When a 33‑year‑old Reddit user from Manitoba, Canada, took to the platform to describe the financial strain of living alone, they did not anticipate just how widely their frustrations would resonate.
Speaking to Newsweek, the user, who would prefer to stay anonymous, said: “The overwhelming viral response made it clear that millennials are collectively feeling frustrated, overlooked, and financially squeezed on all sides. A lot of people in the comments definitely had some ideas to keep things afloat. But the amount of effort to keep that boat floating is not getting easier—it’s only getting harder.”
Their post, shared to Reddit under u/dmans218, laid out the everyday reality they say few people acknowledge: that the cost of being single can quietly outpace that of living as a pair.
“No one really talks about how expensive being single is,” the user wrote. “I can’t buy food in bulk because on average it would spoil before I could get through it. So, buying smaller portions is not cheaper but somehow more expensive in the end…This feels like the biggest financial barrier that no one talks about. The economy is designed for pairs. Not individuals (I am a Canadian).”
The big response to the post highlighted a generational tension familiar to many millennials, who say economic systems and everyday costs—from groceries to housing—operate on the assumption that two incomes share the burden.
For single adults, that imbalance can leave them navigating higher per‑person expenses, limited financial cushioning and a persistent sense that the rules were not built with them in mind.
In their comments to Newsweek, the Reddit user described a broader picture emerging from the hundreds of like-minded replies.
“The comments highlighted not only struggles like stagnant wages, unaffordable housing, and burdensome student debt but also showed our generation’s deeper feelings of uncertainty, mental stress, and disappointment toward economic policies that seem outdated and fully misaligned with our realities,” the user said.
Others in the comment section voiced the same frustrations.
One commenter wrote: “I’m less concerned about bulk food shopping and more about paying an entire mortgage on my own. I would have so much more money if I could halve that, utilities, etc. Spinach going bad before I eat it all is not the thing killing my budget.”
Another agreed: “Truth! This is exactly what I worry about most.”
A third added: “It’s super painful to pay alone. My life would be lavish if I could halve my expenses.”
The Reddit user noted that these pressures leave single people without the buffers common in dual‑income households.
“The current system tends to favor dual‑income households or those with familial support, leaving single people at a distinct financial disadvantage,” the user said.
Covering housing, health care and daily essentials alone, they added, makes goals such as homeownership or retirement “exceedingly challenging,” with the mental toll compounding the financial one.
Experts told Newsweek that this disparity is widely felt.
Mihaela Buzec, a senior writer and researcher at RentCafe.com, said the “single tax” describes the gap between what single earners pay and what couples are able to split.
“For millennials, this invisible tax feels salient,” Buzec said, though strategies like longer‑term renting or early investing may soften the impact.
Liz Hunter, commercial director at MoneyExpert, defined the “single tax” as an economic penalty rooted in the inability to share fixed costs.
Research, she said, shows single adults spend significantly more per person on essentials—around £14,364 annually—compared with about £12,684 for each individual within a couple.
For u/dmans218, the reaction to their post only reaffirmed what they already feel; that living alone means paying more, planning harder and carrying risks that couples can divide.