cost of running an OS house?

pavlovs_dog

How much does running a household cost?

A strange question perhaps, so I’ll elaborate! OH and I are saving for a house deposit. At present, we are on a relatively low joint income of approx £20k. OH is in a low paid job he loves, I am a student, working part time. I’m saving my student loan and whatever earnings I can, which is how we’ve managed to achieve £10k deposit between us so far.

Our general living costs are very low. We are living (happily) at his parents, to save as much as we can. We pay them board, of which they are saving half to give back to us when we do eventually move out. We buy our own food, and we run a small car between us. Those are our only really significant costs.

Because of our sheltered existence we have no real idea about how much money it takes to run a house. Obviously, I’d like to do it as OS as possible, for both financial and environmental reasons, and am already using many of the tips ive learned here to help save towards our love nest!

I’m using the multi pot/purse system in my approach to savings, having a pot for the deposit, a pot for furniture, a pot for the complete stocking of food and general store cupboards, and the equivalent of a months wages as an emergency/contingency fund.

The trouble is, because I don’t know how much it costs to run a house, I don’t know how we’ll know when we are financially ready to move into our own place. At the minute, we’re very happy where we are, which is good given current market conditions, our financial position, and so on. It means we can save like mad to make a dent in how much mortgage we have to take out.

I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind posting the breakdown of your household running expenses – everything from the mortgage, to insurance, to running the car, to food, to phone bills, council tax, utilities and so on, so that I can work out a ballpark figure of how much things cost

Once I’ve worked out the budget, I’ll then know whether im still saving for a deposit, or whether im building up a fund to pay for the running of the house until I get my high paid graduate job. Obviously the answer will affect our strategies, so I would be very grateful for your insight and help!

(also, if anyone has any advice to impart on the running of an OS house, I’d be grateful)

(BGs - if you feel this is best suited elsewhere, please let it run its old style course first, i'd appreciately it greatly)

Pink.

pavlovs_dog wrote:

(BGs - if you feel this is best suited elsewhere, please let it run its old style course first, i'd appreciately it greatly)

Pavlos_dog, I really feel that you would get much more help on the budgeting board, but if you want the thread to stay here........well who am I to argue? I wish you and your oh all the very best in setting up your new home.:)

Pink




Edited to add: Have you checked out Martins budget planner here

Edinburghlass_2

I can't see that there is anything OS in council taxes though as that changes from area to area and size of house etc? My council tax with single allowance is £135 a month for a two bed terraced cottage.

Same with car insurance, depends on the area you live in, garaged or on the street parking, size of engine, age of users, how long you have held a license etc.

Utiilies depend on the area, size of house, we don't pay water rates separate, its part of our council tax. No gas in the area, only electric so very expensive.

Prices of houses vary extensively across the country and then it depends on how long people have had their mortgage for and what type of mortgage they are paying, interest only, capital and interest etc, etc.

You really need to take Martin's budget planner and input the details of what bills your OH's parents pay for the area you live in and size of house etc and take it from there.

Fair enough on OS you can get an idea of food budgeting but not much else, in my opinion only.

kiwichick

Its really hard to say exactly being as we all livein different areas.

My council tax is £81pm over 12m. My advice for that one isto ringyour local council and ask the CT of all the different bandings. Then when looking at houses the EA should be able to tell you what banding that house is in. Find out what your bfs parents are paying to give you a guide also. Ditto home and contents insurance although if they were to have a no claims discount it would be cheaper. Why not ring around a few and ask. Do youhaveany idea what sort of property you will be going after? When finding out for our new place (which I did before we bought it) I rang my current insurer and told him the postcode, that it was a semi, what year it was built. They can give you basic from thisbut things like what sort of locks the windows and doors have, if there is a burgler alarm, if it is a neighbourhood watch area will all make a difference to your quote.

My breakdown is as follows, bear in mind though that this is for a family of 5 living in the southeast so bound to be dearer than what you will be paying out for. We live in a 3 bed mid terrace.

Mortgage £540pm (on £95k includes mortgage payment protection)
Council tax £81pm
Food/Household £75pw(this is all food, cleaning bits, nappies etc)
H&C insurance £26pm
TV lisence £11pm
Gas £25pm
Electric £25pm
Phoneline rental £10.50pm
Phonecall & broadband package £25pm
Water rates £15pm
Sewage rates £23pm
SkyTV £48.50 (incl insurance on box)
Mobile PAYG allowance £10pm
Petrol £325pm (for a 150 mile per day commute)
Credit card £50pm
Birthday/xmas fund £78pm

There will be little things like the TV lisence you may not have thought of, it all adds up.

Is the a financial advisor you could ask about mortgages? Just aballpark figure type thing. If you knew you were going to be borrowing a max of £100K you could get figures for a 90%, 95% mortgage over 20, 25 or 30 years. It wont be the exact amount you need but will be something to take into account?

Hope this hasnt made things any worse. Maybe someone living closer to you or a couple rather than a family would be more help to you.

Lastly, we lived with dhs parents before buying here and I wish we had stayed longer and saved more. If they are happy to have you there then my advice is to stay as long as you can and save as much as you can.

Good luck.
Al.

Penny-Pincher!!

