Help with cost of living

[MrsMidnight]

PMSL, forgot about that.

Yes my bedroom at home is a 'Gallery bedroom' for any of the oldies that know what one of those is... I have a slight lack of 1 wall & the stairs go through my room... As I said, I spend 99% of my time in Swaffham at Ambers... for obvious reasons..

Been caught 'avin a wank or during sexy times then? hahahahaaaa

[C.A.R.]

Cheers guys been really helpful. This is what I've come up with so far...
Car insurance - £100 / month (will be half this in September)
Fuel - £150 / month
Credit cards / direct debits - £80 / month

So factor in rent - £700 / month
Council tax - £75 - £100 / month
Other household bills - £100 / month

Fecking expensive. My girlfriend will get benefits for having just lost her job, but she'll also get a child benefit when baby arrives (I think).

As for rainy day money, I have a savings account which currently gets £100 a month paid in, probably end up reducing this to £50 I think. Girlfriends dad is a mechanic so will fix the car for peanuts and gets parts at trade prices so that's all good.

The scary bits are what babies cost. They need so much stuff!

[MrsMoonstone]

The scary bits are what babies cost. They need so much stuff!

Let me know what your experience is of this when the time comes, so I can start budgeting before I decide to stop the pill...

[Jonny b]

Yep and they don't get any cheaper either bud lol, depending on what you earn you should be able to get working family tax credit as well

[burnmw]

Just to echo what others have said really, those values look about right. Me and the GF have rented for just over 2 years, and have just bought our own place 6months ago.

Rented - 2 bed end of terrace in a "nice" end of a rough town.
Rent - £495
Clowncil tax - £95
Water - £18
Gas/Electric - £92 (averaged out as we paid quarterly. The house was quite drafty as the previous tenants had removed all the doors downstairs to give an "open plan" feel...)
TV License - £12.37
Phone/TV/BB - £40 (Virgin bundle)
Insurance - £10 (remember, you only really need contents insurance for rental, BUT it can be more expensive)
Car - Tax/Insurance/MOT/Service/parts etc - ???
Shopping - £160 (but obviously with little one on the way...) Also don't forget YOU are responsible for everything else, not just food - Cleaning products (bathroom/kitchen/general), laundry stuff, bog roll/soaps/toiletries etc.
Mobile contracts - ???
Other direct debits.

We were quite lucky, they originally asked for 8 weeks as a deposit, but they messed us around slightly so we made them reduce it to 5 (we tried for 4, but they agreed on 5), which helped with the initial cost. Don't forget if you are moving in to unfurnished all of the initial costs, and it's not just the big things, don't forget things like plates/pots/pans/cutlery/toilet brush/bins/washing up bowl - they all add up quite quickly. Not to mention your first 2/3 food shops will be more expensive than normal as you will have NOTHING. Again it's the little things that get forgotten, luxury items you didn't realise were luxuries! - Tins of stuff/sauces (HP/ketchup/salad creme/mayo/etc/etc) /snacks/cling film/aluminium foil/etc.

We did an initial shop at Wilkinsons for general household stuff, then 2 big shops at ASDA for the food items etc.

Having just bought our own place our bills are very similar, only real difference being we are now paying more on some things as we have moved to a much nicer area, and have a 3-bed semi:
Mortgage - £520
TV/Phone/BB - £50 (Sky package)
Clowncil tax - £115
Insurance - £18/month I think?

One last thing, don't forget initial set up fees, some places do charge them, mainly for TV/phone/BB packages, usually around £30-50.

Sorry for the essay, but I hope it helps. This is the sort of information I was looking for before I moved out but couldn't really find any "real world" examples of.

[stevobeavo]

I bought a house in November.

We get by with taking a combined wage of just over £2000.

But looking through here there's already been some great advice. The thing I didnt factor in when doing a plan was all the household cleaning products and 'Lady' products. There f*cking expensive and for what I can see doesn't make her look any more attractive....

[318d4n]

I bought a house in November.

We get by with taking a combined wage of just over £2000.

But looking through here there's already been some great advice. The thing I didnt factor in when doing a plan was all the household cleaning products and 'Lady' products. There f*cking expensive and for what I can see doesn't make her look any more attractive....

I take it your GF doesn't go on here then

[lewisdmz]

Will work it out properly later but £50 on the key meter (electric) lasts us about 6 weeks.

Last quarter on the gas bill (over winter) was £112 but the quarter before that was only £62.

No idea what the water was

Broadband with BT is £37 a month but that's only because we can't get Virgin (would be half that if we could).

Food is about £35 each a week.

You can save a hell of a lot on bills by being stingy, if I lived on my own i'd MTFU and just wear loads of layers around the house etc but girls generally aren't so keen on that and what it to be 'warm' inside.

I'd guess your bills will be quite high if there's going to be someone at home all day every day using electricity and gas etc.

I would skip letting agents and go straight to the landlord for our next flat. OK you should get better service if stuff breaks as most of them will have on-call plumbers/handy men etc but imo it's not worth the fee's you have to pay.

[Kezzieboy]

My food bill rarely goes above £25/week lol, cooking all your shit with Aldi ingredients, from scratch, FTW.

[Jonny b]

f*cking £25 a week!!

We do around £150/200 lol

[Toms306]

f*cking £25 a week!!

We do around £150/200 lol

Greedy bugger! :o

[Niall]

f*cking £25 a week!!

We do around £150/200 lol

Greedy bugger! :o

Was that the week dum dum made bacon sandwiches at yours? Haha

[Jonny b]

Ha ha no just the usual! They were epic sarnies though

[Toms306]

Ha ha no just the usual! They were epic sarnies though

Tbf though, you have a wife, dogs and 2(?) kids whereas Kez probably just feeds himself. £25 is still good though, I buy most of my food although I still live at home and that comes to about £35 a week.

[Jonny b]

3 kids and that don't include feeding the 4 dogs that's another £50 a week lol

[THE_Liam]

I can feed me and Gen for a month on £120, but my dads mate is a wholesale butcher, I can get a kilo of chicken breast fillets for £2.80 or a kilo of steak mince for £3.00

[cully]

per month

£15 life insurance
£12.50 tv liscence
£15.88 boiler insurance
£68 electric
£290 morgage
£100 morgage overpayment
£200 savings to a seperate account
£15 broadband
£25 Bt phone
£35 water
£125 council tax
£32 car insurance
fuel x2 cars + running costs
£100-130 week food bill
Visa bill for ebay purchaces and onlin shopping

other things paid out yearly
2nd car insurance
car tax x1
car tax x1
house buildings/contents insurance


probably other stuff too but cant remember