Moving out of uni halls - Costs

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Hi there, next year me and my friends will be moving out of halls and into rented accommodation. I was wondering roughly how much bills for electricity and such will be for 5 people? Tried searching on the net but it either comes up with places like uswitch or bills from 5 years ago which are more or less useless. Had a look on here and just found the classic thread by Laissez-Faire where he was spending £300 a month on food ;)
Just wanted a guideline for electricity, gas, water. Food, phone, internet can all be worked out much easier than the aforementioned.

Cheers,
 
Well I shared a house with 3 other people during my second year, rent was about £56/week per person and our electricity bill was about £40/month between all of us. Our gas bill was the worst though, £300 for the first quarter, but that was due to us using the heating nearly every day and haveing a house that leaked heat like a sieve. We found that it was cheaper to use electricity on halogen heaters after that. For food it depends what you eat, one of my housemates didn't cook at all and only used to buy frozen food or instant meals and he was spending lots. I cooked most of the time which can save you quite a bit, it also helps if you can share food with other housemates as it's cheaper to cook for 2+ people than it is for 1.

It really depends where you're living though as costs will vary all over the country. Around Birmingham £50-£65 a week for rent seems about normal for a shared house but I can imagine if you're nearer London that isn't going to be the case.
 
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stay in halls
Terrible idea IMO, its a good change to live in a house with friends. You get to experience another side of university life.

A tip, don't be tempted to live out in the sticks because its cheaper (within reason). I live a 20 minute walk from my University, which isn't far. In terms of saving ₤20 a month, I would have rather payed the extra money for the convenience of living closer.
 
A tip, don't be tempted to live out in the sticks because its cheaper (within reason). I live a 20 minute walk from my University, which isn't far. In terms of saving ₤20 a month, I would have rather payed the extra money for the convenience of living closer.

Hah funny that, we're arguing a bit whether to live 20 minutes away and pay £300 a month each or to live 5 - 10 mins away and pay £360 a month each. Ho hum
 
Hah funny that, we're arguing a bit whether to live 20 minutes away and pay £300 a month each or to live 5 - 10 mins away and pay £360 a month each. Ho hum
Hmm, you have to weigh that up yourself but that sounds too expensive to be worth it. Close to my University (Brsitol) is the gym, bars, and supermarkets which seems worth the relative tiny amount of money a week extra. For £60 a month extra, I would rather take the longer walk.
 
A house costs more, much much more than a uni hall. For a start (for me) my hall was catered. The food was crappy but cheap and was included in the hall fee.
House is better than hall but:
1. Bills are paid by you
2. TV liscense cost (as didnt have a tv in halls)
3. The contracts are nearly always 52 weeks, so cost a fair amount
4. My house is 10mins away from campus but the engineering side is at the other side of campus, so it is a 30min walk to lectures each day. Which means any free periods I cannot come back.
5. Internet costs
 
You could always try and find accomodation where the landlord pays the bills.

When i lived in Bradford we paid 200 quid a month each which included all bills (mainly electricity). We then said that we were paying for broadband and sky, the ladndlord agreed to pay for that as well for an extra 10 quid a month each.
 
You could always try and find accomodation where the landlord pays the bills.

When i lived in Bradford we paid 200 quid a month each which included all bills (mainly electricity). We then said that we were paying for broadband and sky, the ladndlord agreed to pay for that as well for an extra 10 quid a month each.

You got shafted ! 4 of you i presume ? £40 a month for broadband :p
 
Hmm, you have to weigh that up yourself but that sounds too expensive to be worth it. Close to my University (Brsitol) is the gym, bars, and supermarkets which seems worth the relative tiny amount of money a week extra. For £60 a month extra, I would rather take the longer walk.

Aye, the thing is the average rent around here is between £350 and £380 a month each. So £300 is very cheap. Well we'll just see.

Cheers for the help so far guys
 
£62 a week rent. First quarter gas bill was around £240 split through 7 people, internet works out around £37 a month split 7 ways. Gas/Electricity hm that's a tough one (I take care of GAS bill), put it this way it's rare I spent over £30 a month on bills basically, in a 7 bedroom house.

I spent £20 a week on food shopping at the very most.

You could find somewhere where the bills are included in the landlord's fee, but then what is the point in moving out if you have virtually zero resonsibility to look after yourself?

Also walking into Uni can be good exercise and will prevent you from sleeping in ;)
 
I spent £20 a week on food shopping at the very most.
I would say that is a lot less than most people, £30 a week is a more realistic estimate.

The biggest killer for me is Starbucks. I always go for a post lecture coffee almost every week day. I think I must have spent several hundred pounds in there.

You know, I'm desperately trying to think of an injoke pun from last nights conversation, but I can't
:( :p
 
Meh well I hardly spend too much at dinner, I usually go back home and have soup/sandwich so spending £2-3 on a coffee would be a serious money burner for me :p
 
Living in a house is more expensive...

but much better.

Im a bit shocked our new gas bill is £210 for 3month... but i guess shared by 6 of us isnt that bad...

We set the heating to come on 1hr in the morning then maybe 2 hrs in the evening and it never changes,

Im lucky we are really organised and considerate in this house, but we are all really good friends so it works

who you live with make or breaks it really
 
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