Home Home, Law & Money
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Average bill prices?

2

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My bills are:

    £490 mortgage
    £110ish council tax
    £50 Electricity
    £20 Water
    BuildingsContents £20
    Life Cover £80
    BT £120 per quater
    Tiscali Bband £17
    TV License £10 ish
    Car Insurance £80
    Sky £50

    I cant think of any others but there probably is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    £650 per month is good if you don't share your flat tbh :yes:

    Tweety - as for my loan, it all depends how much I'm earning. They don't start taking it off you until you earn at least £15k apparently. I don't know how much they take off you when you do :no:


    I think it depends what the rules were on your loan as Chris has one and they take money and he doesn't earn £15,000 atm.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They don't take very much off tbh, about £10-£15 a month if you're earning near the threshold.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It will be 15k for you. They don't take much off. I earn about £16K and only pay about £10 a month of my student loan.

    As for renting by yourself, look around. I pay £370 per month for my own place which includes most bills apart from council tax, which is £60 a month (as a single occupant I get 25% discount).

    However, I have no phone line as BT want £150 to reconnect me, therefore I don't have internet, I don't have an oven or a washing machine, and I don't have contents insurance.

    I'm sure you can find a job that pays better than minimum wage as a graduate.

    Oh by the way, every penny I pay for my flat is worth it. As a student, I paid around £40 a week rent, but they were vile scummy places in ghetto areas!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You can open a joint account with anyone you like. My boyfriend had a joint account with his two ex-housemates.

    My breakdown is similar to all the others, although we are on a water meter and we're in credit because we are conscious of what we use.

    I think you need to think about the other things you will need such as food! When we first moved in together we didn't have a freezer only a small freezer compartment in the fridge. It cost a fortune because we were always going shopping. At first we were spending about £60 a week on shopping. We've snice started getting fresh organic veg delivered to our door once every two weeks which costs about £9 depending on what is brought and we stock the freezer every month which costs about £100. On top of that we have to buy fresh meat and salad etc for our lunch boxes about 2-3 times a week which adds up to about £20 per shop.

    I'd say we spend about £200 on food per month and there are only two of us and we're not exactly pigs (no chocolates, ice cream, very little alcohol etc). If you have a lifestyle where you like to drink a lot of alcohol and eat rich and fancy foods you will either need to cut back or earn loads!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Snow White Queen -

    That seems quite a large sum of money to be paying out every month. 'They' (whoever they are) say that rent and bills should be around a third of your income and no more.

    or am I making that up Kermit? You always seem to be quite up to speed and wise about things like this!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Rent should be about a third of your income, with food, travel and bills on top. Bills will come to about £300 a month, and food and travel will come to about another £250 a month. If you then get somewhere for £450 a month by yourself you will need to be pulling in £1000 a month after tax, which equates out at about £16,000 a year. Unless you get a grad position or you are lucky then your first position won't pay so highly- I'm moving to a job with that salary now and I've got a couple of years good experience.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    If you then get somewhere for £450 a month by yourself you will need to be pulling in £1000 a month after tax, which equates out at about £16,000 a year. Unless you get a grad position or you are lucky then your first position won't pay so highly- I'm moving to a job with that salary now and I've got a couple of years good experience.

    Do graduates really learn that little? I always thought it would be more then that, my boyfriend pulls in £320 a week after tax minimum (which it bloody is at the minute!) and he's just a carpenter, but my point was we're very far from being well off so i can deffinatley see how people struggle, especially living by themselves and earning minimum wage, dammit they should raise the thing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ruby_soho wrote: »
    he's just a carpenter

    Hes in a trade and to get a proper one people are willing to pay. Its a skilled job which is why he gets more.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tweety wrote: »
    Hes in a trade and to get a proper one people are willing to pay. Its a skilled job which is why he gets more.

