's the top triangle which occupies every waking hour so as to have a 'decent' life. I have a great sense of belongingness being on the fringe of the clique. I should add that we have five dogs.
:hehe:Quote:
Originally Posted by MacAdder
I'm pretty certain I've never seen Maslow's hierarchy on here - thank you for a very succinct summary of the needs in life. My estimate of £60 - 70k in Cardiff was based on achieving the boundary between Esteem and Self-actualization. Basically you need enough money to be taken seriously by the world and to be able to take risks with what you try.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyclops
Wonder if it will pop when rates go back up to 5%, which they will one day. Interesting to see what people deem important. Happiness and no stress being the main ones, not easily attained in mid mgt level jobs....I was just as happy in my first house which was a wreck, no carpets in most rooms and took years to renovate, little income and spent it all but they were care free days at 23. You might have more cash when older but also more responsibilities like kids/old parents/mgt etc....some people I know have been saying they are "going travelling" forever, mid 40's now and still not gone....and it can never be done as carefree as 23 can it....Quote:
Originally Posted by ninianclark
Yours and Lawnmowers views are the ones that resonate most with my views on the world. Money does not make things 'better' generally but does make it different. When you are young everything's possible, which brings contentment, and you're usually achieving progress despite a lack of big money.Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
I've decided that a decent life comes with health, a loving and supportive environment, but also choices (some of which money is required for). When your choices in life are removed then things become more stressful.
I think 30k a person. Add 10k for each kid.
I have mates who were going travelling with me in my early 20's ( around Asia, Australia, then a little of Europe ) , they never made it then back then, but are always talking about the plans to, Christmas time when one of them announced he was getting divorced and was going to drive around Europe then down to Australia ( a trip we had semi planned ) he asked me a convert a LWB sprinter van into a motorhome ( i gave him the plans of it, its a 4 berth plan, but adaptable to suit needs, i gave him the prices and he said " yes great, we will get it started in the new year ) I guess he didnt say which new year and its now about to be May and nothingQuote:
Originally Posted by goats
as for the bubble, lets hope is doesnt burst, as the people with the 200 - 250 K mortgages will be well and truly knackered
Not a lot if you have a good woman and your health.Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
It`s not the money you earn that counts it`s the life you live and the happiness you have that is the real meaning of life.
If you die with nothing but had a great life that is better than dying an unhappy Millionaire.
Yeah that sounds a great life. Merely existing.Quote:
Originally Posted by CCFCPhil
It may have been better if the OP had asked how much disposable income is required for a decent life. After all, those who own their home outright don't have the essential expenditure of servicing a mortgage or paying rent. And what constitutes decent? For a good many it must include at least one holiday each year, while for others' it's no big deal. Few would contend a holiday is a necessity. As one gets older one realises that good health trumps bling of all descriptions.
A mate of mine retired at 60, he owned homes in Wales, Spain and Florida, had a tidy sized yacht and plenty of dosh to keep him comfortable in his retirement. He died last year aged 62.
Harsh but you often hear of folk popping off soon after retirement. Sounds like he had a lot of good things going, I guess as long as he had lived a full life up until his death that's all you can ask, if he didn't and was waiting to retire to begin living, so to speak, then that's pretty bad. It's not all about cash, if you are happy as a pig in shit in your average house and job then that's all that counts right?Quote:
Originally Posted by ian gibson
I'd be perfectly happy on £20k a year in south Wales (Barry now, Pontypridd in about 6 months time). That amount rises pretty vastly if I moved to Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, etc
In this day and age and with the benefit system you can live a decent life without earning a penny.
Yeah, I agree. Take Liz Windsor for example. She stuffs £43 million quid in her purse every year courtesy of the Sovereign Grant. Not a bad rate of pay for a spot of occasional half-hearted waving.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tandy
some interesting posts on this something i,ve been thinking of for a while
one thing for sure the average person in south wales would not have a chance to work and buy a property in london or even rent a property . ainsley mentioned 20k in south wales but in the south east you wouldn't scratch the surface to survive ! house prices and wages vary from region to region . think the property bubble will burst soon
in terms of money it depends where you live but the most important thing is your health and what you call decent
Liz brings in a few quid in tourism where as Nigel who never done a days work just flew back from Florida with his 6 kids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Organ Morgan.