Dear Google Researcher,

I live with my parents at the moment and I?ve been thinking about
moving out, but I?ve got next-to-no experience of living on my own.
I?m planning on going to university next year; before I go I would
like to practice living on my own.

I have some work lined up. Ideally I would like to keep my costs below
£4000 (for about a year).

My query is about the cost of living in the UK (outside London). I?d
like to know how much I can expect to pay for the following:

-Food
-Accommodation
-Clothing
-Utilities (phone, electric, water)
-Miscellenous

I?ve seen a few general figures for the above already, so I would be
especially interested in examples of what I could buy on a particular
budget. (For instance: ?£20 / week for food; loaf of bread costs
20p??)

It would be great if you could write out a sort of shopping list of
what I could buy in each category (including links to sites where I
could buy them).

Hmm. This seems a bit open-ended, so I?ll set a few criteria:

Food: Weekly and annual budgets, price of bread, cooked meat, any 3
fruits, any microwave dinner. Meal plan for 1 or 2 days, including
cost (and links to the relevant section of a supermarket website, e.g.
Tesco.com, Sainsbury.com, Asda.com, Iceland.com)

If you?re willing to write out a meal plan for a whole week, including
prices (total cost should be around £30), then I?ll tip an extra $10.
It doesn?t need to be anything fancy, as long as there?s some variety.

Accommodation: Annual expenditure only.

Clothing: Annual and monthly budgets for men?s clothing. Sample
shopping list for a man living on his own for 2 months, including
prices (if this gets too long, just give 3 or 4 examples, e.g.
shirts).

Utilities: Monthly budget, quotes from relevant service provider (e.g.
BT, British Gas, Manweb)

Misc.: Annual expenditure on stationary, travel, etc. (Any general
figures would be appreciated.)

-
The second part of my query is about long-term costs. When I finally
go it alone, what other costs will I need to consider? I?ve thought of
a few:

-Insurance (home, car, medical, litigation- anything else?)
-Home maintenance
-The cost of running a car
-Pension

Are there any other costs I should add to that list?

It would be great if you could give me some figures for the above.
With regard to the insurance, I would like examples of each
type of scheme, along with a summary of how much they?ll cost on a
monthly / annual basis.

Here are some more criteria for the other categories: 

Home maintenance: General figure for a 2 bedroom semi.

Car: Annual cost of petrol, repairs, etc.

Pension: One or two examples, with a summary of how much I should
expect to pay every month.
-
I?d also appreciate any general advice you can give me on budgeting
for an independent life.

I hope the list isn't too long. Thank you for your assistance.

---

Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 30 Nov 2004 11:10 PST

Hi,

Your question is interesting and I'm in a similar situation as yours,
so I can give you my personal experience regarding the matter on the
first part of the question.

The second part is way too open-ended and there are too many variables
to give you a useful answer.

I can try and answer the first part (student costs) and provide some
vague indication of costs for the second part, but you have to
understand that three to four years from now (when you graduate), all
the costs might change.

If that sounds ok to you, I need a bit more information on where
you're going to be living. Outside London is too vague; the impact is
mainly on the price of accommodation.

Thanks.
endo