Cost of renting alone

Jimbobble

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if someone could help me out?
I'm thinking of renting a place by myself but I have no idea about how much I can afford as I have never lived alone before so I literally have no idea what I will need to budget for and what level of annual salary I need in order to afford to rent at a certain price etc etc...
Could someone give me an idea of what costs are involved in living alone for example bills, food etc and what sort of minimum annual salary I need in order to cover renting somewhere priced at about £400 pcm?

Thanks in advance for your help!

pmlindyloo

Difficult to comment really without knowing exactly your outgoings per month.

Have a look at this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3866167

It will give you a rough idea of the bills.

Of course it is all relative. It depends how much you want to spend on clothes, entertainment, holidays etc etc.

teffers

I rented my first place back in 2010 but had to give it up as I just couldn't afford it on the £14000 I was making (firm I worked for didn't pay me the raise they promised etc).

My monthly cost breakdown was as follows:

375 - 2 bedroom small terraced house
75 - Council Tax
20 - Water
60 - Gas & Electric
15 - TV licence
10 - House insurance
160 - Food

Total = £715 (without Entertainment, clothes, and other sundries)

Total Income net after tax = £960

Total Remaining = £245 (£61 p/w)

It is quite a sobering experience once you start actually factoring the real cost of having a place on your own.

To have had any kind of 'life' outside paying bills I estimated I would have needed about £16000 gross at the very minimum.

This is just my personal experience so it may not be of any use but I just thought I'd share it.