Going it alone...

[Mozzer]

It's time to grow up for me I think... due to some events that happened recently I am now living on my mum's couch.

Until now i've lived with each parent, and spent just over half a year lodging at my previous employers house paying a cheap £35 a week rent, all in.

Anyway, due to what's gone on and me being sacked and kicked out in one foul swoop (It's not all bad, my new job should be paying £5k a year more AFTER tax than I was earning previously before tax.), I need to find somewhere to live.

I've been looking at nice flats/apartments near me that would cost in the region of £550 a month to rent...

I'm curious now as to how much extra the bills and food are likely to cost me, realistically... is it worth trying to find somwhere that does gas and electric by meter to save waiting on a bill?

How much do i realistically need to spend to live on my own, on top of rent?

Edit: FWIW I'm looking at places like this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-14068694.rsp?pa_n=5&tr_t=rent ... https://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6541096.rsp?pa_n=12&tr_t=rent

Cheers guys.
____________________
1st: June 6th 2006 - Nov 6th 2006: 2001 Aprilia RS125 |2nd: Nov 12th 2006 - Present: 1991 Honda CBR400RR
Jamie Stokes wrote: it now has a memory of 512mb and is super fast

[TheShaggyDA]

Get as much on monthly direct debit as you can; there's usually a discount for paying this way, and you'll know how much is leaving your account and when. Roughly, you'll be spending monthly something in the region of :-

Community charge, various - mine's £96 (3 bed, Northampton)
Gas, £30
Electricity, £30
Water, £35
Contents insurance, £15
Buildings insurance, £15
TV licence, £12
Phone, £15
Internet, £20
TV cable/satellite, £20
Mobile phone, £25

And you'll have to take into consideration food & entertainment, clothing, household goods and porn mags. You can feed yourself cheaply if you cook for yourself, avoid takeouts, and shop at Netto, Lidl or Aldi. Buy food in bulk, and things like loo rolls - it's not as though you are going to stop shitting, is it?

Note that these are figures based on my own spend, you can spend more or less, and it's all down to what you believe to be your minimum requirements are. Also factor in what you spend on travel - fares, fuel, insurance, tax, servicing, consumables, breakdown membership etc.

Bear in mind too that unless where you are going is fully furnished, you'll need to start spending on "stuff", and this is purely down to how much you are prepared to rough it in the early days. A sleeping bag on a mattress with a camping stove and mess tins is all you "need", everything else is a luxury. Buy second hand.

Start your own spreadsheet with income and expenditure, and keep it up to date so you know where your money is going. When it's time to economise, you'll know what you can cut back on. You may not need that cable or satellite if you live in an area that gets decent freeview reception. You may not need that landline if you are happy with just a mobile. You may not need that contents insurance if all you have is a sleeping bag and camp stove.
____________________
Current: CB500 Previous: CB100N, CB250RS, XJ900F, GT550, GPZ750R/1000RX, AJS M16, R100RT, Enfield Bullet

[i:6e3bfc7581]But still I fear and still I dare not laugh at the madman...[/i:6e3bfc7581]

[Itchy]

Congrats on making the leap , its very hard to do.

Factor in fuck loads, I generally have a bit of a rule

Rent x 150% = total monthly cost.

550PCM gets you a whole terraced house round here , though I do live in skank town.

Monthly:

£100 for council tax maybe less a girlie friend pays 1600 council tax but she doesn't
get the 25% discount as a single person since she is married.

£10 for telephone line rental even if you make no calls you need it for net access.

TV licence, £12

£25-£30 month electricity*

25-40- Gas (more in winter)*

£10-£20 Water*

Fast net access £25

* in answer to your question about prepay meters If the house has prepay meters don't move in
Gas/leccy from prepay is 200% more expensive than the type where they send you a bill after you
use it , thus you have to double the expenditures.

about £237.

This includes minimal entertainment net/TV no food or bog roll , and or personal hygene stuff.

Bog Roll (unless you want to do the dodgy take a shower immediately after a shit cheap
skate save).

to eat well for not very much you'll need about £25 a week, and thats from me buying direct
from meat packers , veg from markets etc,

My advice is NOT to buy from netto or Aldi , but to buy from Wholesalers that are open to
the public , ie at netto you can buy 1kilo of chicken breast for about £1.5-£3 , in Fiddlers
you can buy a 25kilo case of Brazilian Salted chicken for £14. Whch means a freezer is
an essential item. Also since you are a rider , ALOT of bungee cords , soft drinks / booze
should also be bought from such places , cans of coke only cost 18p from a whole saler.

Whatever you do don't buy booze off the back of vans!, my Dad in the 1970s made fantastic
pure hooch, and was a legend, stuff they've been selling in Mancs off the back of the vans
is very impure and makes you go blind (see Fusil oils).

Such that on a £1000 month salary after tax you'll have about £150 left to spend on food
boozy nights out etc , not much and it takes years to save for bikes and stuff esp since
£400 will be sucked up by road tax , petrol insurance.

Best thing to do when you are youngish is to share with some mates , sure gas, leccy
,water increases , but costs like TV licence , net access , council tax (a biggie) , are
effectively divided by the number of people in the house which when £100 council tax
or £550 rent goes down to £25/ £140 a month is a huge relief on your funds.

Also try not to live with bikers , as an occupational hazard they tend to die , leaving you
in a heap of shit, esp when your bills increase by the bikers share.

YMMV however since I can and have lived very VERY rough , a sleeping bag ,
a bottled gas stove , a laptop , and the bike parked in my room.

As the above said put it on a spread sheet and factor in +10% on everything , you should
idealy have about £100-£200 left at the end of each month for emergencies and if something
comes up that you have to pay for , you know like speeding fines.

As a final note , you can't move in with students , because this buggers up the council
tax exemptions they have ie everybody in the house must have an exemption cert.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[zaknafien]

[colin1]

[Mozzer]

[Itchy]

[mrchips]

With a laptop and a motorbike?
____________________
Northern Irish? www.nibikers.com

[st3v3]

[Jamie S]

£550 gets a 6 bed room farm house round here !
hope you find some were soon mate

[stinkwheel]

Yeah, avoid pre-pay meters. I know a few people who have landed up with the meter rate set sky-high due to the power companies trying to claw back debt from previous residents.

They're not supposed to do it, but they do.

Once they have one in, it is VERY hard to get it taken out again.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to consider renting accommodation out of town. For £550pcm you'll get a 2-3 bedroom house in a nice wee hamlet with a garage or shed (to keep your bike in) and a garden. The rooms will be bigger too. Tax will be lower, vehicle and home contents insurance will be cheaper.

You'll also save a fortune on booze, the temptation to just go out for a few drinks is less and you can't just nip down the street for a takeaway dinner. You tend to do big shops at the supermarket and cook for yourself.

All in all, it will more than pay for the extra fuel cost and probably a taxi once a week to go out in town with your mates. Your quality of life will be better too.

[Itchy]