First time buyer - advice on living costs

Lu89

Hi,
I have been living at home to save for a deposit. I am now in a position to look at buying. I just wanted to know if anyone had any estimations of monthly living costs for a single person(after mortgage, leasehold charges & council tax). The property I am looking to buy is a 2nd floor 1 bed flat with gas central heating in the south of England.
Thanks in advance!

ndf9876

You should probably work it out for yourself - I did a budget spreadsheet that took into account insurances, car expense, food, water, gas, electric, entertainment and unforeseen expenses!

It's pretty hard to give you a rough monthly living cost because I don't know how much you spend on food, how much you like to go out, whether or not you have a car...

My advice to you would be to work out a list of expenses first of all. Even things like TV License can easily be forgotten. Then you can work on assigning a monetary value to each.

martinsurrey

Lu89 wrote: »

Hi,
I have been living at home to save for a deposit. I am now in a position to look at buying. I just wanted to know if anyone had any estimations of monthly living costs for a single person(after mortgage, leasehold charges & council tax). The property I am looking to buy is a 2nd floor 1 bed flat with gas central heating in the south of England.
Thanks in advance!

ndf9876 wrote: »

You should probably work it out for yourself - I did a budget spreadsheet that took into account insurances, car expense, food, water, gas, electric, entertainment and unforeseen expenses!

It's pretty hard to give you a rough monthly living cost because I don't know how much you spend on food, how much you like to go out, whether or not you have a car...

My advice to you would be to work out a list of expenses first of all. Even things like TV License can easily be forgotten. Then you can work on assigning a monetary value to each.

Also house type and life style vary everything so much.

a 2nd floor (of 2) Victorian flat with old windows and a 10year old boiler will cost 5X and much to heat as a 2nd floor (for 4) modern flat, with triple glazed windows and a new combi boiler.

If you work full time and spend your evenings out at the gym, your heating/electricity bill will be tiny compared to someone who works from home and who’s hobbies include tropical fish.

lee111s

I've recently bought a place, my mortgage is £525 and council tax £88. My total bulls including gym and pet insurance are about £880 a month. Obviously it all depends on your energy usage, which in turn has to do with how efficient your home is.

That's just bills and does't include food/living.

clarabelle41

Lu89 wrote: »

Hi,
I have been living at home to save for a deposit. I am now in a position to look at buying. I just wanted to know if anyone had any estimations of monthly living costs for a single person(after mortgage, leasehold charges & council tax). The property I am looking to buy is a 2nd floor 1 bed flat with gas central heating in the south of England.
Thanks in advance!

This might help you work it out. Aside from car insurance it doesn't specifically mention fuel & running costs like annual service & MOT. If you don't have a car you need to include taxis/bus fares and/or commuting costs.
http://frugalliving.about.com/library/Budget_Calculator/bl_budgetcalculator.htm