Utterly lost in benefits - Any advice?

sammyjammy

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26533173.html

This one is £325 and includes all bills, looks decent enough to me, its for employed people only.

Jobseeeker

Dunroamin wrote: »

But, apart from the rent and CT, why are your outgoings so much more then they are now, that's what I don't understand. At present they're all covered by JSA so, if you add the rent and CT on top (and a bit extra for utilities which will be higher if you live alone) that shold cover you.

I don't mean to appear harsh but I'm just a bit puzzled.

Because he lived with family when he was on JSA but now they are downsizing and he has to rent his own flat.

OK contents insurance nowhere near £40 just a few quid a month. Buildings, don't need it the landlord will have it

council tax, you will get a 25% discount for living alone

as others have said apply for tax credits

Dunroamin

Jobseeeker wrote: »

Because he lived with family when he was on JSA but now they are downsizing and he has to rent his own flat.

OK contents insurance nowhere near £40 just a few quid a month. Buildings, don't need it the landlord will have it

council tax, you will get a 25% discount for living alone

as others have said apply for tax credits

Unless he's been allowing his parents to subsidise him (which at the age of 31 one would hope not), then his outgoings won't be very much more, if you discount housing costs.

bestpud

sammyjammy wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26533173.html

This one is £325 and includes all bills, looks decent enough to me, its for employed people only.

The OP can't share a bathroom.

Ames

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, and apologies, forum problems have cut off the bottom of the first post, and won't allow me to edit in order to fill in the rest...


It's a 1-bed flat, the smallest & cheapest I can find.
While I don't use my illness for anything to my benefit (I don't moan about transport, working hours, claim I can't do manual work etc..) I'm absolutely not comfortable sharing toilet & kitchen facilities with strangers as I do have certain needs in those areas for reasons that might be a bit disgusting to go into on a family forum.
£400 p/month is the cheapest possible I could find with that one requirement in mind.


The reason I think I'll be running a deficit is because I've added up the incoming & outgoings in excel & come up at a negative number.

**EDIT** Excuse the copy/paste from excel, it doesn't format very nicely here
Expense p/month Amount (£) Notes
Mandatory Bills
Rent £400.00 per calander month
Council tax £60.68 per 4-week (£728.11 p/a)
Rates £50.00 estimate If you mean water, get somewhere with a meter (or have one fitted, I don't think a LL can stop you)
Electricity £50.00 estimate
Gas/Heating £50.00 estimate
Internet/Phone £30.00 ADSL + line rental
Mobile £10.00 Current
Contents insurance £40.00 Total guess Unless you're furnishing your flat with antiques this should be much, much lower.

Regular Bills
Food Shopping £100.00 4x £25 p/week
Petrol £60.00 4x £15 p/week

Vehicle service inc MOTs tax & parking £20.00
Insurance £10 (£120/12 month) Have you checked this by getting a quote with the new address? It can go up by loads, I've heard of £50 a month difference when moving house even between similar areas.

Household Sundries £80.00 4x £20 p/week inc clothes, hair, toiletries etc

Emergencies £20.00


Total £980.68
Income; £900



As I say, I've used some rough figures to work with, the utilities & insurance for instance (I don't even know if I need to have buildings insurance, since it's rented I think probably not).

I might well be able to push some of these known figures down, at £340 p/year running a small motorbike is cheaper than the equivalent daily public transport c

Dunroamin wrote: »

Unless he's been allowing his parents to subsidise him (which at the age of 31 one would hope not), then his outgoings won't be very much more, if you discount housing costs.

Even if the OPs parents were charging an equal share of utilities, they're going to be higher in a one bed than for a third of the bills in a shared house, which is how you're seeing the OP's living with parents. There could also be other factors - if the new flat has prepayment meters then it'll be higher, or if it's water rates where the family home had a meter.

Dunroamin

Ames wrote: »

Even if the OPs parents were charging an equal share of utilities, they're going to be higher in a one bed than for a third of the bills in a shared house, which is how you're seeing the OP's living with parents. There could also be other factors - if the new flat has prepayment meters then it'll be higher, or if it's water rates where the family home had a meter.

Which is why I said apart from housing costs - I was including utilities in that.

The OP will be getting £700 more than on JSA, out of which s/he plans to spend £400 on rent and £60 odd on CT, leaving over £200, which should easily cover any additional utility costs and insurance. I can't see why s/he thinks there's a £100 shortfall.

dandelionclock30

You can get contents insurance miles cheaper than £40.00 per month.Mine was just over £100 per year with the AA and thats for contents and buildings. I've never bothered for rented accomodation myself.
Get rid of the car and use the the bus/walk/cycle instead.Cars are a total waste of money. Get rid of one of the phones so you just have 1.

nannytone_2

OP.. i totally accept why a house share is impractical, but studio flats will allow you to have your own bathroom/kitchen facilities whilst being more affordable than a 1 bed flat

FBaby

Can you look for a flat our studio within walking distance so can do without the car? That would be a big saving.

Ames

Dunroamin wrote: »

Which is why I said apart from housing costs - I was including utilities in that.

The OP will be getting £700 more than on JSA, out of which s/he plans to spend £400 on rent and £60 odd on CT, leaving over £200, which should easily cover any additional utility costs and insurance. I can't see why s/he thinks there's a £100 shortfall.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. To me, housing costs are rent and council tax, utilities come under bills. I guess everyone has a different way of budgeting.