First home - how much money should my bills be?

knip

knip

knip

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Somewhere in Bristol
About to move into my first home (HUZZAH!) which is due to complete in the next couple of weeks.

Have lived at home with the parents for 3 years after living on my own for 5, but my bills were all included in my rent in that place.

So i've never paid a utility bill in my life. :eek:

Am gonna set up direct debits for the bills, there is no gas in the flat I am buying, its a virtually new build and everything is electric. Would like everything going out in regular amounts as its only me paying the bills and I don't want any nasty surprises.

Mortgage £380
Council tax (with single person discount) £75
Broadband/phone/tv £88 (for everything)
Mobile phone bill £40
DFS sofa £24

My sister reckons her and her husband have a £40 a month DD for their electric which means they are usually a bit in credit at the end of a year. I was thinking that as I have no gas and everything is electric, I should aim for about this much.

How much is water for a single person likely to cost me a month?

Tell me if i've forgotten anything? :)
 
Powerful computer? Will it be on much?
We use more than £40, depends on electric shower usage, also on oven usage.
Is you heating electric or oil? If it is electric it'll cost loads in winter, and virtually nothing in summer. Plan for a shock, if there is a cold winter.
Insurances you haven't costed at all.
Have you a life insurance policy?
 
I would budget fair bit more for electric, massively overpay in summer.
The difference is bad enough with gas, let alone electric heating.


poker_999 said:
do not set up direct debits for your utility bills. Just pay the bill manually at the end of the month/quarter.
Click to expand...
Bad Idea get hit by a massive bill, for what 1p profit in interest if that. Just keep on top of it and enter meter readings online,
 
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If your all electric, ide aim for more than £40 pm just to be on the safe side, as for water, mines £428 per year so call it £40 per month as well as i don't know what your local provider is like bills wise.
 
My costs for a 3 bed semi are approx

£30pm electric inc use of tumble drier
£50pm Gas for heating and hot water.
Water £35
TV Lic £30pm for 5 months then £12pm thereafter
BT line rental £15
Broadband £17
Contents and building ins £16
Council Tax £115
Mortgage £560
Petrol £140
shopping £160
All adds up
 
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I moved into my first home about a year ago, and over the year I've been keeping a budget planner so I'll show you what I'm spending. Bare in mind that I'm living with my girlfriend so things like food would be cheaper if you're by yourself. All these prices are per month for a 2 bed semi in the south east.

Council tax: 148.10
TV License: 12.13
Gas + Electricty: 47.00
Water supply: 6.99
Water disposal : 25.21
Phone (line rental and calls) + Broadband :25.00
Home/Contents Insurance: 20.22
Life insurance: 20.98
Car insurance: 37.05
Car tax: 10.83
Lovefilm: 5.99
Gym: 12.00
Groceries: 225.10 (average)
Petrol: 58.93 (average)
Total: ~£650

Then on top of that you've got one offs like nights out, holidays, gifts, toys for yourself as well.

And moving in for the first time you'll probably spend quite a wedge on new furniture, unless you can take a lot with you. It adds up very quickly.

Hope this helps :)
 
Most people forget clothes from the budget. That applies to everyone, not just people who buy clothes every month by the bucket fall.
 
Oh, just saw you said a flat. Then you may have to pay a service charge as well. I though this was only on rented flats, but a friend just bought a flat in Chiswick and pay nearly £100p/m in service charges :eek:
 
Thanks everybody. Will up the amount for the electric then and add about £40 for the water.
Tv license had forgotten that.
Furniture I have pretty much everything from my flat before, it's just been in boxes in the parents garage. My friend is selling me a book case, coffee table and tv unit for £60. I've got the sofa on HP, I need to buy a fridge freezer (and a shed) which I have saved for and have already budgeted for.
I need to sort out contents and life insurance.
The service charge is teeny weeny thankfully (£6 a year) its a criss cross lease.
Car tax has just been bought for another year. Will save up for that, same with insurance for the car (due in October)
Clothes, I have an absolute bucket load, and need to be sensible on that front.
The price for the Internet etc is with virgin and includes line rental (plus I sadly can't live without my sports and movies)
 
Just got my first electricity bill there last week having moved in to my new apartment two months ago and it was less than my phone/broadband over the same period.

In saying that I've been really monitoring everything as much as possible to try and track my energy usage.
 
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