COST OF LIVING

I’m paying the price for being single

The cost of living crisis is worse if you live alone, writes Charlie Gowans-Eglinton

Charlie Gowans Eglinton
Charlie Gowans Eglinton
SARAH CRESSWELL FOR THE TIMES
The Times

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With my unpaid tax bill looming, I was beginning to feel a bit queasy about my Christmas spending and the boozy dinner party that I threw on New Year’s Eve. But new data has proven that it’s not actually my fault that I’m broke — it’s just because I’m single.

Which is, OK, admittedly also down to me. And if anything could tempt me to date, it might be the £860 a month that being single is apparently costing me. Hargreaves Lansdown (a private investment platform that I had to google because I don’t have private investments, probably also because I’m single) tallied up the average cost of living. For single people it’s £1,851 a month. For couples it’s £1,982 for two, so £991 each.