How much rent can I afford on £26k?

bigolsausage

Hi everyone, 

I'm hoping someone very knowledgeable will be able to help me out. I'm 26 years old and I'm currently living at my family home. It's incredibly crowded here (I share a room with my sister (21 years old) and have a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with my mother. I am desperate to move out but realise my salary is pretty poor at the moment. 

I've had a look online and rent for a 1 bedroom flat is around £700-800pcm. I don't want a flat/house share so I am willing to pay a little more and live frugally. I come from a poor background so I'm used to having no money to live on anyway! 

Here's a breakdown of my spending/commitments and financial situation as well as my job situation. I would really love it if someone could help let me know if I'd have enough to live on without going into debt as I've never rented before so I'm not exactly sure how much things normally cost. 

I'm also currently completing my Masters and so I'm tied into my job for the next year but will be doing my best to get a new job sooner than that if possible... Next step up for my career in my area seems to be salaries of around £30-45k. 

Current financial situation: 
Gross salary: £25,428 (rising to £26,114 as of 1st August) 
Take home salary: £1640 (rising to £1670) p/m 
Debts: £1,500 car loan (ready to clear, just waiting to push the button xD) - £35p/m 
Credit card: £9.99 (netflix payment, split with my sister £5 each) - paid off every month for credit building purposes
Savings: 
- LISA: £11,000ish 
- Current account savings spread around: £3000 
- Main account: £1,600 

If I stop paying into my pension, I could have an extra £150ish a month. 

Budgeted for rent: 
Rent: £700pcm 
Bills: £250/260, this includes: council tax (£85), gas & electric (£100), water (£35), broadband (£20-30), mobile phone (£10). 
Petrol: £100p/m (this is an over-exaggerated amount, I don't expect it to be this much every month as I work from home, but I will be moving about an hour away from home so wanted to budget quite a lot just in case I have to go back regularly some months). 
Subscriptions i.e. netflix & spotify: £14.99 
Food: £200 (I have no idea how much it costs since I've never done an entire food shop for 1 person before) 
MOT & Insurance: £85p/m (I've saved enough for this year so will be putting aside £85per month for next year. I anticipate insurance to be cheaper than my current one as I currently live in London and will be moving to Reading). 

Total outgoing: £1360 
Total leftover: £310 

Have I missed anything out or haven't thought of? Is this doable? 

Thanks in advance for your help/advice/insights! 

Edit: just wanted to add that I’ve counted up how much I’ve spent on misc/other things this month and it’s come to £360. There was a lot of Uber eats & just eat which wouldn’t be the case if I move out so hopefully that gives you an idea of what I spend in a month on ‘fun’ (basically nothing because my life is pretty boring) 

[Deleted User]

bigolsausage said:

Hi everyone, 

I'm hoping someone very knowledgeable will be able to help me out. I'm 26 years old and I'm currently living at my family home. It's incredibly crowded here (I share a room with my sister (21 years old) and have a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with my mother. I am desperate to move out but realise my salary is pretty poor at the moment. 

I've had a look online and rent for a 1 bedroom flat is around £700-800pcm. I don't want a flat/house share so I am willing to pay a little more and live frugally. I come from a poor background so I'm used to having no money to live on anyway! 

Here's a breakdown of my spending/commitments and financial situation as well as my job situation. I would really love it if someone could help let me know if I'd have enough to live on without going into debt as I've never rented before so I'm not exactly sure how much things normally cost. 

I'm also currently completing my Masters and so I'm tied into my job for the next year but will be doing my best to get a new job sooner than that if possible... Next step up for my career in my area seems to be salaries of around £30-45k. 

Current financial situation: 
Gross salary: £25,428 (rising to £26,114 as of 1st August) 
Take home salary: £1640 (rising to £1670) p/m 
Debts: £1,500 car loan (ready to clear, just waiting to push the button xD) - £35p/m 
Credit card: £9.99 (netflix payment, split with my sister £5 each) - paid off every month for credit building purposes
Savings: 
- LISA: £11,000ish 
- Current account savings spread around: £3000 
- Main account: £1,600 

If I stop paying into my pension, I could have an extra £150ish a month. 

