Hi Everyone,
would you be able to tell me approximately how much you spend on the following, as I am working on a budget spreadsheet for monthly living in London for my husband and myself.
Phone
Mobile
Internet
Gas and Electricity
Rubbish Removal
Petrol
Looking to guesstimate what it would cost for a 1-2 bed apartment or house near Slough, Canary Wharf- so not city centre but not far out either!
With risks of oversimplication, I try to give you ballpark figures:
Phone and broadband: best to get them as a package. If there is a BT line already there, you can get it reconnected for free and pay around £30 a month for line rental, basic tariff and broadband.
Mobile: Unless you are a big user, PAYG probably is your best bet and you may only be able to get it until you can pass credit checks. A basic phone can be £10 to £30 and you may top-up around £20 a month in call credit. Contract phone is usually free with a monthly charge of around £20 to £30, more for something like iPhone 4S.
Gas and Electricity: For a small flat, budget up to £100 a month.
Rubbish removal: as nyclon states, it's covered by your council tax, around £1000-1200 a year.
Petrol: is at record high of around £1.38 a litre. If you drive 10,000 miles a year at average of 40mpg, you will pay around £1568 a year or £130 a month (two full tanks). In addition you pay road tax (VED) between £0 to £460 a year, depending on polluting levels. Average for a small car is around £30 to £130. Insurance varies but can be £1000 or more/year without UK driving experience and nil no claim discount. No road tolls as such (except some bridges/tunnels and one short section of motorway near Birmingham). You have to pay £8 a day to drive into Central London (congestion charge).
