The Student Room Group

Moving out with low income

I am 19, living with parents in the North East starting a degree apprenticeship where the salary goes up each year until it ends (Computer Science):
Year 1 - £16,181
Year 2 £18,671
Year 3 - £19,915
Year 4 - £21,160

Ideally I want to move out ASAP but it doesn’t seem feasible to move out + run my car until at least year 2 as rent is going to take up 500-600 of my monthly income for a basic home. My girlfriend is at uni and could move in if i had my own place however she only gets around 11k in bursary/loans so our household income would still be low.

Anyone point me in the right direction of figuring out how much it’s actually going to cost me monthly to move out? I have no clue where to begin.
It's difficult to put numbers to your individual situation - too many local and personal variables. But you can do your own spreadsheet. On £16k you'll bring home about £1200 per month. Your rent looks to take half. So £600 per month to cover council tax, electricity, gas, water, food, clothes, phone, Internet, entertainment and car costs. I expect I've missed some key items there - but each item is quantifiable with a mix of Internet research and real life shopping. So make a list and try to get a sensible figure for each item. Car costs can be a big deal - especially insurance and lease payments. Make sure you separate essential costs which have to be covered and discretionary which can be trimmed.
You'll need some capital up front, because most property rental needs a month rent in deposit, plus first month paid in advance.
But best guess is that in lower cost parts of the country it's doable with care, and you've got the yearly increase to look forward to.
Adding your girlfriend's £11k to the deal makes it much easier - many costs - rent etc - are no more for 2 than for 1.
(edited 2 years ago)
Moving out looks very do-able to me. Even in year one and with 600 a month rent, you should have over 700 a month leftover. That's plenty enough for food, bills and a little extra. The biggest problem may be your car costs perhaps? I run a car ok on that sort of money, do you have especially high monthly payments on it or something?

Then the jump up in income in year 2 is quite high, adding even more money for living.
Reply 3
My car is fully paid but insurance is about 1.2k for the year, it seems doable if I had my girlfriend move in & it would get easier over time with the pay increase.
Reply 4
Original post by Anonymous
Moving out looks very do-able to me. Even in year one and with 600 a month rent, you should have over 700 a month leftover. That's plenty enough for food, bills and a little extra. The biggest problem may be your car costs perhaps? I run a car ok on that sort of money, do you have especially high monthly payments on it or something?

Then the jump up in income in year 2 is quite high, adding even more money for living.

My car is paid in full insurance is about 1.2k a year due in February & is fairly economical. My concern is all the stuff that goes with owning/renting a home as I have never really been taught these things so I don't know costs of things other than the rent/mortgage & council tax.
Original post by jd_0202
My car is paid in full insurance is about 1.2k a year due in February & is fairly economical. My concern is all the stuff that goes with owning/renting a home as I have never really been taught these things so I don't know costs of things other than the rent/mortgage & council tax.

I think you're being very sensible here. You need to do a budget to see how much the main things will cost you - and you're right that moving out on £16k or even £21K on your own is going to be super difficult. The best thing would be for your gf to move in with you - even though she's not got a huge income, it's still more than nothing - and some bills are the same whether there is one or two people living in the house.

Here's a few figures for you to think of:

Rent @£600 pm = £7,200
Car insurance - £1,200
Car tax - guess at £50
Petrol - 52 weeks at £30 per week £1500
House insurance - £250 p.a.
Council tax - £1500 p.a.
Groceries - £50 per week £2500
Household things (cleaning products etc) £5 per week £250 p.a.
Electricity and gas - £1800 p.a.
Broadband - £400 p.a.
Phone contract? - £350 p.a.

All of that adds up to about £17,000 a year. And I've not included entertainment (i.e. ANYTHING), clothes, holidays, any work expenses, repairs and maintenance, rental and other charges, credit charges (any interest or fees on financial products).

