Single persons living costs in Hampshire / Southampton

MarlonT

Hello,

You probably get asked this quite a lot, I've had a quick search on the forums and have found a few relevant threads but I thought I'd make a post just to see if anyone has any further information / advice for me.

I finished uni around 2 years ago, have a job, currently living at home but am feeling like I aught to be moving on with my life, I'm currently on 21k (or will be end of september).

I've found a very nice flat in southampton for £500 a month, but that doesn't include anything else. I've come up with the following monthly expenditures -

500 rent
80 council tax + water
50 electricity
40 phone - broadband - tv
120 food
100 work lunch
12 gym
150 fuel (will be sharing commuting)
35 life insurance
10 contents insurance
40 car insurance

That adds up to £1137, which gives me a monthly buffer of around £250. I'm just wondering how comfortable this will be and if I've missed anything glaringly obvious / miscalculated something.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Marlon

freakyogre

I can't comment on the area as I don't live there (I live in Devon) but I live on my own and my rent is £5 less than that. My salary is a lot lower than yours and I cope each month and manage to save some money as well.

Have you thought about things like car tax and services/MOT? I know it's not monthly, but it's something that will need paying at some point. Also, you don't have gas listed, will everything be electric? It might be worth checking your bank account for things that go out that you don't tend to think of. I pay breakdown cover for my car, but as it's only once a year, it's very easy to forget to include it. Oh, and of course the initial deposit/reference checks and first months rent will need to be paid.

Again, not 'costs' as such, but think about things you'll need straight away. A lot of things can wait for a while, but I know I wanted a washing machine straight away! I had an expensive shopping spree before I moved and ordered that, a fridge, a bed and a sofa (not essential, but I worked in a furniture store so it was cheaper) all on one day. Ouch.

I'm not sure how your water and council tax works, but just as an idea I pay about £20 a month for water (i'm on a meter). Gas is around £15 a month and electric is probably about the same. Make sure you apply for single occupancy discount on your council tax.

Your estimate for work lunch seems really high. Is this for a bought lunch every day? You could reduce this a lot by taking your own lunch even for just a few days a week.

Also it's worth looking at how often you go out/how much you spend. I'm anti-social so very rarely go out which saves a lot of money!


I looked for somewhere to live for ages before I found this place. I was previously in a shared house for a year which was cheap and helped me save up, but I don't think I could go back to that. I still ummed and aah'd about whether I could afford it (at the time on a higher salary, but still less than you're on) and decided to go for it. 3 months later I was made redundant, but if i'd waited and waited i'd probably never have moved. I love it here and still smile when I come home

I'm not sure if that's any help or whether i've just rambled!

diable

Life insurance, who benefits?

Northern_girl_2

I don't live in the same area but imagine it's more expensive than the area I'm in. With that in mind some of your estimates seem quite low.

MarlonT wrote: »

500 rent
80 council tax + water - I pay £70 for a band A property in a cheap part of the country. Another £25 for water
50 electricity - not sure because mine is split between gas and electricity. It comes in at about £45p/m average over the year
40 phone - broadband - tv £20 with Virgin for the most basic package + 12 TV license
120 food - this seems quite low (if it's all groceries e.g. cleaning products, toiletries) unless you are used to cooking very frugally. I could maybe manage it but only by cooking everything from scratch and I'm too lazy to do that everyday.
100 work lunch if money is tight you can save here.
12 gym where's your gym?! I pay £22 to use the council's leisure centre so can't see where you would get it that cheap
150 fuel (will be sharing commuting)
35 life insurance not much point if you don't have dependents. I have a mortgage and still haven't bothered with it...they can take the house if I'm dead!
10 contents insurance
40 car insurance

I've checked my budget and can't see any fixed housing related stuff that you have missed. The only other thing I can think of is probably a mobile phone contract?

The one comment I would have is that £250 will mean being quite careful with money. Have you managed to save anything while living with your parent? If not, and you're used to have your whole income to socialise with then this is going to be a significant cut to your lifestyle.

I know lots of people live on less than £250 a month but I would personally find it a struggle. Factor in haircuts, birthday/Christmas presents, clothes, holidays and socialising and it becomes a bit of a juggle.

Personally, if it was a matter of not wanting to move out from your parent's place then I would look at flat sharing first. Once you're out of uni then sharing with another person who works in a nicer property isn't like student living. It would mean you could get used to having to pay some of the bills without having to give up the majority of your income.

DCFC79

MarlonT wrote: »

Hello,

You probably get asked this quite a lot, I've had a quick search on the forums and have found a few relevant threads but I thought I'd make a post just to see if anyone has any further information / advice for me.

