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

phoebe1989seb

Cycrow wrote: »

it does depend on location
i live in a 1 bed flat and im in Band C
even studio apartments come under Band C in my area

Definitely..........our current house - a three storey, five bed period property of around 2300 sq ft in rural Wiltshire - is band C.

We were amazed to discover this when we purchased in 2011, having sold a 1600 sq ft character house in NE Essex that was band E

helenut

My boyfriend and I moved into a 4-bed semi around 9 months ago and budgeted around £3500 for all bills/food/tax etc. I don't feel we're living frugally but averaging under budget. Our council tax is £120per month which is a huge chunk. No TV so no need for TV license.
We'll be putting the budget up for next year as we're on a water meter and just had a washing machine and dishwasher installed. (Previously did all my washing at my mums which saved us some money! She has solar panels and a rain water collector so I made sure to do washing on a sunny day after it had rained overnight )
It would be easy to do if there are no problems with your house - boiler problems, water leaks as you will need money set aside for eventualities.

Hope that helps!

System

great thanks all (lesson learned great post, thanks alot)

anniecave

You can use uswitch to estimate your gas and electricity costs. Use any postcode from the area you plan to move to, leave the existing electricity and gas details exactly as they appear, fill out your potential property details (number of bedrooms, number of people, type of heating etc) and look at what the suggested cost will be.

I would estimate around £900 per year gas and elec combined just to be on the safe side for me - gas and electric always seems to go up by a bigger % than than everything else every year!

Council tax bands vary massively. In the area I live, there are 3 bed terrace houses that are still band A. Some 2 bedroom terrace houses are band B though. You can use the voa website to check the band, and you'd get a 25% discount if you were the only occupant.