Monthly living costs

hi there

i am new to the real estate market looking at getting my first home. i will be doing it all myself and its a bit overwheliming. im from melbourne australia. this may not be an appropriate question on these forums but i have done some reading and people seem to know what they are talking about so i think someone could help

i am not sure how much i am going to borrow for my home, but i would like a rough estimate on how much it may cost to live monthly with bills etc, or even quarterly if thats easier.

Mobile phone: $70 per month
Internet:$70 per month
Car insurance: $100 per month
Rates: my guess is somewhere around $900 per year
Gas: ?
Electricity: ?
Water: ?
Food: hopefully no more that $400 per month as only myself to feed

also any of the other essentials i have missed out?

any help would be greatly appreciated i dont know where to start

:)
 
Hi Loz

Welcome !

The most basic living cost for a single person deemed to be AT the pverty line is 1214 a month NOT including rent or mortgage.



ta
rolf
 
Here's a sample budget to help you start thinking of some things...if you do a google search you can usually find a whole heap of budget aids ranging from very detailed to basic.
 

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that's ridiculously high! Are all banks/lenders the same? I survive on less then half that...

You can survive on $600 a month? Please do tell... I pressume the figure includes, food, motor vehicle, utilities, clothes, medical, entertainment etc. If you can do that for $600 without living in a tent in your parents yard, then I'd say you're pretty amazing at budgeting and saving money. :)
 
Yeah i do...though i'm still at home for another year until the personal loan is paid off and IP2 settles :)

By way of a summary, I earn approx $4,400 net a month, of that - $3,300 goes straight into my personal loan and $500 on board (i know this is a great deal and i don't have to pay this if i don't want to - but im not that mean!)

Other then that, i've no debt, hecs & car fully paid off (by myself) and credit cards are paid monthly... IP is +ive geared (all extra income from this into its own offset).

Leaves about 600 a month - 100-150 goes aside for expenses (rego, insurances, accounting fees, clothes, etc...i'm young, these aren't expensive), of the rest phone&internet is 40 and public transport 40...the rest i spend on whatever i want :D my work has friday night drinks and social functions often, so cheap start to any night out :)

If an emergency or something comes up, i have savings in the offset and or can withhold some of my voluntary repayments...all that said, am looking at getting a weekend job ($300 - half for me half for loan...)...

I don't have to be as frugal as I am, but I have certain goals (issues) for the next 12 months and once all that is resolved I will be a lot more comfortable...
 
that's ridiculously high! Are all banks/lenders the same? I survive on less then half that...
Yes, it is isn't it.

Our budget is $2000 a month INCLUDING mortgages, for a family of 4. That's just for basics though not things like clothes that come up less regularly and I'm a big fan of eBay so that isn't a huge expense anyway. I have a baby due yesterday so the budget will need to increase for nappies, but the rise in FTA will more than cover that.

We don't earn a lot but we still manage to spend thousands each year, cash, on stuff most people get loans for. This year, it was a subdivision and we're now well on the way to getting a third house deposit together. Scraping the subdivision money together did really bad things to our budget as we put off some bills we shouldn't have, but everything is on an even keel again and it is phenomenal how fast our bank balance goes up when all the bills are under control.
 
thanks for the replies guys!

well if its 1200 a month im in trouble, can you tell me where you have got that figure from?

thanks for the budget spreadsheet something like that is what i need
 
Mobile phone: $70 per month
Internet:$70 per month

any help would be greatly appreciated i dont know where to start :)


LoZzA
I would look at getting mobile and internet bills down further eg. below $50 each per month!

$40.00 x 12 months = $480 per year saving.

Our internet bill is $51.10 per month & mobile is less so evens out.


Car insurance& maintenance: $100 per month

Rates: $1600 per year
Gas: $600 per year (can be more)
Electricity: $1200 per year
Water: $400 per year
Food: $400 per month


Regards
Sheryn
 
Some additional costs you will need to factor in:

Electricity - $100 p/m (if you use gas heating)
Gas - $50 p/m
Water - $50 p/m
Petrol - $60-80 p/m (I drive a small car and mostly use it on weekends)
Public transport - $125-170 p/m (depends how far you live out!)
Clothes - $50 p/m
Personal hygiene/grooming - $25 p/m
Newspapers/Magazines - $25-50 p/m
Home insurance - $45 p/m
Eating out /Takeaways - $250-400p/m (people really underestimate this)!!!
Entertainment - $150-300 p/m (another underestimated expense!)
Gifts - $20 p/m
Health Insurance - $50-$100 p/m
Personal Loans (i.e car) - $250-$300 p/m
Other items - $250-$400 p/m

So, if you are single it is unlikely you will spend less than $2000-$2500 per annum to live comfortablely.

If you are too frugal it is unlikely that you will stick to a budget!


hi there

i am new to the real estate market looking at getting my first home. i will be doing it all myself and its a bit overwheliming. im from melbourne australia. this may not be an appropriate question on these forums but i have done some reading and people seem to know what they are talking about so i think someone could help

i am not sure how much i am going to borrow for my home, but i would like a rough estimate on how much it may cost to live monthly with bills etc, or even quarterly if thats easier.