I finished uni around 2 years ago, have a job, currently living at home but am feeling like I aught to be moving on with my life, I'm currently on 21k (or will be end of september).

I've found a very nice flat in southampton for £500 a month, but that doesn't include anything else. I've come up with the following monthly expenditures -

500 rent
80 council tax + water
50 electricity
40 phone - broadband - tv
120 food
100 work lunch
12 gym
150 fuel (will be sharing commuting)
35 life insurance
10 contents insurance
40 car insurance

That adds up to £1137, which gives me a monthly buffer of around £250. I'm just wondering how comfortable this will be and if I've missed anything glaringly obvious / miscalculated something.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Marlon

do you have a mobile contract or is that payg

Svenena

For a single flat, you should be able to get electricity for less than that. I've just done an online quote for switching electricity on one of the websites recommended by the main site, and it estimated it would cost me £11.25 a month.

My basic Virgin package (phone, tv, internet) is £25.

£120 for food seems reasonable, especially if you're budgeting separately for lunch. Your lunch costs seem very high though. Can't you take a packed lunch? That would give you an extra £100 for your "buffer".

Your fuel is a lot, but obviously that depends how far you have to travel. Do you use a petrol price comparison site before filling up? Make sure you're not carrying anything extra in your car and that tyres are at the right pressure, etc.

I don't think it's right to call £250 a 'buffer'. Your entertainment costs will have to come out of this, as well as car maintenance, MOT, TV licence, clothes shopping, health costs (eg prescriptions, dentist), etc. Another way to look at it is that £250 a month is appx. £58 per week.

You might find it helpful to complete an SOA (there's a link in a sticky on the DFW board), which will factor in things like this that you might not have thought of.

Don't you want to be able to put some money in a savings account for the future?

Leona1295

Hello,

I rent in Southampton so some of those costs are familiar to me. Band A council tax for a single person averages out at about £60 per month. If you live in a more expensive area such as highfield or bassett a 1 bed flat might be band B which will be more like £80 per month. The rest of the costs look OK but as others have said have you factored in other one off costs for the car or holidays etc. I would look at it as -

500 rent
80 council tax + water - I would check the rates online, will most likely be £60 - £80 for council tax (inc. dicsount) and another £25 for water
50 electricity
40 phone - broadband - tv - this is what I am paying for sky TV (everything except movies or sports), unlimited broadband & phone line rental.
120 food - This seems conservative to me, I would budget £150. Especially if this is to include toiletries, cleaning products etc
100 work lunch - This is a lot to spend on lunches. If you bought a boots meal deal every working day for 4 weeks it would only cost you £60. Maybe buy lunch once or twice a week and make sandwiches on the other days?
12 gym - I paid £35 per month to use the council run gyms in the centre (platinum). I would budget at least £30 for a monthly gym membership.
150 fuel (will be sharing commuting)
35 life insurance - do you need this if you are single and non-homeowner?
10 contents insurance
40 car insurance

Do you also need -
TV licence - 12
car expenses e.g. tax, MOT, servicing, repairs etc - 40
mobile phone and insurance -
holidays -
christmas -
any subscriptions e.g. magazines, lovefilm, contact lenses etc.
Pension contributions -

I would say it will be do-able but you will find it hard to save and have a social life at the same time.

Leona

Jowo_2

Download the budget planner on the tools section of this website and work through it as its evident that your budget is missing many ordinary items on it and this will prompt you to consider them.

You may be much better off living in shared digs because how else can you save towards a deposit for a house if you want a place of your own in the future if you are going to have to spend every pound you earn on household expenses?

£35 is very high for life insurance - mine is £15 pcm for 200k cover. Is this the type of insurance that has some kind of pay out at the end of the fixed term or have you insured your life for a million pounds?!

£220 for groceries is an enormous sum, taking up about 15% of your net pay. Learn to cook cheap fresh meals if you buy a lot of ready meals and take lunch into work rather than buying it. Some people with multiple children feed entire households on £55 per week.

MarlonT

Thanks for all your advice,

I'm on a pay as you go contract and I mainly just text people, I spend about £20 every 2 - 3 months or so - very light user.

Looks like I can save quite a lot on the work lunches if I need to cut down on outgoings.

The £40 tv - phone - broadband is for O2 unlimited 20mb and line rental + the monthly tv licence charge.

The fuel is quite high, but its a 40 mile daily round trip so it soon adds up - though I will be sharing fuel costs 3 ways.

I shall complete the budget planner that's on her as people have recommended and post the results.

Thanks again

Marlon