Thoughts on budget? Potentially buying alone, how do you manage?

blue.peter

RWinter1993 said:

Not going to worry with a TV licence as I don't watch bbc.

Not watching BBC is an irrelevance. The TV licence funds the BBC, but you're required to have a licence if you use a TV at all. For watching anything.

TV Licensing are pretty nasty. They start from a presumption that every house has a TV and therefore must have a licence. I had a dreadful time with them when I didn't own a TV for a few years (in the mid-1980s). They wouldn't leave me alone even after I told them - in writing - that I didn't have a TV.

When I bought this house in 2010, it had been empty for a few months. The day I moved in, I had a fellow turn up on my doorstep demanding to know why I didn't have a TV licence. (In fact, this was pure incompetence on their part. I'd actually notified them of my change of address, and the date of it, three weeks earlier. And they'd acknowledged the fact by e-mail. But the house was in utter chaos, with next to nothing unpacked at the time, so I couldn't prove that I did have a current TV licence on the spot. And the man just wouldn't go away. That was a pretty unpleasant experience.)

So if you have a TV but no licence, you should expect to get a hard time from them, whether or not you watch BBC.

wmb194

blue.peter said:

RWinter1993 said:

Not going to worry with a TV licence as I don't watch bbc.

Not watching BBC is an irrelevance. The TV licence funds the BBC, but you're required to have a licence if you use a TV at all. For watching anything. 

No, it's if you watch live TV or use iPlayer. If you only watch e.g., Netflix and YouTube you don't need one.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/tv-licence/

RWinter1993

I've never had a tv licence since moving away from home. Other than a few threatening letters its never been an issue so far

ZeroSum

blue.peter said:

kaMelo said:

If these are monthly amounts I'd suggest your gas/electric and water are optimistically low, possibly house insurance too. 

Definitely agree regarding gas, electricity and water.

I'm a single man living in a three-bed semi, and I pay £55/month for water & sewerage and £280/month for gas and electricity. Having said that:

1. I'm retired, so I spend a lot more time at home than someone who's working; and
2. I'm well aware that my house ain't cheap to heat.

My home insurance (buildings and contents) is about £120/year. However, it was roughly double that when I lived in a flat and the building was insured through a communal policy.

 My internet costs me about £25/month, but that's for a new(ish) contract. ISPs practice dual pricing: that is, they penalise loyal customers. New customers get much better rates. Shop around, unless you're already contractually bound to your existing ISP.

 You might do a little better on mobile phone. I get mine for £7.50/month (Talkmobile).

Is your water on old rates?
My current water bill is £33 a month for 2 adults & a baby

For a single male living in a new build, £90 on energy is definitely doable (more so if not WFH) yes, possibly sexist but females do tend to complain about the cold more in my experience.

ZeroSum

RWinter1993 said:

Updated budget- based on a 5 week month so some months I might have surplus to hopefully top up my savings

Salary: £2130 take home a month 

£78 council tax (band B 25% discount)
£200 gas/electric (estimate)
£20 water (estimate)
£14 home insurance (estimate)
£37 internet (estimate)
£4.50 cat worming treatment
£10 mobile phone
£25 mandatory work fees
£8.17 mandatory work fees
£100 savings
£100 towards car mot/insurance
£10 presents/gifts
£200 food
£150 petrol
£18 haircut 
£5 dentist/optician 
£7 netflix?
£350 fun money for meals out, cinema, clothes, hobbies e.t.c (£70 a week)

=1336.67 

Looks like increasing bills and cutting the 'fun' fund gives me a similar figure that I would still round-up to £1400 a month to hopefully give some breathing room

Im going to stick to a stricter budget the next month or so and see if the fun fund is realistic

Playing with figures again today on a calculator I could borrow 150k for £725 a month repayment at 4.10% which would mean a budget of 215k for a house and leave me with 5k left over for an emergency fund which feels much less stressful 

Might be just about doable as long as house prices stay stable...  

I currently pay £160 a month for gas & electricity in a 3 bed semi new build. I WFH, OH on maternity so people in house during day, have a littlen that gets bathed every night, and a misses that spends far too long in shower.
With prices due to drop a bit in the summer and if your house is newish & we'll insulated, £100 a month will be enough 

Also, I'm sure you could halve your haircut costs. I know mine is half that.