Renting alone on £1000 a month

mab7689

Wanton wrote: »

Where are the two schools? When I lived in Nottingham you could get a pass for unlimited bus and tram travel, I'm sure it was about £30-£40 a month.

If you look for a house share in the West Bridgford area you'll find a lot of young professionals who probably will afford you the quiet to do your training. It'll save you a lot of money which you could perhaps put aside to put on a deposit to a house when you complete your training.

Kirkby in Ashfield and Stapleford. Nottingham city is pretty much central to both

mab7689

citricsquid wrote: »

When I left home I was renting a £550 pcm apartment and my bills etc came to around £200 and £100 on top of that for food. You could live on £1000 per month in a £450 per month house. Side note, the salary your provided works out as £1,107.30 per month after tax.

Personally based on my own experience I would recommend you consider the following:

1. Do you plan to be on the same salary for the next couple of years or are you going to get a raise within a year or so?

If your rent is quite high (say 40% of your monthly take home) and your salary isn't going to increase for a few years then you'll risk your rent outpacing your salary and making your situation worse.

2. Do you have any savings to use as an emergency fund?

If you're starting your rental with a few hundred pounds in the bank (after fees, deposit, first month rent paid) and your rent and bills take up 80% of your take home pay, you risk a single financial emergency hitting you hard. If you're already cutting it fine with rental costs it wouldn't take much to tip you over the edge.

3. Are you a generally frugal person?

If you're careful with your money and count every penny then you can be more generous with the sort of place you look for, if you're someone that will eat out every week and throw parties then you're probably not going to be a good candidate for paying more than the "safe" amount on rent.

Regarding moving out and being independent for the first time:

Your short term goal as someone independent should be to establish an emergency fund and move from living pay day to pay day to having cash reserves. You may want to consider renting a not-so-great place for the first few months which would give you time to save money.

Ultimately it depends on your own financial prospects and management abilities, based on my own experience I would say:

If you have savings (of at least 3 months costs, so ~£3000) and your salary is expected to increase within a year or two and you're willing to watch every penny, go ahead. If you don't have any savings don't do it.

Definitely do-able though either way.

Firstly I will mention that the £1050 includes a 7% pension scheme deduction. I am aware its £1100 or so without it, if I ended up in desperate need of the money I don't see why I couldn't opt out of it for the sake of my training year.
1. I should only be on the £15k salary for one year. Once I complete my teacher training year and become a fully qualified teacher I will be eligible for teaching positions for a September 2014 start, of which the starting salary for a Newly Qualified Teacher is currently £21588, therefore, permitting I find a job, I'm in line for an increase to that in 18 months and then annual scale increments after that.
2. Yes, I have a second current account that has £1000 in it, which I intend to raise to £1500 by July. I aim to cover deposit, application fees, removal costs, furniture (depending on how furnished the place is). I also have a savings account with a 5 figure balance. That is intended to be used for a deposit once I'm on a better salary to get a mortgage and become ready for ownership. I can dip into this as a last resort if there is a major emergency, although I will aim to avoid this.
3. Yes, I've always been good with money.

luvchocolate

my salary same as yours my rent £450 council tax £67 electric £55 water £25 food £200 and I run a car, mobile, internet its tight but I get by...save every month for everything so no surprises

HildaM

If things get really tight, you could consider sharing with another NQT or similar. We have 3 trainee teachers where I work and they live together and mostly travel in together. I presume they appreciate the need for lots of work to be done at home and are probably good support for each other.

NinjaSavingKat

mab7689 wrote: »

I'm thinking of £450 pcm for basic rent as an absolute maximum. Is this reasonable/too much?

Hello...just saw your posting about living on meagre wages. £450 a month is what I am paying ( all inclusive ) in London's Zone 5??.. I am earning more than you and refuse to pay more than this.So should you...or any where near this amount...

If you are resigned to the fact that you will be living a VERY frugle existance, not going out much, buying Tesco own brand ( there are other supermarkets to choose from ) foods instead of branded food ( I can live on £80 a month ).. then you COULD, since you are desperate, look to local churches whereby older folk need a responsible person to rent to...?.. ( just a suggestion ) but I would ALWAYS look to get somewhere that is all inclusive no matter how much you have to search... the the other bits and bobs are not your problem..

Get on Spare Room.com.. you'd be surprised whats on offer... but £450 a month is WAY too much... pitch yourself as reliable, trustworthy etc and £300 all inclusive is your absolute maximum.

Some one out there will have what you are after! Trust me...

Good Luck!!

Upsidedown_Bear

You're probably aware of this but if not this is the website for Trent Barton who do buses from Nottingham city centre to both Stapleford and Kirkby.
Having had a quick look it seems to be quicker to get to Kirkby by train but not sure if it would be cheaper.

https://www.trentbarton.co.uk/

Wanton

Wanton wrote: »

Where are the two schools? When I lived in Nottingham you could get a pass for unlimited bus and tram travel, I'm sure it was about £30-£40 a month.

I may be misremembering this, the £30-£40 a month could've been bus only.