Monthly outgoings

PeterNem

PeterNem

PeterNem

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
8,327
Location
NJ/NY, USA
Hi all,

I'm trying to budget for the kind of place I can afford to live based on my sallary when I graduate. I realise the following won't be particularly accurate, but should give me figures of roughly the right order of magnitude!

What would be ace is if anyone who lives in an "average" area with "average" consumption could give me a rough idea of what their household spends per month on:

Council tax
Contents insurance
Electricity
Gas
Water
Landline (just rental, minimal calls)

Odds are I'd be looking at a 2 or 3 bed semi in somewhere like St Albans if that haas much impact on things like council tax (this is one thing I might actually be able to find on the local govt website actually).

All my other expenses I can already predict quite accurately (tv liscence, car insurance/tax/servicing, petrol, mobile phone useage, food shopping etc etc).
 
I think you're doomed to fail with that approach. What is average to you might not be average to anyone else, and besides, I have serious doubts that a truly average household actually exists. For example, the average number of children per household isn't a whole number. :)

Your best option is to use sites like upmystreet.co.uk, uswitch.com, etc. to figure out some sensible numbers. :)
 
for a 4 bed terrace in london (sheperds bush so an ok area):

Gas £30
Electricity £30
Water £30
council tax band e ~£1400
telephone £11 plus £25 for internet

all per month excluding council tax

best hope is to look round a few places and ask the current owners about the bills they pay already.
 
For a 4 bed house in Ulcombe Gardens, Canterbury (OK-ish student area)

Gas: £15
Elec: £35
Council Tax: £100
Phone: £15
Internet: £40 (low contention (40:1) unlimited 2MB broadband signed up 2 years ago)
Water: £20
Sewage: £30
TV License: £10

Total: £265 pm
 
I live in a 2 bedroom flat with a mate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I'd say that it's an average area - not particularly posh or expensive, but certainly not a ****hole. The outgoings per month that you requested are as follows:

Council tax - £65
Contents insurance - £0 (Don't have any :o )
Electricity - £50
Gas - £0 (No gas in the flat - electric everything)
Water - £33
Landline (just rental, minimal calls) - £18

Every bill is then split in 2 between us so works out pretty cheap for me. It's the £275 rent we each have to pay that does me :p
 
Depends, could be a nice flat in town costing 150K ish to buy.

No offence intended dirtydog but you seem to be very confrontational and nagative in some of your posts.
 
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dirtydog said:
£550 a month rent for a flat up north in an 'average' area seems a bit expensive!
Click to expand...

It does a bit doesn't it :p

The reason it costs so much is that although the area is average in terms of house prices etc, the flat I rent isn't average. It's on the top floor of the building with decent views and a balcony. It came fully furnished, and I do mean FULLY furnished. Everything was included from a fully equiped kitchen, beds, leather sofas, and a TV, all the way down to cutlery, new towels, bed linen, and coasters! It was also newly decorated (at a cost of around £20,000) from top to bottom prior to our moving in, including having a brand new bathroom and kitchen fitted, fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms, and double glazing all round.

So yes, whilst it does at first glance seem expensive, it really isn't for what is pretty much the perfect place for me :)

Replicant said:
Depends, could be a nice flat in town costing 150K ish to buy.
Click to expand...

Bingo.
 
Last edited:
Replicant said:
Depends, could be a nice flat in town costing 150K ish to buy.

No offence intended dirtydog but you seem to be very confrontational and nagative in some of your posts.
Click to expand...

Huh?!

Does anyone else think my above post is "very confrontational and nagative (sic)"? :eek:

Trojan - it sounds like a great place mate :)
 
PeterNem said:
Hi all,

I'm trying to budget for the kind of place I can afford to live based on my sallary when I graduate. I realise the following won't be particularly accurate, but should give me figures of roughly the right order of magnitude!

