Young, solo Australians struggling most with rising costs
As the cost of living continues to soar, covering the bills for a family is challenging enough. But spare a thought for those living alone. Paying your mortgage, utility bills, insurance and groceries is no mean feat when you’re relying on one income.
Collaborative database Expatisan estimates the current cost of living alone in Australia is around $3766 per month, compared to $7065 per month for a family of four, covering bare essentials.
That makes Australia one of the most expensive places to live in the world, ranked 11th out of 69 countries.
Monique Jeremiah, who lives by herself, has had to cut down her spending to cope with rising mortgage and bill costs.Credit:Dan Peled.
Despite this, young people are increasingly opting to live alone, with the number of one-person households increasing from 9.5 per cent to 10.1 per cent in 2021. Sociologists suggest this could be due to the dip in the number of people opting to live in a share house during the pandemic.
Research from Anglicare from a few years ago found that people living alone are doing it tougher than most other types of households and that most are financially disadvantaged.
The cost of living by herself is rising for Gold Coast woman Monique Jeremiah, but the 36-year-old divorcee wouldn’t have it any other way. She believes she can stay one step ahead of her bills amid the cost-of-living crisis.
When prices started to rise, Jeremiah took matters into her own hands, quitting her teaching job at the start of 2022 after 13 years in the industry. She blames pressure and stress for her departure.
“I lost some of my teaching contracts and realised I needed more certainty and a higher income. It was just as well given the rising cost of my mortgage,” she says. Jeremiah has focused on diversifying her income as much as she can, building her commercial modelling work and also representing other models.
She purchased her home in 2012 and has a $350,000 mortgage, which has risen by more than $700 a month. “At the time I was married, but I bought the property on my own, so I have borne the costs of the mortgage alone,” she says.
But the costs of paying off the mortgage have risen steadily in the past year as the RBA continues to increase the cash rate to help steady inflation. Jeremiah says her bills have also risen, meaning she has had to cut back on personal costs.
“I think I can manage it because I’ve reduced my spending on things like eating out. I realised I had to make a short-term sacrifice because you don’t know how long these increasing costs will continue,” she says.
YouGov and UBank asked young Australians about their living arrangements and the costs involved late last year. It reveals that those living alone tend to have a higher personal debt size, sitting at $374,690 compared to $294,163.
However, those living alone contribute a higher amount of their take-home pay to their savings than those in a shared home (34 per cent compared to 29 per cent).
Among those feeling financially stressed, those in shared homes cite not having enough savings for emergencies and unexpected expenses and not being able to adequately provide for their family.
Meanwhile, those living alone are more likely than those in a shared home to agree that financial stress is affecting their physical health and their sleep, as well as their relationships with family and friends.
Singles are also more likely than those in a couple to cite unpredictable income and not currently working as much as they need to as key financial stressors in their lives.
Jeremiah has had to reduce her spending, budgeting $150 a week for eating out and eating at home when she can.
“It’s hard because there’s no second income to help cover the costs. Sure, you can more control … spending, but you also have more stress because everything falls to you,” she says.
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