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

Fire_Fox

This is the budget planner used by the DFW board, much more comprehensive than yours:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Why do you have life insurance, do you have dependents?

I'm just looking into getting my landline and broadband from PlusNet - they offer the same free installation as BT (actually same company) but no contract for the landline and the line rental is slightly cheaper! You may even find the broadband is cheaper, if you aren't a heavy user and aren't in contract with O2.

It's perfectly possible to get both your water and electricity bills down from your budget, depends how frugal you want to be. We spend £34 a month on energy and a tenner on water, but that is being very careful with heating, wearing an extra sweater and a heated blanket on the bed. If you read your meters every month you can adjust usage as you go.

tomstickland

I pay £36 pcm for my electricity and that includes heating. This is for a 1 bed flat.

PasturesNew

I think what you're missing is examining why you need a 2-bed flat. If it's your first place living alone, then a studio flat might be plenty large enough until you're used to the outgoings.

The difference in costs between running a studio and a 2-bed flat are probably about £200-250/month... although you do seem to live in a cheap area. Where I am a studio is £350 and a 2-bed flat is about £525-575, then council tax is more on a 2-bed, insurance is and heating is. So it's worth thinking about that.