For those of you that dont live with parents.

[Sophie123]

Ive been looking at moving out of my parents and renting a place with the boy.
We have worked out some sums & think we can afford it, my question is, after you have paid your rent/bills etc, how much 'spare' cash do you have per week???

[Lacey_106]

That depends entirely on your joint income.

Bare in mind that you need to have at least few hundred spare at any one time incase of emergency.

I had very little left over but I was on a basic wage when I first moved out. It is possible but you find that you have to be really careful with the cash.

Just weigh up what is more important if money looks like it will be tight, would you rather have more money to spend as you wish or would you rather live together and have your own space?

[Sophie123]

Well we have worked out that we have spare money each week, but i was wanting to see what kinda spare cash other people have to see if we are cutting it fine or not in comparrison to other people...

His mum recently passed away & his dad has to sell the house they are currently living in.
The spare money thing is more about do we move in together or does he go for a house share, and if we do move in together, can we afford something a little nicer than bog standard.

[gavmc88]

safest way is save up a bit before you do it that way anything goes tits up either way you will have a back up ;)

like said above it entirely depends on your incomes :)

[Lacey_106]

Well we have worked out that we have spare money each week, but i was wanting to see what kinda spare cash other people have to see if we are cutting it fine or not in comparrison to other people...

But you could be comparing someone with a joint income of £50k to someone with a joint income of £25k.... Then you have to factor in the rent paid, for me to rent it is just over a grand a month in London. Whereas for elsewhere it can be as little at £400.

Comparing isn't really possible.

If you have savings you should be ok. If you have a couple of hundred left over a month that would work out well.

[Sophie123]

I have savings, but i was planning on keeping them for a deposit when i buy a place.

& i have an empty credit card for emergencies.

[Sophie123]

We have worked out that with rounding up estimates for bills (he has lived away from his parents so has an idea of what costs are likely to be) and paying a loan he has, and excluding commission he gets, we would have £150 a week spare.

[01_vtr]

that's loads, about the same as me once I've paid the mortgage and bills

[blackeyedgirl]

We have worked out that with rounding up estimates for bills (he has lived away from his parents so has an idea of what costs are likely to be) and paying a loan he has, and excluding commission he gets, we would have £150 is a week spare.

That's plenty! Good luck with moving out etc..

[monka]

also you may find, that you dont spend as money when you have your own place, and need to pay rent.

me and girlfriend both never had any money left at the end of the month, yet after she has been in the red to the tune of 700 for 4-5 years, now she's well into the black. lol.

[Sophie123]

That's plenty! Good luck with moving out etc..

Thanks =]

Im just abit of a worrier(sp?) when it comes to money!!!

[Gary-VTR]

Together me n my gf make about £25k combined, and we get by fine. Always have money left over to buy crap and have days/nights out.

Just make sure you budget carefully, and don't go out and blow loads of money on expensive furniture when you first move in.

[Era]

To give you an idea, i've just bought a flat in Hadley;

£355 mortgage
£9 house insurance
£89 council tax
£35 gas & elec
£12 tv license
£15 water

£515/month basic

Other;
£26 gym
£35 phone
£10 internet
£~150-200 food
£300 overpaying mortgage

£1086/month total

[CampDavid]

£150 spare a week is a lot more than most and more than I had when I first moved in with my other half

If you're renting then be careful when spending money on furniture. Suites etc can cost a lot and when you move they often don't fit into the new place.

Do spend money on a decent bed - a good mattress is a good mattress and you'll always need it and buy good stuff for the kitchen. Get into the habit of cooking meals from the start, not just buying pre processed crap. It'll save money, improve health and generally make your life a little bit better.

Have Fun

[Gary-VTR]

£150 spare a week is a lot more than most and more than I had when I first moved in with my other half

If you're renting then be careful when spending money on furniture. Suites etc can cost a lot and when you move they often don't fit into the new place.

