What you describe is the rationale behind the “marriage (tax) penalty” here in the U.S. Married couples pay more in taxes than a single person who makes the same amount would. I nearly had a heart attack the first year we were married because I’d always gotten a refund, and yet now we owed $2000!

I’m not a fan of that - we have taxation on individuals, not on households over here. It doesn’t matter whether you are married or single, you are taxed on your own income.

I had been supporting myself for quite some time before getting married last year. And I agree with you whole-heartedly. Two incomes are better than one. Many of the costs stay the same (heat, phone, mortgage)yet you have twice the money.

Lisa

I just got married this year as well, and completely agree. Being a single homeowner working full time is hard work!
My husband and I sold my house when we got married and I moved into his. Now, I never have to find time to shovel the driveway (snow) and he never has to go grocery shopping! I don’t have to do dishes and he doesn’t have to do laundry. It really is a time saver and gives both of us more free time to relax together!
As an added bonus, 100% of my income goes into savings (we combine all of our finances)!

Two incomes definitely better than one, Lisa, as long as you’re DINKs. But child-care adds a huge cost, which makes it time to re-evaluate. IMO.

Single parents get the shortest end of the stake here. At least plonkee doesn’t have to pay for babysitting and such.

@Mrs. Micah:
Too true, single parenting is probably the most expensive. I think there are lots of things that you should/would re-evaluate if you have kids, of course re-evaluating doesn’t necessarily mean that you should switch to one income it entirely depends on what you both get out of work (both monetarily and in intangibles).

Very nice article, thought I’d write a follow-up to it.

I don’t even remember what it was like to be single anymore. Been too long, and I wasn’t single that long to begin with. Now MARRIED, I’ve got down cold!

Parenting as a whole is very expensive. Some cost are obvious, like groceries, others happen like Ninja Bills, clothes, scholl etc..

Single Parents have it very rough.

Don’t forget the whole going on holiday issue where we have to pay a twice as much as eveything is set up as twin share!

Interesting post.

I’ve done the single thing and now I’m doing the married thing and I can tell you from a financial point of view, singles have it tough.

Whether you have a house/apartment, car etc couples can share so much more.

Mike

I’m in the middle of buying a condo and I hadn’t actually thought about how unusual it is for a single person to buy real-estate - until everything I signed had lines for two buyers!

Right on!

The amount of extra WORK a single person has to do to maintain life is what strikes me. When you have to do everything from tending the yard to repairing the toilet to schlepping the dog to the vet to buying groceries to fixing food, your life is chuckablock full of chores, with little or no time left for loafing or going out.

And what seems like a pretty good salary is less so when you’re not sharing some of the overhead with another person.

I suspect a friend who earns about what I do thinks I’m pretty chintzy because I won’t hire her housekeeper for $80 a hit (yipe!) and because I don’t entertain a lot. She has a partner who splits those costs with her — alone, I flat can’t afford them.

On the other hand…heh heh!…it’s pretty nice to be free to do what you want to do (or don’t want to do) when you please.

Hi Plonkee - I’ve been away from your blog for a little while with work. Glad to see you’re still plugging away at it!

We are a single income household with 2 young children, and it is pretty tough. For us it makes sense because 1)my wife is able to work on house improvements (she’s a faux painter and interior designer), so in a sense she is earning equity for us even though its not cash in pocket, and 2) the cost of child care is prohibitive.

As a result, I have a day job (working at home) and I supplement that income with programming and writing gigs where I can get them to fit my schedule. But my wife’s contribution has been extremely lucrative - the improvements on the last house turned into significant gains for us when we sold.

My ex-boyfriend once commented on how his oldest brother was able to amass significant savings because he wasn’t married. It seems the brother viewed a wife as an expense. After some discussion, I was able to convince my ex that having a spouse could be of financial benefit, much like having a roommate. Obviously, having kids and potentially having a spouse stay home with them changes things, as would a large income disparity since, if, say, you made $200,000 and a year and your spouse made $20,000 you’d probably choose a lifestyle a bit more lavish than strictly equal contributions would allow.

there seems to be a growing trend for flat sharing now (in London anyway). I’ve noticed it more and more among my peers (I’m 37) and I’ve just started flat sharing myself - last time I did this was when I was in University.

And its actually working out really well.

Like Angell, I am totally cheating by having a housemate. I am 45 and have only lived alone once for about six months (until my sister moved in) plus a couple of months between roommates (while I have a recovery/self rediscovery period).

With a roommate, not only do I pay only half the rent and just over half the utilities (the utilities would be lower in the summer if it were just me, lower in winter if it were just him), I also have someone to talk to without having to go out. I also have access to lots of fine reading materials, DVDs, and guitar music. Also, I have never bought a couch.

@Debbie M:
I wish I’d never had to buy a couch. I lived with what I can only describe as a succession of the worlds worst sofas for the last 10 years. The current one isn’t getting replaced yet because I have other priorities, and it’s perfectly serviceable, but I do not like it one little bit.

Thanks for posting this. I am always a bit envious when two-income households wake up, smell the debt, buckle down, and pay it off fairly quickly. I’ve been pretty good about debt, and am fairly conscientious about my spending. I definitely have room for improvement, but not as much spare money as I might if I had a financial partner!

@bethh:
It is definitely easier for 2 people together to pay down debt, I guess the difficulty comes in ensuring that both parties want to do so.

Interesting post. I think your right on target when you’re thinking about a two income two person family. When a family goes from two to three things change though.

Many things (food, entertainment, vacation, clothing, etc) become more expensive when you add more than two.

Also, as a single adult you have the option of a room/flat mate.

Actually, there is currently no marriage penalty in the US tax code. That was fixed.

I’m single, single income, live on my own, no kids. Good salary. Life is good.

Agree with you about chores/errands. My solution: lower my standards for housekeeping (because I’m never there anyway). Run errands during my lunch hour or on the way home from work. Automate as much as possible.

Oh yeah, my housekeeping standards are pretty low. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. As long as it’s not a health hazard, who cares?

im 19 and im looking at moving out on my own i only earn 200 pounds a week after tax and i need to drive to manchester from burnley erery day to work (about 50 miles there and back a day), i dont have much furniture and running a car and travelling expences mean i dont have any money to do anything else, i tried looking for benefits but im really struggling to find any as im quite new to this and not really sre what im looking for, if anyone has any help or advice it would be much appreciated, my email adress is jackson-11@hotmail.co.uk

My husband is (and always has been) very much of the school of thought that two incomes are better than one. As I, myself, happen to enjoy having a career, I have never disagreed with him on this point. In the current economy, however, I am leaning more and more toward trying to convince him to buckle down and have one of us remain at home with the children to alleviate childcare costs, convenience food costs, and expensive commuting costs. I’m glad I’m not a singlton anymore. Many judos to you for managing it on your own without the option available to have it any other way.

Personally, I don’t think staying single is the only option. You can actually save enough money for your future family in order to avoid tax problems.

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We took the decision to live on one income when our eldest child was born ten years ago. It’s been, and still is, a struggle sometimes as the cost of living sky rockets, but the benefit of knowing that the kids have our attention and are not being cared for by strangers makes up for it for us.

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