Words: Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse
COST OF LIVING
“That’s not enough.” There’s nothing else to say when the mortgage adviser is presented with my house-hunting budget. Skimping and saving with hopes of buying my first home, I thought my efforts would at least be rewarded with the option of an ageing shell. I have a good job and decent deposit thanks to inheritance from four relatives and half a decade of saving, but the bank won’t budge. I can’t afford anything. “It’s because you’re doing it alone.”
It’s a sinking feeling increasing numbers of people can relate to. You might be signing a phone contract – “It works out cheaper to sign up for our family plan” – planning a holiday – “The double room is the same price whether for one or two people” – or, like me, trying to get a mortgage. You’re constantly bombarded with reminders that not only are you single, you have to pay for it too.
As both a financial expert and single person, Finn Wheatley understands this professionally and personally. “The cost of living alone adds up: for one, taxes hit single people harder than couples or families,” he says, referring to the Marriage Allowance which can reduce a couple’s taxes by up to £1,000 a year. “Living by myself, everything from rent to groceries to healthcare was my responsibility alone, without anyone to split costs with.”
It’s understandable how some costs – paying bills, mortgage or rent – are cheaper for couples who simply share the costs. But it’s also more expensive to have fun when single. Steven Kibble, a financial planner and adviser, found his “clients who live alone spend 20-30% more on non-essential shopping and leisure activities compared to partnered clients with similar incomes”. Why? Because, despite single households being the fastest-growing demographic in the world with 8.3 million single-occupancy households in the UK alone, everything is set up for couples or families.
For one example, take television. A TV licence is £159 per household whether there’s just you or a large family at your address. It’s the same with streaming subscriptions. Single people also miss out on group deals like two-together railcards, which save travellers around £153 a year. In their Average UK Household Cost of Food 2024 report, NimbleFins found food costs more too, since items are packaged with a two- to four-person meal in mind. For a couple, weekly shops cost just over £1,900 each a year, while singles fork out around 25%
