Relationships and Financial Wellbeing
Relationships and Financial Wellbeing
Coles notes: being single is expensive
Living is expensive. This is an obvious statement, I know. But dang is it ever true.
Living is particularly expensive for a certain kind of human. These humans have historically not been held in the highest regard by society. And yet they are everywhere. They’re at our birthday parties, they show up unannounced to family functions, they stalk the hallways of our workplaces, they are the dream state of all couples, they are: single people.
You read that correctly. Not only are single people walled off in their socially prescribed panic rooms (the thicker the walls the older you get), their existence is generally more financially taxing than those who are coupled up. And our numbers appear to be growing.
Today, dear readers, we’re diving into a topic I know a thing or two about, trying to get your financial poop in a group as a single pringle. (Now you know my relationship status, please feel free to forget my relationship status.)
So today I’m going to pour one out for those of us who are romantically unattached. The people like me. The singles.
Being Single is Expensive
Yo! Being single is stupid expensive. Though perhaps not wildly obvious at first glance, this statement is nonetheless very true.
When you’re a single human operating out in the world, all life’s costs fall squarely on one person’s shoulders - yours. It’s well documented that single people spend more of their proportionate income on living expenses. Doing a little digging for this week’s post, I found varying accounts of how much more single people pay than our coupled counterparts, ranging from $6,000 more annually to upwards of $20,000 more (depending on the city you live in). Yikes.
Take for example renting in Canada, the average one-bedroom as of 2024 is now $1,944 a month (flippin ridiculous, I know). Covering that amount as a single person is very different than covering it as a couple. In this example, a single person is spending $23,328 a year on their housing, whereas a couple each pay $11,664 for the same unit. That’s a big difference.
Beyond housing, food is also more expensive for single peeps. Individual shoppers can’t take advantage of bulk purchases of perishable food the same way couples can. Food waste and pricier smaller packaged foods are a real burden to individual wallets.
But the costs don’t stop there - from vehicles to household bills, pet care to vacations - as a single person, it’s all being paid by one income. And if something happens by the way of job loss or extended illness or worse, us “unattached” humans are footing the entire bill.
And if we look at a longer time horizon, the savings and advantages are compounded. When a young, stable couple form an unholy union at say the age of 21 and ride off into the sunset of life for the next 20, 30 or 40 years, they are likely better off financially than someone who has been single for the same stretch. The amount that a couple is able to save and invest over greater lengths of time pales in comparison to the saving ability of the singles.
Now, before you go thinking I’m trying to make you feel bad for us singles, there are a lot of amazing things about being single. You get to spend your money exactly how you want, you don’t have to deal with someone else’s hair clogging a drain, and in the immortal words of Linda Evangalista, you don’t have to listen to someone breathing.
There are perks.
Saving While Single
So what can you do as a single to invest in your financial well-being? Well, you can do A LOT.
As mentioned, you get to spend your money exactly how you want. This gives you a lot of power. You get to decide what is most important to you in terms where you invest your money. Whether that’s housing, transportation, savings or other investment vehicles - the point here is that you have the freedom and autonomy to make those decisions.
When it comes to housing, my gosh is it expensive, but there are alternatives to going it alone and spending a lot of your income on an apartment. Social stigma is evolving around living with parental units (your mom and/or dad) for longer, there is no shame in actively contributing to a household where your parents happen to live while you wait for the psychopathic rental market to calm down a tad.
Also, becoming more common is renting with friends as you age up. Again, with rents in the “kooky” range, there is no harm in finding a house with a friend or two to save money and become that much more financially secure.
Some of us have tried living with people, and it just doesn’t work. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend the average $1,944 a month on rent, there are deals to be found and compromises to be made to find housing that is affordable for you.
Other ways to cut down on costs as a single is to shop for savings wherever possible. I’ve already written about the amazing savings to be found at discount grocery stores. And there are tons of deals out there in the resale market for clothes, household items and more, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and look.
Additionally, to help spur on savings, there’s always the option of picking up a side gig or finding some part-time work. There are a lot of ways to bring in a few extra dollars a month to help offset costs. Who among us hasn’t joked with friends about starting a FeetFinder account?
Don’t Lose Hope You Single Pringles!
Heck yes things are expensive, and it can seem overwhelming as a single pringle to figure out how to live AND save for your future. I can very much relate.
Remember that being single is a really wonderful and liberating thing. Sure it’s more expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s all about the compromises you’re willing to make, the skills you’re willing to develop, and the growth you’re willing to lean into.
And to the coupled humans out there reading this, at the end of the day, we are all dealing with a lot. Just remember that your single friends are shouldering a lot of life’s challenges - financially or otherwise - solo.
Single or otherwise, you’ve totally got this!
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For those with a dollar to spare, I’ve set up a Buy Me A Coffee account for folks to contribute to here and there. For those frugally focused, I would be incredibly grateful if you were to share my work with your networks and folks you think would enjoy my journey (via email, social media, or homing pigeon).
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