Planning for becoming independent?

Maelwys

omidaverde wrote: »

- Rent (I can check this online for a rough idea through places like rightmove etc. Our current area starts at £700-800 for a one bedroom flat, but we're hoping to move to a cheaper area soon).
[snipped]
combined total of £1994 per month income. Would we manage?

Should be fine even on minimum wage if you're frugal. Just don't go mad on the Sky packages or new iPhone purchases...

Electricity, Phone, Broadband and TV license will be ballpark £100 a month altogether. Heating cost will depend on the house insulation/boiler and your tolerance to the cold! Personally my average weekly Grocery shop is around £30-35 (thanks to the freezer), but I also eat out a few nights a week and spend a fair bit of money on petrol.

When I moved out I had enough saved up for a mortgage deposit which made things significantly easier, but my income-minus-outgoings didn't leave me very much of a buffer for the first six months. A new house often equals a few unexpected expenses, especially if you've never needed your own furniture or utensils before!! Four years down the line I'm currently spending roughly 25% of my take-home pay on mortgage/rates, saving another 25% and using the remaining 50% for various other bills/expenses, running the car and day-to-day living.

As others have mentioned, posting a SoA on the appropriate board is a good place to start for some more solid numbers

colsten

lisa110rry wrote: »

Personally, I think omidaverde should be congratulated for starting this thread.

I agree, it's really good to see people making an effort to plan thir money before they commit it.

omidaverde, one suggestion I have in addition to what others have already said: make a note of everything you spend from now on. Jot it down in a little notebook, on your phone, or use a spreadsheet (google sheets?) or something like YNAB. Knowing where your money went is the best way to start having a handle on whether you can continue with what you are used to, or whether you need to make some adjustments. If you don't know how much you spend on food right now, you have no chance to get a handle on how much you'll need to budget for as you begin your independent life.

omidaverde wrote: »

never taught this at school and parents take the attitude of 'why don't you know this?!' despite never having sat me down to show me...

This is a really shocking reminder of how incapable many of our parents and teachers are to prepare our young people for their - and everyone else's! - future. As a stopgap until we have at least some better financial education, it would be great if MSE had a budgeting guide for people flying the nest.

omidaverde

colsten wrote: »

omidaverde, one suggestion I have in addition to what others have already said: make a note of everything you spend from now on. Jot it down in a little notebook, on your phone, or use a spreadsheet (google sheets?) or something like YNAB. Knowing where your money went is the best way to start having a handle on whether you can continue with what you are used to, or whether you need to make some adjustments. If you don't know how much you spend on food right now, you have no chance to get a handle on how much you'll need to budget for as you begin your independent life.

This is a really shocking reminder of how incapable many of our parents and teachers are to prepare our young people for their - and everyone else's! - future. As a stopgap until we have at least some better financial education, it would be great if MSE had a budgeting guide for people flying the nest.

We've started using one card as my bank offering a service online where they breakdown what you spent where which spares me having to write it all down. I pay for 90% of things by card and know the few things that are paid cash how much and what they are. So hopefully once we've been doing that a couple of months it should give us a better idea, but mostly it's food, we buy very little else other than that.

Re: education, I 100% believe that if parents aren't going to do it then it should be mandated in schools - I know too many people like me who either did or will have to learn the hard way because no one has ever told them how to do things. I've known people who leave home not knowing how to make a sandwich - and people ridicule them, but who is really the stupid one - the child or the parent who let them leave without teaching them these things? Would be great to see MSE do a specific guide for young people, wonder if we could suggest it somewhere?

msallen

omidaverde wrote: »

I've known people who leave home not knowing how to make a sandwich

Sorry for going OT, but when I was a teenager I once went round to my uncle's house while my aunt was out. He asked if I wanted a cup of tea and proceeded to boil the kettle and pour it into two mugs which already had a teabag and a little milk in each, telling me that my aunt had left them for him before she went out. When I queried how she had known I was coming round he said that she didn't but he would normally have two cups in the length of time she was gone, but he'd have to forego the second one now as he'd have to wait for her to come back and get another mug ready for the hot water!

Making a sandwich would have been beyond his wildest fantasies :eek:

omidaverde

msallen wrote: »

Sorry for going OT, but when I was a teenager I once went round to my uncle's house while my aunt was out. He asked if I wanted a cup of tea and proceeded to boil the kettle and pour it into two mugs which already had a teabag and a little milk in each, telling me that my aunt had left them for him before she went out. When I queried how she had known I was coming round he said that she didn't but he would normally have two cups in the length of time she was gone, but he'd have to forego the second one now as he'd have to wait for her to come back and get another mug ready for the hot water!

