Can we afford to rent??!!

lizzie12_2

Is the property furnished or not?? You may well need to start getting bits together to start off with . Sitting on the floor but sleeping - ???

Its all part and parcel of the fun of being together . Dont forget the huge deposit many places are asking for prior to mooving in.

Good luck

mrkenneth

been colecting the bits for the last 6 months an have saved up enough for the deposit, just looking for advice from people who manage on low salarys on a monthly basis...

Running out of room for all this stuff!

Daisies

mrkenneth wrote: »

After tax joint income is £1600 a month. I am budgeting the following on a monthly basis, bearing in mind have no experience so they are rough guesses so utility bills could be more/less.

Rent – 625
Council – 100
Electric – 25
Water – 20
Gas - 20
TV – 10
Car – 55
Phones – 70
Food – 100
Petrol – 60
Card Payments/Debts - 50


These are what I see as our main outgoings at a total of £1135 a month leaving £465 a month over. Bearing in mind neither of us drink/smoke and could eat at parents a couple of nights a week do you think this would be comfortable for us financially? We are both content to stay in and after 5 years together are ready to move in!

All advice appreciated!

I think you could manage it, I've lived on less than that for quite a chunk of time in the past. What I noticed:

Council tax: you should be able to check the amount on your council's website. What you have there sounds about right (I pay £77 a month for a band A property with single person's discount).

TV: if you pay by direct debit and this is your first licence TV Licensing get you to pay for the whole licence over six months, then you start paying towards the next licence (mad, I know!), so for the first six months the amount you pay is higher. After six months it drops to £11 a month.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/waystopay/directdebitintro.jsp

Phones: That seems quite a high figure but does it include mobiles? Mine comes to £50 a quarter for the landline (I have one of those deals with free evening/weekend calls) plus about £10 every 2-3 months for the mobile. The forum about phones on here has some good ideas and have a look at Martin's article about it.

Utilities: Both amounts sound about right compared to what I was paying in a 1 bed flat. You could check whether your landlord would let you switch suppliers to a cheaper one? I've also become obsessive about turning off lights, not leaving things on standby (yes, I turn my broadband hub off at the wall every night!), refusing to use a tumble dryer etc, all of which has helped keep my bills down (they're still at about the same level even though I'm in a 3 bed house now!) and there are loads of ideas on here for keeping energy consumption down. I've also become acclimatized to keeping the heating turned down - when I went youth hostelling I found the hostel boiling hot and realised I must have become extremely frugal at home!

Also - have you got anything saved up in case of problems with the car etc? Do you have any idea how much you're likely to spend on things like clothes (for work and for leisure), birthday/Christmas presents or going on holiday.

Good luck and enjoy yourselves!

mrkenneth

This years holiday is payed for and is our last planned holiday for a few years.We would try and put a bit aside monthly should we get any car problems etc.

The 70 pound for the phones does include mobiles which we intend on trying to get our tariffs reduced (damn those 18 months contracts!). The car insurance will also come down in the next few months.

I still feel that £400 left over at the end of every months is enough to put a little aside.

Daisies

mrkenneth wrote: »

I still feel that £400 left over at the end of every months is enough to put a little aside.

Well, for what it's worth, I think you'd be OK. I've had several years in the past with a lot less than £400 a month left over and I did OK. As long as you're sensible and realistic (and it sounds like you are) you should be fine. Sometimes it'll be a struggle, but it's probably worth it if you get to remain in the area you want to. Good luck!

peter999

litaus wrote: »

A 1st in Mathematics will easily get you a starting salary of £50k.

You're having a laugh.

They hand out £50k+ jobs like smarties, do they !!??

peter999

peter999

horace wrote: »

Even an elaborate picture frame made from Ebony, Walnut or Rosewood will not disguise the fact that your hard earned Degree`s are absolutely worthless.

I am very, very sorry to be brutal.

To command good and regular income I would suggest that one should be indispensable.
I suggest that you retrain and become a self -employed plumber or electrician or any other Government approved (e.g CORGI) tradesman/woman.
I.E Dirty jobs which cannot be `exported` to China.

As Robert Maxwell is alleged to have said `You don`t get rich working for others`

horace

Interesting post.

Sleight of hand confidence trick to keep young people studying & off unemployment figures, while all property is bought up for investment & cost of living keeps rising & wages being forced down by massive EU migration.

peter999

peter999

mrkenneth wrote: »

These are what I see as our main outgoings at a total of £1135 a month leaving £465 a month over. Bearing in mind neither of us drink/smoke and could eat at parents a couple of nights a week do you think this would be comfortable for us financially? We are both content to stay in and after 5 years together are ready to move in!

All advice appreciated!

I think you have more than enough to give things a go.

The fact you are checking costs now means you'll be able save money later on or make changes to balance the books for any other purchases/spending.

peter999

morg_monster

peter999 wrote: »

You're having a laugh.

They hand out £50k+ jobs like smarties, do they !!??

peter999

saying "a 1st in maths..." is not so helpful - it really needs to be from a pretty top uni to start with, and even then, there can't be many jobs that start at 50k!!! ... my 1st in Maths from Nottingham Uni got me a starting salary of 22k in London (working for a public body). I have buddies with 1sts and 2:1s in Maths who are actuaries and now they've qualified (4-5 years later) are earning 60k. I know one person who may have started at around 40-50k,in investment banking, but when you work out the hourly rate, they got less than me!!!
There's definitely a lot more to it than just the degree, you need the work ethic, personality, ambition, blah blah blah, and if you've got those things with or without a degree you'll be a success. For the people who don't have these things in great abundance - a degree can help get that first job but you'll soon be found out if there isn't much to you!

back to OP - I would go for it. For the past year or so I have survived fairly easily on £400 a month after rent and bills in London, I would say in Cornwall you should be OK. I'd definitely think about the freelance thing, that could really help. Go over to the OS board to find out how to eat well without spending so much. And as someone else said, the DFW board will have some good ideas even if you aren't in debt. Oh and get on Freecycle if you need any bits and bobs for the new place!

bristol_pilot

On the figures posted by the OP, yes you can afford it. The rent is a bit high IMO and you are spending more than is perhaps desirable on phones but the budget is basically sound. Two people on a joint income of £24k will take home more than one person earning the same amount as you have two personal tax allowances.

It probably is worth asking yourselves why your joint income for two graduates is only £24k - roughly the typical starting salay for ONE graduate these days (£50k for new grads with a 1st in Maths etc is achievable, but only in the City of London and certainly not in Cornwall ! ). Assuming this is equally divided, £12k each, you are in minimum wage, burger-flipping territory.