First Time Buyer Budget

smeds

All,

Thanks, I am looking at saving minimum of £50 a month i forgot to put on my first post. As new build house, hopefully not much will go wrong but i have existing savings and will be putting that £50 into it as well.

Any ideas on if i have budgeted enough for the other like electric etc....

Suarez

Tancred wrote: »

£6 a day on food - seems a bit tight to me

For 1 person? Do you live on steak and lobster? :eek:

LeafGreen

Depending on which area of the country you are in, you may be able to save a bit on water if you are careful and select the right tariff. I pay about £15/month although there can be quite big variances with some water companies.

The TV lic will be a bit higher for the first 6 months of the first year.

Use Quidco or other cashback sites for your insurances, phone, internet etc - some very good deals to be had.

£38 for mobile sounds incredibly high. I paid £28/month for 2 years on a good tariff with an iphone. have prices gone up that much? Are you tied into that price for a while? If not, an easy way to save about £20/month.

Will you have other entertainments such as music streaming or dvd rental services?

Gas/electric should be plenty as an average over the year, assuming you are not careless with it.

highguyuk

Have you used the budget on the site? Even if nothing else, it makes you think about the odds and sods - haircuts/cleaning products etc.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning#tools

bclark

LandyAndy wrote: »

You need to have something in hand for repairs and renewals. I know it isn't a monthly cost but better to have some sort of fund being built up. Reckon on 1-2% of the property's value per annum.

So on a £350k house (as an example) you are suggesting putting aside £3.5-£7k a year for repairs and renewals, wow.

That may be needed if buying an old Victorian house, although I own one of them and haven't needed to spend anything approaching that, but on a new build?

smeds

grahamgoo wrote: »

Depending on which area of the country you are in, you may be able to save a bit on water if you are careful and select the right tariff. I pay about £15/month although there can be quite big variances with some water companies.

The TV lic will be a bit higher for the first 6 months of the first year.

Use Quidco or other cashback sites for your insurances, phone, internet etc - some very good deals to be had.

£38 for mobile sounds incredibly high. I paid £28/month for 2 years on a good tariff with an iphone. have prices gone up that much? Are you tied into that price for a while? If not, an easy way to save about £20/month.

Will you have other entertainments such as music streaming or dvd rental services?

Gas/electric should be plenty as an average over the year, assuming you are not careless with it.

thanks for your reply, hopefully i should be lucky with the tariffs for water.

I shall deffinitely look at the cashback places for my insurances, and phone contract from now on but unfortunately i am stuck on a two year deal for my phone.

I was only allowing for purely essentials at the moment but im sure after a while i will start getting the luxury's .

Thanks again, anybody else got a opinion on my food budgeting?

Fire_Fox

If it's leasehold in England or Wales you will have service charges and ground rent, also usually with apartments buildings insurance is included in the service charges. £50 a month is not enough of a contingency for leasehold because you are contractually obligated to contribute not based on ability to pay, there should not be too much come up if it's new build but honestly don't bank on that. Also be aware that service charges are often set artificially low initially to attract buyers so can hike massively in subsequent years.

Lastly at least three months mortgage payments, buildings insurance and service charges set aside from day one just in case you fall ill or injured and cannot work or are made redundant. Support for Mortgage Interest doesn't kick in for three months so you will have to fund that period.

You could cut the food down to £100 a month if you take lunches to work, cook for yourself and don't live on ready meals, snacks and takeaways, search around MSE for how others are doing it.

OddballJamie

I've lived in a new build with my partner for the last 18 months with my partner, it's three storey but it should give you an idea.
Water £25
Council tax £116
Gas/Electric £56 average (pay £58 to cover extra)
Phone/BB £17.75 (Orange - 1st year £100 Quidco, £50 Sainsburys voucher 2nd year 3 months free)
Contents & Buildings insurance £18 (£60 Quidco)

Not sure the area you are buying in but your Council seems kinda high for an apartment and you should be able to get 25% off for single person.
Also you mention food but haven't budgeted for toiletries or household goods (bin bags, cleaning supplies, kitchen roll, etc).
Last thing, no life insurance mentioned?

smeds

OddballJamie wrote: »

I've lived in a new build with my partner for the last 18 months with my partner, it's three storey but it should give you an idea.
Water £25
Council tax £116
Gas/Electric £56 average (pay £58 to cover extra)
Phone/BB £17.75 (Orange - 1st year £100 Quidco, £50 Sainsburys voucher 2nd year 3 months free)
Contents & Buildings insurance £18 (£60 Quidco)

Not sure the area you are buying in but your Council seems kinda high for an apartment and you should be able to get 25% off for single person.
Also you mention food but haven't budgeted for toiletries or household goods (bin bags, cleaning supplies, kitchen roll, etc).
Last thing, no life insurance mentioned?

Thanks for your budget looks like i have budgeted fairly right, I have had a few people mention about all the cash back sites so will look into them when i move out.

Council tax was just a guess to be honest as i dont know what band the house is in yet, ah i did forget about that you recon the £180 cover it all or need to budget more?

Life insurance i get from work

LandyAndy

bclark wrote: »

So on a £350k house (as an example) you are suggesting putting aside £3.5-£7k a year for repairs and renewals, wow.

That may be needed if buying an old Victorian house, although I own one of them and haven't needed to spend anything approaching that, but on a new build?

I have a house built in 1969. Lived here 7 years. Paid £346k for it. So far have put in new bathroom, renewed flat roofs on outbuildings, redecorated throughout, recarpeted throughout. Right now I'm looking at redecorating, updating a glass roofed utility area to a tiled roof and installing double glazing in it, renewing the kitchen and utility rooms which will require some building work. All of that won't leave me far off £40k. In what will by then be 8 years that is £5k per annum on average.

Meanwhile my substantial drive is in need of retarmaccing And I'd like to replace my front hedge with a brick wall. It is still on the original wiring too.

Of course you can just let the building deteriorate but it's rarely sensible