Do spend money on a decent bed - a good mattress is a good mattress and you'll always need it and buy good stuff for the kitchen. Get into the habit of cooking meals from the start, not just buying pre processed crap. It'll save money, improve health and generally make your life a little bit better.

Have Fun

This definitely! ^

Also get into the habit of washing up every day. It mounts up quickly. :panic:

As well, if money does get a bit tight one month, try the MoneySavingExpert 'Downshift' challenge: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping#downshift

[Sophie123]

To give you an idea, i've just bought a flat in Hadley;

Dont have enough saved to buy at the mo...we are looking at renting in the new apparetment block in Dawley, not sure if you know it?

be careful when spending money on furniture. Suites etc can cost a lot and when you move they often don't fit into the new place
The place we have seen is the perfect shape for a nice 'L' shaped sofa, but ive decided 2 2 seaters would be better for when we move on.

Do spend money on a decent bed - a good mattress is a good mattress and you'll always need it
We were hopeing his dad might let us have his bed from home, since he is selling to move into a smaller place he wont have space for it. He also has a sofa in his room which we hope to use short term!

buy good stuff for the kitchen.
It has a Cooker, Fridge & Washing machine in it so just toaster, kettle etc is what we need.

Get into the habit of cooking meals from the start, not just buying pre processed crap
We would have to do this anyway because he is such a fussy buggar!



Thanks for all the advice though, its making me feel better about it all =]

[Sophie123]

The thing that i keep thinking though, is that if we are cutting it too fine, we wont be able to save at all to make up what we need for a deposit when we want to buy, and we could end up trapped in renting.

[CampDavid]

I wasn't referring to the appliances, I mean things like pans and knives!

Knives are, according to 99% of chefs, the most important thing in the kitchen. I think our knife block and 5 knives was around £100, it's been worth ten times that. You never really realise how important they are until you try going back to crappy efforts!

A really good couple of non-stick frying pans help too as well as some decent source pans. Try to get oven proof stuff as it's really handy and will almost certainly be dishwasher safe and last longer.

Basically, anything you can take in which will last a long while and you will transfer to your next home then buy the good stuff. Anything big like sofas which you'll bin when moving go cheapo.

[Sophie123]

Yea knives & Pans ive learned through my mother (bless her) that its false economy to buy cheap because the rate you replace them is shocking.

Plates & Mugs and things get broken so im gonna aim for stuff you can buy singularly (is that even a word?!) so that when things get broken they can be replaced and still match =]

[Matt_West_Mids]

If it's anything like where I live letting agents charge a shit load in fees too!

[Sophie123]

There are £185 fees that we are aware of so far...lol

[Matt_West_Mids]

There are £185 fees that we are aware of so far...lol

Round here one agent want's deposit + first months rent + agent fees + application fee

Adds upto about £1800 :panic:

Luckly they aren't all like that.

Me and the misses have been looking at places and we've worked out we will need about £500 each a month not including food.

For rent and bills.

[wassy78]

as some one first said depends on what you earn after paying my bills every weeks some time i have 300 to 600+ a week left but thats only cos i have a job that pays 50 a hour :)

[VTHall]

To give you an idea, i've just bought a flat in Hadley;

£355 mortgage
£9 house insurance
£89 council tax
£35 gas & elec
£12 tv license
£15 water

£515/month basic

Other;
£26 gym
£35 phone
£10 internet
£~150-200 food
£300 overpaying mortgage

£1086/month total

HADLEY?!
ouch. lol

[Sophie123]

HADLEY?!
ouch. lol

Snob!! :homme:

[Sophie123]

Round here one agent want's deposit + first months rent + agent fees + application fee


Deposit & first months rent are standard, savings can be used for that as fingers crossed we would get it back when we leave!

[_-john-_]

Ive been looking at moving out of my parents and renting a place with the boy.
We have worked out some sums & think we can afford it, my question is, after you have paid your rent/bills etc, how much 'spare' cash do you have per week???

