US to London Relocation Budget Questions

My wife and I are considering an opportunity to relocate from the US to London. As part of the decision making process we are attempting to put together a budget for living in Zone 1 or 2 - examples are Notting Hill, Belsize Park, and Primrose Hill among others. We are not looking for recommendations where to live right now, but would like to verify the 'typical' costs for various household expenses listed below. We would greatly appreciate any feedback on whether our estimates are within range and whether there are any expenses missing.

We are two adults with no children or pets. We do not expect to own a car and work will most likely be located in Zone 1 or 2. We are looking at 2 bedroom/2 bath flats.

We realize that many of the items below may vary based on exact location and size of flat, but are attempting to verify that our estimates are in range of expected expenses. Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

All are monthly estimates in GBP
Rent - 2,800 to 3,500
Council Tax - 150
Utilities - 100
Water - 40
Trash Removal - included in Council Tax
TV Cable & Broadband Internet - 100 (also aware of the annual TV licence ~150/yr)
Mobile phone - 100 per person
Monthly Oyster Pass (Zones 1 & 2) - 90 per person
Food - 750 (we eat primarily organic and cook most meals at home)

If you want to live in Zone 1 and certainly any of the places you mentioned expect to pay the top end of your budget for a 2 bed/2 bath flat.

£75-100 is reasonable for 2 people for mobile phones not per person.

A 1 month Oyster card for Zones 1 and 2 is £116.80.

You should consider contents insurance which of course will vary depending in the value of your stuff.

I think a few of your estimates seem a bit high:

Mobile phone contracts are pretty cheap here... the most expensive I've seen are £30-40 per month per person. I have an iphone 4 contract (100 minutes, 500 MB, unlimited texts) and I pay less than £20 per month (I only really use it for texting and the internet).

Also, TV/Broadband/phone packages are much cheaper here than in the US. I have been paying £40 per month for unlimited broadband, 200+ digital TV channels with Sky Plus (like TIVO) and an HD box, plus phone line rental and free evening and weekend calls... and I feel like that's too expensive and that I got a bad deal!!

Your food estimate seems very high as well. I live alone and cook most of my own meals, and I still spend way more on food than I should do... but I only spend about £150 per month on food.

Even when my parents were feeding 5 adults (themselves, plus me and my two brothers, who are sportsmen and eat loads of food), they were only spending about £400-500 on food each month.

Your council tax will vary depending on the property, as the amount you pay is based on the value of the individual property in 1991. In general it can range from less than £1,000 to about £2,500 per year. If you know any of the postcodes of the properties you are interested in you can look up the council tax bands for the properties online.

Utilities-wise, for the last 2 years I have been living alone in a 2-bed, 1 bath house (two floors, no double-glazing and wooden floors... so it was hard to warm up) and my utilities have come to about £70 per month in total for electricity, gas and water.

Anonymiss and ksand24 - Thank you for your replies. All of our research to date has been completed via the web so having first hand 'on-the-ground' feedback is extremely helpful.

Is there anything that we are missing?

We also are trying to find someone to assist us with information on US taxes and contribution to a retirement fund similar to the 401k plans in the US. We have found some information on the internet and have a general idea, but as our budget shows it only puts you in the ballpark.

Thanks in advance for any additional answers.

I love budgeting. Of course you may need to allow something for entertainment, weekends out, which could run up to or over 100£ a month even frugally if you go out with people occasionally. I don't think the expense is really all that much different from the US, but pub food does add up!
Also, it would definitely be worth reserving some every month for that trip or two back to the US (if you intend to visit). With 2 people, and even 1 trip a year, it's definitely going to be more of an expense than say your cell phone bill.