As one of the few local authorities to offer the living wage, Cardiff could be seen as a great place for young professionals to find their feet. Freddie Holmes is a recent graduate, who has recently made the move to the Welsh capital to pursue a career. Renting out a one bedroom house in Grangetown, Freddie has been coming to terms with life, loans and loneliness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotten into it really quickly,\u201d says the 22-year-old, who has settled into Cardiff life with ease. He is no stranger to the city having lived here for 3 years already whilst studying journalism at the University of Glamorgan (now part of the University of South Wales).<\/p>\n
A motor enthusiast, Freddie has managed to find a job writing for a magazine within the automotive industry, \u201cI\u2019m a staff writer for Automotive World<\/em>, which is like a spin-off of Financial Times<\/em>.\u201d Originally from a small town in Wiltshire, England, ending up back in Cardiff was not intentional; Freddie\u2019s return to Wales was entirely down to work. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to live at home, I wanted to move somewhere good. Specifically it was the job [that made me move], it just happened to be in Cardiff.\u201d<\/p>\n His house in Grangetown seems palatial considering it only has one occupant. Life alone has been something Freddie has had to get used to in a hurry. He simply says, \u201cIt\u2019s lonely.\u201d A social life isn\u2019t at the top of his list of priorities, though; sitting on the kitchen table is an invoice for council tax that is yet to be paid. He\u2019s only been living in Cardiff a short while but already bills, rent and other expenses are starting to stack up.<\/p>\n Freddie is grateful for the support he\u2019s had in getting his life as a young professional started, something that not everybody in his position can say they have received. \u201cThere\u2019s no other way I could\u2019ve done it really, coming off the back of a degree. Massive overdraft. I started off on the wrong foot.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that Freddie will need financial support in the long run, his move to Cardiff was well thought out. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have moved here if I couldn\u2019t do it, I had to sit down and work out roughly what my outgoings would be against what I\u2019m bringing in.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall Freddie is positive about his experience so far; he is relishing some of the freedom he felt he lost by moving back home. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t great moving from uni back home, just because I didn\u2019t have the independence. At the moment I\u2019m enjoying it, although I haven\u2019t sorted the bills yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alt Cardiff investigates what life is like for young professionals in the city<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":24020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-24019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-logo"],"yoast_head":"\nLiving alone<\/span><\/h3>\n