Alright Sophie. First off, rent privately to avoid daft bullshit 'admin' charges like credit checks (they don't do them half the time...fact. And when they do, it costs them approximately £5)

Now then. A lot of good advice in this thread. One thing that's definitely not been mentioned though, the cost of house maintenance (for when you want a mortgage). Things like boilers and washing machines, other white goods, roof, door, window maintenance...these all add up to phenomenal amounts very quickly.

If you're renting at first, and you have £150 a week spare, as in absolutely disposable income (you don't NEED to spend it on anything at all) then I'd recommend putting £90 a week of this away. Wait till you have about £2500 to £3000 sat doing nothing and throw it into an ISA, this way...it's literally money for a rainy day that's making you a good return for doing nothing, and will save your bum when something bad goes wrong in the house.

Another thing to be careful of is the dreaded potential split. Now this MAY be a bit grim to talk about, but I'm just giving you my honest advice...I'm nearly 30 now and had my fair share of brilliant relationships that have turned foul due to money issues. Make sure you don't just pool ALL your spare money together, it can lead to complications, arguments, confusion and all sorts of bad stuff. If you do what I said about putting money away just for maintenance, do it split 50/50, that way if bad stuff happens it's simple to split it half way (joint account requires two sigs to remove all funds too). Everything else I'd recommend putting into your own personal savings account and the same for him.

How old are you? What area do you live in?

[markpitchford]

era has given a decentish guide, main differences are likely to be rent and council tax, depending on where in shropshire your looking at.

[Bound]

era has given a decentish guide, main differences are likely to be rent and council tax, depending on where in shropshire your looking at.

This.

My sisters flat costs more in council tax than both my mums (4 bed) and grandparents (3 bed + huge garden + backs on to park) houses which are in nicer areas, down to what I think how close it is to the town center.

[Sophie123]

We are in Telford.
Im 23, boy is 24.

The plan is to get a joint account, and put into it 50% each of total running costs of appartment.
Then my left over money is at my discression, his leftover money is his disgression.

I already have an ISA with some money in, but i ALWAYS add to it every month.

Buying things for the appartment, he buys some stuff, i buy other stuff, make the value as equal as we can and list it so there are no arguments should a split happen.

We have also thown around the idea that in a 2 bed place, IF we split, we can do seporate rooms until the lease is up, not ideal, but the original lease is 6 months.

[Era]

Snob!! :homme:

it is a beautiful area :bored:

[_-john-_]

We are in Telford.
Im 23, boy is 24.

The plan is to get a joint account, and put into it 50% each of total running costs of appartment.
Then my left over money is at my discression, his leftover money is his disgression.

I already have an ISA with some money in, but i ALWAYS add to it every month.

Buying things for the appartment, he buys some stuff, i buy other stuff, make the value as equal as we can and list it so there are no arguments should a split happen.

We have also thown around the idea that in a 2 bed place, IF we split, we can do seporate rooms until the lease is up, not ideal, but the original lease is 6 months.

Final chapter is what happened to me and it was fucking horrible, I was literally crawling up the walls waiting to get out, but that's because she was a bad coke headed cunt who I literally couldn't abide anymore, I'm the easiest going person on Earth too, she just knew exactly what buttons to press!

Good luck with it all, it's amazing when it works (I'm living with my Mrs now, it's good) and getting a mortgage when you're younger (especially now prices are 'down') seems a better idea, wish I'd done it sooner, don't think I'll ever do it now...eek.

[Gary-VTR]

We are in Telford.
Im 23, boy is 24.

The plan is to get a joint account, and put into it 50% each of total running costs of appartment.
Then my left over money is at my discression, his leftover money is his disgression.

I already have an ISA with some money in, but i ALWAYS add to it every month.

Buying things for the appartment, he buys some stuff, i buy other stuff, make the value as equal as we can and list it so there are no arguments should a split happen.

We have also thown around the idea that in a 2 bed place, IF we split, we can do seporate rooms until the lease is up, not ideal, but the original lease is 6 months.

