Budget for teenager's 1st house?

mary43

Not sure if I''m on the right board or not but I wondered if somewhere on this site there is a budgeting sheet that would suit an 17 year old who's thinking of moving out and renting/sharing a small terraced house.
I've looked at Martins budget sheet but it looks too complicated for this particular boy to understand.
He just needs to work out the basics...........electric/gas/council tax/insurance (minimum), mobile phone etc. and the 'extras' like clothes and spending money (if he has any left!)

He's only just got a job and is getting a bit carried away with car purchase as well and I've tried to explain the cost of running a car (tax, insurance etc.) but not being a driver I'm clutching at straws a bit) and really I'm trying to put him off that idea until he gets settled..........if, and its a big if, he does decide to leave home.

Any help will be appreciated. (I won't be around for the rest of this evening so any replies won't be picked up till tomorrow)

twinklyspecialkag

I dont have a budget sheet but can give you a rough idea of how much our bills are in a small two bed terrace in suffolk if that would help?? Its so easy to get carried away.....im always shocked once i get to the till at tesco as to how much ive spent!! Ive only recently moved out and its been quite a learning curve lol.

vaio

not sure about the food etc but at 17 you can reckon a grand or two for car insurance

freda

Car costs to consider are:

- road tax - depends on size of engine etc. You should be able to get an accurate quote online.

- insurance - massively high for a new driver. Put details into something like moneysupermarket.co.uk and see what figures come up.

- MOT - if I recall correctly, this is £50 or so but that is without any repair work required.

- maintenance - not a set amount, obviously. You need to make an estimate of the annual amount based on the age of the car (i.e. if it is older, are things like the cam belt, gear etc going to go) and the general repairs (like new tyres, windscreen wipers etc). I think there is a site called something like honestjohn.co.uk that gives a good run down of the common faults of various makes and models of cars that you could use to help with this.


- Petrol - stupidly high at the moment. We run a family car which costs over £50 for less than 400 miles. Just running aruond town eats up more petrol than you may think.

- Roadside recovery service - Optional, but useful. Read the articel on this site to get a quote.

- Car parking - seemingly insignificant maybe, but parking for a couple of quid a time at the shopping centre say, twice a week, will cost you £4 per week - £16 per month - almost £200 per year.

Saving up for a replacement car. Even if you reckon your current car has, say 10 years life in it, you'll still need to replace it after that time. If you reckon you'll spend £5k on a car in 10 years time, you need to save £42 per month for 10 years to have the money in the end.


For all of these costs, you need to work out the annual cost, then divide by 12. Set up a direct debit the day after pay day to take this amount out of your account and into a savings account for when it is needed. Your son will need the will power not to touch this money for anything except what it is meant for, though....

Other costs he needs to budget for (summarised from http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html )

Rent....................................
Management charge (leasehold flat)......
Council tax.............................
Electricity.............................
Gas.....................................
Water rates.............................
Telephone (land line)...................
Mobile phone............................
TV Licence..............................
Satellite/Cable TV......................
Internet Services.......................
Groceries etc. .........................
Clothing................................
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc)....
Contents insurance......................
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)......
Haircuts................................
Entertainment...........................
Holiday.................................
Emergency fund..........................

He needs to check that he doesn't miss out on saving for things like
xmas, birthdays, clothes etc - espeically on a low income they need to
be saved for, a little each month, for when they are needed.

MRS_TO_BE_2

Think Freda has covered it. I left home young and never really budgeted hence the state of affairs now. Its great you are helping him.

anguk

If he does move out I would say a houseshare would be his best option as it's cheaper. If he rents by himself he'll be liable for the full rent, utility bills, council tax etc but with a houseshare all the bills are normally included in with the rent. My son houseshares and pays about £350 a month, that's with all the bills included, obviously he has his food and other living expenses on top of that. The prices for renting or housesharing will depend on the house and whereabouts you live.

Just had a thought, he might find it quite hard to rent a place by himself if he's only 17, I may be wrong but I'd think most landlords would prefer over 18's.

hustle90

anguk wrote: »

If he does move out I would say a houseshare would be his best option as it's cheaper. If he rents by himself he'll be liable for the full rent, utility bills, council tax etc but with a houseshare all the bills are normally included in with the rent. My son houseshares and pays about £350 a month, that's with all the bills included, obviously he has his food and other living expenses on top of that. The prices for renting or housesharing will depend on the house and whereabouts you live.

Just had a thought, he might find it quite hard to rent a place by himself if he's only 17, I may be wrong but I'd think most landlords would prefer over 18's.

I'd also imagine that unless he knows the landlord very well, he's not going to be able to rent as he cannot legally sign a contract until he's 18. Any contract he does sign is not valid, therefore landlords do not want under 18's renting their apartments.

lady_stardust

I would second the advice given by anguk. When I was younger I rented a room in a shared house (the house was owned by the parents of my housemate, and between us we paid the mortgage, bills etc). This was 6 years ago in Chichester, and I paid £270 a month with all bills included. It was an uncomplicated way of learning to budget, whereas being responsible for the actual renting of a property was much more complicated. It was a lot of fun too!

The best way to find these is in the local paper.

mary43

Thank you all for your help.

It is a house share he's considering and the other lad is 18..........I don't know much about the other boy except that he's working and am a bit concerned about the security element of the house being in the other boys name..........means any kind of fall out between them could make him homeless I suspect.

I'm trying to talk him out of it to be honest - particularly as he's only just started his current job and his employment record is very up and down.

Many thanks again for your help. I'll print out the budget list given and go through it with him. He may just think again, especially as far as the car is concerned.

seven-day-weekend

Our son house-shares our house in the UK with two other young men and as mentioned above, I include all the bills in the rent.