How do you work out what you can afford to pay in rent after split?

[Beaverfever]

After 10 years of financial abuse and secrecy I left my husband.
So I have no idea how much livings costs really apart from the skewed idea he gave me.

How should I work out what I can afford?its all new to me.

Part of this will be down to the area you live in, I cannot profess to have any clue of London living costs but for me.. have a look at standard rent for the area and the amount of bedrooms needed, I think general advice is around 30% of your income should be rental. Then find banding costs for council tax, add in gas, electric (you can get averages on your situation from suppliers or lots of comparison websites) contents insurance, tv licence, telephone and internet costs, travel (car/public transport) and then school costs and food. Food is a contentious issueas it depends how you eat and how many of you there are. We eat for two adults a child and a cat for 200 a month but that is with a huge whack of planning, no booze, little meat and a nice big freezer to put it in. You could go on stepchange who are a debt help service but you can put in all your costs on their calculator and they will tell you where to spend/save. Don't forget to factor in the big upfront costs of renting : security checks, renewal fees, security deposit. Try and aim for bills to be 70-80% income max so you can save and have treats.

Our monthly finances:
Rent: £550 (3bed semi)
Council tax: £120
Electric: £40
Gas: £120 winter £20 summer
Tv: £12
Interweb: £35
Netflix:£5
NowTV: £6
Food and drink: £160-£200
Mobiles:£20
Whether my of that relates to you and yours is a different thing.

I forgot £30 insurance.
We don't drive which saves us a lot.

Just to add in.
Work out incomes, then minis these:
use Google to find council tax,
rough guess for gas and electric but be sure to over estimate,
shopping depends in how cheap you are,
essentials like mobiles and internet etc
and whatever is left you can use for rent.

don't forget water rates! When i lived in england i paid a set amount towards it when i lived in social housing. When i moved into private renting i had to pay it separately according to usage like i did with utilities.
Since i moved to scotland i pay a set amount per month via my council tax.

I live on my own and re utilities, i refused to set up a direct debit until i'd been here for at least 6 months and knew what my actual average monthly usage was. i gave them a meter reading on the same date each month. After 6 months i set up a DD for £50 - that's £25 per month towards gas and electric because that is actually what i am using. They wanted me to set up a DD for £80 right at the start with the option of reducing it after 6 months! From my past experiences i knew they wouldn't 'reduce' it to cover actual usage as they always like to 'add on' extra pounds 'in case' - you know, just in case you have an extra hot bath or leave your lights on for 2 minutes longer than normal - money grabbing twunts! i see through their games!