    Oh no i'm not seeing it's a bad job or anything, cause in the summer when there's more houses up he'll be earning a decent packet, i was just comparing it to a graduate and would have thought after all those years of being a poor student, learning and debtyou would have come out with a bit more in your wage packet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ruby_soho wrote: »
    Oh no i'm not seeing it's a bad job or anything, cause in the summer when there's more houses up he'll be earning a decent packet, i was just comparing it to a graduate and would have thought after all those years of being a poor student, learning and debtyou would have come out with a bit more in your wage packet.

    Thats the problem, more and more people have degrees now and alot of companies want experience more.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ruby_soho wrote: »
    Do graduates really learn that little?

    A lot do, unless you end up as a graduate trainee in a profession.

    Don't believe everything you read about the value of a degree. Whilst the average wage is higher for a graduate than a non-grad, the figures carefully don't show the true picture- that average wage bonus of £5k-£10k includes the tiny minority of grads who earn squillions. The average grad wage is about £30k I believe, but that includes people like my friend who earn £60k + bonus as banking executives.

    Quite often you will earn the same by learning a trade instead.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ruby_soho wrote: »
    Do graduates really learn that little? I always thought it would be more then that, my boyfriend pulls in £320 a week after tax minimum (which it bloody is at the minute!) and he's just a carpenter, but my point was we're very far from being well off so i can deffinatley see how people struggle, especially living by themselves and earning minimum wage, dammit they should raise the thing.


    He has a trade that he'll have worked just as hard to learn as a graduate has to pass their degree (often harder if I recollect my uni days correctly!)

    My other half is an electrician and he trained for four years initially and is still always going on course after course and he earns double what I do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »

    Don't believe everything you read about the value of a degree. Whilst the average wage is higher for a graduate than a non-grad, the figures carefully don't show the true picture- that average wage bonus of £5k-£10k includes the tiny minority of grads who earn squillions. The average grad wage is about £30k I believe, but that includes people like my friend who earn £60k + bonus as banking executives.

    Quite often you will earn the same by learning a trade instead.

    Exactly - unless you are doing a specialised subject/follow it up with further qualifications, quite often degrees are barely worth the paper they are printed on nowadays and employers are well aware of this.

    From experience (of hiring people etc etc), I would always take somebody who has 2-3 years experience in the job as opposed to somebody with just a degree. Bit of a catch 22 for the applicant as they are *trying* to gain experience, but it's not like I am a charity or training establishment.

    Quite a few people I know went on internships and that sort of thing, getting paid next to nothing (if anything at all!) to get their experience.

    I have to admit, teachers/schools piss me off as often they make out that having a degree is the only way to make it in the world (trust me, it ain't), neglecting the fact that there are thousands of other candidates all vying for the same few positions and that there is quite often a lack if skilled tradesmen out there, who in general make bloody good cash!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    BumbleBee wrote: »
    just as hard to learn as a graduate has to pass their degree

    :lol::lol::lol:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    :lol::lol::lol:

    :confused:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Electrics: £30/month (British Gas)
    Heating: £30/month (British Gas)
    Water: £13/month (Severntrent Water)
    Mobile: £30+/month (Orange)
    Internet: £26.50/month (Virgin £21.50 + AOL £5.99)
    Insurance: £17/month (Payment Shield)
    No landline: £0/month (N/A)
    No TV: £0/month (N/A)
    Council Tax: £75/month (including single persons' allowance)
    Mortgage: £315/month (Nationwide)

    Works out at just under £550/month in total.
    It's a little bit stretched on my £14.5k salary : eek :
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    :lol::lol::lol:

    Either that has come across badly, or you have just summed up the arrigance easily associated with people who have degree but no actual skills.

    You'd be surprised how many, apparently well edicated people, can even change a plug, let alone rewire a nhouse.

    Funny how electricians seem to find work if studying for the qualification is so easy, isn't it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Either that has come across badly, or you have just summed up the arrigance easily associated with people who have degree but no actual skills.

    You'd be surprised how many, apparently well edicated people, can even change a plug, let alone rewire a nhouse.

    Funny how electricians seem to find work if studying for the qualification is so easy, isn't it?


