I now understand why people don't get jobs, on purpose.

[matty-hodgson]

After working out how much I can earn in my job, working full time, then deducting everything from it, that I NEED to pay, I'd be left with bloody nothing of what I actually earn in the month, for me to live off..

How am I supposed to be able to leave the nest? How on earth am I able to live off the tiny amount of wages I would have left..

It's an utter joke.

9 to 5 job.. On £5.41 an hour at the rate I've been offered.
£952.16 a month.
-tax = £817.24
-council tax = £631

Less than £150 a week, for me to find a roof over my head, food, water, clothes, petrol to work, food at work, and everything else involved in running a home.

I just feel like I'm stuck because of the utterly ridiculous charges placed upon me.

[directhex]

Your figures are kinda hard to read. It would help if you actually stated your values - e.g. your council tax number implies the full amount on a band F property (£120k-£160k in Carlisle). And I can't work out how you calculated £134.92 for tax (£11,425.92 annual income minus £6,475 personal allowance makes £4,950.92 taxable at 20%, or £990.18 per year, or £82.52 per month)

edit: Make that band C - council tax is paid over 10 months with 2 payment free months

[matty-hodgson]

Your figures are kinda hard to read. It would help if you actually stated your values - e.g. your council tax number implies the full amount on a band F property (£120k-£160k in Carlisle). And I can't work out how you calculated £134.92 for tax (£11,425.92 annual income minus £6,475 personal allowance makes £4,950.92 taxable at 20%, or £990.18 per year, or £82.52 per month)

http://www.compareandsave.com/tools/...ry-calculator/
I used that, and it says "take home wage"..

Either way, I'm pretty screwed. I can't live with my parents for much longer, it's just a constant battle with everything I do, so I need to leave for my own sake. But I can't cos I couldn't possibly afford to .

[directhex]

http://www.compareandsave.com/tools/...ry-calculator/
I used that, and it says "take home wage"..

Either way, I'm pretty screwed. I can't live with my parents for much longer, it's just a constant battle with everything I do, so I need to leave for my own sake. But I can't cos I couldn't possibly afford to .

On minimum wage, no, you're not going to be able to afford your own place, unless it's a 0.5 bedroom ****hole. Consider a housemate or two, and bam, half the issues with bills go away.

[sadbuttrue]

If you're not totally averse to claiming benefits, you should be entitled to LHA. It probably wont be more than ~£50 per week and I'm not sure if there are any conditions attached (such as shared accommodation).

[Lucio]

Best bet is to get yourself written up as depressed, as influenced by your current living conditions, and then put into the council for a place citing the GP's recomendation so you can get on the list as a priority case. Whilst you're at it, start applying for Housing Benefit (you're low income so chances are you'll get something towards the rent), and don't forget council tax will get a single occupant discount of 25%.

It won't be *great* but you should be able to afford basic food, gas and electricity bills, though not enough to run a car.

[j1979]

Matty.. i presume you are about 19 ish ? well, i left home at 21 (uni), and went into a shared house because my uni did not have many rooms in halls of residence. After 3/4 years bumming around at uni, i still stayed in shared house's for another 6 years. To be honest at the end of 10 years in shared houses i could not wait to get away... but in those years i had some of the best times ever! and we did live in some major dives, but it was all good. Apart from meeting many new people and friends the cost of living is greatly reduced/shared. it is not something i would have thought of doing had it not been forced upon me. Besides you might get a room in a house with 4 hot girls, and you will be forced to go out drinking with them and meet their hot friends.

i used to use, http://www.spareroom.co.uk/

and gumtree to find good rooms. it tends to be easier in university towns and cities to find a good room with cool people, but worth a look if you really need to leave your parents house

hope this helps

[SiM]

go to uni, then you probably will get more than minimum wsge

[TheAnimus]

Save up and move somewhere you can earn more than minimum wage?

(but yes, I do see why you find it frustrating someone who has no intention of working a day in their life will have their own place just because they get themselves nocked up).

[badass]

go to uni, then you probably will get more than minimum wsge

QFT (if you get a proper degree)
However right now in case you heaven't noticed, there aren't many spare jobs aropund so I guess the reason you're looking at minimum wage is because you can't find something better paid. However once the country recovers, you'll be able to find a job that pays significantly more than that. The only people stuck at mimimum wage in a buoyant ecomomy are very lazy, stupid or stupidly risk averse to the point of just being plain stupid.

[TheAnimus]

The only people stuck at mimimum wage in a buoyant ecomomy are very lazy, stupid or stupidly risk averse to the point of just being plain stupid.

Or just made a series of very bad choices, often from not knowing any better, by not been aided by schooling or their family to actually better themselves.

[Spud1]

I know living at home/with parents is painful..thats where I am now (again), and i'm on a job earning closer to £30k a year..saving for a deposit on a house, but I'm putting up with it because its the fastest way to get there, and I refuse to throw money away on rent (which in most cases, in the north at least, you are doing).

My advice would be to stay at home, save up as much money as possible and gain a bit of experience in the area you are working in - you may have to do it for 6-12 months or so but you will be much richer by the end of it and will be much more employable.

Don't get sucked into moving out too soon - you'll be so much better off if you can put up with waiting a bit longer (and also save the money that you are not spending on basic cost of living!)

edit: I must also say that there are *plenty* of jobs around IF you have the right experience and/or qualifications. It's very difficult right now for graduates with no commerical experience (so much competition) and for people without good qualifications, but if you get some of either (preferably a little of both) you should find it fairly easy to find a job..especially if you are flexible enough to relocate for the work. How do you get experience? By doing what you are doing now - taking a low paid job for a few months, or by doing a degree with a placement year, or even by staying at home and taking unpaid placements..the jobs are out there if you do a bit of groundwork first.

[oolon]

I think its unrealistic to think you can afford a place of your own. (Sorry) When I was at uni I was in halls, and then a shared flat, again at my second uni, shared flat then a house with friends. After that I moved into a shared house with friends for my first job stopped there for 6 years and then moved into a house with mortgage with my partner and still live there 10 years later. Bit small now as we have a resent addition.

You will notice though at no time did I have a place of my own and I was sponsored at university and payed significantly more than minimum wage after it. I might have been able to stretch to it however that would have meant having no free resources for a life style.

[Zak33]

Matty, as the guys have said, it's highly unlikely that you'd be able to live on your own on those wages, and with respect at your age, it's unusual to be a single person in their own home.

I was selling cars from 18 years old and earning about £18,000 by the second year, back when houses were CHEAP (early 90's) and I had my own home by 20 years old.. but that was with a lass, sharing the bills etc. But 20 years later... 20 years later.. you need to earn more like £9 per hour to get even close to a cheap rented house.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

damm and i thought im getting paid peanuts here but OP makes me look as if im well payed lol.

[oolon]

I know living with parents can seem to be limiting, living by "their" rules etc. Perhaps you will now start to see quite how much the have invested in you, simply by feeding, clothing and housing you, let alone everything else you have been given. Perhaps think of that next time they ask you to do the washing up or hoover the floor. One thing I missed was I took a year off before university to work at my sponsor for 100 quid a week (before tax)! I did live at home, I remember the "outraged" I felt when my mother asked me for a tenner a week in rent. You know what after the year was up they gave me the money back, as a starter gift for university... Man I felt so ashamed as i had them a real hard time about it. Just don't underestimate how much your parents do care for you and how much their support is worth.