Sorry to be negative, but you can see that the figures don't really look good. Hopefully the categories I've sketched out above give you a start on making a more accurate, personalised budget so you can see where you are with this :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by jd_0202
I am 19, living with parents in the North East starting a degree apprenticeship where the salary goes up each year until it ends (Computer Science):
Year 1 - £16,181
Year 2 £18,671
Year 3 - £19,915
Year 4 - £21,160

Ideally I want to move out ASAP but it doesn’t seem feasible to move out + run my car until at least year 2 as rent is going to take up 500-600 of my monthly income for a basic home. My girlfriend is at uni and could move in if i had my own place however she only gets around 11k in bursary/loans so our household income would still be low.

Anyone point me in the right direction of figuring out how much it’s actually going to cost me monthly to move out? I have no clue where to begin.

Have you considered moving into a professional house share (own room/en-suite) but with shared kitchen, living room etc? These often include all bills, so you would only need to budget for food, car and entertainment. In the north east you can get a decent one for 400-500 including all bills e.g. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108808739#/?channel=RES_LET , check Rightmove.co.uk. As well as having the advantage of being cheaper, it helps you budget.

Once your income increases you could move on to your own place.
Reply 7
No your not being negative that was all very helpful!
Do you think with my girlfriend moving in that would be doable as with her income we would be able to handle repairs, maintenance etc?
May have to wait a year for a pay rise its looking like before I can move out.

Original post by Reality Check
Sorry to be negative, but you can see that the figures don't really look good. Hopefully the categories I've sketched out above give you a start on making a more accurate, personalised budget so you can see where you are with this :smile:
Original post by jd_0202
No your not being negative that was all very helpful!
Do you think with my girlfriend moving in that would be doable as with her income we would be able to handle repairs, maintenance etc?
May have to wait a year for a pay rise its looking like before I can move out.

I think it could definitely help, but realistically it's still going to be very tight. For instance, if your gf is a F/T student, you'd get a 25% discount on your council tax bill, which is obviously going to help. You can also share bills like heating and electricity, but the problem could be that your g/f wouldn't have actually been paying these bills anyway depending on her living arrangements and, even if she was in a shared house, those types of bills might have been split 4 or 6 ways rather than just two, meaning it's costing slightly more for your gf to live with you.

If you're renting, then repairs and maintenance are obviously minimal which would help.

I applaud your desire and motivation to move out and stand on your own two feet - and I'm not being patronising in any way here. It's refreshing to see this attitude on TSR. It's just a shame that maybe at the moment the money doesn't quite stretch to it (by the way, do you have a parent(s) who might be able to help?)

Good luck with it, anyway. :smile: Do ask if I can be of any more help.
Reply 9
Original post by Reality Check
I applaud your desire and motivation to move out and stand on your own two feet - and I'm not being patronising in any way here. It's refreshing to see this attitude on TSR. It's just a shame that maybe at the moment the money doesn't quite stretch to it (by the way, do you have a parent(s) who might be able to help?)

Good luck with it, anyway. :smile: Do ask if I can be of any more help.

Thanks for your advice,
Sadly my parents aren't in a position to help me, however, I can stay at home for relatively cheap board in order to save even more for when my income allows me to move. Thanks :smile:
Perhaps consider asking your parents and your gf's whether one of you moving in so that the two of you can live together is a possibility?
Or planning to rent a room in a modestly priced flatshare with your gf where all bills are included?
That way the two of you can try to save up towards at least a years rent, maybe a property deposit to buy your own home with a mortgage or perhaps even a lower priced auction property that needs some refurbishment.
I live alone in London, have never earned £18k and rent has always been my largest single expense.
Good luck!
Reply 11
Original post by londonmyst
That way the two of you can try to save up towards at least a years rent, maybe a property deposit to buy your own home with a mortgage or perhaps even a lower priced auction property that needs some refurbishment.

I have a decent chunk saved, enough for a deposit on a under 100k home, I was thinking about buying a refurb home but would have to get some professional advice on how much that's going to cost me to refurb from auction.

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