Morning

Well OH & I had a joint income of £50k+ 18 months ago but now live entirely on benefits due to me being disabled and him my FT carer. We are both 31 and have a DD of 11...lucky us...LOL. We've had too cut back alot, but are monthly outgoings are:

Rent-£365
CT-£105
Water-£16
Car Ins, MOT & Tax-£39
Food/Cleaning stuff etc-£130
Petrol-£45
House Ins-£8.50
TV Liscence-£10
Sky-£36
BT Line Rental-£11
Talk Talk (All calls)-£8
Broadband-£22
HSA-£19
Mobile PAYG-£10
Gas/Electric-£55

Total outgoings £879.50. Then I have a credit card debt (0%) which Im paying and is on top of this amount. Being on Income Support means we dont pay rent or CT but thought Id list so you can see what it would cost. We are in a HA house so our rent is quite subsidised. The same 2 bed semi across the road (we live in a very quiet cul de sac) is being rented out for £800pcm, so we're paying £435 under that. We live simply and our luxuries are the Sky and the car, but being a crip means Im indoors 24/7 and need the car for numerous hospital visits and odd school runs. We have a treat take away about once a month (no more than a tenner though) and sometimes go to the pictures but always get BOGOF etc and take our own food in. Heating bills are quite high but Im indoors 24/7 and WM, DW etc etc are always on.

Good Luck

PP
xx

squeaky

pavlovs_dog wrote:

(BGs - if you feel this is best suited elsewhere, please let it run its old style course first, i'd appreciately it greatly)

Hm

Very much a "how long is a piece of string?" type question. There are so many things that change from area to area and even from house to house... ie the house you move in to is unlikely to be the same as your parents one and there are other things to consider such as living in a different house will mean different journeys to work and so different costs there...

The only OS aspect of your budget would be food and cleaning while everything else, as has been said earlier, is much more broadly MoneySaving.

The budget board really would be a good place for this post and, again as has been said, use of Martin's budget planner will help you get a better idea of just how many things you'd need to cover for; not to mention all the various articles on sourcing water, utilities, phones etc. which will also help and I'd like to bet that the regular posters in budgeting will come up with all sorts of tips and ideas for you.


Anyway...

I'd be inclined to let the post sit here on OS for the day and then one of us will move it across to the budget board tomorrow because I really do agree with earlier posters that it would be the best board to get you a good set of answers on. Honest

nicki_2

Let me see... We are a couple (both 27 - well I will be in about 2 weeks:D ) with a five-year-old, living in a two bed end terrace in Liverpool and we are doing quite well on our income of £20k a year. We privately rent our house so our rent could be classed as the same as a mortgage! Based on what I have budgeted for in Martins Budget planner (based on figures from April onwards as thats when things change!):

Monthly
Rent : £380 (this is a maximum as our rent is due to go up by £5 a week)
Council Tax : £71 (we're paying over a 12 month period but its £850ish for the year in our lowest tax band)
Water rates : £22 (paid 10 months and this includes a discount for paying by DD)
Gas Bill : £20 (We're supposed to be on a dual fuel with British Gas but they've messed it up so we'll be paying the electric bill when it comes in and then switching supplier! I have budgeted £30 a month though for it. - At our old address we were paying £49 a month FIXED for dual fuel with Powergen for a 3-bed mid terrace with central heating and thats only over the road literally!)
Home Phone : £30 (with BT but this is going to be over hauled with the next bill as well)
Internet : £15 (Freeserve Anytime package which we've had for years!)
Mobile Phone Bill : £40 (this is for OH's phone which he uses alot, it's rarely this much ... my mobile is a PAYG and I only put £45 on it in the whole of 2005 so I take it out of my PIN money!)
TV licence : £11.07 is the highest payment this year (Paid by DD each month)
Life Assurance for both of us : £30 (can probably get it alot cheaper though!)

Other

We also allow £800 for car insurance (although this has gone on the credit card :mad: ), £110 car tax, £30 a week for petrol. We have a bank loan which is costing us £154 a month, Pension contributions (taken straight out of OH's wages after Tax) of £105, £40 a year magazine subscription for OH and £60 a year in costs for DD's school snack/milk money (which you obviously don't need to budget for!). Along with approximately £40 a week for housekeeping this leaves us with about £38 a month "spare" out of OH's wages. On top of that though I also have child benefit and Tax Credits which we use to pay credit cards off.

Depending on area specific costs (rent/mortgage, council tax etc) I think you should have no problems living on £20k a year - we lived on £11k when DD was in nappies! All our current debts (£5k loan and £3k on credit cards) and pension payments are coming out of OH's pay rise when he changed jobs so as long as you are relatively debt free you should be fine.

I hope this helps. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

seraphina

Just in case you aren't aware, if you are a full time student you shouldn't pay council tax. If you live with one other person who is employed then he will get the single person discount, as you do not count for council tax.

If both of you are full time students you should not pay any council tax.

pavlovs_dog

i did think of posting on the budgeting board, but it seems to be all about bank accounts, and im quite happy with the accounts i have at the mo!

i know its an awkward question to answer, im just trying to get a feel for how much it costs to survive.

like kiwichick said, we're very fortunate in that we can live cheaply in a place we love and save as much as we can to make sure we are in the best financial situation possible when the time does come to move. its just im a planner and an organiser by nature, and i like to know what im getting myself into so i can plan my money accordingly!

thanks for all the help and encouragement so far, seeing the things other budget for does make you realise things you had forgotten to calculate *adds things to ever growing list*

as you can probably tell, i currently am suffering from the house buyers version of "wanderlust"...i know it makes sense to stay put for now, but i want a house! god im such an old fart :rotfl:

kiwichick

pavlovs_dog wrote:

i know it makes sense to stay put for now, but i want a house!

Thats what we did, preggers with DD1 so moved out, worst thing wecould have done. Paid HUGELY over the odds for our place. Didnt look around enough. My friends have all got semi whereas mine is terraced and they all paid at lease £30K less, some £45 and we all bought in 2001.Research, Research, Research!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rebob

Get together a list of the things you have to pay and then ring around the council etc to find the current rates at the time you are ready to move on.

It would also be a good idea to have a fund equal to 6 months pay for emergencies. In the last 6 months dh smashed his had with a hammer and then changed to another job which paid monthly and he then wrote off his car! It hit us hard as we did not have 1 months wage saved.