I too am thinking of moving out of my parents house, as I have to fly the nest one day. I have left home twice to work the summer season abroad but always came back at the end of the summer. My friend has a flat in Glasgow but his lease is up at the end of the month and he is due to start his final year of university soon so he needs to find somewhere to stay & someone to stay with. I have been thinking for a long time that I want to move to Glasgow & see this as a good opportunity. With my friend starting his last year of university he knows alot more than me about renting etc etc, I have yet to discuss fully with him the cost of renting and keeping a flat going, all I know is that rent will be £300pcm each but I've no idea of bills or anything else on top of that.

 Good luck in whatever you choose!

Hi Steffi2212,

Congratulations when you take the first step to move in together, you will probably save money on the travelling, you have been doing. I would shop around on the Gas, Electricity, to get the best deal, the water will basically be with one Company so there are no choices of best deals here, they will be able to tell you how to keep your water bill down, for your phone bill try Tiscali, I pay, if they still do this offer 19.99, for the phoneline, phone calls anytime free on 01 and 02 numbers, and I also get Broadband, and just 1 bill, which is online for all these services. And for 0845 numbers and 0870 numbers try and look on the internet for WWW.SAYNOTO0870.COM, not all the numbers are free but I now have some choices. For the TV I have Sky or get a  freeserve box about 40.00 there are cheaper and you can update the package. Eventually you maybe able to save for a deposit, some Companies will pay the deposit of 5%, you could asks Barratts homes or Wimpey, they used to do this, or try for a Housing Association house where you have a share of the property, and can eventually buy the other half of the house. These are things you could look into maybe in the future.

On your joing incomes, saving the deposit shouldnt be too difficult - so how about postponing the move until you have done so?

Living at home, and bringing in £2400 PCM between you, saving £10k over 12 months shouldnt be difficult, and will give you a good start.

Having said that, renting together before taking the big step of buying together has big advantages, as until you live with somebody full-time, you can never be 100% sure you are totally right for each other. 

Just do it. It's difficult but you seem to earn enough to pay the bills between you. I heat a 100yr old 2 bedroomed house on £30 a month and electricity is about £50. Can't speak for C-tax in your area but mine's about £100. Add a couple of hundred for insurances, tv (and licence), phone etc and my total bills are about £1400 (actually including personal loan/credit cards).

IMHO you can do it. You just have to realise that you'll have to make sacrifices when the going gets tough. Plus you have to do your own washing...

I think you should buy, not rent. My opinion but I won't be the first or the last to express similar I suspect....

JJ

Me and my boyfriend have been together for 18 months now and for a while we have been thinking of moving in together. He lives in Swindon and i live in Newbury as well as my boyfriend working shifts at Honda we don't get to see much of each other so we want to move in together so we do see more of each other.

 Between the pair of us we earn about £2500 per month and the average renting price of a one bedroomed flat in Newbury is about £600 pcm. But i am a little anxious that we will not have enough money to live on after bills and council tax.

Do anyone have any advise as to how much bills tend to average out as for a couple in a smallish flat?

 Any help will be much appreciated because deep down i know i want to move in with him but i dont want to do it and then have to move back home again because we couldn't afford it.