Average household bills for a couple in the UK?

[TinyBoots]

First of all... hello ladies! I'm fairly new to this site So hi to everyone!!

Well, I've finally got the job i wanted in Sheffield, now I just need to hunt for a house to rent... But I want an idea of how much It's going to cost, I've no idea as I've lived with my parents all my life!!

What, on average, would we be paying per month for things like electricity, water, etc? Also how much is a TV licence?

I'm so utterly clueless about things like these, I feel like a big blooming baby!!

Thank you so much for everyone who answers

 

[MummyKaya]

Hi and welcome!
Right, tv license I believe is around £140 per year (please correct me if I'm wrong), we have a 2bed cottage and pay £150 every three months for electric, I think our water is about £50 quarterly (can't be sure tho O.H deals with it) we don't have gas, instead we have oil central heating which costs roughly £250 for 500 litres. Which we made last a year almost! Then you have council tax which depends on the area you live and size of your house, ours is £130 a month. Then obviously your rent, and any phone/Internet connections which ours total about £75 a month but that's our mobiles included too. Hope that helps?! X

 

[Blah11]

Welcome to the forum!


depends on what size house or flat you plan on renting hun.

I own a 3bed midterrace and my bills are...

council tax - £150pm
Gas and elec - 110£ pm
net/tv/phone - 50ish

tv license u can pay annually or £11 a month i think

 

[TinyBoots]

That's fine ladies!! You've helped me out immensely. I just needed averages, so even if the info isn't correct for me, it wont be far off.

I'm so excited to get my own house. Nervous too though, no spare money left for silly things, but it means we can start planning to start a family

xx

 

[// arcadia]

I have a three bed terraced house.

Council tax £150

Water £25
Gas £25
Electric £25

These three are set up as a direct debit each month, i think in reality i use alot more than that but thats all i pay for the time being.

Tv license £11

 

[littleblonde]

I have a one bedroom house.

tv liscense £11
Water £30
gas £30
Electric £25
Council tax £70

I do live in wales so mine maybe less.

 

[x-li-x]

we have a a 3 bed house

and weve just had our gas n lecci bills in, they come every 3 months, leccy was £95 and gas £154
i pay tv licence which is £11 a month
we dont pay water as that is involved with our rent ( we are in army property)
and i think we pay £95 coucil tax. sorry im not much help but hope it helps in a way xx

 

[TinyBoots]

This is all making me breathe a big sigh of relief!

I always think the worst... Never think I can do something others can do! But this is putting my mind at rest

You are all big stars for helping me out. Thank you all xxx

 

[AnnaHughes]

Hi,

There are also quite a few other 'little' bits that do add up other than utilities and rent!

Typically our month is

£400 mortgage
£115 council tax
£40 gas
£30 eletric
£30 water
£30 buildings and contents insurance
£11 tv licence
£15 BT line rental
£60 sky
£20 broadband
£286 a month for 2 days/wk nursery


then, we spend around £80 per week on food/nappies/milk etc, so £320/month

Typically, if you add on 2 meals out/takeaway each month, plus the odd household items we spend no less than £1200 per month, however, there are some things we could cut down on if needed!

 

[anothersquish]

To give you some more averages.
2 bed semi per month
Gas-£35
Electric-£27
Water- £32 (stupid water rate)
TV-£11

our buildings and contents insurance is £160 this year including accidental damage cover and new for old. Obviously contents insurance alone is much less, quite often just a couple of £ a month.

We also have a package deal for Sky which includes TV, broadband and line rental. Including phone calls we never pay out more than £60 a month combined for all three BUT we rarely use the landline for calls.

 

[LankyDoodle]

4 bed semi in Somerset

Council Tax is £104 a month (spread over 12 months)
Electricity/gas/internet broadband/phone line/landline calls are all part of one package and cost from £68-90 a month depending on winter or summer (that includes all of it and we get free mobiles and international evenings and weekends)
Water is roughly £30 a month
TV is just over £11 a month
Insurance is about £28 a month

 

[TinyBoots]

Ok, so from everyone's figures, we're looking to pay around £702pcm, that's not including food, or our loan repayments (one each!), mobile bill etc.

That's not too bad.

Still a scary thought though, eek! Responsibilities!

Did you all get freaked out when you first moved out too? Or am I just a spoilt 23 year old who's relied far too much on Mummy and Daddy for too many years!? haha x

 

[// arcadia]

I moved out last year, im 23 also.

My oh was living in staff accommodation and i was at my parents .. was pregnant so obviously moved in together.

It is scary when you dont know what to expect!! i had no idea what our utility bills would be like or all the added extras.

Anyways we saved alot during my pregnancy and moved into our rented home 2 months before i was due. The savings paid for the deposit and completely furnished our house.

Rent is 650
council tax 150
gas/elec/water 75
tv 11
sky tv/brpadband/talk 50

So as you can see thats just basic bills and living, not even food or clothes or anything extra.

My oh brings home 1051 after tax and i get roughly 500 every month mat pay plus (160 month child benefit and child tax gredits)

And we live comfortably on this.

Moving out seems really daunting at first but when its actually happening it just all fall into place and you wonder what you ever worried about.

 

[TinyBoots]

Oh arcadia! You've just made me smile!

We are on the same amount near enough, as is the OH compared to your OH, so knowing you can live comfortably, with a child, has put a huge smile on my face!

I can stop worrying now, and start enjoying the process!

I'm such a wuss

 

[// arcadia]

Definitely start enjoying!!

 

[TinyBoots]

Another question... How long does it usually take, from putting in an application to rent a house/flat etc, to actually moving in? is it a quick process, or could it take weeks?

Sorry to be a big pain with all these questions, you all are so far more clued up than me!! xx

 

[LankyDoodle]

Ok, so from everyone's figures, we're looking to pay around £702pcm, that's not including food, or our loan repayments (one each!), mobile bill etc.

That's not too bad.

Still a scary thought though, eek! Responsibilities!

Did you all get freaked out when you first moved out too? Or am I just a spoilt 23 year old who's relied far too much on Mummy and Daddy for too many years!? haha x

Don't forget your rent/mortgage payment as well.

 

[TinyBoots]

Lanky - that was inclusive of my rent! The house we're looking at is £450pcm, council tax says its £980 for the year, we don't want sky or anything like that as the OH has sky player on his xbox, I worked out that on average we'd be paying around £100 for gas, water, electricity (could be more though), tv licence would be around £11 as most people have said, BT line around £15 as someone mentioned (could be more?), and Broadband is currently costing around £6 or so a month with o2.

There's house and contents insurance on top of that, which I have no idea how much will cost and will need to get a quote for that.

Does that sound about right? eek x

 

[MummyKaya]

I think we were in within two weeks of the first viewing, although it depends on a few things, like how quickly they process your refrences and credit check, if the previous tenants have already moved out etc. My previous tenancy took about 6 weeks I think.

 

[LankyDoodle]

That sounds finy, Tinyboots!

Go for it I say!