So of course, since sometime soon I shall be finally flying the nest and living independently with my brother and perhaps some time after that even totally by myself, I have been doing some research on many of the things that need to be considered and I thought I’d type them up here in a list of sorts.
So, let’s get to it…
First of all, we have the things that are straight up important from the get go which are…
The Rent
So one of the most obvious things at first is the rent that you pay to actually live at the house to either a landlord or if it’s a council house to the council. From what I can tell the rent is more expensive per month than the other considerations. Private landlords also often want you to pay an upfront deposit on the house for reasons such as possible damage and risks that a tenant might not pay rent etc. So it’s important to find a home with an affordable rent as it varies greatly from place to place due to what the home has to offer, the number of rooms, where the home is located and so on.
TV License
If you own a TV or even pretty much any device that can stream or that you can watch TV from then you need to be paying for the TV License, which is an annual payment that mostly funds the BBC… even if you don’t watch them.
Personally, I think it is time we abolished the TV License as it is quite outdated now and there are many ways of which the BBC can fund themselves such as via offering payment packages or subscriptions. I think making everyone pay isn’t fair due to the variety that now exists, not everyone watches these select few channels anymore.
Nonetheless you have to pay for it by law so that is something that I will need to have set-up once we are moved in.
Once the TV License is set up the money will be taken out automatically at the time it needs paying.
Council Tax
The council tax is money you pay to your council for the domestic property that you live in. Since me and my brother will be living together, we’ll probably have to pay more in council tax although I am not exactly sure yet. What you pay is calculated by the council so you don’t have to calculate it yourself (thank god) but it is still up to you to pay it on time – unless you have a payment system set up that does it automatically which is what I plan to have.
The Bills
The main bills for us will be for gas, electric, water and broadband, there won’t be phone bills as me and my brother use pay-as-you-go so we won’t have to worry over that, I still haven’t had to top up my phone yet since the first top-up, that’s how little I text or call anyone, most communication for me is over free services like whatsapp for example. I would like to have a SMART meter to top up the gas and electric like what we have currently as it would enable me to use my phone to do it and top it up where ever I am rather than having to go to a shop to get a card or stick topped up.
The water bill should do itself, where money is taken automatically at the time it is needed so I should not have to mind that as much, this will also be the same for the broadband bill as well once it is all set-up.
So really the only thing I will have to keep an eye on is the gas and electric.
Food and other Essential Shopping
Food shopping is the essential shopping as you need it to survive and not starve to death. I plan to do the big shops over online orders from places such as Asda or Icelands etc, who will then deliver my order to the property for me to put away and it will already be paid for through the website.
I do plan to go to nearby shops though to buy little bits we may need in-between the big shops such as if we run out of milk for example or margarine or maybe sometimes, I’ll just want to treat myself to a snack from time to time. Although I have a debit card, I still haven’t learned to use it properly yet, I’ve only ever paid for stuff online it and whenever I have gone to the shops I just use loose cash, but it is time I start using my debit cards at the shop so I can also better memorize my pin number.
As well as that, essential shopping doesn’t just include food but also things like toiletries, kitchen and cleaning products as well as hygiene products, although you won’t need to get these each big shop, they will be essentially needed when they come close to running out because the house needs to be kept clean and tidy and so do you!
Budgeting
So for all of the above it is important to be on top of your income and what is going out so you know you have enough in your bank account for what needs to go out and that you also know what extra you will have left over to either save up (which is what I’ll mostly be doing) or spend some of that extra from time to time on little treats or perhaps a game. Saving is important though as you never know when something might break (like a computer or washing machine) and then it will need replacing and it is important to have that money saved up at hand.
I will be figuring out a way to budget what is coming in and out and how much extra I have remaining and being saved. It’s all very important to keep on top of.
The things that will need to be considered coming into your account are…
- Any benefits
- Wages
- Any other miscellaneous income
Future Costs
In the future I plan to learn to drive so I will need to take into account the costs of driving lessons (which will be another reason for saving money up) and also eventually when a car is purchased it will need to be insured and also you will need to pay road tax and get an annual MOT.
Until then I will need some money at hand that will be used for any possible transport in the meantime such as by either trains or buses, which will be even more important if I end up getting a job somewhere. This also means I need to learn how to comprehend bus and train timetables.
Then when I eventually do have a car it will not only be road tax and insurance but also the annual MOT cost (if the car is 3+ years old) and also any possible servicing and repairs that may be required, which again is why savings are important. So…
- Cost of any needed transport (buses, trains etc.)
- Cost of driving lessons
- Savings for purchasing a car.
- Fuel costs
- Road Tax (also called Vehicle Excise Duty or car/vehicle tax.)
- Insurance costs
- Annual MOT costs (this would be only if the car is 3+ years old)
- Any possible servicing and repair costs.
So as one can see there is much to be considered and to know about and it can be quite a headache for those who are just getting started – including me. All of this will need to also be incorporated into the budgeting as well.
My other future considerations are also in the much further future most likely to do with any money my blog makes as once it surpasses my personal savings allowance, I will have to start doing self-assessment tax returns, so for things like income tax and national insurance contribution on an annual basis. Once again budgeting would become more complex again, but as budgeting slowly gets more complex, I hope I will learn to cope with it, budgeting is especially important once a self-employed person does their own taxes as there could be an audit at any time and you’ll need stuff like budgeting and bank statement evidence at hand to prove your expenses and that you have paid enough tax.
So, I will be also getting some filing stuff so I can file away neatly anything like this that is important, although most documents should be kept safely for a long time on my online banking profile, but I’ll need to check if they do possibly get deleted after some time, hopefully they don’t. But at the same time it might still be an idea to physically file them away as well as a possible backup just in case, but I should not need to start doing that until I am properly self-employed which should be a while yet.
I will look more into the future considerations on this blog when I get around to them.
There is an exciting time ahead. It might be I have missed a few things here but I myself am still learning and discovering and doing my research! Have a good weekend all.
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