on your own

PJJones

Hi - Im planning on moving into a flat but i'm a bit worried about the costs.

I currently live at home with parents. I have one loan payment going out each month and I run a car.

The rent of the place im looking at is £350 p/m, and is council tax band A (in Darlington). It'll just be me myself and I, so I should get the sole occupancy reduction (or whatever its called).

What I'm looking for is some kind of idea from people in a similar situation (living in a small two up two down, terraced house living on your own) as to how much its going to cost for things like Gas, Electricity and Water per month.

The things I have thought of so far are:

Council Tax - (Band A / 12)
Gas ?
Electric ?
Water ?
Mobile is pay as you go so no monthly contract
Petrol ~£45 p/m
Food (dont eat that much tbh but still not sure how to work out the costs) ?
Landline/Broadband - not essential but preferred


Can anyone help with figures or list things I might not have thought about yet?


Thanks a lot!
Peter

PasturesNew

As a rough rule of thumb, set aside a minimum of £175/month for the basic house bills.

I've always lived alone. When I owned a house the bills were about £250/month. Now I am renting a bedsit.

My costs are:

£45 - Council Tax (band A): including single person's 25% discount
£25 - Electricity*
£30 - Water**
£12 - Contents Insurance - can't remember exactly, will edit later
£12 - TV License:
£18 - Broadband
£12 - Landline
£9 - mobile phone (PAYG)
£0 - Sky/subscription TV (I don't have these)
===
£163

*I only have a fan heater for heating, and am at home all day so this winter this figure might rocket, but I am studying/working from home so have to keep it on as hiding under a duvet isn't an option

** Water rates are fixed as the flat is on water rates, meter not an option

Also think about:
- Transport to work
- Transport for social
- Holidays
- Presents for birthdays
- Food - keep an eye on how much you're spending on eating out (sandwiches bought for lunch, chinese takeaway, random bottles of wine)

I spend about £10/week on food. But I am notoriously "tight". As a single person it's difficult to cook for one. If you don't have a freezer (I don't) it isn't practical to bulk cook or bulk buy. Maybe set aside £100/month for the first month, then try to keep cutting down month on month until you've got food expenditure under control.

For car running costs, you know what these are for your car already. But list when the big bills will come, which months, then budget that across the 12 months (or for this first time, work it out across the number of months between now and when the big bills are due)

Keep an eye on your "joy spending" - the tat you are tempted to buy for your new home. Rugs, lamps, kitchen appliances, etc etc. It's amazing how it adds up when a can opener that looks nice can cost £5 or more.

Good luck!

eco-friendly_2

I spend about £10/week on food. But I am notoriously "tight".

Hmmm, can't get many visitors then, 'BLAZING SADDLES' kinda springs to mind.:eek:

PasturesNew

eco-friendly wrote: »

Hmmm, can't get many visitors then, 'BLAZING SADDLES' kinda springs to mind.:eek:

Nope. No visitors. Room isn't big enough for visitors.
With the money I save on renting a 1-bed flat, plus increased council tax, insurance and heating (about £150/month), I figure if I ever have a 'special visitor' that it's time for a spot of luxury at a hotel to be honest!!

Much more enjoyable use of the cash. You can only spend it once. Get the most from each £ that you can.

... but I am not familiar with blazing saddles. I have no memory for films about 10 minutes after I've watched them .... so what's the story/laugh?

wherediditallgo

PasturesNew wrote: »

I spend about £10/week on food. But I am notoriously "tight". As a single person it's difficult to cook for one. If you don't have a freezer (I don't) it isn't practical to bulk cook or bulk buy.

£10pw? I would love to see your menus. I know I couldn't cope with only £10pw on food unless I was on a benefit like JSA (I spend at least £3pw on fruit alone), but I'm certainly open to info on cutting back. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post details here.

eco-friendly_2

Hi P. N

It's a film about cowboys, in one scene they are sitting around a campfire eating BEANS ' and they're all letting it rip' .

Seriously though, the fact you can feed yourself for a 'tenner' is truly amazing, heavy guilt trip for me, and many others.

PasturesNew

wherediditallgo wrote: »

£10pw? I would love to see your menus. I know I couldn't cope with only £10pw on food unless I was on a benefit like JSA (I spend at least £3pw on fruit alone), but I'm certainly open to info on cutting back. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post details here.

Head over to the Old Style Board for the ways others keep the bills low.
Although you will find most do it by batch cooking, freezing, growing their own. I can't do any of those.

I lead a single lifestyle, which means food is erratic.

Today I had cheese on toast and a bowl of bran flakes and sultanas. But that's exceptional.