Budgeted for rent: 
Rent: £700pcm 
Bills: £250/260, this includes: council tax (£85), gas & electric (£100), water (£35), broadband (£20-30), mobile phone (£10). 
Petrol: £100p/m (this is an over-exaggerated amount, I don't expect it to be this much every month as I work from home, but I will be moving about an hour away from home so wanted to budget quite a lot just in case I have to go back regularly some months). 
Subscriptions i.e. netflix & spotify: £14.99 
Food: £200 (I have no idea how much it costs since I've never done an entire food shop for 1 person before) 
MOT & Insurance: £85p/m (I've saved enough for this year so will be putting aside £85per month for next year. I anticipate insurance to be cheaper than my current one as I currently live in London and will be moving to Reading). 

Total outgoing: £1360 
Total leftover: £310 

Have I missed anything out or haven't thought of? Is this doable? 

Thanks in advance for your help/advice/insights! 

Do not stop paying money into your pension. That will cost you a lot more in the long run than the £150 a month you would be “saving.”

£200 a month for groceries is doable, no contents insurance though and £310 a month sounds tight for everything else such as clothing, car maintenance and repairs, living, etc. You might find it useful to complete a statement of affairs to get a flavour for the other expenses of striking out on your own. 

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

A rule of thumb many landlords and letting agents seem to use is that your annual gross income should be at least 30 times the monthly rent so on paper £700 to £800 pcm should be possible. 

Have you checked the council tax banding of these 1-bedroom flats to see if the council tax will be £85 a month with your single person discount? 

RAS

You need to budget for

Car repairs, MOT etc
Clothing, although you may be able to restrict this for a couple of years to footwear and undies.
Entertainment
Holidays
Emergency fund

Remember that you're probably used to using household equipment that your mother owns. Do you have a bottom drawer of kitchen equipment, bedding, DIY stuff, iron, hoover, etc?

bigolsausage

Lover_of_Lycra said:

bigolsausage said:

Hi everyone, 

I'm hoping someone very knowledgeable will be able to help me out. I'm 26 years old and I'm currently living at my family home. It's incredibly crowded here (I share a room with my sister (21 years old) and have a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with my mother. I am desperate to move out but realise my salary is pretty poor at the moment. 

I've had a look online and rent for a 1 bedroom flat is around £700-800pcm. I don't want a flat/house share so I am willing to pay a little more and live frugally. I come from a poor background so I'm used to having no money to live on anyway! 

Here's a breakdown of my spending/commitments and financial situation as well as my job situation. I would really love it if someone could help let me know if I'd have enough to live on without going into debt as I've never rented before so I'm not exactly sure how much things normally cost. 

I'm also currently completing my Masters and so I'm tied into my job for the next year but will be doing my best to get a new job sooner than that if possible... Next step up for my career in my area seems to be salaries of around £30-45k. 

Current financial situation: 
Gross salary: £25,428 (rising to £26,114 as of 1st August) 
Take home salary: £1640 (rising to £1670) p/m 
Debts: £1,500 car loan (ready to clear, just waiting to push the button xD) - £35p/m 
Credit card: £9.99 (netflix payment, split with my sister £5 each) - paid off every month for credit building purposes
Savings: 
- LISA: £11,000ish 
- Current account savings spread around: £3000 
- Main account: £1,600 

If I stop paying into my pension, I could have an extra £150ish a month. 

Budgeted for rent: 
Rent: £700pcm 
Bills: £250/260, this includes: council tax (£85), gas & electric (£100), water (£35), broadband (£20-30), mobile phone (£10). 
Petrol: £100p/m (this is an over-exaggerated amount, I don't expect it to be this much every month as I work from home, but I will be moving about an hour away from home so wanted to budget quite a lot just in case I have to go back regularly some months). 
Subscriptions i.e. netflix & spotify: £14.99 
Food: £200 (I have no idea how much it costs since I've never done an entire food shop for 1 person before) 
MOT & Insurance: £85p/m (I've saved enough for this year so will be putting aside £85per month for next year. I anticipate insurance to be cheaper than my current one as I currently live in London and will be moving to Reading). 

