Cost of Being Single

[talon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10892142

Granted, this is BBC, and things are different (to an extent) in other countries than in the US, but the perceptions remain the same.

I have never lived alone, but I have been the sole breadwinner for all but the 14 years I was a child living at home and 7 of the 10 years I was married, so that means I've been the sole income for my household for 43 years.

Head of household or single, either way, it's expensive.

Tax wise, it's cheaper to be head of household, but you can only do that if you have one or more legal dependents living with you. If your adult children live with you and aren't legal dependents, there's no tax savings at all, only extra expenses.

With or without others, some expenses just don't change: rent or mortgage, mortgage insurance, ad valorem taxes, property taxes, internet, gasoline, car maintenance, car insurance, car tags, lawn care, pet food.

With a household, there are additional expenses that may not be completely covered by a second or even a third income: child care, health insurance, schooling, clothing, groceries, entertainment, cleaning, furnishings, vacations. If you are single and childless (or your children are grown and independent), then you don't have all those additional expenses and so don't need a second or third income.

I have always lived in places where I could afford the rent/mortgage, utilities, and household maintenance on my income alone because in my experience, roommates don't pay their share, or they move out on you, leaving you with the lease or mortgage.

Now that I am, for the first time in my life, not responsible for the support and care of someone else, I may not ever be wildly rich because of my single, child-free status, but I will be much more comfortably off and have far fewer constraints on my time.

I'll still have housekeeping and lawn care (the grass that grows and grows and grows!), still need to cook and grocery shop, still need to work and pay taxes, still have to pay mortgage and utilities, still have vet bills and pet food, still have car maintenance and bills, still pay insurances, but once those are paid and done, the rest is all mine. If I choose to spend it on my no-longer dependents, I can do that, but I no longer have to.