Moving out on my own!

[ali0210]

Although I've browsed MN for quite some time, this is my first time posting. Please be kind :)

I got the keys for my very own (rented!) flat today. It's my first time living alone and having full rent, utilities and groceries to pay for.

I earn around £1100 pm in wages. Rent will be £360 pm. Gas/elec will be approx £40 pm (due to me being out at work quite a bit. I have car finance at £189 pm (soon to be £150 pm when I change the car in a few weeks time). My phone bill is £18 pm. Fuel costs are usually around £50 pm. This will leave me roughly £443 pm for groceries (just for myself, my boyfriend on occasion and my little pooch) and any other living costs.

I want to attempt to save around £100-£150 pm wherever possible.

Has anyone any extremely helpful advice on ways to best manage my money to make this achievable?

My boyfriend will probably be round quite a bit and I imagine will chip in when it comes to grocery costs on occasion as we enjoying and having little feast nights in. I don't want to assume that he will contribute towards anything, but if he does it'll be an added bonus and I'll try to put that money towards a little weekend away or something for us.

Thank you in advance :)

[Notreallyhappy]

Good luck in your new home.
You need to plan what you'll be eating for the week so you don't end up ordering takeaway or buying lunch at work.
Aldi & Lidl for shopping.
Freeze any leftovers for another day. Only buy what you'll eat so not to waste anything.
Don't use contactless payment on days out as it adds up soon..Get cash out.
Put £100 savings as a bill pay yourself first as you would your rent.
Make sure you bf dips in on costs if he stays over...drinking all your milk etc will add to your costs over time as will charging up the phone.. it will all add up.
If you've money left at the end of the month transfer it to your savings.

[Fluffycloudland77]

What about council tax?. Tv licence? Broadband? Water?.

Timers are your friend for the heating and hot water. If you can set it 20 minutes before you get up, to 20 minutes before you leave for work. Gas is very cheap per kWh but a unit of gas is around 10kwh and it soon mounts up.

I have a hot water tank so I set the thermostat on the tank to 55c and put it on for 20 minutes before dh gets home. A lot of hot water tanks are factory set to 70c. There's a little round plastic cover on the front of them with a screw. If you switch the tank off at the wall you can undo it and lower the stat. If there's no big water tank you have a combi boiler, these have the hot water temp set and you can download a PDF of the instructions to set the water to 55c.

Shop at aldi and look at price per kg, especially for chicken. A whole chicken is much cheaper than portions. You can buy chicken shears to portion up at home or cook it in a slow cooker. I use the cooking on a bootstrap for basic recipes and adapt as needed. I buy big bags of spices and make my own curries and doner kebabs from a book called the takeaway secret.

Moneysavingexpert have a coupon section and you quite often get free frozen pizza coupons, they make an excellent emergency dinner to stop you getting takeaways on nights your late home.

When you get the keys make a note of the types of light bulb in each room and change the most used ones for led bulbs. Keep the landlords bulbs in a box for when you leave. It'll keep your electric bill down.

Your bf should contribute on nights he comes round, with food. He'll be using your facilities & it's not free. He should be putting money by for treats as well. There's free grocery apps too like green jinn, checkoutsmart, quidco clicksnap, topcashback snap n save. You tend to get freebies on there fairly regularly.

The easiest way to save that £150 is to set up an instant access savings account with your bank, you can do it online really easily. Move the £150 on pay day and do your very best not to touch it.

[FlowerPower25]

Enjoy moving into your own place!

Agree with PP that the best way to save is to move money into a savings account on pay day (bonus points if it's with another bank, so you don't see it sitting there each time you log in to check your balance.)

We kept food spending on food down by taking out cash on pay day and having a separate 'food money' wallet. This was the best thing for making sure we didn't spend more than we had, and let us see how much we had left. Plan your meals so you buy what you need, do a weekly shop rather than popping out every few days, aldi and Lidl are your friends!

Good luck!

[ali0210]

Thank you all for your help, it's much appreciated!

All rates/tax/water will be included in the rent price so I don't have to worry about that. I hardly ever watch tv to be fair, so I can easily not set up the aerial and go without needing a tv licence. I get 20gb of date on my phone plan so think I should be able to go without broadband too, but I can see how I go for the first few months and change my mind then if needs be.

I'm certain my boyfriend will chip in, but I'd rather plan that he doesn't, so that I don't become reliant on his money!

We don't have any Aldi stores here, but I do plan on using Lidl and a few bulk buy cash and carries in the area where possible!

Love the idea of just withdrawing the cash and using that for the week, so easy to overspend using your card.

I'll definitely be setting the water/heat timers. Half hour water in the morning and an hour heating just before I get in from work should be sufficient I think.

[Fluffycloudland77]

You can watch catch up services except iplayer with no licence, you need to tell them you don’t watch live telly.

Lidl is fine.

Half an hour should heat a water tank, a gas boiler is 18kw of power. It doesn’t take long.

Chipping is the way to go, life isn’t cheap.

[specialsubject]

go look up the tv licence rules. if you really dont need one, make the declaration.

contents insurance? vet bills? dog sitter/walker?

[ali0210]

Yes I'll make the declaration that I don't need one. More than happy with Netflix and DVDs/Blu-rays instead of the usual rubbish that's actually on tv 😂

Thankfully I won't need a pet sitter/walker. My lovely mum has said she is happy to pick him up when she finishes work at 1200 and take him to hers until I get home at 1800. So he will only be alone for 4 hours a day, just like he was whilst we were living at hers anyway 😊

After I've moved in and got everything set up and sorted, I'll still have approx £2000 in savings. I'm happy to use savings for vets bills if needs be. Luckily my vet is fantastic and lets you set up a payment plan for big bills anyway if you can't pay it all in one go.

I've priced contents insurance and I've found one for £22 pm. So, when I change my car and the payment for that is lower, it will cover the cost of that no problem and still leave me with the same budget as above.

I'm so excited at the moment. The painter has been in (and has possession of the keys!) since Thursday. He's going to be finished the whole place today so I can get round after work this evening and see it all freshly painted 😁 the flooring is being fitted on Monday, cooker is being delivered and set up on Wednesday and then I can start to move my furniture and belongings in! By this time next week I'll actually be living there 🤗 yay!

[Fluffycloudland77]

Are you using cashback sites to buy your insurances?. You’ll save a fortune using them.

I mainly use topcashback, they price match quidco and pay out quicker.

Is it £22 because you have no no claim discount?. Paying up front will save you more. They don’t actually use a finance company they just charge you extra for the same policy.

[specialsubject]

all sounds very much under control - best of luck in your new home!

[MessySurfaces]

22pcm for contents insurance seems high- ours is less than 14 in London for a family house full of children including accidental damage!
And def cheaper to pay upfront if you possibly can- then put by X each month towards next year's.

[wiilowmelangell]

Cashback sites for everything. Groceries, electrical items, utilities, Ebay, Wilkinson etc etc.
Slow-cooker is your friend. Also freezer.
Good luck in your new home x

[Fairyliz]

My daughter has just moved into a flat after getting her first job following university. I found contents insurance for £81 for the year which includes landlord liability insurance. So £22 per month seems really high to me.
Good luck in your new home!

[MrsPatmore]

Are you sure council tax is included? It would be unusual.