It's probs worth getting a 2-bed anyway, the difference between 1 and 2 bed places is usually only an extra 25-75/month. It'll not only give you a fallback if you do split up, but would give extra breathing space away from each other making the place feel less pokey, or could be used for storage/man cave.

The first place me n my gf had was 3-bed. One room was for storage, and the other was my own personal space where I kept my PC, la-z boy, etc. Was pretty much an unwritten rule that the bedroom was her territory she can do what she liked with, and the study was my space.

[auds]

Alright Sophie. First off, rent privately to avoid daft bullshit 'admin' charges like credit checks (they don't do them half the time...fact. And when they do, it costs them approximately £5)

Now then. A lot of good advice in this thread. One thing that's definitely not been mentioned though, the cost of house maintenance (for when you want a mortgage). Things like boilers and washing machines, other white goods, roof, door, window maintenance...these all add up to phenomenal amounts very quickly.

If you're renting at first, and you have £150 a week spare, as in absolutely disposable income (you don't NEED to spend it on anything at all) then I'd recommend putting £90 a week of this away. Wait till you have about £2500 to £3000 sat doing nothing and throw it into an ISA, this way...it's literally money for a rainy day that's making you a good return for doing nothing, and will save your bum when something bad goes wrong in the house.

Another thing to be careful of is the dreaded potential split. Now this MAY be a bit grim to talk about, but I'm just giving you my honest advice...I'm nearly 30 now and had my fair share of brilliant relationships that have turned foul due to money issues. Make sure you don't just pool ALL your spare money together, it can lead to complications, arguments, confusion and all sorts of bad stuff. If you do what I said about putting money away just for maintenance, do it split 50/50, that way if bad stuff happens it's simple to split it half way (joint account requires two sigs to remove all funds too). Everything else I'd recommend putting into your own personal savings account and the same for him.

How old are you? What area do you live in?

+1 do what John is suggesting he knows what he is talking about :y:

[loudandproud205]

Couldn't tell you if I have any spare, aslong as all the bills are paid and I can put fuel in the car, I rarely worry about anything else.

[Sophie123]

Second bedroom is where the xbox will be situated!
Ive no issue with him playing on it, except when he expects me to do nothing but watch him!

He can play xbox on the telly in the front room when im not in, or when theres nothing on, rest of the time hes banished to spare room =]

We are going for renting because we have only been together 2 years, a mortgage is tooo much of a commitment for now, see how we get on renting first.

Im just scared of gettting 'stuck' renting because i cant afford to put money away to build up a deposit for when the time is right!

[wassy78]

Second bedroom is where the xbox will be situated!
Ive no issue with him playing on it, except when he expects me to do nothing but watch him!

He can play xbox on the telly in the front room when im not in, or when theres nothing on, rest of the time hes banished to spare room =]

We are going for renting because we have only been together 2 years, a mortgage is tooo much of a commitment for now, see how we get on renting first.

Im just scared of gettting 'stuck' renting because i cant afford to put money away to build up a deposit for when the time is right!

pmpl sorry had to laugh at this not moved in and talking but the xbox

all i can say is if your scared wait till you feel the time is right moving in together is a big step i feel as you might fight like cat and dog
but i hope it works out ok. good luck.

[nicole_]

Alright Sophie. First off, rent privately to avoid daft bullshit 'admin' charges like credit checks (they don't do them half the time...fact. And when they do, it costs them approximately £5)


moving out with my bf end of next month/march and we were going to do it through an agents,
could the agreement not be a little more loose if its just done privately? i could just see thigs going wrong?

[Ryan]

moving out with my bf end of next month/march and we were going to do it through an agents,
could the agreement not be a little more loose if its just done privately? i could just see thigs going wrong?

the contract if done properly can be just as watertight and have the same clauses regarding things such as upkeep and minimum notice period of eviction.

OT. Regarding money and people mentioning sofas etc... some places are available to rent part furnished so saves buying expensive items which can be a pain to sell on/move with if its a short term lease.

