Budget Planning - Info Gathering

[Tim_I]

Hi All,

I am just looking at budgets etc (not setting figures in stone, but working out what costs there may be in day to day life), so i have come up with the below and i am using it to add notes and information i gather. How ever I have a few questions that I could do with being answered if any one can help me(below pic)


** all above figues are estimates from my sister in law

My first few questions are the below
1. Do you pay for water?
2. Do you pay for counsil rates? and if so are they included in the rent? or a seperate payment
3. Do any house use gas?
4. I have been informed you have to pay for your bin bags from the counsil at $33 for 10 bags to reduce waste and recycle more, is this correct?

And if someone can confirm if the weekly or monthly payment are roughly correct.

Thanks

Tim

[rossojo]

Hi Tim
We are living in Christchurch at the moment and there are no water charges or council tax to pay on top of our rent, and the refuse collection is included too, we have 3 bins, green collected weekly, and yellow and red collected alternately, so each week is either red and green or yellow and green. However it depends on the city council as our friends have just moved to Rangiora and have to buy the bags.
In our rental the hob is gas and runs off a refillable bottle.
Hope that helps a little, as you can see it really depends where you live.
Jo

[Tim_I]

Thanks Jo, I did wonder if it was depending on what area you are in.

Just making sure i dont fall into the mistake of thinking my budget would work and then finding extra cost.. Like the cost of having a Diesel car and having to pay for the mileage.

[dwgknz]

Wellington and Kapiti you have to pay for rubbish bags, but I pay $350 per year for a large green rubbish bin that fits more than the 3 bags a week I thought we would be using.

Water is included in rates which the landlord is responsible for in a rental property and is covered by your rent. In some apartments you could be charged for water as well. And also maybe Auckland city.

Your car insurance would probaby be closer to $450 paid annually for a discount.

Paye 33%
Kiwisaver 2%

Some properties have gas for cooking and heaters (radiant type, naked flame wet heat). You will not often find gas water furnaces or radiator heaters.

For kids:

Nappies roughly 50c each as a guide (you can get them cheaper online or in specials).
Formula powder $25 per tin.
Childcare $250 per week roughly for fulltime

[Manks]

Hi All,

My first few questions are the below
1. Do you pay for water?
2. Do you pay for counsil rates? and if so are they included in the rent? or a seperate payment
3. Do any house use gas?
4. I have been informed you have to pay for your bin bags from the counsil at $33 for 10 bags to reduce waste and recycle more, is this correct?

1 and 2 - if you're renting you typically don't pay these. The landlord pays the costs and has to factor it in to the rent charged.
3 On the north island, there is "mains" gas (called reticulated here) available in some higher density areas and newer developments. On both islands you can get the refillable LPG service which doesn't require connection to the mains. From my limited experience few houses have gas supplied. The house we rent has gas heating fitted but the landlords cut it off because apparently it created a lot of damp. So we have a heat pump (essentially an air conditioning unit) for heating.
4. Totally depends on the area you live. In Wellington City, we can buy bags from the supermarket that are collected weekly ($11.04 for five bags or $2.21 per bag). Or you can essentially "rent" a wheelie bin from one of the approved private contractors who will empty the bin weekly. Or you can take the rubbish to the tip/landfill yourself. A car load will cost you $6.

I think you've underestimated on leccy. We spend around $80-90 a month on the summer and more like $130 a month in winter. But it depends on the type of heating you have. If you have a woodburner, you'll spend money of firewood and probably less on leccy.

Our house contents insurance is $350 a year.

Phone and broadband is possibly underestimated too. Vodafone's basic plan is $70 for just 3GB of data usage. We don't have a home phone so have Vodafone's Naked broadband which costs us $65 a month for 60GB of data. We don't use anything like that amount but it's nice to know it's there. When we first signed up it was only 30GB but they've upped the limit twice recently. And those costs only apply because my work phone is with Vodafone so I get a discount. We also get our Sky TV through Vodafone as we got a free MySky upgrade too (equivalent of Sky+).

Your costs related to your car will depend completely on the type of car you have. We have a 6 year-old Subaru Legacy station wagon (estate), 2.0 petrol auto. Your monthly insurance figure would probably cover that (we pay just over $500 for the year). Fuel costs vary as we both have motorbikes too and it depends a lot on how much they are used as opposed to the car. It costs around $100 to fill it up at the moment.

Monthly phone costs will depend entirely on your usage too. Hubby has an iPhone on 2degrees pre-pay. He spends about $30 a month on text and data packages but tries to limit his data as much as possible. If you're not using a smartphone at all, $20 a month should be enough on pre-pay. I don't think there's a contract out there that is that low though. Cheapest Vodafone monthly contract is $40 a month.

Most people don't have any form of health/dental insurance so it's personal preference. REmember that ACC covers costs associated with an accident. Mr Manks and I are 1 all on the accident front and the ACC process has been simple and painless (mentally, not physically!!). Doctor visit costs vary be region and even by surgery. I think to see my doc (Island Bay) costs $35 and a nurse is about $17.

Your rent willl also be dictated by where you live.

[Tim_I]

Thanks for the info guys

few mistakes on my little planner already lol.

Firstly i had $40 a week for electric rather than montly.
second the $65 was for the broadband (vodafone naked). however was thinking to keep cost down in the first year to go for a dongle for my laptop rather than signing into a contract.
and on a note the mobile phones will be a pay as you go phone rather than a contract (maybe a prepay contract) but as i say this are only estimates, and mainly a way to flust out things i dont know about.

can anyone see anything that i have missed, ie something we dont pay for in the UK?


Thanks again

Tim

[kindn3ss]

your information is truly appreciative.

[Manks]

can anyone see anything that i have missed, ie something we dont pay for in the UK?

Bank charges? Some accounts have associated fees. You will also be charged for either a Visa Debit card or a credit card. You will need this to buy most things online.

HAve you had a look at the cost of living calculator?

You also need to factor in that manufactured goods/clothes etc are going to be more expensive here. We've learnt that looking for a chest of drawers.

Also, will you have loans for things like your car?

There are also going to be a few one-off set up costs - for us it was things like washing machine, fridge freezer and microwave. On top of things like the car.

[Kanga]

Not sure a dongle will keep costs down and it will depend on where you are as to how successful it is to use- don't rely on the coverage maps 100% though!

I use about $20 every 4-6 weeks on my mobile by being with vodafone and having my dh as "Best Mate". I make very few calls of the shortest possible duration (1 or 2 a month) and also have international text bundle too. If you intend to use your phone more than this, you'll need to adjust your budget accordingly.

Trash bags- seem to be around $2.50-$3 depending on location but we (family of four) have less then one full per week, so it's a very nominal cost and we just buy them with the grocery shop.

[Sun777]

60 Liter Prepay thrash bags for North Shore council cost little less than $11 (for 5 bags) and 40 Liter one costs roughly about the same, these can be purchased at Countdown or Pak'n Save