Household bills, for a single person

jabber49

Hi, I have been living with parents for a few years now and am hoping to move out again soon. I was living on my own before the pandemic and inflation happened. As a result, I am not sure what my costs would be, if I were to move out again.
I am a single person, who is living in Derbyshire, East Midlands. Does anyone have any suggestions on what the price of paying utility bills might be? I can work out the council tax and rent easily enough, but don't really have a clue for the other bills. Also, what would be a sensible amount to pay out for groceries? Any suggestions would be greatly received. 
Thanks

DullGreyGuy

A google will show what "average" costs are but deviation from that can be massive. Electric heating is much more expensive than Gas.

How you are is a massive factor too... when you find a room a bit chilly do you 1) turn the thermostat up a bit to 25 or 2) put an extra jumper on and leave the thermostat at 9? Is Thursday night dinner Tesco Value Beans on Tesco Value Bread or a fillet steak with truffle butter, triple cooked chips and morel mushrooms?

How much some people spend on groceries for themselves is more than than some spend for a family of 4. 

xylophone

The likelihood is that you would be renting a one or two bedroomed flat? Have you checked on council tax?

The water would likely be on a meter so look up information on average usage on the Water Board's site.

Gas/electricity costs can be checked on and approximated by checking the sites operated by providers - for convenience you would

chose dual fuel?

You have checked on costs of phone/internet?

As well as food, you have cleaning materials and toiletries to buy.  Usually it works out cheaper to buy the larger sizes.

Will you have access to a freezer in the rented accommodation?

With regard to food, before you leave home, do a practice shop.

Make a list of all that you think you will need over a week/month as appropriate and see how much you have spent.

This should give you some idea?

Neil_Jones

jabber49 said:

Hi, I have been living with parents for a few years now and am hoping to move out again soon. I was living on my own before the pandemic and inflation happened. As a result, I am not sure what my costs would be, if I were to move out again.
I am a single person, who is living in Derbyshire, East Midlands. Does anyone have any suggestions on what the price of paying utility bills might be? I can work out the council tax and rent easily enough, but don't really have a clue for the other bills. Also, what would be a sensible amount to pay out for groceries? Any suggestions would be greatly received. 
Thanks

"Groceries" is a wide thing, it can be anything from a loaf of bread to alcohol to toilet paper.
Anyway you'll have a high outlet initially when you fill the cupboards with tins and dry food and beg/borrow/obtain a fridge/freezer or a fridge freezer to store it in, assuming you don't get one with this new property.

You'll probably have high initial outlets as well in other ways if you need to buy curtains, carpets, a bed, a bin, some furniture (living room, bedroom, maybe bathroom), a microwave, an oven, washing machine/dryer, a TV, maybe some more cupboards/storage, some supplementary electric heaters...  kitchen utensils (frying pan, baking trays, spoons etc) and some plates, cutlery, glasses, bowls, other accessories like washing up scourers, maybe a bowl and a drying rack (unless you get a dishwasher), vacuum cleaner...

Anyway monthly bills generally break down as follows:

Rent/Mortgage, Insurance (Contents and maybe buildings), Council Tax (make sure you claim your 25% discount if you do live on your own), Water, Gas/Electiricy, Internet, Entertainment (TV licence, Netflix, going out etc), any bank fees and then anything else you buy - food and what not, toilet paper, kitchen towel, cleaning products, etc.

Your gas/electricity will vary depending on usage and property type, but expect it to start at somewhere around £200 a month, dropping once your usage patterns come to the fore.

Budget for about £1000 a month for everything (assuming you won't need buildings insurance if you rent) for bills on an ongoing basis an see how you go from there.

Poet1291

A website that compares different places to live and breaks down some costs is The Earth Awaits. They include Derby https://www.theearthawaits.com/cost-of-living/in/derby/apartment1bedcitycenter/1/5bd495bb-b235-46e3-ae4e-f6c02e6d8530/ In summary, for a 1 bedroom apartment (£464-£603 monthly for outside/inside city centre), moving up to £650-£823 monthly for a 2 bedroom apartment. They estimate monthly utilities (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for an 85m² apartment to be £208. I'm not sure if they're including council tax for garbage. I know a few people who live in the south in 1 and 2 bedroom flats with all utilities (electricity + gas, water and council tax) for about £200. Internet is probably £20-30/month depending on what speed you get and if you negotiate or can get a promotional deal. If there is not a water meter on the property you move into, you can use a calculator to see if you would save money on a meter. Look at the MSE page for Cut your water bills and the consumer council for water's water meter calculator. You could also ask your parents to look at the water bill and divide the charge for the amount of water consumed by the number of people in the property plus the standing charge, for both sewage and water. When viewing prospective flats, you can ask the tenants what they currently pay for utilities and that will likely be similar. 

The Earth Awaits estimates £200 for a monthly grocery shop and £330 for other lifestyle expenses. I agree with the suggestion above about doing a practice shop. For it to be a reasonable estimate, offer to cook for the family 3-4 nights a week (if you're cooking for three this should be almost the same amount of food for one person) and get some breakfast food and snacks. This will give you an estimate of how much a weekly shop would be given what you like to eat and can cook. Try different grocery stores.

There will be some initial one off costs for setting up your flat such as deposit (typically 5 weeks rent), first month's rent and if you don't have stuff from when you previously lived alone. There could be furniture to buy, especially if it's unfurnished, and appliances like a kettle and a microwave. There are kitchen utensils, pots and pans and pantry staples like spices, oil and sauces etc. Your parents might have extras they can give you and you can get charity shops for kitchenware. Start with the basics and buy what you need when you need it.

If you have any friends living in similar circumstances that you plan to move into (location, property size etc.), ask them about their utilities and grocery spends. Sometimes people are uncomfortable talking about money, but as you're not asking what they make, it shouldn't be that uncomfortable. You can also look on spareroom to see what typical room costs are and either look for listings that don't include bills to see if they are stated in the description or subtract typical costs for a studio or 1 bedroom from listings that include bills for an estimate of bills.