Monthly expenditure

[SarahBrown]

My husband & I really haven't a clue about how much it will cost us to live in 'the real world'.

We are running a business from home which is still getting off the ground, so we're living with my husbands parents. What I'm really after is some sort of idea what kinds of things we will be spending money on when we get our own place and how much they will cost.

The only things I can say for certain at the moment is that food for us for a week tends to come to about £50 and our separate phone line costs us £60 per quarter.

We're hoping to get ourselves a semi-detatched house in the next couple of years, but not knowing what it will cost to run is making that dream seem further away.

My husband's parents don't really talk about gas bills or anything, as they know we can't afford to contribute at the moment.

I guess there's the following:

Gas
Electricity
Water
Telephone - £20pm
Morgage
Food shop - £200pm
Car (insurance, tax, petrol...etc)

What else?

There seems so much - and a morgage seems such a terrifying prospect.

Sarah

[nearlyrich]

There are lots of other bills for you to pay.......

Council tax, house insurance contents & buildings, TV licence, maintenance of house (painting etc) to name but a few!

We each pay 1/12 th of all the annual bills into our joint account each month so we have the money ready when the bills come in.

Good luck with the plan

[Lucie]

Just had a quick scan through my direct debits & this is what we pay for each month:

Mortgage
Life Assurance
Council tax
Gas
Electricity
Water
Telephone
Mobile phone
Home Insurance
Sky TV
TV licence
His car
His car insurance
His car breakdown cover
My car
My car insurance
Healthcare - pays for our NHS treatments - dental etc

On top of that there is petrol, food shopping & "other things" - takeaways, clothes, birthday presents etc
The cars also needs taxing, servicing, new tyres etc
Don't forget that a house will need furniture, decorating as well.

It sounds frightening to start with, but you just have to budget well & be realistic. Thousands of people do it, so it can't be all that bad! So you might have to go without Sky TV for a couple of years - so what?

[nh]

I can help with this!

I have just re-assessed our finances as we are saving hard for a wedding/honeymoon so I have it all written down!

We live in a four-bed semi but there is just the two of us and we pay each month:

Council tax: £106 per month
Home insurance £28
Phone: £25
Gas/elec: £55
Water: £25
Life insurance (for mortgage): £40
Mortgage: £900
Sky TV: £33
Groceries: !£280

Plus car repayments, pension, hire purchase furniture, engagement ring, mobile phones, petrol, student loan! But you will know for yourself how much these things cost you.

I think the difficulty with assessing how much money you need is how much you spend on luxuries/out-of-pocket expenses and then the extras that always seem to pop up (new boiler etc) and you should put money away each month for your annual holiday if you're having one, also your car breakdown/insurance/servicing costs.

My partner and I both spend £200 a month on day-to-day costs and we put aside £75 each week for us to spend on doing things together (a meal out at the weekend etc). This never seems to be enough but we are trying hard.

All the rest of our cash goes into a savings account which we dip in to as and when needed, when there are costs to meet outside the normal budget (decorating the house/buying things for the garden/ weekends away for weddings etc). We usually use about £250 of that money each month.

Life is expensive but hope this helps. My advice would be whatever you think you can afford to pay in terms of a mortgage, you probably can't, so buy a cheaper house or prepare to be miserable! Money cannot make you happy, but having no money is no fun at all.

[Leia_Stephens]

I hope I can help too :)

My partner and I rent a 2-bed flat, but we want to get on the property ladder ;D

Our monthly outgoings:

Rent £525
Council tax £100
Electricity £75
Water £26
TV licence £10
Contents insurance £11
Telephone: we have no landline and top up our Pay as you Go mobiles when necessary.
Car: we don't have a car, but don't miss one :)
Food shop allowance: £200

Apart from these essential monthly expenses (which we split down the middle) we both have different financial commitments for less essential activities.

My partner pays about £190 for a student loan and a bank loan, we both have £10 monthly cinema cards and we both save some money by standing orders each month; we both give a little money to charities each month.

At the moment too, I am paying off about £225 to my credit card each month, I am bringing my balance down from a Christmas spending splurge last year :-[

So, I guess my fixed expenses - apart from some money for myself - are about £800 each month. I am planning for my fixed expenses to go down once my credit card balance falls ;D (Currently my credit card balance is £1,360)

Leia

[vanoonoo]

don't forget internet access and pet insurance if those are relevant to you and things like having boilers and central heating serviced, holidays, weekends away, general travel expenses and insurance for travel. I know they aren't directly attrbutable to owning your own house but if you forget them in the budget then your figures go pearshaped

also don't forget things like work clothes and haircuts