Mobile phone: $70 per month
Internet:$70 per month
Car insurance: $100 per month
Rates: my guess is somewhere around $900 per year
Gas: ?
Electricity: ?
Water: ?
Food: hopefully no more that $400 per month as only myself to feed

also any of the other essentials i have missed out?

any help would be greatly appreciated i dont know where to start

:)
 
Of course, we are all different and have different needs. Here are some of my costs on basic essentials, just to use to balance what Sash has given you. Just as a comparison, we have two people living in a 4 bedroom house with pool and ducted aircon. Hubby catches the train to work and currently we are using only one car. My costs are in red.
Electricity - $100 p/m (if you use gas heating) $700-$900 per quarter
Gas - $50 p/m N/A
Water - $50 p/m $260 per quarter
Petrol - $60-80 p/m (I drive a small car and mostly use it on weekends) $50-60pw
Public transport - $125-170 p/m (depends how far you live out!) $53pw

As a side note, we would spend much less than the amounts mentioned on entertainment and eating out. As for food, well how expensive are your tastes? We probably spend around $150pw on groceries.
 
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Hi Lozza. Some things to consider. If I wanted to save as much money as possible by reducing cost of living, here's some ideas.

- don't have home internet. use work's.
- don't have a phone at home or a mobile. use work phone for contact. believe it or not, this is how things were pre 1990s.
- definitely do not have a car, even if for 1-2 years. live somewhere you can cycle, train, tram to work and recretional areas.
- preferrably stay at home with parents or share in a larger household with like mindeds or sensible people.
- don't drink alcohol, even if for 1 year.
- don't smoke.
- cook all your own meals from raw ingredients. learn something about nutrition and plan your meals for a week and shop accordingly. this reduces waste.
- eat no more than 300g of meat a week as it is expensive form of protein. you don't need anymoer than that anyway.
- don't join gyms. get your exercise from cycle commuting and calisthenics, or play casual soccer and cricket with a group of mates in a nearby public park.
- get a second job so you reduce boredom and opportunity to spend money on recreation. though try to make it different to your main job. manual vs desk work.
- join your local library and stay away from bookshops and newsagents.
- get your news from radio or internet at work.
- don't hire dvd's. suffice with a tele.
- don't buy music. suffice with a radio.
- consider accumulating tools and trade certificates- and trying to make money out of them as- gardener, lawn mowing, handyman jobs.
- be conservative with the use of toilet paper. it is a rip off. if you eat well and exercise, you'll need less :)

Good luck.
 
If you are looking for ideas for thrifty living, I highly recommend the simple savings website - it is a subscription service, but I found I saved many times that amount by finding ideas for saving money and changing my attitude - a very supportive, positive forum, and several threads on property investing too.
There are lots of ideas for budgeting, reducing your living costs, menu-planning, cheap recipes, that kind of thing.
 
Cooking is fun. We cook all our meals and most of our snacks. Tastes WAY better than anything you can buy pre-prepared and as good as if not better than stuff you go out for. Depends how much time you have though.

My most expensive foible at the moment is honey roasted peanuts. At $7 a packet and more than one packet a week it does add up :eek:

- be conservative with the use of toilet paper. it is a rip off. if you eat well and exercise, you'll need less :)
You don't have children, do you :p

We go through a roll of the stuff every 2-3 days! Send the kid away for a week or two and we've barely made a dent in a roll. What does she do with it, eat it?
 
Mobile phone: $19 per month
Internet:$40 per month
Car insurance: $600 per year
Fuel: $30 / week
Health Insurance: $75 / month
Rates: $750 per year
Gas: N/A
Electricity: $300 / quarter
Water: $150 / quarter
Food: $100 / week (including cleaning & toiletries)

As with Skater, my entertainment and eating out figures are FAR less than what Sash quoted. I'm very random so don't have a set amount, but maybe $200 / month. I don't drink though, so I save a fair bit there from what I hear other people spend on alcohol.
 
Heh. Ours is something like:

Mobile phone: $25 per month
Landline: $50pm
Internet:$100 per month (36 month Telstra contract we have yet to pay out stacked with normal internet)
Car insurance: $ 50pm
House insurance: $50pm
Landlord's insurance: $30pm
Fuel: $20-100pm, depends
Other car stuff: ~$1000pa (tyres every other year)
Rates: $1000pa
Electricity: $400 / quarter
Water: $60 / quarter
Groceries: ~$100pw
Mortgage: $700pm

People have entertainment budgets? Ours is the internet :)
 
Wow, $75!!? I pay almost $250 for me & my wife...

:rolleyes:

Mine is just hospital cover for myself. I took it out in 2000, I rang once to query if there was a cheaper option as I never use it (but am over income threshold for surcharge so need/want something). She said the singles cover I took out back then is a good plan and she'd recommend I never go off it as they don't offer it now.
 
We go through a roll of the stuff every 2-3 days! Send the kid away for a week or two and we've barely made a dent in a roll. What does she do with it, eat it?

maybe we need a poll on how many sheets of double ply are required per wipe, and how many wipes per session :D

May as well throw in minutes per session. :eek:
I know people who have bookcases in their loo.
 
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