Evening people,

What percentage of your income is normal to spend on rent and outgoings, I’ve read 30% on rent but I’m unsure if that included anything else or even if it was a UK based estimate. I’m currently at home rent free but an apartment has become available a bit sooner than I expected and it is cheaper than most around here due to us knowing the landlady, I would have to take on the rent myself until my GF returns from Brazil in June. I’ve done some basic sums

Renting for Me – Salary £1500
Rent – £550 – £950
Bills – £35 – £915
Council tax – £100 – £815
Petrol – £120 – £695
Food – £25 – £670
Help to buy ISA – £200 – £470
Car loan – £100 – £370

Renting for Me and GF
Rent – £275 – £1225
Bills – £20 – £1205
Council Tax – £50 – £1155
Petrol – £120 – £1035
Food – £40 – £995
Help to buy ISA – £200 – £795
Car loan – £100 – £695

Now I can get back £300 by not paying the bottom two as they are non essential. My salary does normally come in a bit above £1500 due to overtime.

So we are looking at roughly half my salary going on essential items.

What is the norm?

food 25 quid? a month?

I’m impressed you can live on £25 of food a month.

You’re right that was weekly so make that £100

Just found this on google http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/as-a-percentage-of-your-take-home-pay-how-much-do-you-spend-on-rent-bills good old STW

What bills are inclusive in 35 quid ?

Your estimates seem very light to me…. And im an energy miser

Sorry, but what are the two numbers against each item?

I’m feeling stupid tonight.

At the moment I’m unemployed so the girlfriend is paying full whack for the rent (don’t get me started on how hard it is to claim jobseekers / housing benefit) so I’d say 1/3 of our household income goes on rent.

OP when you are living alone you’ll spend £25 a month on food (eating at your mum’s 😉 ) and when your GF is back £80 a month between you ?

Anyway 25-40% on rent is reasonable at your stage in life, without wishing to be an @rse it may be a little risky taking on the place now on the basis your GF will want to move in in 6 months time.

Also check out singleperson occupancy rates on council tax.

OP – how much do you have left over at the end of the month normally? At a guess, with Rent at £550, you’ll need maybe £800 for routine bills, food etc

No ‘running costs’ for the car included (MOT, Servicing, Maintenance, Tax)
No Holiday savings
No Clothing
No debt repayments

MoneySaving Expert site has a good calculator to work it all out somewhere.

What bills are inclusive in 35 quid ?

This is leccy and water, this is what the current tenant told me.

Sorry, but what are the two numbers against each item?

The first is the cost of the item, the second is how much of salary is left after in both situations.

Anyway 25-40% on rent is reasonable at your stage in life, without wishing to be an @rse it may be a little risky taking on the place now on the basis your GF will want to move in in 6 months time.

I could eat at my mums, good idea!

food 25 quid? a month?

Surely that’s a day!

Or maybe I eat too much.

This is leccy and water, this is what the current tenant told me.

Water and no heating/cooking?

And what makes you think your GF will want to pay half your rent? 😉

I dont think there is a norm for percentage of salary but a couple of those costs look a bit low to me.

Food @ £25 per month as mentioned above.

Your bills @ £35. Does that includes electric and or gas, water, telephone, broadband, mobile?

Also you’ve taken account of petrol but don’t seem to have factored in car insurance, tax and servicing. I use the car very infrequently (using about £30 of fuel a month) and my additional car costs are around £80 per month.

Also a new house needs stuff that you didn’t know you needed, pots, pans, towels, bedding etc. all pretty dull but all needs paying for.

I know some of these costs are annual but if you are trying to work out a budget then you should probably allow for them.

[edit] Some of these got answered while i was typing v e r y s l o w l y

No ‘running costs’ for the car included (MOT, Servicing, Maintenance, Tax)
No Holiday savings
No Clothing
No debt repayments

Car MOT is due next september as long as it doesn’t blow up, I could cycle but it’s a 28 mileish round trip.

I have a uniform at work and lots of casual clothes.

I have a holiday booked on a 24 month 0% CC, so yes I probably need to budget for that.

I do have a few grand saved up and the rent is not fixed term, it ticks over monthly.

OP.

Bills £35?

Gas, electric, phone and broadband, water rates?

Phone line and broadband will be £25 a month.

I think you need to do some more realistic sums.

30% rent is about right for us. However you may want to reconsider your bills and other outgoings. Things like TV Licence, phone/broadband, insurance. I think our water alone is £18.50 per month. We also spend about £60 a week on food, then there’s clothes etc. And transport, fuel costs etc. It is doable on £1500 but I don’t think you will have much left at the end of the month. I know we don’t.

Car still needs maintainance above the mot….

Routine Servicing , breakages hell even sticking washer fluid in.

Being an adult really sucks, everything costs money and everything needa money 🙁

As remember although you have a uniform and loads of casual clothes- thse need replacing over time so are costs….

28mile round trip – perfect for cycling 😉 youll get fit if nothing else.

28mile round trip – perfect for cycling youll get fit if nothing else.

This is true, I used to do almost exactly the same distance, you’ll be fit as a flea but you’ll need to budget more for bike parts and clothing, most months I was buying something bike related because It had worn out.

28mile round trip – perfect for cycling youll get fit if nothing else.

I know but then I look at the miserable weather!

Anyway thanks for the help guys, I’ll look at re doing my calculations and have a think.

If it were me (and if possible) I’d stay at home saving massively on bills and accumulating a decent lump sum to say, drop on a house deposit. Ok, over 6 months here you are only talking £3-6k but it’s better than nothing and it gives you options.

