“You Overestimated”: Joburg Man Living With His Parents Calculates the Cost of Living To Move Out
- A 19-year-old Johannesburg man shared a video, breaking down how much it costs to live alone in South Africa
- He calculated rent, food, transport, and other expenses he could expect once he was living on his own
- Mzansi disagreed with his calculations, saying he overestimated food and rent costs
Source: TikTok
A young man from Johannesburg had Mzansi disagreeing with him after sharing his calculations for the cost of living in South Africa. Content creator Xav, who goes by @xavdoeslife on Facebook, posted the video on 16 October 2025 with the caption:
"How much does it cost to live in South Africa? Day 4/80 of trying to make enough money to move out by the end of the year."
The 19-year-old has been sharing his journey to make enough money to move out of his parents' house, and this time he decided to work out exactly how much money he'd need.
At first, Xav breaks down his calculations. He started by checking apartments in Johannesburg and found that the average price for one month is around R10,000. For food, he assumed he would be spending about R150 per day, which works out to roughly R5,000 per month.
He also calculated transport costs based on driving for 45 minutes per day, which came to around R1,800 per month for fuel. Finally, for other stuff like toiletries and supplements, he calculated the costs were to be about R1,000 per month.
When he added everything up, the total cost to live for one month in South Africa came to R17,800.
Source: Facebook
Mzansi react to the cost-of-living calculations
Xav shared his calculations on his Facebook page @xavdoeslife, and social media users flooded the comments section with their own advice and disagreements:
@Helen Waller said:
"Rent could be cheaper. For food, eat homemade, simple meals. Cheaper by half."
@Paballo Mofokeng commented:
"You overestimated. Last year I lived off groceries worth R1200, but I ate only twice a day, and you can get rent around R6000."
@Henriette van Coller pointed out:
"You forgot some things: WiFi, cell phone, medical aid and car insurance. I think W&E will be covered for your R10 000 for rent."
@Antonio Mac advised:
"You know you could be paying a mortgage with that R10,000 and own the property after some years instead of using it to just rent an apartment..."
The cost of living in South Africa
According to experts on EcoFlow, a family of four in South Africa needs around R37,000 per month to survive, but it depends on where you live. In Johannesburg, that number jumps to about R41,000 for basics. Then you've got to add rent on top of that, which can be anywhere from R11,500 to R13,000 for a three-bedroom place.
For someone living alone in Joburg, it's around R11,800 for monthly expenses, plus R6,000 to R7,300 for a one-bedroom flat. So Xav's R17,800 estimate isn't too far off, especially if he wants to live in a decent area.
But loads of people in the comments state that he could save a lot by being smarter about his spending. Instead of spending R150 a day on food, he could buy groceries in bulk and cut that down massively. Some even said he should think about buying a place with a mortgage instead of renting, so at least he'd own something eventually instead of just throwing money at rent forever.
Watch the Facebook clip below:
Other SA cost of living stories
- A young South African woman sparked outrage on TikTok over Cape Town's high rent prices.
- Briefly News also reported on a man's funny take on Cape Town's rental prices after an apartment costing R22,000 went viral.
- A new report from The TEFL Academy showed how the cost of living for young South Africans has increased over the past two decades.
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Source: Briefly News
