Salary and Cost of Living

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Ok here is the situation. You are living at home and want to move out, you have no idea of how much it costs to rent, pay for food, all bills, tax and whatever else is necessary to rent a place on your own.

Therefore you don't know what salary is required in order to do all of this. What do you do?

You ask all people living alone in the UK on this forum to give you a breakdown per week of:

-rent (furnished or not, I want furnished)
-all bills (phone, water, gas, electricity etc)
-tax
- spare money to save or spend on whatever you want
- transport (bus or car fuel)
- annual salary

I live in the West Midlands and I read over a year ago in the newspaper that to rent or buy a house and live on your own requires a salary of around 20k per year plus. However this must be averaged out and it would be a lot higher in London than the West Midlands.

Please help. I have no idea how anyone else managed to find this info.

 

-rent : look in your local paper and letting agents
-all bills:depends how much you use and what type of heating you have.
-tax: council tax-look on your local authorities website;PAYE-there's plenty of tax calculators out there
- spare money to save or spend on whatever you want:How much do you spend now?
- transport (bus or car fuel); Where from/to. Do you have a car? Do you need to take 1 bus or 2? How much does the bus company charge in your area?

You missed out food (depends if you cook from scratch or takeaway/eat out).

 

not to mention that it depends on where you live, and even where within the city/town you want to live.

Bills, again depend on where you live and your usage. If you run a lot of appliances all the time, your bills are going to be higher. This also depends on your supplier and tarriff.

Tax is dependant on the banding of the property you live in, and the region. Transport is the same. How far are you travelling? how often?

Do you see the point we're trying to make? You are asking a 'piece of string' question. Theres just no way someone can give you accurate information for yourself. Time to take a look around where you want to live. Look at the cost of properties in the papers, find out their council tax online. Check bus fares for the routes you will take, or distances by car (and the cost of fuel for your car).

 

A very very rough guide is to take your rent and then double it.

 

I LOL at the figure of a 20k salary to buy a property in London. You might be able to rent one on a 30k salary - but you certainly can't buy one - even a complete ****hole - on less than 40k a year and still have enough money to live on. Unless you happen to be a 'key worker' (which, laughably, most people in IT aren't considered to be) or can get onto one of those shared ownership schemes by another route, or have a 50 grand deposit, you're pretty much doomed to rent.

I was looking into this recently as I may have some significant upheaval in my personal life in the next 12 months or so (planning is prudence!) and it broke down like this:

Mortgage (170k on a 200k house) - 25 years at 6.5% (conservative estimate of what interest rates will average at for the next three years) = 1150
Bills (Electric, Gas, Water, Comms) = £280
Travel (London travelcard, zones 1-6) = £160
Food, Drink = £160
Council Tax (band C) = £110
Clothing = £40
Car running costs (tax, fuel, MOT, parking) = £70
Home repairs/improvements = £150

That comes to just over £2100 - without any provision for savings, pensions, holidays, entertainment, cable TV, emergencies like your boiler needing replacement etc etc

So, by my very rudimentary calculation, you would need a take-home salary of £35k a year just to be able to survive in London on your own (and that's with a hefty deposit of £30k to start you off). Realistically, if you wanted to be able to have any sort of life at all, you'd need to earn 40 grand.

Obivously it wouldn't be quite as spiteful elsewhere in the UK, but anyone thinking they could survive on their own with a mortgage on 20 grand a year is nuts, IMHO

 

As everone has already it depends on where you live and other factors, but to give you a guide.

I live in essex,

Rent £600
Council tax £67
TV lic £10ish cant remember
Gas and Elect £57 combined
water and sewage £30 ish
food £300 ish (i have wife and baby too)
Contents insurance £11ish

in addition it pay £50ish sky (TV and internet), phone £15 and mobiles etc.

 

Ok, in the East Midlands for a two bedroomed flat (Myself and girlfriend):

£400 rent
£90 Council Tax
£30 Elec (I have a fan assisted electric oven)
£30 Gas (I have gas central heating, gas hob)
£0 Water (Paid for already for some reason)
£18 Sky+
£10 Contents Insurance
£11 Line Rental + Usage
£13 Broadband
£12 Mobile Contract

Everything left over is spent on everything else. My salary is miserable. £6.50 p/h = £12675 p/a. I manage quite comfortably though, although I don't drive.

