First Time mover questions

dboughtwood

Hi i posted a few weeks back about possibly moving out with a friend and now the friend has said he cant do this and i m wondering if i can afford it on my own and peoples advice??

its a 2 bed flat in haverhill (suffolk) good area, car parking space and a 10 min walk from the shops etc. i work with the landlady that is renting this out and have been good friends for 6 yrs or so now so have a decent understanding. rent would be £490 a month then bills on top and i currently have a loan that i pay £50 a month for and car insurance which is £65 a month. i take home around £1050-£1125 a month and was wondering if this would be enough to live of at all and peoples thoughts on this?? i would be car sharing so 2 weeks out of 4 i will be driving then other 2 someone else and dont really have a great social life but go visit friends close by and play football every sunday (when not injured) and the odd beer, days out etc. what are peoples thoughts on this???

much appreciated it is a ground floor flat dont know if this makes any difference but thought i would say.

thanks

hethmar

Why dont you see if someone else will share with you? Itll be tight moneywise if you are there alone, not to mention a bit lonely sometimes too. Are you living with your parents at the moment?

dboughtwood

have tried and i d prefer to move in with someone i know as it makes it all so much easier really and most of the people i know have already moved out with gf etc and i do live with rents at the moment but have decided thats its about time i moved out and started having more reponsibilities and stuff as at 25 i feel its time.

council tax is £95 a month

currynchips

It will definitely be lonely.
Me and the OH rented a place for £495 last year, we brought in about £1800 per month. Managed to save about £250 per month, plus run 2 cars, live ok. All this is irrelevant to you.
We have moved south, pay £625 and bring in about £1700 per month. With only one car and a role reversal (uni/work-wise), I have calculated a surplus of around £200 per month for rainy days etc.

You can expect to spend around £450-500 on top of your rent. Things currently taken for granted like TV licence, water, internet all add up and come together with gas/electric:eek: , road tax, petrol, food:eek: , insurance.
It's really not worth it in your circumstances. If you were paying £490 as your share, you would be renting somewhere for nigh-on £1000 per month! A 4 bed house in the country perhaps?

At 25, perhaps it is time you moved out. Having said that, people I know say it is better to live with someone you don't know than you do. You don't really know someone until you live with them. A classic example is wanting to watch something on the telly that someone else doesn't. A mate will argue with you, whereas a stranger will negotiate.

And council tax too!! You will get a 25% reduction if living there by yourself.

dboughtwood

thanks for advice and a mate who currently lives in haverhill in a newer 2 bed flat pays £550 rent water £45, gas/electric £45 (pays this quarterly) council tax for him is £130 a month plus contents insurance £15 a month, internet £17 a month so can i expect my place to be very similar bill wise????

car i d only drive weekends and 2 weeks out of 4 due to car sharing with mate from work so therefore saving £60 petrol a month. its also quite a small 2 bed flat and rents are paying for tv license in full for me as a gift.

currynchips

Yes. I might be a bit out with the gas/leccy, but he's getting it cheap. You'll start to realise that the petrol pales into significance with your food bills. Do a weekly shop, include all meals(brekkie lunch and tea), and any alcohol, and simply stare when the checkout girl tells you how much it comes too....then realise this happens at least 4 times per month!
Our first weekly shop included one case of beer, and came to £116!!!!!!!!

lincroft1710

Curry - I take it your subsequent food bills were lower.

currynchips

They indeed were, I just put that in as people take many things for granted, marmite, tomato sauce, milk, salt, pepper, brown sauce, basic kitchen stuff and utensils.
Now we budget greatly we somehow manage just under £40.