Cost of living?

Barny1979

Moving into my own place at the end of the month.

So how much should I budget for food, bills etc?

Thanks in advance!

floyd

Where do you live, are you a meat eater/veggie/vegan, do you have water/gas/elec meters, do you take packed lunches to work, do you drink/smoke, can you cook

Sorry for all the questions but its a bit of a 'How long is a piece of string' scenario

Barny1979

Meat eater, have water, electric and gas meter. Will be taking packed lunches, drink about twice a week. Don't smoke. Can cook kind of

Olliebeak

Are you on 'prepayment' gas and elec meters? If so, I would put extra in during the summer months - to build yourself a 'little winter buffer zone'. If you are on the payment cards, make sure that you keep up-to-date with your payments - the suppliers can be quite demanding if you miss a payment. I've had elderly tenants in hospital receiving nasty letters for missing payments - so if going away on holiday, for instance, make sure that the payments are made - Direct Debit is very often the best way to make really certain - plus some firms give a discount for DD payments especially if you have both gas and elec with them and often another discount for paperless billing.

Another tip - please make sure that you take all meter readings on the day that you move in, and contact the suppliers to give them your details. DO NOT assume that the previous tenant has left with a clean account and/or informed that they have moved and given meter readings. You need to make sure that you don't get stung for somebody else's bills.

As regards shopping, you will need some time to build up a 'stock cupboard of essentials' and they will probably cost you quite a bit over the first couple of months - but lots of things definitely won't need to be bought every month. (I get through 1 litre of cooking oil per year for two of us - and sometimes have to throw away some of that as it goes past it's date! - though now I've found recipes that use oil no doubt that will change ).

I'm sure that if you let us know what kind of things you like to eat, you will get lots of ideas posted as regards meals and economical shopping.

One of the things that my OH loves to make is pasta, with a tub of Dolmio sitr-in sauce and either cooked sliced chicken added; or a tin of mackerel; or some sausages cut into chunks - very easy, tasty and simple for a bloke to manage . Have to say though, he leaves the mackerel for a day when I'm not going to be around as I can't stand the smell of the flaming stuff :mad:.

Barny1979

Not on pre-payment meters. Will take readings straight away. Thanks

SuziQ

You need to factor in cleaning materials and washing powder/launderette costs. I am currently trying to cut my grocery bill on the challenge,and last month spent £152 for myself,3 children (the 18 year old and 12 year old eat like adults) and 2 cats.Obviously as olliebeak says,building up a storecupboard-spices,condiments,sugar,flour etc takes a time and it will change constantly-I 'go off' recipes or my kids do or we get bored,we have gone from english-chinese-indian and back again! At the moment I tend to mix it up a bit. I find it really helps to make a list of all the meals we like,plus add a couple of new ideas in,to roll over a couple of weeks-this works better for me than a weekly one as I sometimes don't feel like cooking a certain thing. Using a freezer if you have one should mean you could make any of those meals any one day and stop you getting bored and ordering take-away!
Make the most of the budget stores-aldi,lidl asda,Mr T are my best buys locally-special offers are given on here or go to mysupermarket.com to find the best deal for something you need. You will soon get organised.

Barny1979

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll be shopping at Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Home Bargains

OrkneyStar

When I first move into a place (and am not taking any food stocks with me) I tend to buy a couple of extra 'store cupboard essentials' every shop, that way you build them up gradually. Also if you meal plan then you can do meals each week which require the same basics eg with mince you could do a mince mix and then make from it spag bol and chilli (just add toms & garlic to the whole lot and then chilli/kidney beans to the chilli part)- make double portions and freeze some. Voila 4 dinners from not much money/different ingredients. Tesco do value spaghetti and you could make home made tortillas or garlic bread etc. Check the GC thread- here is the link for the Augs one.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1057741.
I would say for one single person it should not cost that much overall to eat, although obviously if you eat out etc it will cost more. Try to avoid ready meals as it really is cheaper and healthier to make your own. Also many sauces are basically just toms and herbs so invest in cheap toms and make your own sauces. Could you grow some herbs in pots ?
hth.

Barny1979

Thanks for the tips, will look at growing herbs, does it save much money doing this?

OrkneyStar

Barny1979 wrote: »

Thanks for the tips, will look at growing herbs, does it save much money doing this?

If you like them and use them in cooking quite a lot then yes.
You can buy one of the 75p or £1 ones from the shop and repot in a slightly bigger tub with more compost, or even grow from seed. Pick every so often and either use or freeze. Basil (I have grown it from seed and its soooooo easy lol), coriander, oregano, mint etc. Smells lovely in your kitchen too
I love tomato, mozarella, basil with olive oil and black pepper. Or for pasta dishes etc.

Barny1979

Cool, I'll give it a go. Want to get into cooking when I get my own place