I hope that helps.

 

Heres my estimate for cost of living in the south :-

Per Month

Rent £800
Council tax £100
TV licence £10
Gas and Elect £60
Water and sewage £30
Food £200
Car Fuel, Ins, Tax, Depreciation and Maint £350
Clothing £20
Books £20
Entertainment £50
Phone £30
Internet £20
Dentist £10

Total :- 1700

That means you need about £21k salary AFTER tax to have a very average existence including no house purchase, pension, savings, holidays, etc.

Therefore £30k is really the minimum pre tax salary in order to have any life on in this country.

Thats previous inflation and high taxation for ya...

 

ok, ill take part in the willy waving contest... For a month (This is only my half of the bills - I live with the other half).

Flat (2 bed): £287 rent
Council Tax: £80
Elec: £15/30(I cant remember specifically)
Gas: £15/30 (I cant remember specifically)
Phone/Internets: £15
Contents Insurance: £5
TV License: £5
Mobile: £35
Transport: ~£50
Food: ~£90

Thats it for the absolute essentials. I have other things that I spend money on (Tai Chi classes, Chinese Classes, DVDs, etc), but they arent essentials and can be cut back if need be.

I'm also beginning to learn to drive, so thats going to add to my monthly bills.

 

Might be a little academic with all the other responses but here are my costs. I live in a small 1 bedroom house in Felixstowe in Suffolk. (Currently mine and my partners salaries total around 35k to give you some idea)

Rent: £450
Gas & Electricity: £37 (no central heating makes this so cheap)
Water: £12 (I think - the better half knows more than I do)
Council Tax: £76
Communications: £32 (I pay a bit over the odds for broadband and phone - I may be switching soon)
Sky: £22
Food: ~£175
Car: £105

Total: £909

For my car I've averaged MOT and Tax out over the year, on top of insurance and fuel. Could probably add 250-300 a year for repairs etc. Looking at this now, I think we must waste alot of money! We don't have much left at the end of each month

 

I reckon you need at least 20 - 22 k to actually have an ok way of life?

 

I reckon in Bournemouth you need a damn sight more than that if you live on your own - 1 bedroom hovels there were going for 160k last time I looked

 

This is based on sharing with my girlfriend at my last rental, Berkshire area.

Rent: £600
Electricity: £40
Water: £12
Council Tax: £112
TV License: ?? £10.00
Tel & BB: £24
Food: £200ish
Car Tax + Insurance + Petrol: £110
Cat: £30
Gym £30
Credit Card: £20
Mobile: £30

---------
£1038
---------

** Doesn't include my student loan overpayment repayments £20, VPS £18, Loan £180. ** I earn 23k-ish & my partner earns 15k but she has debts for further learning, a failed business venture & laptop ** :'(

Some wont apply to you if you dont have a cat, dont drive, dont have a credit card or dont go to the gym. If i could find somewhere to commute from with a cheaper rent/buy I would do it, mobile home looks to be the best option :-/ Or move to Sunderland and get a new job, cheap up in Sunderland!

 

I would guess that my cost of living numbers would be irrelevant to the discussion, considering I'm:
1) married
2) with 2 kids
3) across the pond

 

Take full advantage of your situation! Get rid of debts and save save save until you have at least 25% for a deposit on a house!

 

I'm currently living on a reasonably low wage of 12.5k.
I spent about 300 a month on rent (which includes bills) and I might spend an extra £150 on other things each month (food etc).

I do live in a shared house though, so that definitely helps!

 

Sound advice! Its exactly what im doing.

Im finishing paying off my car, and then plan to start saving *as much as possible* for a decent deposit on a apartment/house. With the way the current climate is, you'll need a hefty deposit to get on the ladder.

I wouldn't suggest renting, unless you dont have the option of staying where you are now.

Im not going to post my figures as it'd be an insult to those who dont have the option of staying at home with parents, but as you can imagine im paying very low rent, my parents won't have it any other way. Other then that all I pay for is my mobile phone bill, Sky TV im my room and the usual car bits, petrol, insurance, tax; as well as paying the car off each month.

Im planning to join the real world in a year or two.

 

I know I cannot get a precise answer, I just wanted a very very rough guide as I have no idea.

Thanks for posting your figures it helps a lot.