Total outgoing: £1360 
Total leftover: £310 

Have I missed anything out or haven't thought of? Is this doable? 

Thanks in advance for your help/advice/insights! 

Do not stop paying money into your pension. That will cost you a lot more in the long run than the £150 a month you would be “saving.”

£200 a month for groceries is doable, no contents insurance though and £310 a month sounds tight for everything else such as clothing, car maintenance and repairs, living, etc. You might find it useful to complete a statement of affairs to get a flavour for the other expenses of striking out on your own. 

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

A rule of thumb many landlords and letting agents seem to use is that your annual gross income should be at least 30 times the monthly rent so on paper £700 to £800 pcm should be possible. 

Have you checked the council tax banding of these 1-bedroom flats to see if the council tax will be £85 a month with your single person discount? 

Thanks, I can use my savings for any car repairs needed, I also have access to a credit card with £4,000 limit (worst case scenario!). MOT and Insurance is factored into the £85 per month, this is based on my current insurance price but like I mentioned, I'm anticipating this to be around £100 cheaper for the year. That is a problem for next year as my renewal comes up in October and I've already saved for it. 

Yes I've checked the flat that I'm looking at and it's Band A - so comes to £85 per month with the 25% single person discount. 

I've grown up pretty cheap so I've learnt to have cheap hobbies, I read a lot and spend a lot of time on the internet or watching TV. It's not a great life but it's the one I've got! I also haven't bought clothes for years so if I need to, I can buy some now which would last me another 5/10 years xD 

Contents insurance isn't something I've thought of! Do you know roughly how much that normally is?

bigolsausage

RAS said:

You need to budget for

Car repairs, MOT etc
Clothing, although you may be able to restrict this for a couple of years to footwear and undies.
Entertainment
Holidays
Emergency fund

Remember that you're probably used to using household equipment that your mother owns. Do you have a bottom drawer of kitchen equipment, bedding, DIY stuff, iron, hoover, etc?

Thanks!! 

Repairs can be covered with my savings. 
I've recently bought some new clothes which should last me another 5/10 years. I'm not big on clothes and have been wearing the same things that I bought in school! I also just bought a bunch of undies, some of which are still in the pack so I should be good for a while xD 
My LISA can act as my emergency fund, I'll take a hit on the withdrawal fee but if I'm desperate it's there. Otherwise I don't really have any other options, I can't keep living at home forever anyway! 
I don't go on holiday even when we were able to so that's not a problem. 

Like I said, I've grown up poor so i'm used to not having these things. 

I have all of my bed stuff, I've bought a lot of kitchen stuff from when I was at university - there are a few things I would need but I can accumulate those before I move in (I'm looking at a September moving date). I'm more concerned about monthly expenses as I can get bits and bobs from family and/or Next Door where sometimes people give things away that they don't need anymore.

Brie

Some things will be ongoing - haircuts?

Some will be one offs - Appliances?  Hoover?  Toaster?  Kettle?  Furniture??  Bed linen and towels.  Maybe apply for a "0% purchases for 12 months" card to help you budget on this.

You might use more petrol if you visit home or might need more entertainment budget should your sister start to visit frequently.  

Food budget isn't normally just food - walk yourself around a super market and think about all the things you need to buy to get set up - salt, spices, jam, toilet paper, dish soap.  Your first shop will be massive.

Contents insurance shouldn't be massive - check on one of the compare sites based on an estimate of all the things you will own in your new place.  All the pots and pans, furniture, tv, pc, clothes to get a value.  It's surprising how quickly it can add up.  When we were burgled I thought I should claim £100 for the earrings that disappeared but then I thought about each specific pair, silver at say £15 each and I had about 30 pairs so suddenly we're at £450!  £20k is easy in a flat.

All very exciting for you!!  I loved moving out!!!

thegreenone

Go onto one of the comparison sites.  It shouldn't be much more than £80pa for contents insurance.

You can find/ask for free kitchen equipment/cutlery/plates on Freecycle/Freegle or local FB sites.  You need to collect it but perhaps keep in the boot of your car, if you don't want family to know of your plans.  You can also find beds, wardrobes, sofas etc. but you will need a man-with-a-van.  Large supermarkets are good places for linen, duvets etc.

