Moving out for the first time.

Swweex

Hello All

I am currently looking at moving out on my own and am just interested to know if you are living on your own, how much you pay out for bills. Electricity, water, food etc. I'm looking at one bedroom flats. I know everyone is different but I am trying to do a rough budget of how much money I will need to move out If there is anything else I need to know about the costs of living on my own, that you think would be helpful then that would be great!

Thank you!

AFK_Matrix

Here is what I can remember of what is in my budget, I can add any I forget when I get home and check my budget.

Food
Water
Electric
Gas
Council Tax
TV
Internet
Telephone
Mobile
Car Tax
Car Insurance
Petrol
Contents Insurance
Car recovery (AA etc)

Can't think of any others off the top of my head and will have to fill in the amounts when I get home.

djheath

I currently pay the following in Surrey for my one bed flat, all pounds per month, but remember some bills come out quarterly or yearly, so need to budget to pay these off when they are required.

Food: 200
Water 26
Electric and Gas: 35
Council Tax: 110
TV: 12
Internet : free, through work.
Telephone : 13
Mobile : 20
Car Tax : 17
Car Insurance : 33
Petrol: 140
Contents Insurance : 10
Car recovery (AA etc) : 3
Ground rent and service charges: 100
Mortgage: 550

Hope it helps.

For your info, When I first moved out into my own flat, I was fine paying all bills and costs, up until christmas! The pressure of having to buy presents for everyone meant I ended up selling a few things to make sure I wasn't overdrawn and really tightening my belt. I am pretty frugal as it is, but you really need to plan ahead and make sure there are no surprises.

You will need to budget for moving costs and if buying a place, getting furniture and decorating. I bought a really cheap sofa that was on sale in M&S for £100 which has lasted me four years and done the job. I bought a table from the charity shop and Ikea is pretty cheap. Decorating can consist of a lick of paint and all these things should be seen initially as a way to brighten up your place and for you to put your mark on it.

Swweex

Lovely, thank you both Do you get a 'single person' council tax discount, for living on your own?

Idiophreak

Swweex wrote: »

Lovely, thank you both Do you get a 'single person' council tax discount, for living on your own?

Yes, you do.

[Deleted User]

AFK_Matrix wrote: »

Here is what I can remember of what is in my budget, I can add any I forget when I get home and check my budget.

Food (depends very much on your tastes - but for one person prob £75 a month all in)

Water (this will depend if you'll be on a meter or not, I imagine a meter would work out cheaper for one person)

Electric (depends very much on how much you will use, do you work from home or not, and whether your heating is electric, as I imagine this is where the greatest consumption comes from, especially in winter)

Gas (many of the more modern newish appartments tend to be electric only)

Council Tax (depends on the council tax band, but you can check what band the property is in from your council - also single occupancy will give you a 25% discount)

TV (license will be £12.37 per month once it's up and running, I think the first few months they ask for about £25 until you're up to date, I can't remember how much it is if you buy a years licence outright
Internet - any pay for TV will depend on the package/channels etc)

Telephone (again will depend on the package, area, and company, shop around)

Mobile (this will be the same as you pay now)

Car Tax (as above)

Car Insurance (this can change depending on the area, when we lived in the city centre we paid more than when we moved to the suburbs, I presume more insurance claims in the first area - may or may not be any difference, depends on the area)

Petrol (depends how much you use your car)

Contents Insurance (for contents only prob £10-£15 per mnth, really depends on how much cover you want/need)

Car recovery (AA etc) (same as before)

Can't think of any others off the top of my head and will have to fill in the amounts when I get home.

I've made some comments above, but many of your bills will remain the same as you are currently paying.

D9

Lovelyjoolz

£75 a month for food??? PLEASE tell me where you buy your groceries!

AFK_Matrix

Indeed I have a budget of £200 for a month and that's with Sainburys. I do have the odd treat but that's for basics.

Werdnal

Remember to budget a little bit for a social life too - All work and no play!

Dorisx

Totally depends what area you're in for your rent (or mortgage!)

Whilst I was living in my 2 bedroom flat in Tyne and Wear area I paid the following;
Rent: £425
Council Tax: £80
Gas and Electric: £66
Virgin (TV, Phone and Internet): £40
T V Licence: £12 (But around £25 at first!)
Food: £80 (But i get breakfast and lunches at work!)
Water: £35
Contents Insurance: £15
Total Cost: £766

Remember to include your travel, cigarettes if you smoke, alcohol if you drink, clothes, nights out, take aways ect - there is ALOT of things you'll forget to budget for - its not cheap at all!

Also remember you will have costs to move in. We paid £1200 (£500 deposit, £425 rent in advance, £275 Admin fees) before we even got the keys! And then if you're renting a unfurnished property that can end up costing alot of money, we tried to stay fairly basic with things in the flat and still ended up spending about £1000. Try and save about £3000 before moving out!