27, just starting my phd on a part-time basis (because of a peculiar funding decision, but effectively aiming for 4 yr completion) and have a 20hr/wk job. Bought a wee one-bed house with my other half when we moved here for my MA, 3 years ago, and still happily in it. :-)

PS Got it thanks to irresponsible creditors just before everything went belly up. The credit crisis is on us :p(up)

I'm 24, in the second year of my PhD and live in Uni accomodation (as a subwarden) with a load of Freshers about 3.5 miles away from Uni. Rent (bills and food included) is very very cheap but it does seem to be an impediment to work and to really getting stuck in. My current housemates are two freshers and two third-year exchange students. I also have no savings, am on a fees-only scholarship and don't have a long-term partner...the first rung of the property ladder is not even on the horizon.

However, one ray of hope, I do play the lottery ;-)

Well I'm not a current PhD student but I'll say from when I was - I did a 3 year PhD, first year lived near Uni with 3 other housemates (two masters, one mature student). Second year and part of third year lived with my boyfriend (who became ex). THen I moved back in with 4 other housemates (2 PhD students, 2 erasmus students). I started my PhD when I was ... um... 24? Gosh how time flies...

I'm 44 and I mainly live with my boyfriend in the South West about 200 miles from my uni. But during the week during semester I come up to the North West for uni and other freelance work I do. I used to live closer to uni with my now ex-husband and we still own a house together. We rent out to lodgers and he was living there as well but now he has moved in with his new partner.
So instead of staying with my Dad when I'm in the North West I will now be staying in my own house. So I actually have three different living spaces which I can choose from!

I rent a 3 bedroom house in a small Greek city. My parents' house is just accross the street, which is very good (you know, fresh, cooked food, clean and ironed clothes....:p ).
My work is 2 minutes walk from my house.
The university...that's another story.... I have to drive 4 hours to go to the airport and then I have to take a 3.5 hours flight!!!

But I manage both financially (although I live entirely from my job, that's about 17,000 euros per year, about 14,000 pounds), physically and mentally (working full-time and doing a PhD)...

I rent a flat in south London with my boyfriend (we're both 25), though last year I lived with my parents as I was self-funding. I've only been able to move out thanks to getting an AHRC studentship.

Interesting question 4matt, I tend to feel infantalised by my studies since my friends seem to be able to afford more, or are getting married, have savings, plan to get mortgages soon.

I'm 24, just begun PhD full time this month (after doing MA part time) and live with my boyf in rented accomodation. I live off a stipend from the university and, thanks to this, we're looking to move to a larger house in a nicer area rather than this one-bedroom apartment in the noisy city centre. I'm really looking forward to having an office (my desk is in our bedroom at the moment, which I hate).

If I was single I would try to live alone rather than with housemates. Having done the house-mate thing throughout undergrad, I can safely say I don't miss it. I'd rather live in an apartment with my bed in the living room/kitchen than share a house, but that's just my anti-social tendencies!

Interesting indeed.

I'm 37, so older than most people here I guess, and just starting the second year of my full-time PhD. I rent a two-bedroomed flat all to myself (the same situation as before I started my PhD, when I was working full time). The rent's quite high for living on a PhD bursary but I can't imagine sharing somewhere after years of living on my own, I really value my space and the second bedroom is my office where I do a lot of work. My boyfriend lives about three miles away in another flat - he's in negative equity on his mortgage so can't sell up, and his place is way too small for two people (especially as he works from home too), otherwise we'd be living together somewhere big enough for both of us to have an office each!

I try not to think about what other people my age have got. It would be too depressing to think about the fact that I'm going to be 40 when I finish my PhD and won't have a mortgage or any savings at all (more likely, several thousand pounds of debt). I just hope the PhD brings the promised increase in living standards, because 15 years of very badly paid work and always struggling to make ends meet was just plain hard work!

I'm 22 and live in a privately rented 1 bed house with my fiance :-)

I'm 29 (30 is less than a month eeek!) and I share a four bedroom house with four other people. This means my boyfriend and I share a room and have about 1m of floor space on each side of the bed (the main reason I can't work at home!). We can only just afford to live like this as he's earned even less than me over the last 3 years. Hopefully we're gonna get our own place soon, as the current housemates, whilst all nice enough people, have put me off sharing (though that could be me growing up too!)

Hi

I'm 34 and just about to start a part-time PhD (although like Ubu, I'm aiming for 4 years...) with a teaching load of between 7 and 13 hours per week. I landed myself a one-off bursary payment to cover about 1/3 fees for Yr 1 and also won a research award from the British Council, which almost covers two years fees for writing a lit review/ observations report by this time next year.

I live with my husband in a house that I bought in 1999 - just before prices went up so we share a £450 per month mortgage for a 2 bed house. My hubbie has office space in the loft and my desk is between our kitchen and lounge (that works better than it sounds...!). he's also selling the house he owns so hopefully we'll have a little pot of money in a couple of months.

I teach at a uni only 12 minutes walk away and my PhD uni is 15-20 minutes cycle ride. All seems pretty good and under control at the moment but we'll see once I start next week.