My youngest son did a flat share with his best friend for a year (not what you want, I know) but he managed on a lot less than you earn.  You sound very organised and I wish you all the best on finding your new home.

bigolsausage

Brie said:

Some things will be ongoing - haircuts?

Some will be one offs - Appliances?  Hoover?  Toaster?  Kettle?  Furniture??  Bed linen and towels.  Maybe apply for a "0% purchases for 12 months" card to help you budget on this.

You might use more petrol if you visit home or might need more entertainment budget should your sister start to visit frequently.  

Food budget isn't normally just food - walk yourself around a super market and think about all the things you need to buy to get set up - salt, spices, jam, toilet paper, dish soap.  Your first shop will be massive.

Contents insurance shouldn't be massive - check on one of the compare sites based on an estimate of all the things you will own in your new place.  All the pots and pans, furniture, tv, pc, clothes to get a value.  It's surprising how quickly it can add up.  When we were burgled I thought I should claim £100 for the earrings that disappeared but then I thought about each specific pair, silver at say £15 each and I had about 30 pairs so suddenly we're at £450!  £20k is easy in a flat.

All very exciting for you!!  I loved moving out!!!

Thank you! All things I hadn't thought of. 

Let's see... 
I get my haircut every .... year? Longer? My aunt does it for me £10 or so... I should really look after my hair more though. I cut it myself over lockdown, not doing that again! 

Appliances yes, hoover, toaster, kettle - all things I don't have and would need. I have lots of bed linen and towels (I buy all those myself now anyway). 

The petrol is for when I visit home, Reading (if you don't know) is HORRIBLE for driving and the flat I'm looking at is close to the town centre. I also work from home so don't have to commute either. 

I've bought a lot of my own spices and cupboard foods already as my mum has a pretty bland palette and doesn't use them. But yes cleaning products etc. Again, I'm not too worried on things I'd need as one off purchases at the beginning as I have a BIG family who can help give things they don't need. I have a month of so to get that sorted too and I'm not afraid to microwave my tea for a month or so if necessary xD 

Ok thanks. Yes I'd have 2 laptops, TV etc which are my most expensive items. I'll have a google. 

Thanks for your help. It's looking like more a fantasy than reality now. How does anyone afford all of this alone?! 

bigolsausage

thegreenone said:

Go onto one of the comparison sites.  It shouldn't be much more than £80pa for contents insurance.

You can find/ask for free kitchen equipment/cutlery/plates on Freecycle/Freegle or local FB sites.  You need to collect it but perhaps keep in the boot of your car, if you don't want family to know of your plans.  You can also find beds, wardrobes, sofas etc. but you will need a man-with-a-van.  Large supermarkets are good places for linen, duvets etc.

My youngest son did a flat share with his best friend for a year (not what you want, I know) but he managed on a lot less than you earn.  You sound very organised and I wish you all the best on finding your new home.

Thank you! Luckily, I have a man with a van (my boyfriend) so he should be able to help! 

I own my own bed, mattress and desk so I have that covered. Technically I bought our sofa's too but I'll leave those for my family :P My bed is an ottoman so I can keep my clothes in there until I get some money for a wardrobe if I can't find one. The flat I'm viewing this week is part-furnished so I believe the wardrobe is included, but no sofa. Not a problem, I'm sure someone somewhere is giving away a sofa for free/cheap! I also have an airfryer that's mine too and I've just remembered we have an old hot water machine (I have no idea what it is but it heats water up for tea) so there's my kettle problem semi-solved. 

I would flat share if I had friends! I've hinted to my boyfriend but we haven't been together long enough. I'm hoping this is a temporary solution for about a year or so, then we can get somewhere together and halve the bills! 

Thanks again for your help, my list is growing but I'm lucky I have a lot of people around me who can help.

bigolsausage

Thanks for everyone’s help! 

sammyjammy

Go for it, sounds like you have everything covered, you can pick up pretty cheap appliances these days.  Do you need the car if you are WFH and living in the city centre?  Could you get public transport to visit family.

Good luck, I am sure you will love it