How much does it cost to live in SA/Single Independantly

[krycor]

So i'm likely gonna go back to university and work part time so busy sorting out finances etc. Was looking at the other thread about how much people earn and how they spend it and it got me thinking about life in SA, how much is the minimum needed to live as a single person(independently)? I have carried over a bunch of categories and listed it below but feel free to add on more as needed. I'm trying to cover everything so feel free to add more things i may overlook. Will be interesting to see what the total cost will be.. remember though this needs to cover even things like entertainment and general health(gym which is cheap when combo'd with healthcare) as its quite often proven that an unbalanced life leads to more costs down the road.

Edit: I did this somewhere in the thread back in 2009 but i think having a separate thread would be good for comparison. Estimate was about 8-10k post tax which included savings but it was not categorized easily to see how things change so this time round i figured i would try and do this better. This gives a speculative idea of what one needs to earn to survive and how to spend it if you need to cut corners too. I think if enough people add more categories i will make it into an interactive spreadsheet survey.. heck i will start doing so now with google docs. Will be great to see how these change over yrs too. Will try and do this tomorrow.


Rental(room/apartment):
Water:
Electricity:
Food:
Medical:
Gym:
Dental:
Cellphone/Telephony:
Data:
Tech/Equipment:
Food:
Entertainment:
Beer:
Study Loan:
Printing:
Books:
Prof. associations:
Pension/Retirement:
Car repayment/maintenance:
Car insurance:
Car petrol/Transport:
Clothes:
Donations/Charity:
Miscellaneous:
Savings:

 

[FrankCastle]

'This gives a speculative idea of what one needs to earn to survive and how to spend it if you need to cut corners too.'
Right there.
Everything depends on how much YOU are willling to sacrifice in order to get by.
Could you live without Gym,beer,clothes,retirement?

 

[Riot2]

//edit: i guess its early for a saturday and i kinda missed the point of the thread a bit - if you want absolute minimums... well then a crapload of my spending could be cut - ill leave mine up as an indication of what it costs to live very comfortably alone - pretty much at the same standards i was used to when living at home with my parents, obviously now in a much smaller place as i stay alone now

Well I got my first job fresh out of uni in December last year.
I moved out on my own at the end of January this year - so I think I can give you a pretty good indication - although, I could have cut costs but my job prospects are excellent given my qualifications.

Anway, bearing in mind this is in JHB:

Rental(room/apartment): Cheapest and decent place - definitely suitable for ONE person only: R3150
Water: Included in rental
Electricity: Included in rental
Food: between R800 and R1200 a month (bear in mind I still get food for supper frozen from my parents for most nights)
Medical: R1761 (Bankmed traditional, quite a good package, deducted directly from my pay)
Gym: not currently a member, but if on vitality (R125 a month) you can join virgin actives at a crazy price ranging from free (if you have a virgin credit card) to R170 for national membership
Dental: R0 - medical aid includes dental cover
Cellphone/Telephony: R330-ish a month, but im not a big user
Data: R150 a month - i make do on my cellc 2gb
Tech/Equipment: R0 - work laptop, still using a laptop my parents bought me
Food: again?... how much do you eat ;p
Entertainment: R0 to R1200 a month (I dont get out much, studying for board exams)
Beer: included in entertainment budget
Study Loan: fortunate enough not to have one
Printing: R0 - only ever print work related stuff and so use the office printer
Books: Study material for board exams covered by my employer
Prof. associations: about R2550 a year - also covered by my employer
Pension/Retirement: nearly R3000 total - deducted directly from my salary
Car repayment/maintenance: R3400 - ( i bought a nice car, but my dad put a R75k deposit for me and i put another R20k deposit)
Car insurance: R930 (through some small broker, outsurance wanted over R3000/month)
Car petrol/Transport: R1000 or so (i moved close to work, but still go to pretoria about once a week)
Clothes: Fluctuates ALOT - sometimes R0 sometimes R6500 - suppose you could average this at about R1000/month so far, but that entailed getting my full work clothes set and some proper jeans, i doubt ill continue at that rate going forward
Donations/Charity: R0 -im a bitof an *******, i mainly care for myself (unless you meant tax?)
Miscellaneous: toiletries, deodrant, shaving cream, blades etc ~R200/month (I use mitchum and 2 ply toilet paper - did you know that 2ply toilet paper is around R9 a roll )
Savings: I manage to keep about R3k as savings - but i do empty it into my car when it gets a decent amount (plus given my big pension amount, see above, im not too concerned for saving at this stage, im 23)