Minimum take home income to live on your own?

[DA-LION-619]

Yes but like 8k less than what i stated is a huge gap dont you think?

Everywhere is expensive.. Employers should factor that into our lives.. With their 50k month or more packages and think.. hmm could i even survive on 21k a month

The question is why? Why do you want to stay on your own? The answer should not be independence.

A graduate in one city, cannot compete for a job in another. Higher up the ladder, employers will pay more because the available candidates are more rare.
Also note salary for a developer/programmer is not dependent on years of experience so it can scale much quicker.

21k net isn't impossible in DBN, I was kinda around there in my final year but I got offered more to move. I compared locally and there was nothing that could match. Toyota for example had a flat 6k/month for all interns irrespective of experience.

Note my disposable income didn't change much even though I was earning more because I had to find a place(deposit), get appliances etc.
You have to do the evaluation yourself but to me money is just a means to opportunities.

 

[Toxxyc]

When I see people posting about their R100k combined income I realize how little we actually earn. Explain why my household isn't considered "middle class".

 

[3WA]

Am I reading that right 28m2??????

It emmarentia so if you’re lucky, the property has a nice yard.

Used to have a friend that rented a hole in Westcliff, interior was abysmal, but the garden was awesome so we’d spend summer evenings drinking at his place in a no-homo way.

 

[groenspookasem]

When I see people posting about their R100k combined income I realize how little we actually earn. Explain why my household isn't considered "middle class".

you make your own destiny. it takes people from all walks of life to define a classist society, the onus is on you to decide which cog you are, irrespective of circumstance.

 

[maumau]

snip....
It's the same for those on that retarded keto diet, if you're starving you can't concentrate.

I get what you're saying but you shouldn't be hungry on the keto diet.

It is expensive though, avocado and nuts don't come cheap.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

When I read here about people "budgeting" R 1k to R1.5k p/m for food.....I just burst out laughing.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

When I see people posting about their R100k combined income I realize how little we actually earn. Explain why my household isn't considered "middle class".

My wife and I have a combined income of about R130k gross ( about R78k take home pay ) and we consider ourselves middle class.

 

[syntax]

When I read here about people "budgeting" R 1k to R1.5k p/m for food.....I just burst out laughing.

Yup, R50 a day for food. It is possible, but would not be a pleasant experience
People also underestimate how much other items cost like cleaning materials etc

Life is expensive

 

[Nerfherder]

I was quoting @Nerfherder

Are you talking take-away pay?

Take away might be just under 100.

Its insane when I look at it and how it all just disappears.

-1 bond (will be 2 next month unless a miracle happens)
-rates and utilities
-2 kids in school
-Medical aid
-Pension
-life insurance for us both
-general insurance
-internet
-petrol
-paying off debt :/
EDIT: Food !


Luckily we have paid off cars for now but it seems every second month either the car or house needs some sort of repair.

 

[I.am.Sam]

yep money just goes these days

and petrol is going up again so food also

 

[Pineapple Smurf]

Numbers were hypothetical - I haven’t tried living like that in a long time. But I think you could do under R2k for one person for a few months. I went with R400 per week.

Agree, I dont spend much on food either

My highest 4 expenses are
1) Bond R3800
2) Beer R1800
3) Petrol R1500
4) Food R1400

 

[falcon786]

I've been job hunting recently and something that struck me is the sort of salaries on offer and it left me asking how in the heck are people living?

I know very few single people that live on their own (relationships of convenience seem common or roommates) and quite a number of families that stay together (parents/adult kids in the garden flat as an example). In my area, which is solidly middle class in the south of Jo'burg, a single bedroom townhouse starts at R6,000 and once you start throwing in rates and water/lights you are looking at around R8,000 - R9,000. Then insurance, transport (petrol, car installments) and food, the basics before you actually start living and saving.

By my rough guesstimate you would need a minimum take home of R15,000. Then I found this article that said the average salary for Q2 2020 was R21,455 (a figure that has been decreasing since 2019). The numbers don't look good for a single person.

R21k is actually a lot for a single person!

I got married in 2009 earning a lousy R5500.Ok sure my wife went to work also and she earned about the same (so R11k total) but yeah we went out, had fun on weekends etc,the trick is to have a written out budget and stick to it,we basically had R3k left over for entertainment per month hell I even went to see a few world cup matches on that budget for 2 people and we even ate at restaurants a few times per month!

So yeah in todays terms that's probably the equivalent of around R17k net take home after taking inflation into consideration.Yes today I earn several times the average salary per month and wife doesn't need to work for several years now so we don't budget at all and buy what we want to but truth be told we'd be quite happy with R21k a month in 2021 for 2 people even.

