How on earth did you get a deposit while on minimum wage?
When minimum wage came in in the UK my legit income more than doubled, but was still only enough to cover food, a decent 125 scooter, and about half my rent. To make up the rent I depended on other forms of income.
The most modest house I could find last time I looked (about 8 years ago) was £200k and they wanted a deposit of £80k because my income was only the national average.
No life, because if you were saving £10k a year on minimum wage then at the current rate you’d have about £10k/year after tax to cover all bills … remove car & insurance (or public transport costs), a single rented room including utilities at the normal rate of about £500/month, plus tax etc, and you wouldn’t have much money left over.
That’s fair, for most of my life I’ve had to commute further than public transport could take me … and now you come to mention it, I did once buy a flat for £20K (though it needed everything)
How on earth did you get a deposit while on minimum wage?
When minimum wage came in in the UK my legit income more than doubled, but was still only enough to cover food, a decent 125 scooter, and about half my rent. To make up the rent I depended on other forms of income.
And housing has gone up faster than minimum wage.
Renting a bedroom, after rent I didn’t really spend much else, food was only like £10-15 a week, was saving £5-10k a year.
So, it only took you 10 - 20 years of having no life to get a deposit together?
In my darkest days I was spending about £12 on food per week in total, but that was in the 90s
20 years of that would pretty much buy an entire house, not just a deposit. Not sure how it’s having no life either.
5x20=100
The most modest house I could find last time I looked (about 8 years ago) was £200k and they wanted a deposit of £80k because my income was only the national average.
No life, because if you were saving £10k a year on minimum wage then at the current rate you’d have about £10k/year after tax to cover all bills … remove car & insurance (or public transport costs), a single rented room including utilities at the normal rate of about £500/month, plus tax etc, and you wouldn’t have much money left over.
Cars cost a shitload, so I didn’t get one and just walk/cycled to work. Spent that money on rounds at spoons instead.
Also plenty of flats for less if you are buying on your own. Expecting an entire house on your own is probably a bit much for most people.
That’s fair, for most of my life I’ve had to commute further than public transport could take me … and now you come to mention it, I did once buy a flat for £20K (though it needed everything)
£20k sounds like a long time ago or a complete dump. But a bit more can get something alright. Depends what you want to spend of course.
I either moved to walking distance of work or only looked for jobs I could walk/cycle to.
I didn’t have the option of moving or being selective about jobs.
It was a complete dump. A little old lady had died there, she was a chain smoker and nothing had been cleaned or fixed in the previous 30 or so years.