Moving Out - Does this add up?

Pixie5740

You have pet expenses in your SOA and you mention becoming a mad cat woman so can I take it that you already have a cat?

Landlords willing to accept pets are like hens' teeth. Having a cat is going to vastly reduce the number of rental properties available to you (if you're looking at flats it might be against the terms of the landlord's leasehold to have pets in the property) and be prepared to pay a larger deposit and agree to have the place fumigated at the end of your tenancy.

deaston

Working out the figures to that degree and having just an £81 leeway would concern me. As others have said, all sorts of things can change (car servicing, car repairs, gas prices go up, mobile phone gets stolen etc. etc. not to mention things like buying xmas presents!).

Have you considered opening a savings account and paying these amounts into it for a few months? That would allow you to see how you feel living with reduced spare cash and, as a bonus, by the spring you'll have a nice chunk of savings.

missbiggles1

Dird wrote: »

£450pm?! Your parents are vultures xD I was expecting like £200

Sound perfectly reasonable to me.

macman

Line rental alone is typically £17.40 at present, without calls on top-not £10. And gas and electricity at £720pa is not realistic for a house, the average is more like £1250pa. If the house is all electric, it'll be more.

Dird

macman wrote: »

Line rental alone is typically £17.40 at present, without calls on top-not £10. And gas and electricity at £720pa is not realistic for a house, the average is more like £1250pa. If the house is all electric, it'll be more.

OP put £25/month for line & internet combined...completely reasonable.

Also non-meters here are around £80/month (£960/year), I guess someone on a meter living alone could get close to the gas/elec fee OP mentioned...depends on whether you're the type to be sensible and just put on a jumper in September or you start turning on the heating throughout the property already

Sharon87

Gas and electric seem reasonable for a 2 bed house with 1 person living there. TBH electric will probably be more and gas would be less - except in the winter.

Water rates seem high - may be better off getting a water meter if it's just 1 person in a 2 bed house. We paid £31 for a 4 bed house on water rates, so for a 2 bed house surely it's cheaper? Have you checked on your local water board's website or phoned and asked?

I would say build up some savings for a few months and then move. You never know the commute might not be so bad!

TBeckett100

looks tight to me. £360pa for a holiday including spending?

if you have a narrow margin, you may struggle. I can do a SOA and it leaves me with 4k a month spare but at the end of the month its all gone lol.

BucksLady

leapoffaith wrote: »

Thanks nubbins,

After costs of moving I should have about £800 - £1k savings.

This doesn't seem to be a very large contingency fund. Things seem to be really tight for you. I can understand your wish to be more independent, but I think I'd be tempted to stay at home until that fund was larger

cono1717

Dird wrote: »

OP put £25/month for line & internet combined...completely reasonable.
Also non-meters here are around £80/month (£960/year), I guess someone on a meter living alone could get close to the gas/elec fee OP mentioned...depends on whether you're the type to be sensible and just put on a jumper in September or you start turning on the heating throughout the property already

I don't get how people pay so much for Gas / Elec that don't have kids! Me and my better half have pre-pay gas and elec (landlord put them in before we moved in) and we spend around £30 a month for both (£15 each). We're not really frugal with gas or electric, leave lights on all the time (though thats the missus more than me), things on standby, long showers e.t.c (ooer)

BucksLady wrote: »

This doesn't seem to be a very large contingency fund. Things seem to be really tight for you. I can understand your wish to be more independent, but I think I'd be tempted to stay at home until that fund was larger

Even in a rented house? There's not a lot of things that can go wrong really is there? I have around £1.3k saved up as a buffer.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm inclined to think £10 a week is a very optimistic assessment of social life costs for a single person. Basically - you have to get out and about more if living on your own I feel.

I've been trying to keep my social life costs as low as I reasonably can whilst in a reduced income situation that has recently ended at last and the two basic events I go to weekly come to about £13. Monthly bookclub is a £5 taxi fare to get to and the cost of the book itself (£10-£15 a month basically for that). A film or two a month - at about £6 a time. Odd cup of coffee out with friend (possibly a couple of times a month) - about £2/£3. Occasional more expensive social night out (ie its been less than I want due to that reduced income) = an occasional £10-£15.

I'd hazard a guess that (temporarily more economical than normal) social life has probably cost around £30 per week on average??? I think £50 per week average is probably what it will be costing from here on in (now I'm back on more normal level income again - whew!) and that isn't a particularly expensive type social life. No evenings at opera or ballet or belonging to a golf club and getting in rounds of drinks or anything like that/down the pub frequently/etc.