average household costs

wanttobuy_2

Please help! I am currently saving for a house/flat deposit and are nearly there! I have been to see a mortgage advisor with my partner and we have an idea of what our monthly repayments would be.

However ... we are struggling to work out how much our living costs will be. we are looking to buy either a 2-bed flat or 2-bed terraced/town house for up to £90,000.

Any ideas how much our average monthly living expenses would be? council tax, gas, electric, tv licence, insurance, etc

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Cheers!

livewire600

oohhh all exciting stuff- right then we are in a 3 bed detached and our costs are
a month
gas/electric -£90
water-£9
council tax £116
house insurance £23 b & c
life cover £21
food about £200

and of course mortgage payment
(pay my tv licence, car insurance annually)

none essentials

phones including mobiles £90 (omg)
sky £13

hth

PasturesNew

Council tax - will vary, depending on area/band
Water - will vary, depending on whether it's rateable value or on a meter
Electricity - will vary
Gas - will vary
Buildings insurance - will vary
Contents insurance - will vary
TV License - £12/month, but you pay £24 over 6 months
Phone landline
Internet connection

Say £300/month for that lot as a ballpark. But there are other costs. Stuff you want to buy, stuff you need to buy, stuff that breaks and needs fixing/replacing....

Biggeeangelpie

HiRough guess but bear with me!Mortugage 500pm, Food 360pm, Ctax 150pm, Ins 50pm, TVLis 13pm, I also budget for car repairs 50pm, rainy day 50pm, xmas 70pm the list goes on and on .....Good Luck

wanttobuy_2

we're hoping our mortgage re-payments will be about 430 pounds a month so by the looks of it we'd be able to pay for that and our monthly bills for about £1000? Does that sound possible?

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE! This has been asked a few times before so well worth running a search to get a broad spectrum of responses. Whether you can pay all your bills for £1K really depends on what is included - if you have a leasehold flat with high service charges and electric heating you will probably be paying a lot more than a small freehold terrace with gas heating. As livewire says there are a lot of non-essentials that can really bump up the cost of living: running a car, mobile phones, TV packages with movies and sports, ready meals and takeaways, gym memberships.

wanttobuy_2

Thanks for the advice - we are just trying to get an idea of the essentials atm so that we can budget better for the non-essentials. cut out those things that we don't need and just make sure that we can afford to move out before we do!

Fire_Fox

OK for a two bedroom flat in Yorkshire:

Service charges £110
Ground rent £12
Buildings insurance £7
No contents insurance at present!
No mortgage so no life insurance!
Council tax £71 (band A)
Electricity £43 (barely use heating)
Water meter £10
No TV license! (use iPlayer)
Landline £11
Basic broadband £6
Groceries/ cleaning £80 (virtually veggie)
Cat food/ litter/ insurance/ vets bills £50

The groceries would at least double for two of you, and the electricity would at least double if you use heating regularly. Don't forget travel to work, Christmas, haircuts and toiletries, social life (even if you just get a bottle and a DVD in).

clutton_2

no matter how much you budget you will always find you have spent more than you thought at the end of the first year

i would always go for a house rather than a flat.. at least there are no service charges which can be increased by management companies