To ask for your average household bills

[Cchick]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are looking to buy our first home together this time next year (I know I'm a bit premature, but rather excited/anxious).

We obviously know what sort of mortgages/monthly repayments we can expect by looking online, but I really don't have a clue about household bills.

I imagine they go up significantly when you go from flat sharing/living at home to owning your house. For example, contents insurance etc.

So, I'd be really interested to hear what your average bills are per month (we have no children at the moment, it'll just be the 2 of us).

To confuse this even more, we are considering both the South East and the North. However its 80% likely going to be South East as that's where family is (and our jobs, although we could find jobs in the North) .

Thanks for getting this far!

Council tax
Water
Electric/gas (check for cheapest)
Broadband
TV
Mobile phone
House & contents insurance (change it every year approx £100)
Transport
House maintenance like decorating, repairs, garden

Thankyou Evaporated. Apoligies if I wasn't clear but I meant the £spend. Total is fine as I imagine it's tiresome to write for every item.

I am south east and I pay
£150 council tax (with 25% discount)
£100 Approx electricity & gas - fluctuates can sometimes be more
£10 contents insurance
£23 water
£25 broadband and phone rental and live in a village can’t get fibre optic
TV licence £12

I won’t include food as I have DC
Car insurance, car tax and petrol

I don’t have buildings insurance as housing association but you will need this too
You might also want some cover for your boiler/heating (also I don’t have to have this)

Garden I do myself and house repairs when I can

Oh £12pm window cleaning
You also need to factor in appliances cost and maintenance.

My mobile is £10pm

DH and I put £400 each month into a 'bills' account. We pay mortgage separately and car insurances separately, so they are additional to the £400. We usually have about £500 left over at the end of the year in this account so treat ourselves!

CTax £100 with single occupancy discount
Gas/Electric about £80/month but can be more
Broadband/line rental £20
Sky/Netflix (my treat!) £34
Tv License £12
Building & contents £20
Life insurance (need one for a mortgage) £17
Boiler cover (shitty boiler) £15
Alarm monitoring £20
Plus personal expenses, (mobile, car, petrol, food, etc) and mortgage.

Don't auto renew any bill, find a cheaper deal

Example
Auto renew car insurance showed £110+ increase
I shopped around & got new deal, with new provider for £100+ less

Couple in Wales:

£230 council tax pm
£22 water rates pm (changed to be on a meter- was £40 before)
£115 gas & electricity pm
£86 sky bill pm (full package- I hate the expense but DH watches all the sport)
£28 phone & broadband pm
Home insurance is about £160 a year- contents included
Television licence about £150 a year I think?
Then you have things like boiler service (£80-100 a year) etc.

Never thought about a window cleaner!

Thank you all, this is helpful indeed

Go to money saving expert there are extensive spreadsheets and advice on running a household.

Use comparison websites and also negotiate. Stuff like car insurance and broadband have some wiggle room often but not always.

Percentages would be more useful but everyone has a different idea of what is an acceptable amount left over if they have some kind of choice in the matter. We also went further North and are Southerners but met when we had both already moved so didn’t need to make that joint decision.

If you relocate and are a shy or anxious person it must be extremely difficult but neither DH or I fit in to that category, it was my second and his fourth relocation by age 30.

I am in Cornwall and pay per month :
Water £85
Council tax £167
Electricity and gas £85
House insurance £14
Car insurance £26
Tv/broadband £95 (full sky package)
TV licence £13

We live in a private rented 3 bed house

Thankyou all

Adverse, I'm not sure percentages would be helpful here, as I'm trying to get an idea of £amount so we cna make a rough budget of costs after we buy.

Gas/electric: 100
C’tax: 120
Amazon prime and Netflix: 15
Water: 30ish
Buikdings/life insurance: 50
Boiler service: 8

Our monthly bills are £300 on average. That's for council tax, water/heating/electric (averaged over summer/winter), TV licence, cleaner (once a fortnight), contents insurance (£80 divided by 12 months) and internet.

We also budget £50-75 a month for "household maintenance" so that when we eventually need a big purchase such as a new washing machine, it's more manageable.

We also worked out our car costs approx £150 a month - again averaging out over 12 months insurance, MOT, tax, petrol spend and repairs (it's owed outright so no hire purchase costs).

There's just DP and I in a small 2-bed 30's built semi, in the SE. Our joint bills are (monthly):

Council tax £190
Gas & electric £72
Water £27
TV licence £12
Broadband/landline £47 (includes BTSport, could get it for £20 without that)
Buildings/contents insurance £15 (paid annually: £180 pa)

We pay for our mobiles ourselves, out of our own money!

Mortgage is now paid off.

It doesn't seem like a lot now I've written it down, maybe I've missed something out. I haven't included anything for the car/motorhome, as our costs (old vehicles that are cheap to insure) won't be representative).

Having said that, your post code can affect your car insurance quite significantly. A friend's went up by 50% when she moved from Thornton Heath, Surrey to London SE25, even though it the two houses were less than half a mile apart. If two houses were equally attractive in every other respect, I might be minded to check that out as a tie breaker.

@HomeEdRocks18

I'd heard that water charges in the SW were very high, but £85 a month is breathtaking.

We're hoping to move to Cornwall in a year or two, and seeing that figure is making a property with its own supply quite attractive.

Are you on a meter, or is that a fixed charge? We saved a lot when we got a meter. If we were still paying the fixed charge, it would be over £50 a month.

True about insurance
Mine went up about £15 on my car when I moved
But I previously lived somewhere it was very high

I seem to be spending a lot more
Council tax 170
Gas and leccy 150
Home insurance 15
Tv licence 13 I think
Life cover for me 11
Broadband TV phone 80

Actually maybe it's not so much looking at others

Mortgage £1500
Council tax £185
Water £60
Tv licence £12
Sky £132
Building and contents £300 per year
Gas and elec £185

My h and I put £320 a month each into our house account and that pays for everything (household related) bar filling the oil tank.

150 Gas & electric
150 Council Tax
50 TV licence &Internet
50 Phone contracts (DH and I)
50 Water

I also have an average of about 100 in insurance (car and home).

We pay 170 a month in insurance (critical illness, life insurance etc).

We also have various subscriptions (veggie box, netflix, charity stuff etc)

Our outgoings are £2354. That includes £1050 on 2 mortgages and £790 for childcare.

Similar position to you (couple, no kids, bought first house last year in an expensive part of the North). For our 3 bed semi:

(Monthly)
Mortgage: £790
Council Tax: £125
Gas / electric: £70
Water: £35
Home Ins: £10
Sky / phone / broadband: £65
TV License: £15

Then usually around £20-£25 for general house bits such as cleaning products, lightbulbs, DIY things for mini-repairs and so on

We’re a couple with a young baby living in a one bed flat. East of England. For us:

Rent: £595pm
Council tax: £118pm
Water: £25pm
Electricity (don’t have gas): £39pm
Broadband: £25pm
TV licence: £12pm