Budget Questions from UB1970: cross posted from Welcome Wagon

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking around the board for some time and thought that I should finally introduce myself.  I am a 30-something single woman currently living in Chicago.  I have thought about moving to London for quite a few years and I think I am finally going to take the plunge this year.  Currently exploring a transfer with my employer so hopefully that works out.  Even if it does not, I have decided to make the move in April since I do not require employment sponsorship. Of course, getting the transfer would make things easier but either way, I am ready for this adventure.  With that said, I have been doing tons of research but what I have yet to find is a sample budget.  Yes, I know that rent will be the largest expense and it depends on what part of London I choose to reside, but want to make sure I account for all the other hidden fees such as council tax, TV tax, etc.  So does anyone out there have a sample UK budget sheet?  If so, it would be great to see it posted. 

Warm Regards,

Ursula

Part of it will depend on what living situation you get - some places are 'all inclusive' for rent, some will include water, some council tax, some a couple of these. And you won't know exactly what your council tax will be cause it depends on where, the building assessment, etc. It's very confusing in a lot of ways. But here is what I spend money on in London:
1. rent (we have water included) - £700/mo each
2. electricity - £55 per month...we have a 3 bedroom (2 bedrooms and a study for us) two-level flat...smaller flats in London may have lower costs
3. council tax - we live in a council with one of the lowest council taxes in London but our rent is higher
4. cable/internet - £40
5. Phone (BT & onetel) - approximately £20/mo. with long distance factored in
6. Travel...this depends on what zones you are going to travel on, whether you get a travel card for the tube or just a bus pass - while I live in walking distance to where I work, I take the bus or tube to my gym and my boyfriend lives in another zone...so I am now using a tube pass as it's cheaper
7. Food - I spend on groceries about £20 per week...and go out/get take out quite a bit so my food expense is kinda high

And that's about it.

So do you have a British or EU passport already? And if you do head over here, let us know...we have some fun outtings with a bunch of women and guys in the area...and some of us moved over here for either work or school. Best of luck!

I'll go next, to be of assistance:

1. rent, with nothing included for 1 BR flat in Marylebone: 1200.00 per month
2. electricity - £40 per month
3. council tax -£87 for 10 months, 2 months 'free'
4. cable/internet - We do Pay as you go internet at home ranging from £5-10 a month.  We have freeview box, a one time purchase of £45
5. Phone (BT & onetel) - approximately £20 with LD factored in
6. Travel: I have a Zone 1 travel card, i get a year for £740 which saves £10 a month, it's usually £71.00 a month
7. Food -For 2 of us we spend £50 a week on groceries (that's with lunch food and stuff)
8. We live on an allowancce system.  We each get £60 a week to spend as we wish and budget £65 a week together to spend (movies, dinner, plays etc.)  If we don't spend it, it goes into savings to spend at a later time  We also save about £400 a month to use on travel and vacations over the year.
9. Other stuff: ScreenSelect (like netflix) £14.95  a month.  Also some pensions and endowment savings as well as insurance.  We also have a car so have paid for insurance, maint, gas and parking on that.

The rest is paying credit cards off and into savings.

Right, so there it all is....laid out for you.    We calculated that our rent is about 28% of our post tax take home pay. A little more than we want to spend, but i love where we live. 

If you're willing to move anywhere but "posh" West End ...