I buy meat once a week: mince or sausages - depending on which is the best offer that week. Not the nastiest/cheapest ones, but one up from that. Had some great sausages from Somerfield the other day. Cumberlands. Pack of 8 for £2, but a BOGOF. So 16 lovely sausages for £2. Or 12.5p each. 16 sausages is meat for 8 meals.

Mince always becomes a 4-portion chilli. A chilli is only made of: mince, onion, kidney beans chilli powder, cheapest tinned tomatoes. I don't chuck in the pricier things that would make it expensive (wine, peppers).

I don't buy: crisps, biscuits, cakes, wine, alcohol, flowers, expensive bread, real coffee.... or 1001 other things I see in people's trolleys.

The only fruit I buy is bananas - when I spot them cheap (35-38p/pound). So about once a month.

I am not on a budget, I can afford to eat whatever I like. I get joy from keeping my food budget low.

Cheese/potato/onion pie is a favourite of mine too. I buy good mature cheddar when it's dirt cheap (BOGOF) and spuds at about £1.60 for 2.5Kg are easy to come by. Served with baked beans: 1/3rd of a can, supermarket own brand with less salt/sugar when they're in a pack of 4 for about 97p.

It all adds up!

PasturesNew

eco-friendly wrote: »

Hi P. N

It's a film about cowboys, in one scene they are sitting around a campfire eating BEANS ' and they're all letting it rip' .

Seriously though, the fact you can feed yourself for a 'tenner' is truly amazing, heavy guilt trip for me, and many others.

Typical man (rip)

Head over to the Old Style Board for hundreds of ways to reduce your grocery bill. An eye-opener is to start a detailed spending diary at http://www.spendingdiary.com - it's free. Invent categories to track and religiously enter everything you buy.

I use it to ensure I keep on track. I initially used the categories of:
Food - this is food brought into the house to make things myself
FoodOut - any food I bought out, so anything at/for work lunch like a supermarket sandwich through to a pub lunch with a friend or even a hotdog at a fairground
WorkDrinks - we had to buy coffee from a canteen where I was working
Drinks - Drinks I brought into the house (jars of coffee, cans of drink)

After just the first week I spotted a couple of trends to change.

1) I found I had got through 18 cans of Pepsi Max in just 5 days! Next time I was out I bought (3 for £2) three 2.5 litres of squash. Still going strong on that 7 weeks later.

2) Coffee at work at 30p/cup was adding up. £2 flask at Asda and I took hot water and my own pot of coffee. Saved a fortune there!

Because I was keeping the spendingdiary it really highlighted these things that might not have been so glaringly obvious.

It's easy to forget things you've bought/eaten and to fool yourself over how much you really pay for food.

I had a friend who said her weekly food for her and her bf was £20. She was proud of that. On further investigation, it appeared (she couldn't see that these counted) ... she was ONLY counting her food at Farm Foods once a week. Not the trip she then did the M&S for a couple of goodies; not the 2 takeaways a week they were eating; not the food she/her bf bought at work canteens. It's easy for people to fool themselves.


Good luck

lynzpower

Me & OH and dog do about 30pw but we were doing 25 when we were hardcore debt busting. Plenty of "finest" and organics in there, its not difficult if you keep an eye on what you are spending.

wherediditallgo

PasturesNew, thanks for posting that - you're eating cheaply but healthily, & well done on doing it. I do a lot of batch cooking, so I do make considerable savings that way. I did the spending diary some months ago, & was both shocked & annoyed at how much money I'd wasted. Since then, there's been no more waste on:

• Cappuccinos from the cafe - I either get the £1 packs of cappuccino cups from Poundland or do without.
• Shop croissants, bread, buns or coleslaw - I make my own using my breadmaker, & freeze the extra.
• Veg from the supermarket - I get mine from the market (where I can get a huge bowl of each product for £1), then freeze them. Fruit comes from the market too.
• Meat - only go for the BOGOF deals, then freeze what I won't be using straight away.
• Fish/meat pies - make my own in a loaf tin, slice them into portion sizes when they're cold then freeze them.
• Fizzy drinks - absolute waste of money. I buy a 2L-bottle of sugar-free cordial, then dilute it to carry to work.

Back to the OP.

I think everyone's managed to list pretty much everything you need to cover. Try to put aside at least £40pm for the first few months towards unforeseen expenses. If you move in winter, your first heating bill is likely to be higher than it will be during the rest of the year, so allow for that - it's in winter when you'll notice any condensation/draughts. When you first move in, you'll buy the little bits that turn a house into a home (things like cushions, side lamps, pictures). Allow yourself a certain amount per month for those things rather than go loopy in one month, & take advantage of any sales. Good luck.

dannyboycey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I figure if I ever have a 'special visitor' that it's time for a spot of luxury at a hotel to be honest!!

Alan Partridge. :rotfl: