Can i afford to move out?

kier0787

Hello all, i know there have been plenty of these posts in the past but in=m in need of some help.

i have been with my partner for coming up to three years, so we are very ready to move out and rent (no deposit to buy).

My take home pay each month is roughly £1100
my partners take home each moth is £800
total £1900

we can get a 1 bed place for around £500 a month
i have loan payments of £180 a month
mobile is £35 a month
diesel is £160 a month

we dont need a phone line, but we are aware of all the essentials i.e insurance, water, elec, tv, food, etc...

we just dont really know where to start as to how much things would roughly cost to work out if we can afford it.

i know it may seem naive but we just need some guidance

ANY feedback would be wonderful and greatly appreciated!

i look forward to your replies

xx

loumac

Hi there,

I live in a one bed (mortgaged) property with my DH and our bills are as follows:

Council tax (Band A): £84 pm
Gas & electric: £46 pm (which covered us through winter too)
Water: £26 pm
TV licence: £12.18 pm
House insurance: £21.17 pm
TV & net (virgin): £36 pm

We also pay debts, pet insurance, food, fuel umm gas cover and service charges as it's a flat. Can't think what else right now!

We're looking at renting ours and renting somewhere bigger as I'm expecting. One thing that's surprised me is all the initial charges; deposits, administration charges etc so be prepared with some savings.

We each put £700 a month into a joint account and all bills go out of that. Any in our own accounts left we use for own debts, mobiles etc.

Hope that helps a little.

NeverAgain_2

kier,

The old rule of thumb was if you spent a week's money on rent/mortgage, your budget should be OK.

Your income of £1,900 a month comes to £438 a week.

Rent at £500 a month should be just about manageable, but better if you could find somewhere for £450.

tallyhoh

Pay your loan off first.

downnotout

Don't forget TV licence are double for the first 6 months

Tixy

Might be worth trying to work out a theoretical income & expenditure to cover all your outgoings using this list of items. I've started to put in some possible figures for the property related items but these are just rough estimates

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 26 (goes down to £13 after 6months)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160 (some people would spend £200 or more but you should be able to do this
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0

Don't forget for things like you car you need to budget for your car tax, car maintenance etc (budget 1/12 of the annual cost) and make sure you budget for social lives, entertainment, clothes & haircuts etc - or make sure that you have a surplus left that will cover these items.

snookey

If you can Id hold off for a while longer and try to get some savings behind you so you have a cushion should you need it.

x.jem.x

Yes you could afford it, if you spent wisely when going food shopping etc etc.

You sound like me and my fiance! I take home around £800 & my fiance takes home about £1100.
His loan is £185 and mine is £103.49. My phone is £40 a month and his is £30. He also has a car to run and petrol costs etc etc.
I don't have a car though.

We live in Swindon in a 2 bed rented house for £495 a month.
Council tax = £107
Gas = £30
Electric = £30
Water = £21
TV License = around £20 but goes down to £12 after 6 months
Monthly food shopping = Around £170 a month.
Phone & Internet = £23.
Contents Insurance = £8

We can afford to live in this house, even whilst paying our own personal bills. I admit, it is tight some weeks but we have been living here over 3 months now and everything seems to be fine! And I'm sure we can live here comfortably when we used to pay £550 a month for a studio flat near Heathrow Airport!!! He was getting slightly less money, I was getting about £130 more so it kinda of levels out really. I just can't believe how much more you can get for your money when you move away from London!!!!

I say go for it, but just do your figures before you make any decisions! My fiance had to get a loan just to afford the deposit to move in to our house.
Thats the only annoying part about renting I spose!!

Hope this helps

kier0787

x.jem.x wrote: »

Yes you could afford it, if you spent wisely when going food shopping etc etc.

You sound like me and my fiance! I take home around £800 & my fiance takes home about £1100.
His loan is £185 and mine is £103.49. My phone is £40 a month and his is £30. He also has a car to run and petrol costs etc etc.
I don't have a car though.

We live in Swindon in a 2 bed rented house for £495 a month.
Council tax = £107
Gas = £30
Electric = £30
Water = £21
TV License = around £20 but goes down to £12 after 6 months
Monthly food shopping = Around £170 a month.
Phone & Internet = £23.
Contents Insurance = £8

We can afford to live in this house, even whilst paying our own personal bills. I admit, it is tight some weeks but we have been living here over 3 months now and everything seems to be fine! And I'm sure we can live here comfortably when we used to pay £550 a month for a studio flat near Heathrow Airport!!! He was getting slightly less money, I was getting about £130 more so it kinda of levels out really. I just can't believe how much more you can get for your money when you move away from London!!!!

I say go for it, but just do your figures before you make any decisions! My fiance had to get a loan just to afford the deposit to move in to our house.
Thats the only annoying part about renting I spose!!

Hope this helps

thank you so much! not taking anything away from everyone else cos u all been wonderfully helpful! but yes! this has helped massively! you sound like you have slightly more outgoings than we do (loan, etc..) my partners business pays for his fuel so we ont have to worry about that, plus we wont get a phone line and will stick with mobile broadband which is cheaper.

so yes! thank you again! you have been very kind

xx

PasturesNew

Thousands of single people live alone on rents that high with just your salary coming in. So with two of you it's more than achievable so long as you're not big spenders who want the moon on a stick still.

theoretica

Is a TV really an essential? Would not being able to afford one stop you moving out? I think it helps to be really clear with yourself about what is an essential and what is good to have and know what you could cut if you find your budget tighter than you thought.