    No - I was laughing at what she wrote... I quoted the incorrect, or rather, incomplete section.

    I know this is not like you - but it's 'educated' and 'arrogance'...

    I should also have added (or you could have read my previous post about how worthless most degrees are...) that most trades require much more technical training, as opposed to writing endless pointless essays, IMO.

    Where exactly did I say anything bad about having a trade? No - I think you'll find I was berating the degrees on offer.

    Oh - and no, I don't have a degree and so don't have that 'I have a degree and so I am holier than thou' attitude. I've worked myself up from leaving school at 16/17 to doing pretty damned well for myself.

    Any more? Next time I suggest reading my posts again.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    BumbleBee wrote: »
    :confused:

    Most degrees aren't worth shit, and (as you acknowledge yourself which I was laughing along with - I cut the wrong bit whilst quoting) so saying that most are hard work is utter bollocks.

    Few months of panic at the end of the course is not indicative of a decent course, in my eyes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The only degrees worth anything nowadays are the ones in science, mathematics, trade and medecine.
    What is the point of studying pyschology, unless you will one day become a pyschologist.....?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    I know this is not like you - but it's 'educated' and 'arrogance'...

    Nah, typos are just like me... it's my trademark...
    Any more? Next time I suggest reading my posts again.

    1. Read? It was three smilies

    2. "Either that has come across badly" was my opening gambit, thus suggesting that I was sure what your comment was trying to say. Might I suggest that you read mine?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    Any more? Next time I suggest reading my posts again.

    Lets be fair, there wasn't anything in that post to read as such and as a result what you meant was unclear and it came across as you mocking the idea that qualified skilled tradesmen have worked as hard to get there as graduates have.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nah, typos are just like me... it's my trademark...



    1. Read? It was three smilies

    2. "Either that has come across badly" was my opening gambit, thus suggesting that I was sure what your comment was trying to say. Might I suggest that you read mine?


    Noooooooooooo - but the previous post had more detail!

    Ah well, never mind. I was pissed when I replied and so perhaps slightly more terse than I could've been ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Lets be fair, there wasn't anything in that post to read as such and as a result what you meant was unclear and it came across as you mocking the idea that qualified skilled tradesmen have worked as hard to get there as graduates have.



    Aye - but I wasn't. Apologies if that came across incorrectly.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    The only degrees worth anything nowadays are the ones in science, mathematics, trade and medecine.
    What is the point of studying pyschology, unless you will one day become a pyschologist.....?

    I'm gonna have a Law degree, don't say stuff like that :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    9% of anything over £15K. So if you were earning £17K it would be 9% of £2K split over the 12 months of the year.
    Its deducted straight from your salary by your employer as well, you dont even really miss the money as you never see it in the first place.

    For example this tax year if you earn £18K a year you get £22 a month deducted from your salary.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Eeek. Are all arts and humanities degrees worthless then? Im at Edinburgh Uni, which some say is pretty prestigious. There were 30 applicants for every place on my coure (Englit and Philosophy). Will that mean nothing? Fuck what am I gonna do with my life!!!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mmm well, me and my friend have decided to go for a house share for the first 6 months (with this company which has houseshares in the particular village I want to move to, the tenancy agreements are 6 months long). Its just gonna be easier at the beginning as I've gotta sort out a job so could do without the stress, haha. In regards to bills, it says this...

    "The service charge is £86 per person per calendar month. This covers council tax, water rates, electricity, gas, television licence, telephone line rental and the weekly-cleaning/gardening/window cleaning service. It also includes the general management charge, so we deal with all the hassle, together with the cost of any advertising for new tenants. contract and payment" - thats sounds good to me. I'm gonna have to pay for a internet connection though and it doesn't say anything about insurance there.

    In addiction rent prices vary from £60-£95 per month so I'm looking at £400-£500 per month which I think is ok as I'd be paying that anyway.

    All the money is taken out at once at the end of each month by standing order. Just my own, as a individual. Much easssierr for the time being. Heh.
Sign In or Register to comment.