Two Bedroom Flat Running Costs - Have I missed Anything??

teocali

Hi Everyone,

I have looked through so many different sites and spoken with so many people to obtain accurate running costs. From this I have come up with the below, I would be very gratefull if anyone can check and see if I have missed anything? Thank you - Sam

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Monthly
Home
Contents Insurance - 9.15
Council Tax - 76.48
Phone - 11.00
BroadBand - 8.00
Water - 25.00
Electricity - 60.00
Rent - 425.00
TV licence - 11.63
Fees - 0.00
Food - 100.00

HOME MONTH = £726.26

Car Month
Ins - 44.00
Loans - 355.00
Tax - 12.92
Petrol - 99.00
Service Mot - 8.33
Consumables - 3.33
Car MONTH = £522.58

Misc
Life Ins - 8.17
Mobile - 37.50
Social - 130.00
Gifts - 20.00
Misc MONTH £195.67


Grand Total = £ 1444.51

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect your £60 per month for electricity might be on the low side if it's your only form of heating, especially in winter.

Does the £100 per month food bill include lunches at work? It looks a bit on the low-side to me

caeler

I'd also questions your contents insurance, it looks a little bit high. I've recently had a quote for approx £80 per annum.

Also, your phone and broadband - if your with BT line rental is 11.75?

Its a shame your car costs so much to run - I bet your desperate for some savings!

caeler

sprocker1 wrote: »

Maintenance costs for the flat, ground rent management costs?

Hopefully this is included in your rent? Mine is.

Jowo_2

You never buy clothes or have a haircut or holiday, or is there lumped in with your £30 per week social budget?

Are you sure that £240 per year is sufficient to cover all your birthday, easter, parents day and christmas presents and cards? That covers 12 gifts per year at £20 per time.

A car that never breaks down or needs replacement parts?

You never buy stamps or stationary, towels or bedding, books/CDs, re-heel your shoes, get a key cut, buy medicine, furniture or any other minor expenses that can drain a pocket without really noticing?

teocali

bluefuzzybug wrote: »

I'd also questions your contents insurance, it looks a little bit high. I've recently had a quote for approx £80 per annum.

Also, your phone and broadband - if your with BT line rental is 11.75?

Its a shame your car costs so much to run - I bet your desperate for some savings!

Not really an expensive car, just a poor choice of loans were taken out...

I just about have enough to pay the loans off completely which will free up £355 a month - however I think it makes sense to wait until I have three months wages ontop of this shoudl the worst happen job wise.

Regarding other comments maintenance costs are included in the rent, and my contents insurance is higher due to my mountain bike cover, which to me is worth the ectra for the piece of mind.

Phone should be amended so thanks for pointing that one out!

The electrical cost is the one which varies most form people I have spoken with - is the consensus this shoudl be higher? Roughly how much - I shoudl point out its a VERY small two bed flat - really and one bed plus office.

Thanks all for your feedback!

teocali

Jowo wrote: »

You never buy clothes or have a haircut or holiday, or is there lumped in with your £30 per week social budget?

Are you sure that £240 per year is sufficient to cover all your birthday, easter, parents day and christmas presents and cards? That covers 12 gifts per year at £20 per time.

A car that never breaks down or needs replacement parts?

You never buy stamps or stationary, towels or bedding, books/CDs, re-heel your shoes, get a key cut, buy medicine, furniture or any other minor expenses that can drain a pocket without really noticing?

All very good points!

How would you suggest to budget for these irregualar expenses though?

For example, if living with zero margin I wont be buying a new sofa, my car is 6months old and so wont ahve any majour bills.

Haircuts can be had for < £10, I appreciate that these costs exist and cam add up but how would you budget for these? Add 5% to all bills?

Present buget needs to double - thanks for spotting!

Sam

ERICS_MUM

In addition to the earlier helpful comments I would question your broad band costs - I pay Orange £19 a month, so if your supplier only charges £8 could you tell me who they are please !

If this is your first flat you might need to factor in some "start up" costs for things such as bath towels, cleaning materials, light bulbs, loo rolls etc. I know it sounds silly but these things add up and you can easily find yourself spending £100 on this sort of stuff in Tesco

You will also have running costs every month, again for things like cleaning materials, (laundry detergent, washing up liquid, bleach, bin bags etc) plus personal toiletries - soap, toothpaste, deodorants, shower gel etc etc.

Good luck - the first year is the worst, then the money seems to fall into place and you'll have a few pennies left over at the end of the month.

Linda :T

teocali

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

In addition to the earlier helpful comments I would question your broad band costs - I pay Orange £19 a month, so if your supplier only charges £8 could you tell me who they are please !

If this is your first flat you might need to factor in some "start up" costs for things such as bath towels, cleaning materials, light bulbs, loo rolls etc. I know it sounds silly but these things add up and you can easily find yourself spending £100 on this sort of stuff in Tesco

You will also have running costs every month, again for things like cleaning materials, (laundry detergent, washing up liquid, bleach, bin bags etc) plus personal toiletries - soap, toothpaste, deodorants, shower gel etc etc.

Good luck - the first year is the worst, then the money seems to fall into place and you'll have a few pennies left over at the end of the month.

Linda :T

Thank you fo rthe above - agian I think I will have to add a percentage to my total household bills to cover for these expenses.

Regarding Broadband im with O2, very cheap if you have a mobile with them and the customer service and equipment has been faultless - especially when compared with BT.

Afraid I cant post a link as a new user! Easy to find from google though,

Thanks - Sam

Jowo_2

teocali wrote: »

How would you suggest to budget for these irregualar expenses though?
.. Add 5% to all bills?

Well, you could try and estimate the extras and place this in your budget, x per month towards a holiday/holiday insurance, x per month estimated for car repairs, x per month for personal niff-naff (toiletries, household goods. clothes and so forth). Then go back in a few months to see if your estimates are close to the actual spent and tweak either your budget or your spending.

Or you could fix your budget without these extras and simply be frugal and resist spending any more than you've budgeted - buy hair-clippers and cut your own hair, make sure you don't spend more than your dedicated social budget, do voluntary work or go camping instead of having an overseas holiday, use freecycle to get household nick nacks,download free music rather than buy it, pick up second hand books in charity shops, ask your friends and family to buy you towels and bedding for your birthday/xmas present and so forth.

it's all under your control, according to your preferences.

nm123_2

Hi there,

We rent a 2 bed flat so can relate well to your costs... We pay £61 per month for combined gas and electricity so that seems about right. Our water is split into "water" and then "sewage" which comes to about £13 and £23 (can't remember which is which).

£100 for food is do-able, but low if there are two of you. My OH and I pay £200 per month each over our rent and that seems to cover bills and food, along with a couple of "joint account nights out" and some cheapie no-frills flights throughout the year.

Good luck!