What would be ace is if anyone who lives in an "average" area with "average" consumption could give me a rough idea of what their household spends per month on:

Council tax
Contents insurance
Electricity
Gas
Water
Landline (just rental, minimal calls)

Odds are I'd be looking at a 2 or 3 bed semi in somewhere like St Albans if that haas much impact on things like council tax (this is one thing I might actually be able to find on the local govt website actually).

All my other expenses I can already predict quite accurately (tv liscence, car insurance/tax/servicing, petrol, mobile phone useage, food shopping etc etc).
Click to expand...

I live just outside St Albans in a nice village.
A 3 bed ex council house there will cost you around £200,000.
Council tax on that is approximately £1400 per annum.
Single people get a discount on council tax.
Electric and Gas come to about £60/month. 3 of us but we're not home much.
NTL TV, net and phone package at £30/month.
Then you have your mortgage.
Insurances.
Food.
Petrol.
TV licence.
Student loan perhaps.


I don't think that you'll get anything in St Albans (even a 1 bed flat) for much under £125,000.

I'll have a flick through the St Albans local paper tonight but I think St Albans is out of the range of an average graduate salary.

Incidentally St Albans is far from an "average" area , it is one of the most expensive in the UK and has one of the highest proportions of millionaires in the UK (most of whom live in Harpenden I think - a nice village just outside St Albans).
 
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VIRII said:
I live just outside St Albans in a nice village.
A 3 bed ex council house there will cost you around £200,000.
Council tax on that is approximately £1400 per annum.
Single people get a discount on council tax.
Electric and Gas come to about £60/month. 3 of us but we're not home much.
NTL TV, net and phone package at £30/month.
Then you have your mortgage.
Insurances.
Food.
Petrol.
TV licence.
Student loan perhaps.


I don't think that you'll get anything in St Albans (even a 1 bed flat) for much under £125,000.

I'll have a flick through the St Albans local paper tonight but I think St Albans is out of the range of an average graduate salary.

Incidentally St Albans is far from an "average" area , it is one of the most expensive in the UK and has one of the highest proportions of millionaires in the UK (most of whom live in Harpenden I think - a nice village just outside St Albans).
Click to expand...

Try cheshire darling ;) I think it has the highest proportion of millionaires.

Your looking at around 900 to 1000 a month including rent/mortgage for a semi decent place :)
 
Sounds like Canterbury

£1000 per month for an end terrace four bed (was a three bed but the landlord converted the dining room) 60s property in an OK-ish estate that's in desperate need of modernisation and of a new kitchen/bathroom/etc
 
bf and I rent a 1 bed flat in surrey.
rent - is £580(between us not each)
council tax band c!- we just had to pay £126.00 going from 18th feb till 31st march.
then on 1st april it will be about £58 each a month (its divided by 10 months and not 12)


electricity - is on a key and seems to be costing a lot. dont know an average - still trying to work that out
though the energy saving light bulbs seem to be helping

no gas
phone is part of an ntl package for tv, phone and internet which is £25 each a month

water bill is £7 each a month

tv license is about £15.00 each at the moment because its our first license you pay more but then it only lasts for 6 months.

our content insurance was quoted at £5 each a month covering laptops etc but we did say that we would only need the minimum amount to replace items if they were damaged, stolen etc.

we found a flat first then searched the council tax etc to try and work out what we could afford. we also over estimated which is a good thing because my bf's friend told him that his family only put £7 a week on their electricity key so he figured it would be the same for us. which it isnt. its more!!!
 
I live in Camden, 2 bed flat

Rent - £670 ( :eek: ) per month each.
Gas - £15 pm each
Elec - £14 pm each
Water - £10 pm each
Council tax - £65 pm each
Insurance - £5 pm each
Telewest (phone, digi TV, broadband) - £20 pm each
Food - about £150-£200 a month for both of us.

Gonna move to somewhere a bit cheaper soon though, can't justify spending almost half my income just on living, want to save money for holidays etc :D
 
Spalding in Lincs will get you a 2 bedroom flat or 2 bed semi- detached for between £110k- £120k.
 
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