The more money you have the more things you want,things that made you excited to get before don't excite you anymore and there's always another carrot dangle for you to yearn for!

Don't fall into that trap,you can definitely live a happy comfortable life with R21K in SA per month for a couple!

 

[falcon786]

I've come to the point where I want to live like I earn R21k per month again and just start investing the extra money for retirement travelling and for my kids,really all these extra things that cost more don't satisfy you as much as you thought they would when you couldn't afford it.

 

[Nerfherder]

When I see people posting about their R100k combined income I realize how little we actually earn. Explain why my household isn't considered "middle class".

The point I was trying to make was the more you earn the more life costs... and I can't explain why.

At some point money becomes trivial. If you get R200k pm you will get that house and that car and the bank will give you a higher credit limit and you will use it.

There is a lower limit on what what you could get buy on but there is no upper limit on "enough".

Its crazy to think that 13 years ago when I moved out of home we had a combined income of less than 22k and the bond was my wifes entire salary. Its been quite a journey to get to the point we are now but its hard to see what we have gained... all our money seems to be locked up in pensions and policies that don't even seem real.

 

[PhreakBoy]

I feel the need to point out that most of us, and most of our parents, did not move out of home to a 1 bedroom townhouse. We moved into flats / apartments. Usually on the 2nd or 3rd floor with no dedicated parking or a carport if you're lucky.

Those you can get in decent areas for R3,000 to R4,500 p/m.

We drove motorcycles or took the train (public transport) and ate bread and bully beef and drank quarts. Wednesday was small weekend and we had boerewors with mash. We had no tv and listened to the radio. And there sure as hell was no 2ply.

So yeah, it is going to be difficult to move out of home and have all the same luxuries.

 

[maumau]

you make your own destiny. it takes people from all walks of life to define a classist society, the onus is on you to decide which cog you are, irrespective of circumstance.

Not really, so many people wanting to work, wanting to improve themselves but there are simply not enough jobs.

Whatever work you get these days you're thankful for even if you'll never climb the ladder.

 

[pinball wizard]

Agree, I dont spend much on food either

My highest 4 expenses are
1) Bond R3800
2) Beer R1800
3) Petrol R1500
4) Food R1400

I knew a girl once who didn't eat. She lived on Black Label.

 

[airborne]

One thing people have to consider though; an old car is not always a car that saves you money. Sure you have low or no instalments, but then a 10-year old+ car is going to start requiring running maintenance.

Also piece of mind. My first car was a lump of hot crap and it eventually stressed me out because I was wondering what the next thing to go was. Lots of jobs also demand own, reliable transport, so not a good look when your 20-year old car is overheating on the side of the road.

Rule of thumb; if ongoing maintenance of an older car works out to around the same as an instalment, then you are better off with a new(er) car.

This isn't to say that your 2021 BMW won't breakdown, but generally speaking a newer car should give you less hassles than an older car.

If you are on a budget the key is to buy a small manual run around, around R60-80k will get you a bulletproof Japanese or Korean car that has very little to go wrong on it and will keep going for many many years.

It's when people start getting German vehicles, automatics, higher end sedans etc then it's easy to fall straight into a very deep hole when something goes wrong and the repair bill is R20-40k. It's easy to fall into that trap because the allure of a "nice" car is strong. Heaven help those that buy the aforementioned on credit and then need expensive repairs..

To illustrate the cost of food, I like having 2 rusks with my coffee, I drink 2 cups a day, R40 for 500g is the cheapest rusks come at these days and gets you a choice from a whole range of budget budget brands.

1 month of rusks costs R250, that excludes the cost of the cup of coffee.

 

[airborne]

I feel the need to point out that most of us, and most of our parents, did not move out of home to a 1 bedroom townhouse. We moved into flats / apartments. Usually on the 2nd or 3rd floor with no dedicated parking or a carport if you're lucky.

Those you can get in decent areas for R3,000 to R4,500 p/m.

We drove motorcycles or took the train (public transport) and ate bread and bully beef and drank quarts. Wednesday was small weekend and we had boerewors with mash. We had no tv and listened to the radio. And there sure as hell was no 2ply.

So yeah, it is going to be difficult to move out of home and have all the same luxuries.

A flat in a decent area for R3-4.5k??
I have not seen that for a good 10yrs+

 

[SZN]

Agree, I dont spend much on food either

My highest 4 expenses are
1) Bond R3800
2) Beer R1800
3) Petrol R1500
4) Food R1400

How on earth is your food budget R1,400?

You braai like every day!