monthly living expenses as a homeowner

lethal0r

im going to buy a small 2 bed terrace on my own soon. ive been trying to figure out how much it will cost me just to survive each month.

im thinking realistically it will be £450 minimum a month excluding the mortgage.

I have taken into account: phone / internet, home & contents insurance, water, council tax, food, gas, electricity, car insurance, tv licence.

is this realistic? have i missed anything? how much do you live off?

SplanK

This is our outgoings - 3 bed semi, 2 young couple... please note some are estimates - such as the gas and elec - at the moment the DD is set to £100 however im sure this will be lower - we just moved in at the start of winter and TV licence was paid off in one go

Broadband £18.00 (yes i know its expencive - however some special extras are needed!)
Elec + Gas £100.00
Water £29.16
Friends Prov (life) £12.87
Axa (Home Ins) £20.14
Axa (Contents) £11.37
Mortgage £671.00
O2 £29.95
Car Ins £26.70
Council Tax £105.00
BT £10.50
Fuel £300.00
Train and tram £173.00
Vodafone £35.00
Food £250.00
Total:£1,792.69

LumpyCustard_2

For just me in a modern 2 bed terrace, my costs come to about £300 per month (seeing as work pay for broadband).

phone (BT)14.00
broadband18.58
bld/cnt insurance 11.61
water 12.51
council tax 95.00
food100.00
gas 20.00
electricity 15.00
car insurance 20.00
TV licence11.95
total 318.65

I would expect my energy costs will go up in the near future, but the rest is fairly stable.

lethal0r

wow thats really low! how come your gas & electric are so cheap LumpyCustard? do you not have the heating on?

maggie21

For a two bed 1920s end terrace with two of us being economical we have the following:
Mortgage £447.71
Council Tax £136.70
Electric £30
Oil (save each month) £70
TV Licence £11.95
Phone (Talk Talk) £11.67, never usually more than £12 (free evening/weekend calls)
Broadband £14.67 - will change to cheaper when we move
Mobile £9.95
Mobile £5
Food £220
Diesel £120
Car Insurance save monthly £25
Home Insurance save monthly £25
Car maintainence save montly £20
Car Tax save monthly £12
Vet bills save montly £10
Think thats everything!

Good luck.

LumpyCustard_2

lethal0r wrote: »

wow thats really low! how come your gas & electric are so cheap LumpyCustard? do you not have the heating on?

Ha, I have the heating on quite a lot - 4.5hrs per day min in the winter and a lot more if I work at home, like today. It's a combi-boiler though so there's no hot water tank to heat, which is an advantage.

The gas and electric figures are the direct debits given me by Ebico when I switched to them last September. They had a 30% price rise in October so I'm expecting my payments to be put up soon - based on my usage it will need to be 34 for gas and 25 for electricity.

On average I use 1500 kwh electricity and 8000 kwh gas per annum. Could be better though, as the fridge is on permanently (temperature sensor broken), and I only have 2 "green" lightbulbs in the house! Definitely do-able if your house is fairly new and well-insulated - mine was built 1996.

missile

My fixed outgoings are:

Broadband Free with Vodaphone
Vodaphone mobile £15.00 (includes 300 min/300 texts and broadband)
O2 mobile £10
Elec £49
Gas £49
Water £0
House Insurance £20
Mortgage £0
Car Ins £25
Council Tax £145
BT £25.50
Fuel £129
Bus £10
Food & domestic £145.00
Total:£622.50

angelavdavis

I do think you can have an effect on your outgoings also. For example, there can be a substantial difference in water costs if you have a meter v rateable charging. Same for power - prepay v online dd, etc. You can be quite smart about it and its surprising what you can save.

I would find out from the local estate agents what band a 2 bed semi generally is so you have a better idea of council tax rate.

I would always add a bit more to account for any "unexpected" costs that might arise that may not be covered by insurance. So, for example, if you think £450 would be enough, I would always put aside £500 so you can save that £50 per month toward these types of costs. It also helps cushion the blow when the energy companies whack their prices up 40%!

I remember when I first left home, it was an eye opener how much it cost to keep my 2 bed flat. I think you are really sensible asking others. Good luck with everything.

lethal0r

yeah my mum keeps telling me to expect a shock!

i would have a mortgage of £300 so thats £800 a month just to survive, sounds loads to me!

not gonna have much left over each month. plus i probably should be thinking of saving a pension too

BB1984

Don't forget to put a bit by each month for general house maintainance - unfortunately houses have a knack of costing money when you can least afford it (to cover e.g. boiler packing in, roof tiles slipping, drains blocked etc etc)

BB

helping_hubby

lethal0r wrote: »

im going to buy a small 2 bed terrace on my own soon. ive been trying to figure out how much it will cost me just to survive each month.

im thinking realistically it will be £450 minimum a month excluding the mortgage.

I have taken into account: phone / internet, home & contents insurance, water, council tax, food, gas, electricity, car insurance, tv licence.

is this realistic? have i missed anything? how much do you live off?

Myself and OH put aside £480 a month in total for us 2 in a 3 bed terrace. This pays for phone, internet, utility bills, council tax (pay over 10 months tho, so the 2 months 'free' adds to the kitty), life ins, house ins (contents and buildings), food (only £120 a month), tv licence, Road tax, MOT, service, car ins for 2 cars. About £10 a month is also assigned to birthdays/Xmas.

We save separately for emergencies, currently saving for a 6 month mortgage and bill contingency fund for if we were to lose our jobs.

Petrol, mobiles, lunches etc come out of our own wages. But I guess these would be things you need to consider. Don't forget to add some leighway for if your mortgage goes up. And car maintenance. And some money to still have a life