Nov

20

how to live on your own frugally

Filed Under frugal 

I have to admit that living in a one person household isn’t generally the least expensive choice. It does have it’s advantages however. The most important being that you only have to consult yourself when making penny pinching decisions. Here are four simple ways you can put your one person status to your advantage.

council tax

If you are a living alone in the UK, be sure to claim your 25% discount on council tax. You might argue that if you were in a 2 or more person household you’d be paying at most 50% each. This is true, but your house could well be larger - it may well pay off to be on your own.

lighting

There should be at most one light on in the house at a time - unless you can magically be at two places at the same time, in which case I want to hear about it. This saves electricity. You can also choose to install CFL bulbs with out anyone else complaining which also saves electricity. Saving electricity saves money and the planet. Win-win.

food

It’s true that bulk buying can reduce your costs per person in a multi-person household, but as any single person will attest, there are cheap meals that you eat that you wouldn’t dream of serving to another person. I will happily eat plain tuna sandwiches for dinner several days in a row, for example, or a weird concoction of whatever is left in the cupboard.

last but not least, no whining

Living on your own, you can turn the heating down and wear extra jumpers. Talk only for a reasonable amount of time on the phone. Refuse to own a tv. Wear really old clothes around the house. No one will whine about any of this and insist that you make a more expensive choice.

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Comments

16 Responses to “how to live on your own frugally”

  1. Mrs. Micah on November 20th, 2007 12:42 pm

    And if you’re married, but kidless, you can probably also get away with wearing old clothes around the house. Or less clothes at all.

  2. Llama for brains on November 20th, 2007 3:12 pm

    There is an added advantage to turning the heating down. If you then wear lots of jumpers, then should you fall down then you have lots of padding.

    The food situation is not quite so good. If you take pizza out of the freezer to cook it by yourself, then I will eat the whole pizza. If someone else was there, I would share it. Of course… there has been times when I had to take 2 pizzas out of the freezer… I was really hungry.

    Agree with all the rest though.

  3. Fecundity on November 20th, 2007 5:56 pm

    Llama - that’s what mini-pizzas are for. Or you can put half the big pizza in the fridge right away instead of eating it, and you have breakfast the next day.

    Good post, Plonkee. Very true that you can get away with a lot more penny-pinching when you’re by yourself, though you may be paying more in rent/mortgage than you would if you had a roommate/partner. The single-person tax discount sounds helpful too, though we don’t have that sort of thing here.

    I used to eat tuna salad sandwiches for multiple days in a row. Or Kraft Dinner. Whatever was on sale.

  4. Ryan Healy on November 20th, 2007 7:34 pm

    The “no whining” thing is big. My wife prefers the house to be warmer in winter; I prefer it colder. She likes to hang Christmas lights outside; I don’t. (All I can think of is all the non-renewable electricity being wasted.) Anyway, there are definitely some money-saving advantages to being single.

  5. plonkee on November 20th, 2007 8:06 pm

    @Fecundity:
    I’d forgotten about pizza for breakfast. It’s definitely more of a single person meal I think.

    @Ryan Healy:
    Although I love Christmas, I think it’s such a waste of energy having Christmas lights that I don’t even put any on the tree, I just have sparkly ornaments.

  6. brip blap on November 21st, 2007 2:41 am

    Mrs. Micah is dead on… I have a little toddler, and trust me - I get home from work and change into the same ratty shorts and t-shirt for days in a row. My wife and I have both adopted the “indoor clothing” routine - we wear nice stuff out and sweats and t-shirts indoors. I’ll wear the same “indoor” t-shirt for days (after washing, of course).

  7. rocketc on November 21st, 2007 4:12 am

    What exactly is the British understanding of the word “jumper”. A jumper in the US is a type of casual dress that uses shoulder straps and is worn over a separate shirt. Most men would not wear one and I don’t think I have ever seen a woman wearing more than one at a time.

  8. E.C. on November 21st, 2007 7:26 am

    I’m pretty sure “jumper” is what Americans call sweaters.

  9. E.C. on November 21st, 2007 7:27 am

    Er, jumper is the term Brits use for the garment Americans call a sweater. (Should avoid commenting while sleep deprived.)

  10. plonkee on November 21st, 2007 9:31 am

    Yes, E.C. has got it right.

    The garment you’re referring to rocketc is sometimes called a ‘pinafore’ and otherwise is probably just described as a dress. It’s seldom over seen here, probably because it’s a common item of school uniform clothing.

  11. Llama for brains on November 21st, 2007 10:05 am

    sorry for any confusion…

    yes, jumper is a woolly thing you wear. Can be hand knitted and given out at xmas as in Bridgette Jones diary.

    A sweater is someone who goes to the gym too much ;)

  12. plonkee on November 21st, 2007 1:58 pm

    A Christmas jumper. Oooooh, please don’t let me get another one of those this year.

  13. rocketc on November 21st, 2007 9:10 pm

    Thanks for the answer everyone!

  14. Roman on March 20th, 2008 3:25 pm

    You do have to love living alone, hot dogs and tune. There cheap fast and taste good. I never got the point of buying in bulk if you live alone. Too much of it goes bad or you always buy stuff you will not need.

  15. Oosh on April 25th, 2008 1:28 am

    I am 16 and I was thinking about moving into one of the houses my parents own and rent out. Is there any reason that i shouldn’t or any pointers to help get me started?

  16. plonkee on April 25th, 2008 8:34 pm

    It’s more difficult to move into your own place when you are below 18 as you can’t normally have your own name put on utilities and so on.

    However, plenty of people have done it. I’d imagine that you’ll need the support of your parents to move into one of their houses. There are lots of things you might want to think about financially, especially budgeting - how do you think that would work out?

1 pings

  1. Best Frugality Posts from the Festival of Frugality #102 at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money on December 1st, 2007 12:48 pm

    […] gives a few benefits of living on your own. Personally, the last one is the best: no one to whine about your decisions. Keep the heat down (or […]

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