Being single costs you £5,000 extra a year

The cost of living the single life has risen to over £5,000 more than the same costs for sharing couples...

Being single has its advantages. More space in the bed, fewer birthdays to remember and no awkward in-law dinners. But when it comes to finances, you’ll almost certainly be better off with a partner.

New research from Co-operatives UK shows that the costs of single living in the UK has now risen to £5,014.15 more a year than the annual living costs of shared couples. The stats estimate that a single person now spends 51% of their income on essential living costs such as housing, food and fuel. That’s up from 49% in 2010 and significantly higher than the current figure for couples, who spend 30% of their individual income on essentials.

So why is this gap widening?

Inflation hitting singles

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll know that the economy is still in something of a mess after the financial crash. One way this mess is manifesting itself in our everyday lives is in the form of rising prices – or inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation remained at 4.5% in May – 2.5 percentage points above the Bank of England’s stated CPI target.

This high level of inflation is primarily being driven by the rising cost of essential items such as food and fuel. In fact, food prices are now at their highest price for almost two years – surging by 5.7% in June when compared with a year ago. As singletons spend a high proportion of their income on these essential items, rising prices hit them harder than couples.

Ballooning housing costs are also a problem, particularly in the rental sector. According to spareroom.com there are now almost nine people chasing every spare rental room in some parts of the country. As a result, rental prices have been escalating. They’re up 4.9% over the last year, if stats from Findaproperty.com are to be believed.

Again, as single people spend a greater percentage of their income on housing and are more likely to rent than couples, these rising prices will hit them especially hard.

But there are a few ways you can fight back against rising housing, fuel and food prices if you are a cash strapped singleton...

Housing

Find a cheaper room: If you’re a tenant and your rent is upped outside of a fixed term agreement, you haven’t really got many options. Negotiating on price with your landlord is of course always a good idea. If this fails, you could ask for extra costs such as broadband or utility bills to be thrown into the rental rate.

If your landlord is still not budging on price, the only real option is to up sticks and move. If you’re just after a room, websites like SpareRoom.co.uk and EasyRoommate.com are good places to start the home hunt.

Remortgage: If you’re a homeowner and your mortgage is really getting too much for your finances, your first thoughts should be to remortgage and move to an alternative deal.

The mortgage market is actually fairly competitive at the moment with a good range of five-year fixed rate deals and variable products. However, to get the best possible rate you will need to have at least 10% or more equity built up in your home.

Last ditch options: If you really can’t afford your monthly mortgage payments there are a couple of last ditch options which should only be used in the short-term and when absolutely necessary. Extending your mortgage length will lower your monthly periods but it will cost more in interest in the long run. Likewise, while switching to an interest-only mortgage will slash your monthly rates it will also increase the overall cost of your loan, as you won’t actually be repaying any of your debt.

Fuel

Pay correctly: Paying for fuel using a credit card and then not clearing your bill every month will add to the overall cost of running your car. Try to use a debit card to pay for petrol or get a cashback credit card and earn while you spend - but if you do this, remember to pay off the bill every month or the interest charges will cancel out any cashback.

Streamline your motor: Flat tyres and heavy loads will increase the amount of fuel your car guzzles, so make sure you tyres are pumped and any unneeded items are emptied. Also, harsh acceleration and over-revving will push up fuel consumption – so avoid doing it!

Find the cheapest fuel: Make sure you use sites like petrolprices.com to find the cheapest fuel rates before you fill up. It’s also a good idea to keep an eye open for any supermarket petrol offers floating around.

Share: Sharing lifts with family, friends or colleagues will reduce your fuel bill drastically.

Alternative transport: You can cut your entire fuel spend by simply ditching your motor altogether and using public transport, a bike or just walking.

Food

Go online: For savvy online shopping head to mySupermarket.co.uk. The site lets you compare the price of your trolley at four different supermarkets and points out offers on products that may save you money.

Ditch big brands: Branded goods are always more pricey than a supermarket’s own range, so why not ditch a pricey brand and try a cheaper alternative? You might even find they taste better! Find out more in The easiest way to slash your food bill.

Having a look through the reduced stock section of the supermarket is also a good way to pick up bargains.

Go local: If you’re after fruit and veg, head to the local greengrocer and pick up some local produce. It will almost certainly be cheaper and probably also fresher.

Watch out for supermarket tricks: Supermarkets have several tricks up their sleeve to try and tempt you into spending more cash. These include rearranging the store, displaying the cheap items out of sight and placing reduced goods, sweets and choccie bars near the checkout to encourage impulse buys. Avoid these traps by making a shopping list and sticking to it! Find out more in The seven biggest supermarket scams.

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Do you find it more expensive to be single?

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