can anyone help me?

[Suzie and Faith]

Me and my OH are hoping to move out soon (we're living with my mum at the moment) and we're going to have to rent.

The thing is we've never lived without our parents before and our knowledge of bills is non-existent! I want to check that we can afford to live properly before we agree to any property (we're going to see four today!).

So, if you don't mind, could you give me a rough idea of what you pay for things like gas/electric, water/sewerage, council tax and other things like that. Also, what are people's weekly food spends?

It will just be me OH and Faith and we're generally cheap-skates when it comes to food shopping - with most things we'll buy the cheaper versions.

Any help would be mucho appreciated!!!

xxxxx

 

[kirlykird]

ok, not sure how much help this is but:

based on a 4 bedded house, family of 5

elec: £60
gas: £65
water:£45
council tax (band E) £185
food per week £100

 

[monster_munch]

** double post - sorry **

 

[monster_munch]

Probably no real help to you but I will give you a run down of ours:

*£100 a week shopping minimum (but we're a family of 4, plus we overspend quite a bit)

*Gas & Elec is £140 a month (I think - we're on paperless now so it just comes out of our account direct debit - could be more could be less )

*We don't pay water rates

*DH does council tax, I have no clue I'm afraid

can't think of anything else atm, will edit when I do

 

[xkikix]

Based on a 2 bed house with just the 3 of us

Gas - £45
Elec £19
Water £33
TV Licence £12
Council Tax £120
Food - I budget £60 but usually comes in at £50
Petrol - £20 for DH £10 for me
Buildings/Contents ins £30
Car Ins £80 for both of us 2 cars
Baby bits (weeks nappys, milk and new clothes) £20
Mortgage/Rent - £500
Broadband £17.50
Landline £20 I think
Mobiles £60 for both of us

Thats it I think xx

 

[happy-chick]

Home Phone - BT £20.00
Electricity £43.00
Gas £52.00
Water £34.00
TV License £10.50
Sky £26.00
Jo Mobile £45.00
Sam Mobile £35.00
Car Insurance £140.00
Council Tax £80.00

We also have loan, mortgage, insurances on house etc

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Thanks guys! Energy prices seem to vary a bit so I will budget for a worst case scenario!

it's all so expensive! My OH works full-time but now I'm a SAHM, i might try and find something i can do at home to earn some pennies!

 

[Urchin]

make sure you get buildings amd contents insurance too!

 

[~*Leanne*~]

well we are renting a 1 bed (think they call it town house) but its more like a flat - on a brand new estate! we thought it would be quite cheap. only being one bedroom but ooohhh noooo!!!

this month the bills have come in at :-

Elec/Gas - £187
Water - £80
Council Tax - £93

then we have our rent of £465 on top of that

I was in tears on Monday when OH added up how much we owe this month, we pay half for everything and even though i only got paid on Monday - seems like i have less than £50 to last me a whole month cant wait to move out and get somewhere cheaper!

 

[purple13]

approx spend per month for 3 of us in a 1 bed flat (albeit in london):

water - £30
electricity (we don't have gas) - £30
council tax - £63
phone & broadband - £32
contents insurance - £14
service charge on our flat (inc. building insurance) - £101
shopping - £350 (but i'm an organic kinda girl so it adds up a bit)

 

[purple13]

this month the bills have come in at :-

Elec/Gas - £187

surely that's not for a month

 

[jennywren]

rDont forget you only need contents insuranceif you are renting,

and thats only on your own gear so if you get a fully furnished place by law thelandlord has to provide their own contents ins for their own stuff.

Monthly bills

Rent : £625
Council Tax : £90
Gas & Leccie : £60
Water (meter not rates) £30 (max its usually £50-£60 per quater
BT Landline : £11.75
Net : £7.50
Sky + : £21
Food : £200 (Sometimes £70 for one week, sometimes £30 so averages £200 per month)
Contents Insurance : £17

 

[KELLYXX]

Mortgage 805
Electric 50
Gas 60
Petrol 140
Insurance Home 12
Insurance Life 28
Shopping 160
TV 11
Council Tax 88.89
Water 27
Sky 21
Internet 20
Phone 20

£1142.89

 

[Princess_Puddles]

We live in a 2 Bed Flat so based on a family of 3
Rent: £435
Council Tax: £107
Gas: £24
Electric: £40
Car Insurance: £65
House phone & mobiles: £110
Sky & Internet: £27
Food: £150 - It used to be alot less but Harrison eats alot more now and prices have gone up
Contents insurance: £11

We don't pay water rates but we also have Loans, Harrisons savings money and union to pay too. Also clothes, luxuries, Toys and Nappies.

 

[Spritzer]

will try and remember all the housey outgoings

we have a 2 bed house and its just me and OH living there

weekly outgoing:

rent - £53 (we rent a council house)
food - £50ish


monthly:

council tax - £100 and something a month including water and sewage
t.v. licence - £11
sky plus - £19
electric - £40 (im bad for using the tumble dryer)
oil for heating and hot water - put £400 into it few weeks ago when we first got heating changed so not sure how long it will last
phone - £20ish with free weekends and evening calls from bt

so roughly £560 a month??

but i live in north east scotland in the sticks so i guess that makes a difference as wages are pretty rubbish up here.

 

[~*Leanne*~]

this month the bills have come in at :-

Elec/Gas - £187

surely that's not for a month

For just under 2 months, its ridiculous, the month we moved in our bill was over £200 - FOR A MONTH!!! its this stupid electric heating and economy 7 water - i HATE it and cant wait to leave!!!

 

[Mrs_Jay]

Gas/Electric £200 (but thats quarterly)
Food £60-70 a week
Council tax £100 ( a month)
Phone - £47 (Quarterly)
Sky - £19 a month

cant think what else at the mo

 

[trixipaws]

i was a bit spoiled and never had to pay for a thing til i was 23 so im useless at budgeting. it still causes arguments now- particularly the food bill coz my boyf plans how many meals he'll get out of one item, and look for deals, whereas i'll just chuck in all the organic and specialist stuff and whatever i fancy i dont even look at the price labels
for 3 of us we go way over our £50 a week food budget. probably more like £70 and that doesnt include my boots' toiletries bill

we pay £100 a month for gas & electric, £100 a month council tax, £100-ish a quarter for water etc, £25 petrol a week, £50 a year car MOT, £50 a month car insurance, £150 a year car tax, £50 a month landline, broadband & mobile fone, £40 a month house insurance, £8 a month pet insurance, £100 a year TV licence... thats all the boring stuff i can think of. iv discovered since we bought our house that life is so expensive!

oh and of course the mortgage is over £600 a month. and we got a car loan is about £100 a month. no wonder we are so poor lol!

 

[nickilubs]

Water £40 a month
Electric £50 a month (we are REALLY careful and literally only have the telly and one set of plugs on it the evening and its still pretty high this quarters bill was £150 the last one was only £80 and we were using oil heaters then!)
Food £140-£160 a month
Fuel £80-100
Council tax band A (cheapest) £70 a month. (Ridiculous)
Rent £475 for a 15 by 20 foot chalet! (We are getting ripped off)
Internet and Phone line £30 a month (phone line is essential because we have no signal for at least 10miles around us)
TV licence £130 a year I think?

 

[1sttimemum]

My mortgage £1200
council tax is £114.
Water £16
Food £70 every 2 weeks
Gas £24
Elec £24
Sky £48
BT £12
Life cover £33.

Think that is everything.