Living on your own.

ANONOYMOUS

I have a decent sized deposit on a house for £75000 in Birmingham. A rough mortgage monthly payment for me would be about £290.
What would be average living costs for a two bedroom house or what do you pay on where you live?
Please include:
Electricity Costs
Gas Costs
Council Tax
Buildings insurance
Food and alcohol
TV licence
Anything else you can think of?

Southernman

I live in a two bedroom flat (lodger in spare room)

Water was £20- now £45 wah.
Electricity £30
Internet and phone £26
CC £111
mortgage + overpayment £580
As i'm in a flat i pay service charge which includes buildings ins

I have a lodger who i charge £450pm

elsien

South of Brum in a 3 bedroom terrace.
Electric £22
Gas £55
Council tax - can't remember but if you're looking round you can ask the vendors.
Water - depends if it's rates or metered - as above.
Building and contents is about £350 a year - could have got cheaper but decided to go for a more reputable company.
Phone/internet - about £35 a month. Again, could probably get it cheaper, just haven't got around to looking round.
Food and general household stuff (including most socialising) about £300 pm, could get it cheaper, choose not to.
Other one off costs - boiler maintenance and servicing, emergency repair/maintenance fund, chimney cleaning and logs (I have a proper fire).
If you're looking at a monthly budget, don't forget to take your travel and transport costs into account as well.

ANONOYMOUS

Thank you very much for your replies,

I'm currently on a salary of £15000K.

It sounds somewhat affordable.

elsien

Have a look at one of the on-line calculators (if you haven't already) to see what the repayments would go up to if interest rates start to rise.

ANONOYMOUS

Thankyou, I tried one of the calculators and put in 5.99% which is a Halifax mortgage with a 20% deposit.

If the BoE rate went up by 4% it might be difficult to afford the place.

Saying that, If I had a 2-5yr fixed, wouldn't it delay the rise affecting me?

Or should I rent instead?

elsien

Yes it would delay the rate affecting you for the length of the fix.
You need to consider what your earnings are likely to be at the end of the fixed rate, if rates do go up. No idea if they're likely to or not, just something for you to consider. Are you in a job where your earnings are likely to increase as you progress up the scale, or are your wages likely to be the same for the foreseeable future.
Of course there's always plan B where if you do find things unaffordable further down the line, you look at other options such as getting a lodger.
I really couldn't comment on whether you should rent or buy, depends on where you are in your life, what your aims are etc etc.
Just throwing a few things into the mix for you to think about, that's all.

ANONOYMOUS

I really appreciate the advice.

a lodger would be an option.

I'm 26 and I'm a logistics administrator.

cripes_2

Gas/Leccy £85 for both
Council Tax £97 over 10 months,
Critical Illness £41 for 2 people,
TV - £12.50
Water - £35 over 8 months,
Sky - £54 (inc phone and broadband)


Also worth taki9ng into consideration repairs etc (as things go wrong), over the last 5 months all these needed rapairing and fixing

Roof, Oven, Boiler, blocked Drains.

Not cheap at all

London_Town

Hi spergee101, the advantage of living alone is you're able to control the costs far more than if you share your home with someone else.

I have a two bedroomed house in the West midlands and my costs are approximately as follows;

Electricity; £20 a month. (I have CF low energy bulbs and am now replacing more of these with LED. I ensured that my fridge freezer and washing machine were A+ rated. Also, I don't have a tumble dryer and use a dehumdifier to dry my clothes instead.)

Gas; £18 a month. (I had to have gas central heating installed so my system is brand new. If your house already has it installed, you may have an old boiler which could use more gas. That said you can still control the temperatures and times you have the heating on.)

Council Tax; £82 a month for a Band B. (You maybe Band A and I used to pay around £70 for this in my old flat. Make sure you get the 25% single occupancy discount if you don't have a lodger.)

Building Insurance; £14 a month. (This is with M&S and covers both contents and building. Just shop around on line to see what you can find. With mine they don't charge any interest to pay in monthly instalments which is a help to me.)

Water; £12 a month. (I'm on a meter and would suggest you consider having one installed as you're living alone. It makes it far cheaper. Your house will have one already if it was built after 91. Alternatively, ask the vendors as they may have had one fitted since, if it's a much older property.)

TV Licence; £12 a month. (You may have to pay the full amount up front once, just to get a credit record with them. After that, you can pay monthly with no interest.)

Internet/phone; £36 a month. This is very subjective and depends upon what's important to you. I have the basic Virgin package which gives me broadband, TV and a land line which I don't use. I can't get freeview but that maybe an option if you can get internet access another way while you're settling in and assessing costs.

I can't really say much about food and alcohol as these things are so subjective. That said you can eat very cheaply if you are inventive and frugal. Take a look at the food and shopping board as well as the Old Style one. I don't drink at all or smoke, as these do really sap your money.

Finally, if you run a car don't forget to budget costs for that, or at least your transport costs to get to work. Hope that helps a bit - good luck!

Suarez

We purchase a 2 bed flat a few months ago. So far our bills are..

Electricity Costs £30
Gas Costs £30
Council Tax £104
Buildings insurance included in service charge £45 p/m
Food and alcohol £75
TV licence £12

Anything else you can think of?

Contents Ins £4
Water £32