Moving back to UK - cost planning?

[Zorra]

Having spent a lot of time being back and forth overseas, I am coming back to settle for maternity leave from April for 6 months. I'm stuck with trying to prepare a budget. I will rent a house in rural Shropshire (to be near my parents) and it will be myself, 3.5yo DS and (all being well ) a new baby at the end of May. I've done research into the local area, schools, houses and whatnot, but it's the fact that all the other costs have shot up which is getting me confused.

My monthly budget plan at the moment is:
£250 for utilities, council tax, internet, TV license etc - basically all household bills apart from rent.
£200 for petrol.
£500 for nappies, groceries, going out (to playgroups presumably rather than anywhere else!) and basically anything else.
Rent (£550) and DS nursery (£240) are budgeted already based on discussions with estate agents and nursery over Christmas, and I have money set aside to buy a second hand car and the insurance up front.

Does this sound reasonable, or is there something skewiff? Or is there somewhere I can cut back? When I was on maternity leave with DS I also settled somewhere and did the same process, but made a pig's ear of it and spent a fortune . Luckily I have most of the gear this time around! Any thoughts?

that council tax sounds low - that is something that isn't cheaper here in Shropshire, but you can find out for the property concerned. Allow about £200, and you then need about another £200 for fuel, water, TV, insurance, electricity and broadband/phone (based on what I spend and I am fairly frugal but home a lot) If you've been out of the country for a while (I was) you will be staggered at the rise in utility bills.

the rest seems ok with careful shopping - plenty of good supermarkets about with delivery service, and the bigger towns also have lots of shops like Aldi, B and M, Home Bargains and so on.

remember you also need furniture, kitchen kit, deposit etc etc. Ebay and freecycle are your friends!

HTH.

will you need to pay for nursery as he should have 15 hours free
bills low - I agree another 200 on top
petrol depends - I could get away with less than that
you might need contents insurance

Make sure you tell the council that there will only be one adult at the property and insist on the single occupier discount.

When I moved back to the UK in a hurry and registered for council tax, obviously only putting my name on the form (single parent), I didn't discover until months later that they were charging me full whack, and they wouldn't backdate the discount or refund anything I had already paid.

Thanks for the replies, think things have really shot up :( Good point on the single discount for council tax, will make sure I check it out.