When your GF returns from Brazil you then take on a rental and split everything, rather than you paying a lot for the first 6 months. I assume by “cheap rent”, it’s like £50-100 cheaper than elsewhere, which isn’t really massive TBH.

Anyway, I understand that parents can be a PITA so there may be other factors at play etc etc etc.

I’m not sure what a normal % of income you’re meant to spend on rent, but as a word of warning the letting agents were dealing with are after a take home of 4x monthly rent at lest which might mean a 25% max.

In London I was spending just under 50% but I’ve left and moved further North and now it’s less than 30%.

If we want UK economy to get itself straight again then spending less on loans to the bank in the form of paying your landlord’s debt off for him would be a pretty good start…

I’m at 56%…

Thanks for the replies guys, I’m filling out the money saving expert spreadsheet there are lots of extras!

I assume by “cheap rent”, it’s like £50-100 cheaper than elsewhere, which isn’t really massive TBH.

It’s in Cambridge (where property prices never stop rising) I would say it’s £200 a month cheaper than a similar rental.

I’m not sure what a normal % of income you’re meant to spend on rent, but as a word of warning the letting agents were dealing with are after a take home of 4x monthly rent at lest which might mean a 25% max.

I’m dealing directly with the landlady NEVER will I deal with an agent if I can help it.

You sure they didn’t mean £35 each on the bills, as that would seem more like it. You’ve also forgot mobile phones, Internet, home insurance, TV licence.

Don’t include your GF in deciding on taking the place, if she leaves or says no or you fall out then you are stuffed. Food for single person starts at £50 as you need toilet roll and other household stuff plus eating out junk food (you will eat out) so starting point would be £50. Winter leci costs me £40 and gas £15 using a boiler and a gas cooker. I don’t use heating often as i am from the north.

Best bet is find out what your rent is and Council tax for the place you want. Sound like you are better living at home and paying rent to whom ever than moving out. Get money saved up first to cover you for six months for when the universe decides to kick you in the bottom (it will, it just hasn’t got round to you yet)

My fixed outgoings (I’m loathe to say essentials as I’m including things like mobile phone, Sky, gym membership etc) are c. £1k, Mrs Danny around the same.

Having said that our mortgage payment is tiny as we bought cheap and haven’t remortgaged for years.

We (for the of us) can keep food shopping to less than £80 p/w also which helps.

At the moment that equates to approx 85% of my income but hopefully a new job offer is in the way which will bring it right down.

Our rent works out to 32% of my salary, add on other half’s salary and it works out a lot less, east Anglia.

18% for me, the most I’ve ever paid was 27% and that included council tax, water and internet.

Around 30% goes on rent for me, touch lower maybe.

Mine is about 15%, but then I live in the desolate North, where to be honest, I’m lucky not to be sharing with the livestock.

as a rule of thumb, when calculating monthly expenses, I double the rent. it’s more or less accurate enough for affordability exercises.

My mortgage is about 20% of my income but I live in a sensible sized end terrace in the Midlands on a niceish estate.

Overall bills including paying for a new car is about 60% of my income.

House and bills currently coming in at 68%* here :-S

I’d have more money living with my mum and dad and earning minimum wage, but hey I own a house [i]have a crippling mortgage[/i] and living the capitalist dream.

*this does include a hefty margin for DIY supplies at the moment as everything needs replacing as well as savings towards a new kitchen/bathroom over the next year. My actual share of the mortgage is 32%, and household bills are 8%, the rest goes on trips to screwfix and paying trades.

I’d carefully add up all your bills, they very quickly mount up.

Just the phone line and TV:
Line rental £15
Internet £20
TV package £20
TV licence £15

No idea why I pay it, the GF wanted Sky sports, and the only way to get it is to pay all that, I was happy with my £15/month mobile Wi-Fi dongle.

Electric, a new-ish well insulated flat will be about £50/month.

Water depending on where you are, £20-35.

Council tax ~£100 unless it’s a really posh flat.

Then there’s everything else:
Car loan (and tax, insurance, MOT, even after buying it and depreciation are taken out, and before it breaks down, running a car costs about £200 per month, more if you’re young and paying through the nose for insurance)
Mobile phone
Bike parts
Gym membership

I’d wait till your GF returns, then make plans, she might not want to live there and might find a job elsewhere in the country! I the meantime, pay off the car loan, pay off the CC debt, and if there’s anything left that’ll pay the deposit and estate agents fees which are always more than you expect them to be.

thats assuming they remain letting you live rent free TINAS>

unfortunately some people take that for granted and then coming out into the real world shocks them greatly…..

When I lived in a two bed house in the same area the OP is looking, our bills PCM (for two) were:

Rent (£950)
C/Tax (£137)
Gas (£50)
Electricity (£37)
Water (£33.26)
Food (£200)
Virgin Media Phone, TV & Broadband (£61.19)

Add to this:

Petrol/Diesel
Car Running Costs (Tax, MOT, Servicing, Tyres, Repairs)
Debt Repayment
Hair Cuts
Gym
Savings
Clothing
Eating Out/Takeaways
Beer Tokens/Socialising in general
Mobile phone contract
House Insurance
TV License
Personal Insurance/Pensions etc
+ any number of incidental expenses, new furniture

thats assuming they remain letting you live rent free TINAS

That’s true, I was out of the family home at 18 and haven’t been back for longer than christmas apart from summer holidays from uni. My brother’s 27 and still lives there, which is just ridiculous.

i was 22 before i moved out post uni ….and i was on significantly higher % of my income outgoing than the OP is proposing.

i earned 1100 quid a month and the (cheap for the area) rent was 550 on its own…..the mrs was a post grad student at the time as well so at least we got single person occupancy but it was tight.

thank **** i found a better job within 6 months of moving out.