Going to buy a house, but will have no money left, living costs

Legacy_user

2 bed semi, will be living alone Please tell me if these running costs are not realistic:

council tax and water £1000
Electricity £200
Gas £300
Insurance £200
Food £1500

Total: £3200 per year

This figure is around my current income so I'm just wondering if buying a house will leave me short of money or can I achieve this budget. Obviously I hope to have a bigger income once I settle on a career.

lincroft1710

Why are you buying a house when you only earn £3.2K per annum??

System

I have £100k saved, can't stand living with parents anymore

geri1965_2

I would have thought those figures for gas and electricity are a little on the low side. Could you get a lodger?

System

geri1965 wrote: »

I would have thought those figures for gas and electricity are a little on the low side. Could you get a lodger?

Never! sorry

G_M

Either you buy a house, or you eat.

Which is more important to you?

comeandgo

How long will it take you to "settle on a career"? To be honest I could never run a 2 bed house on £3,200, you have nothing for repairs, tv licence, or you maybe have no tv. I would either wait a bit or look for property a bit cheaper and give yourself a bit of money behind you.

[Deleted User]

You can find council tax out in advance, the prices in the town I live in are from £950 (cheapest houses) to £2200 (expensive houses). I would guess a £100k house would be 2nd or 3rd band, here that would be ~£1300 per year.

Electricity is very dependant on your usage and the size of the house. A 2 bedroom semi-detached house with low usage would probably be £30 - £50 per month depending on how well insulated it is, check the EPC for estimated figures. £200 per year for electricity is very optimistic, I'd budget at least double or maybe even triple to be safe. Same with gas.

Food could be done on £1500 per year but you're not going to be eating well, you could probably get that down to £1000 per year if you make a lot of food sacrifices.

Why not buy a house in the £80k range and use the £20k saved to subsidise living costs while you work on improving your earnings? Trying to live off £3200 is going to be very difficult and will hamper your attempts more than help them, the stress involved with living on so little will not be good for you.

tizerbelle

Gas and Electric - too low
Council Tax and Water - depends where you live

What about - tv, broadband, phone/mobile, clothes, laundry, toiletries, socialising, emergencies, transport, dental, ongoing maintenance in the house etc etc

System

is it just me or is council tax a complete rip off?
The £100k includes solar panels so hopefully I would generate some money from them.

It seems £5000 would be more comfortable, £10000 luxury!

witchy1066

you will get single occupancy reduction on the council tax , and having a water meter fitted should bring down the water bill ,

your food bill is totally up to you but could be a lot less if you are a good canny shopper,

you would struggle,

how do you get to work? that needs to be budgeted for

also you are on a very low wage can you not claim any tax credits ? or work extra hours to boost your income