Getting my own place, budgeting

Woden

Woden

Woden

Soldato
Joined
7 Mar 2011
Posts
6,859
Location
Oldham, Lancashire
As the title really.

Most of the costs are obvious and easy to find. But I am struggling to figure out utility bills. Gas, electric and water. I know I can't get an exact price, but just an estimate would be nice! I can round it up and add it to my list of people that want money.

Also, anything else I am missing? I earn just over £20k before (copious amounts of) overtime, should be easy to do. Rent near work is only around £500 a month.

Rent
Shopping
Council tax
TV Licence
Interwebs/TV/Phone package
Contents insurance
 
Water - You can probably get off the water company website for an estimate
Gas and electric - I spend 65 a month currently for gas and electric 3 bed semi-d 2 people.
Deposit for house/flat
 
gman1981 said:
Water - You can probably get off the water company website for an estimate
Gas and electric - I spend 65 a month currently for gas and electric 3 bed semi-d 2 people.
Deposit for house/flat
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

That's about what I would have, I'm hoping for a 2 bed terrace.
Deposit and admin fees are saved for, I'm more worried about ongoing costs
 
What you could do is maybe setup a direct debit with the gas/electric company?

They can do an estimate over the phone based on a series of questions they will ask about devices in your house/washing machine routines etc and they will provide a direct debit amount per month you will pay.

That stays static for maybe 2/3 months and then based on your real usage they work out a new amount.

Once they do that you would probably be safe to go onto monthly/quarterly bills as you will know roughly what you will use.

I did this when I moved into my current place and it worked out quite well as I was put on a monthly direct debit of £28 for electric and £18 for gas, and then after 3 months they reduced it to £21 electric and £15 gas and then I moved onto proper monthly bills which is pretty much the same. These amounts also don't change throughout the duration of the time regardless of how much gas/electric you use.

For the rest, like shopping, I made a meal plan per day in between pay days for the first few months and then I stopped doing it as it always worked out around the same amount.

I still budget like crazy even though, financially, I don't need too anymore but it helps a lot, especially when its your first place. :)
 
Last edited:
Woden said:
As the title really.

Most of the costs are obvious and easy to find. But I am struggling to figure out utility bills. Gas, electric and water. I know I can't get an exact price, but just an estimate would be nice! I can round it up and add it to my list of people that want money.

Also, anything else I am missing? I earn just over £20k before (copious amounts of) overtime, should be easy to do. Rent near work is only around £500 a month.

Rent
Shopping
Council tax
TV Licence
Interwebs/TV/Phone package
Contents insurance
Click to expand...

I live a few miles away from you (Tameside) in a 2 bed terrace so my bills should be pretty similar to yours:

Water - £300 a year (I pay over 10 months rather than 12)
Gas + Electric - £50 a month (slight overpayment)
Council Tax - £710 a year (that's with single person discount - full price is £950) It's Band A and I would expect a 2 bed terrace in Oldham to be Band A as well.
TV License - £145 a year
Contents insurance - £180 a year
Interwebs/TV/Phone package - is whatever you want. I have sky with everything for £89 a month
 
Water depends on where you live. Get a meter fitted, especially if you are a single occupier.

Lived in house with someone else - water rates = £400 with meter
Lived in apartment on my own = £750 with no meter (2 miles away).

Electric and gas combined was £60 a month in but I ended up with lots of credit when I moved from the apartment. I worked a 60 hour week and was away most weekends.
 
I put away £850 a month into an account which pays all the bills, then I have a credit card for petrol and food and all other things, which is usually ~£400 a month, which is paid off every month in full.

This is for a mortgaged 3 bed semi, but some of the things on my spreadsheet should help you with your budgetting...

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The gas, electric and water are all estimates at the moment, but that is what I'm currently paying, I fully expect all of them to reduce after a review, as I haven't been using as much as that at all, not even during the winter.
 
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