[Newtz07]

we all go through this, and its always best to ask before jumping in..

we rent, so this may be helpful

our annual income is roughly £30k+

Monthly outgoings:

Rent: £400
Virgin TV HD+/Internet/Phone: £50
C/Tax: £90
TV License: £15
Elec: £40
Gas: £40 (coz its freezing at the moment)

so we pay £600 a month into a joint account, and then all the bills go out on DD from there.

that way we always have a little extra left over, just incase we use more gas/elec or virgin sting us with a bill.

Food is different. we spend ALOT on food, but thats coz we like to cook alot of different things. but when we moved in we found shopping to be as cheap as you wanna make it really.

Iclenad/farmfoods etc always good for cheap shitty food if times are hard.

hope i could help!

i will also tlel you something that no1 ever told me. when you move in get your gas and elec put on Pay As You Go meters.

i didnt, and got a bill through for £1200 because i had been paying the bills as they came in, but when i gave them meter reading they had been charging me too little. if you have PAYG meters you known exactly how much you are putting on, and can keep track. plus you dont get a bill. just a little card that you take to the corner shop.

plus i always found to be better off an agent. i am with Edward Mellor at the moment. andf coz they are a business and not a private landlord, if you complain they have to do something. we got mega damp and fungus on the walls, NICE!, we rang them up and got it sorted within a week or so, if it was a private landlord then it would of been another story

and P.S:

my spare room has my Gaming PC in there, xbox 360, and thats where i spend most of my time thanks to X Factor/Dancing on ice/Celebrity Jungle thing/Americas next top model and all the other trashy shows that i love for giving me so much gaming time!!!

[Sophie123]

Thanks Newtz, that does help.

The place we have looked at and both really like has no gas...would we able to ask to have an electric meter put in?

[bullit]

To give you an idea, i've just bought a flat in Hadley;

£355 mortgage
£9 house insurance
£89 council tax
£35 gas & elec
£12 tv license
£15 water

£515/month basic

Other;
£26 gym
£35 phone
£10 internet
£~150-200 food
£300 overpaying mortgage

£1086/month totalsnap..

[stinkycheese]

snap..

Where you been?

[Giraffe]

Where you been?

Wherever it was, it had a new keyboard...

n0 l0nger typing like that ha.

[bullit]

Where you been?

with your dad. keboards not fixed. using onscreen keyboard :homme:

[Giraffe]

with your dad. keboards not fixed. using onscreen keyboard :homme:

Oway man, they cost like £5! Seriously, your mouse is gonna break next from all the extra clicking.

[Newtz07]

Thanks Newtz, that does help.

The place we have looked at and both really like has no gas...would we able to ask to have an electric meter put in?

yer British gas are more than happy to do it. its free aswel.

i think they prefer it to be honest. coz they dont have to chase you for cash, its pre-paid

works out well good. because i go to the shop, buy £10 eleccy, put it on., that lasts over a week, and i have a massive aquarium with lights that are on 100% of the time.

and you also get £5 emergency if you get caught short.

plus it dont run out after 7 pm i think, or before 9 am... ao you have enough time to get ready for work so you dont have to run to the shop making you late. its worked out mint for me, because the fitted the PAYG meters coz we owed £1200, then we just topped up and it took a higher rate off us to pay off the debt and have elec at the same time. paid my debt off in 12 months.

happy days

[bullit]

Oway man, they cost like £5! Seriously, your mouse is gonna break next from all the extra clicking.

on laptop. It is the credit crunch you know.

[blackeyedgirl]

Would n power do this you think? We only have electric you see, and the heaters clock up massive bills.

Landlords usually okay with this? Bit frightened to ask to be honest...

Why would the supplier do it for free, surely having monthly bills gets them more money?

[beckha]

Our out goings for house & 2 cars are about £1100.

We earn take home £2400ish between us.

And now I have actually done that and looked at it I am stumped at what we spend £1300 on a month.... eeek?! Oh wait. Cars.

x