How much money did you save to rent?

[Twister]

Now that both me and oh are working we can finally start thinking about moving out of my parents house. We want to rent because we'd never be able to afford to buy at the moment. We are willing to pay maximum of £550 a month rent-wise but obviously need to remember about water, gas, electric, council tax, tv liscense etc. We don't have any money saved up yet so we really are starting from scratch.

I know no one will be able to give me an exact number but I just want a rough idea of how much we will need, how much money did you save up before you moved into a rental property? We have some stuff which is being given to us like a fridge/freezer, sofa bed and a few other bits, we also have two double beds which we will have. But obviously there's still loads we will need to buy (especially if we go unfurnished, which I would prefer), not forgetting the deposit and any agent fees and stuff.

I was thinking around £2500 would be a good amount, it will take us about 5/6 months to save that amount but again I'm not sure if this is naive considering all the costs of moving and getting everything we need. We plan on buying cheap, nothing extravagant, as long as it works then that's all that matters.

So yeah, how much money did you save beforehand?

 

[Laucu]

When we last moved we had enough saved for our first month's rent, and deposit (which is usually 6 weeks rent in advance), and agency fees. We have never used a removal company as they are very expensive, but then we have always been lucky enough to have lots of helpers. So all we had to pay for was van rental (plus a few beers and pizzas to keep the troops happy )

So, for the above in total, we paid £2500 (that's with a monthly rent of £950).

Bills etc will start rolling in once you have moved in but the biggy will be council tax. Our monthly bills are:

Council tax - £110
Water - £20
Gas - £25
Electricity - £50
TV licence - £12
Phone line and broadband - £45

I guess you will also need to work out what furniture you need and how much it will cost you. Don't forget that unfurnished does usually still include white goods (fridge/freezer, washing machine, cooker).

Oh and also, check your local Freecycle site and see what you can get for free!!!

 

[Twister]

Thanks that is very helpful. I have already made a list of everything we need (well everything we can think of, probably missed one or two things) but have yet to shop around and work out 'average' prices for everything. We will also have lots of helpers, and both my uncles own vans, we both have cars and my step dad can get a van from work too so we won't need to bother with moving companies thankfully.

 

[Pandora11]

I think your estimate is pretty resonable. When we first rented our first house we paid about £1500, for fees and deposit,first months rent. We had about £500 for first months bills, (remember when you set up some things like internet/phone you need to pay installation) we got our energy supply set up to pay quarterly so we had time to work out how much our living expenses would be and give us a little extra. And you have to pay more on tv licence because you have to pay for the year even if you've not lived in the house a year...council tax could be a big chunk because they don't rush to sort it out so we had to pay almost two months at once.

Then we had a few hundred on top of that for little things, first months shopping is more because you need all those little things salt, condiments, herbs,(it's amaing how the little things can add up) then things you don't think about like tin openers, light bulbs, spare keys cut.. lol those things that make life difficult if you don't have them. Don't forget cleaning products, washing up liquid, floor clearner, bleach, sprays, brillo pads.. god the list is endless but again there the things no one thinks about until it's too late.

Oh and we didn't have much cash because OH had to spent loads on petrol to train in another city and still had to buy furniture and someone told me about the British Heart Foundation shops, not the little charity ones but bigger ones that sell second hand stuff from fridges, sofas, wardrobes, coffee tables to lamps etc and that was a HUGE help, some of the stuff we liked and some we bought because we needed it and slowly replaced over the year. But they are really cheap if you can find one local and they deliver and white good and electricals have 1yr warranty. I think for about £200 we got about 6 items of furniture. It saves so much when you first move in and need almost everything and means we weren't spending all our money every month.

So for rambling, hope this helps

 

[vhal_x]

We saved nothing, as OH's aunt loaned us the £675 we needed and that was it. We needed £100 for a credit check, £100 deposit (incase we damage things before we leave) and £475 rent (but not for first month, it's incase I ever don't pay a month, that'll cover it) xx

 

[Twister]

Thanks for the replies, I didn't think about tin openers etc! me and oh have just found out that his work colleague who is also friends with his brother has a house which will be available to rent in about a month. We won't have to pay a deposit, just the first months rent up front (£550). We are going to view it in a couple of weeks time but by the sounds of it it sounds perfect. We've got a lot of planning to do but we could be moving out sooner than we think!

 

[wanna-b-mummy]

Me and my OH have literally just moved into a new rented flat (was living at my dad's beforehand) so all the figures are very fresh in my mind. We saved enough for the deposit which seems to be a month and a half's rent - so in your case, £825. You then usually have to pay a month's rent up front when you move in, so £1375. You then need to think about admin/letting agent fees which for us were £200. So let's just say roughly £1600 for you guys. You then need to be able to buy lots of homeware bits (do you need a sofa, table and chairs, big bits of furniture like that?). We probably spent £150 on things like saucepans, tins, mugs, glasses, new bed sheets, ironing board, iron, hoover, etc as we just bought supermarket cheapies which we'll replace when we're better off
Then you have your big food shop to fill the cupboards when you move in.

I would say £2000-£2500 for your deposit, rent, fees, homeware shopping, food. We didn't have to pay for a removal van as my step-dad has a van but you may want to take that into account too hun.

As for monthly bills - here's ours for a one bed flat.

Council tax: £110
Electric and gas: £75
Water: £20-£25
TV licence: £12
Internet and phone: £25
Contents insurance: £5

Hope that helps x

 

[Lubbird]

Here is what we saved and what it was for:

£300 to cover admin costs and any unexpected fees
£100 moving van
£1100 rent and bond
£200 food shopping for first month
£1200 to cover any and all bills for first month
£500 furniture fund

Total: £3400
We were over cautious I guess since we didn't use it all but it was nice to have everything there and not worry about money.

Bills per month for us are 1000 to 1100 and thats everything

Good luck hun we are looking for a new place so we are going through the process of saving again!

 

[Ruby x]

Hi,

we got the cheapest (nice) flat we could find which was £550 per month. With the deposit, month up front +10 days rent as we moved in mid month + fee's we ended up shelling out £2300 just on that.

WE already had bedroom furniture and we were given a sofa so i spent about £600 on ikea getting other furniture + kitchen/cooking bits.

so basically it cost us quite a bit to move in which is why i dont wanna move until we really need to, i dunno how we are going to be able to raise the funds to do it.