New homeowner

ravravrav

Living in the west midlands and really need help/advice on estimating monthly costs for 3 bedroom home.

Can anyone advise on a full list of main costs (gas, electric, council tax etc) and how I can estimate these costs?

Thanks in advance

opinions4u

Take a look at https://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk.

Complete a statement of affairs and take it from there. The Debt free Wannabe part of ths forum will tell you if your estimates are reasonable if you post up your SOA there.

Your local council's web site will have council tax costs.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

rb10

Council Tax - You can find out what band the property is in by searching here: http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0. The local authority website should then give you how much they are charging for each band.

Gas & electric depends on your usage, and what type of heating system you have. A rough estimate can be gained by entering the details of the property into a comparison website (e.g. https://www.energyhelpline.com).

Water is likely to be relatively small, but depends on whether there's a meter or not.

TV/phone/broadband - again, you'd need to look this up yourself. It depends on how much you want from it.

ravravrav

opinions4u wrote: »

Take a look at https://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk.

Complete a statement of affairs and take it from there. The Debt free Wannabe part of ths forum will tell you if your estimates are reasonable if you post up your SOA there.

Your local council's web site will have council tax costs.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Sorry I had a look but this isn't what I'm looking for. I'm soon to move in, and that's why I wanted to estimate my costs just for budgeting purposes. But thanks anyway.

ravravrav

Does anyone have a more comprehensive list of costs? I appreciate it would be different for each household but this is what I come up with:

Council Tax
Gas
Electric
Water
TV
Broadband
Mobile Phones
Buildings Insurance
Contents Insurance
Car Insurance
Petrol
Car Maintenance/MOT/Tax
Food
Clothing
Childrens

Is there anything obvious I've forgotten?

opinions4u

ravravrav wrote: »

Sorry I had a look but this isn't what I'm looking for. I'm soon to move in, and that's why I wanted to estimate my costs just for budgeting purposes. But thanks anyway.

My apologies.

But it does give you an excellent template to ensure you don't forget anything and my suggestion that you complete it the best you can and then post it on another part of the forum would expose you to a group of people who are open to giving a line by line critique of any estimates has value.

Does anyone have a more comprehensive list of costs

Did you check the links I provided?

And if you think I'm in a position to guess your car insurance premium you're having a laugh.

ravravrav

opinions4u wrote: »

And if you think I'm in a position to guess your car insurance premium you're having a laugh.

No I didn't think that.

darkvader

ravravrav wrote: »

Does anyone have a more comprehensive list of costs? I appreciate it would be different for each household but this is what I come up with:

Council Tax
Gas
Electric
Water
TV
Broadband
Mobile Phones
Buildings Insurance
Contents Insurance
Car Insurance
Petrol
Car Maintenance/MOT/Tax
Food
Clothing
Childrens

Is there anything obvious I've forgotten?

Good list, was about to type it out and then scrolled to see the list. I'd suggest breaking it into categories as below

Fixed outgoings - stuff that's pretty fixed and wont change a lot
1. Mortgage
2. Council Tax
3. Television Tax

Insurance policies - mandatory but can play around, change rates etc
1. Buildings Insurance
2. Contents Insurance
3. Car Insurance
4. Mobile insurance?
5. Life insurance?
6. Any mortgage insurance?
7. Any income insurance?
8. Any health insurance?
9. Any pet insurance?

Utilities - completely up to what you have at home
1. TV Cable
2. Mobile Phone
3. Landline
4. Broadband
5. Gas
6. Electric
7. Water

Living Essentials - I use this to have a ball park expense plan for the month, so
1. Food and sundries
2. Travel (include bus, train and petrol)
3. Home Maintenance - essential to always keep putting aside a small amount for a rainy day
4. Children - we dont have any so adding it here for school, clothes, fees, classes etc

Living Extras - all down to personal habits
1. Home Shopping
2. Clothes
3. Holidays
4. Hobbies - clubs you are part of etc
5. Magazine Subscriptions
6. Donations
7. Nights out - you may not think its needed but trust me it helps

And though it doesnt come inside expenses, good to have a separate block named SAVINGS

DV