Making a sandwich would have been beyond his wildest fantasies :eek:

Oh dear! :rotfl: What would he do if she wasn't there, starve to death?! :rotfl:

Dird

West Midlands figures (monthly):
- Water: £45
- Council tax: £90
- Electricity/Gas: It's hard to say but it's going to be > £100 easily (unless my mom is right). Rented properties are on a metre, my mom is sure that our neighbour (the LL) has a link to our metre as it runs out of credit so quickly
- Bus pass: £80 * 2 assuming you both worked quite a bit away (e.g. lived in town, worked in city)
- Broadband: I guess £30 is about typical although there's cheaper deals on here
- Mobile: You'll know your exact price, I pay £10 but see crazy people with £30-50/month!

I personally don't bother with contents insurance

So about £475 + rent (£450/month is typical for a 2 bed here) + food

Money_maker

Some landlords wont accept pets which may limit your options, OP.

Semple

Dird wrote: »

West Midlands figures (monthly):
- Water: £45
- Council tax: £90
- Electricity/Gas: It's hard to say but it's going to be > £100 easily (unless my mom is right). Rented properties are on a metre, my mom is sure that our neighbour (the LL) has a link to our metre as it runs out of credit so quickly
- Bus pass: £80 * 2 assuming you both worked quite a bit away (e.g. lived in town, worked in city)
- Broadband: I guess £30 is about typical although there's cheaper deals on here
- Mobile: You'll know your exact price, I pay £10 but see crazy people with £30-50/month!

I personally don't bother with contents insurance

So about £475 + rent (£450/month is typical for a 2 bed here) + food

We're paying roughly these figures (minus the rent) for a 2 bedroom flat in Manchester. Although electric is working out to be about £60 a month - but largely depends on what you run.

Disagree with the comment about contents insurance, i think we're paying maybe £6-7 a month, which covers up to £50,000 and £1,000 on a single item. It's a very small price to pay in the event of burglary, fire/flood damage.



Two things i don't think have been mentioned yet, you'll need a deposit plus LA fees upfront. Deposit is normally around 6 weeks rent, and with LA fees on top, i'd recommend saving for 2 months rent upfront.

Rent affordability checks normally use a rule of thumb of your annual income must be at least 30 times the monthly rent, i.e. If you were looking at renting a place for £1,000 a month, your annual combined income must be £30,000.

Also, this may have been better posted in the house buying/renting sub-forum

Beano123

One bed flat in Manchester with two people.

Flat Direct Debits

Rent (One Bed Flat) -£442.02
Electric -£17.00
Water -£24.93
Broadband/Phone -£16.69
Gas -£15.00
Council Tax (Band A) -£90.00
Total-£605.64

Important note on the Gas/Electric - you will be charged more initially (if you pay by direct debit) so you build up a credit amount for the winter period. Once you have built up a credit amount then your bills will be reduced. The electric was initially about £24, but after a while it was dropped to £19 and now £12 to reduce my credit balance. Same with the gas which was initially £25.

Other things to consider are mobile phones and anything else you subscribe to eg Netflix or Audible.

Living as two people in a one bed flat is tough but doable - you just have to get on well and try and limit the amount of stuff you acquire! In my flat the bedroom is piled high with boxes/storage units and suitcases which allows the living room to be fairly free of stuff.

There are always expenses to consider when moving anywhere - you tend to buy a lot of things you never knew you needed and then lug them from place to place wondering why you ever needed them in the first place!

Excel is great for building a planning spreadsheet. The only problem is when it reaches new levels of usefulness and complexity and you end up disappearing down the rabbit hole and try to work out why the flipping figures won't balance before giving up and fudging the issue! Not the most productive morning ever for me then!

If people offer you spare furniture - accept it if you can use it or have space. The definition of furnished is very variable and its nice for people to have chairs to sit on! On the other hand be careful otherwise you end up with 5 chairs and a sofa in a one bed flat's living room! To be fair they where to good to throw out.

Also budgeting for a regular saver is a good idea - it means that at least some of your savings are accounted for month after month. Just read the terms and conditions in case you need the money early.

beecher2

Beano123 wrote: »

Living as two people in a one bed flat is tough but doable - you just have to get on well and try and limit the amount of stuff you acquire! In my flat the bedroom is piled high with boxes/storage units and suitcases which allows the living room to be fairly free of stuff.
]

This made me laugh a bit when I thought of the 6 of us growing up in a house with 3 bedrooms, one of which was tiny.

Also depends on the size of the flat - my one bed isn't much smaller than that very same 3 bed house.

OP, you mention your OH will be doing a PhD. Will he still be able to work? Are you actually both in work at the moment - bit unclear from the post.