• RENT will be between £650 - £900 (the latter are new development houses) for a 1-2 BR flat; I pay £650 for a 1 bed;
• ELECTRICITY: mine is ca. £20/mth (submit your meter reading regularly, otherwise they'll assume silly consumption and you'll end up being in credit) - find your cheapest utilities provider through Uswitch;
• GAS: central heating/hot water/cooking, roughly £350/yr with lower consumption during summer (a well insulated british flat definitely lowers that amount  );
• WATER costs around £140/yr. flat rate; if you think you use less, get a water reading meter and pay by consumption;
• COUNCIL TAX: as mentioned before, depends on the borough you live, typical rule is: nice area - high rents - lower council tax. You get a 25% CT reduction for single occupancy - I pay £65/mth (x10, 2 mths. free)
• PHONE: phone line thru British Telecom is around £11/mth for standard features, up to £25 for free calls within the UK. Sign up with an additional provider, f.i. OneTel or SuperLine which offer low UK and international rates, extremely cheaper than BT;
• TV LICENSE: mandatory (if you own one)! Costs around £120/yr, several instalment options available (monthly, quarterly, yearly);
• CABLE/SATELLITE: several channel packages available, averages around £30/mth for basic channels (ca. 120); additional premium movie/sports channel packs available at around £6-10 extra. I use NTL cable family package, for £29/mth. This comes with and includes a phone line! You could save yourself the costs for a BT line;
• BROADBAND: speeds range from 512 kb/sec up to 2MB/sec (higher speeds occasionally available) and are provided mainly through ADSL and/or cable. Packages range from £14 (512kb/sec) up to £45 (2 MB/sec), beware of the cheap offers, they often come with monthly download limits! A good site for UK Broadband is ADSL Guide. Important: if you go for ADSL, you will require a BT phone line! I recently switched to NTL cable internet and pay £38/mth for 1.5MB/sec;
• CONTENTS INSURANCE is a good idea if you're renting to protect your belongings from theft, damage, etc. I pay £14/mth with More Than , this includes also legal cover up to £50,0000;
• PUBLIC TRANSPORT: fares are paid by zones (1-6); cheapest option is a monthly ticket, paid for a whole year upfront, info at Transport for London
• CIGARETTES ... if you are a smoker, now's the time to give up ... LOL, embarrassing to say but I spend around £200/mth for the cancer sticks;

Additional expenses:
Car = Registration Fee, yearly MOT, insurance, parking permit, infos at Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Entertainment = books, magazines, concerts, cinema
Groceries

... phew ... I ran out of ideas! 

(and it's much cheaper to rent a place with another person if you can. i could never swing rent myself!!!!)

...

after years (a lot!!!) of flat sharing with the weirdest individuals on this planet, I'd rather bite the bullet and shell out the dough or live in a crappy area w/ low rent 

totally understandable, just thought i'd point that out. 

As i said, i'd be living...well...not here!!!! if i was alone.   

totally understandable, just thought i'd point that out. 

As i said, i'd be living...well...not here!!!! if i was alone.   

yeah, sure ... London's not a place for cheap living, except ... if you bought a property like 20 years ago. A co-worker of mine pays like £150/mth on mortgage!!!

Thanks everyone.  These sample budgets are most helpful as I work towards creating a realistic one for myself.  As for the whole flat sharing bit, I just don't think I can do it.  Maybe it's the American in me, but it seems a lot less grown up for a 30-something single woman to be sharing an apartment.  Now I know many in london do it due to the high cost of living, but I'm really working towards finding a place of my own even if it needs to be in one of the "doggier" neighborhoods.  The last time I shared a place with someone I wasn't related to was about 10 years ago and while the situation was pleasant (except when her pot smoking friends came over), I just don't think I can do it again.  Of course, never say never -- right?

If you don't want to share accommodation (don't blame you!) but don't want to shell out too much for your rent you can get a studio flat (= one room apartment, usually with sep bathroom) for about £100-150 p/w depending on the area.

yeah, sure ... London's not a place for cheap living, !!

Yeah. 340 pounds a month for a 2-bedroom flat in York. It's not London, but if I ever want to visit, it's only a 2 hour train ride.

I hear Newcastle rents are even lower.

Great budget sheets; I find them very useful! Thanks! 

Yeah. 340 pounds a month for a 2-bedroom flat in York. It's not London, but if I ever want to visit, it's only a 2 hour train ride.

I hear Newcastle rents are even lower.

Don't make me cry ...  :\\\'(

But how's the job situation up there?

I don't know yet, as I haven't looked for a job yet. There are certainly not the opportunities in London.  I know I am probably going to have to settle for something less than ideal, as the field that I work in (advertising) is centered in London.

But it is worth it because I will be living in a beautiful place with the man I love. 

Leeds, however, does have very big financial and IT markets.

There are people who do commute from York to London every day. It's only 2 hours on a high speed train; however, it's incredibly expensive. They must be really big-shot high level executives.

If you don't want to share accommodation (don't blame you!) but don't want to shell out too much for your rent you can get a studio flat (= one room apartment, usually with sep bathroom) for about £100-150 p/w depending on the area.

Britwife is right, if you don't own a lot of things, a studio might be a good and lower priced accommodation to start with 

Most tenancy agreements are on a 6 or 12 month basis, so while you're settled there you could look for something bigger (or not!).