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My boyfriend and I are looking for a house together and we're in desperate need of help with regards to how much we should be paying for rent and whether we're overstretching ourselves with regards to our budget. I'm absolutely terrible at maths so I'm having no luck working out a reasonable budget & I'm finding it super confusing. We're UK goons so everything will be in pounds I'm afraid, I hope that's not too much of a bother! Essentially, we will have a bare minimum of £1550 coming in per month. There is a possibility that this is likely to change to about £2000 in a few months time but that isn't definite yet. At the minute, we've set our budget to about £500 per month for rent. Is this a reasonable amount to be paying or will we be potentially overstretching ourselves? We have a small dog who costs about £50 a month and our travel expenses amount to about £200 per month for both of us and we'll be paying about £150 a month in council tax. On top of that we're going with the bare essentials - gas & electricity (Probably about £200 a month at the most), water (About £75 a month) and internet (Roughly £30 a month). Also, is £50 a week reasonable for food? We've both lived on our own before but quite honestly, neither of us worked out budgets or knew how much we were really spending, we just tried to live as cheaply as possible. I'm just anxious that we might be over stretching ourselves and putting ourselves at risk of getting into debt to either our parents or a bank & I really really don't want to do that!
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May 16, 2012 21:00
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I am not sure about the UK, but in the US a general guide is that you shouldn't be spending more than 30% of your take-home on rent, and you are pretty much on that line. Which is ok, but maybe not ideal. Now, that is obviously not a hard and fast law - if you are poor, you can easily be stuck paying more than that simply because there is an absolute lower bound on housing. Is it reasonable to get something for less than £500 that you could actually live in? You say that you and your boyfriend have ever really worked out budgets before. Well, this is a great time to start! When I moved in with my girlfriend (now wife) we had to reconcile the way both of us thought about and used money. Which involved getting a household budget together. You have actually already done some of the work here! Income: £1550 Rent: (£500) Council Tax: (£150) Transit: (£200) Utilities: (£275) Internet: (£30) Food: (£50) Pets: (£50) Subtotal: (£1255) Total: £295 Now, as written you are going to end the month with almost £300 left over. Great! But, there are a bunch of things I don't see in your budget. Do you have phones? What do the plans cost? Is that £50 for 'food' supposed to cover household expenses like dish soap, toilet paper, etc.? Do you guys go out for food, have some drinks at the pub, go to the movies? How about general spending like buying some clothes or getting yourself lunch? All these things need to be included in one way or another. Honestly, you should look in on the personal finance thread and budget thread. As a sidenote, never count on money on the horizon. Your income might be £2000 in a couple months? Great, adjust your spending when that happens, don't live like you are making that money and definitely don't commit to anything like a lease depending on it!
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May 16, 2012 21:28
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Ashcans posted:Super helpful budgeting advice Thank you so much for this, you have no idea how much this helps! Maths & figures were never my strong points! With regards to rent, we could get somewhere for a lot cheaper if we could rent a flat instead of a house but most landlords won't even consider you for a flat if you have any pets, much less a dog. Unfortunately £500 is about the cheapest we can get a house for but we're still looking so we'll probably just go for the cheapest place we can find! I'll check out the finance thread and hopefully that'll give us some more ideas on what we can do to keep our spending in check. I hadn't considered things like phones & soap but our phones don't cost much to keep and I'll factor in another £15 per month for house things like soap and toilet rolls. Lunch wise we've decided we'll take left overs because we always seem to cook too much for meals anyway. As for eating out & cinema trips etc. I think we'd basically resigned ourselves to not going out much until we have a bit more money coming in! We don't go out much as it is because we're both usually skint but I'm sure we'll inevitably end up spending some money on that sort of stuff. Don't worry, we're not planning on spending money we don't have just yet. I definitely don't want to go signing a lease for a more expensive house only to then get evicted when we don't have enough money to pay the rent! Thanks again for all the advice, it's been really helpful & hopefully now we'll have a better idea of what we're budgeting for & how much it'll all cost!
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May 16, 2012 23:59
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Authentic You posted:I have a question about some stuff a former tenant left at my house. This guy lived in my house last summer, but left a few things that he said he'd move to his new place later, and then a few months after he moved out, he went batshit and we had a huge falling out. Or rather, he had a huge falling out with me and my friend/housemate and has since been avoiding us like the plague. This includes not ever getting his stuff from my house. I'm not going out of my way to remind him (because I'd rather not deal with him), but I'd be happy to give him his stuff if he said something. This isn't really answering your question, but I was in a similar situation a few years ago, and trust me, it's not worth it. Just get all his stuff in one place so it will be easy and fast to pick it up, give him a call and tell him come get it within x days, because you're getting ready to move, or you're throwing it out. That way, you'll see him one more time, then you never have to see him again.
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May 17, 2012 02:43
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SleeplessInEngland posted:As for eating out & cinema trips etc. I think we'd basically resigned ourselves to not going out much until we have a bit more money coming in! We don't go out much as it is because we're both usually skint but I'm sure we'll inevitably end up spending some money on that sort of stuff. One additional piece of advice. Even if you don't plan on going out or doing much that costs money, make a little space in your budget for it. At one point I was trying to save money and decided I wouldn't go out, buy anything, total lockdown. That's really hard to stick to, and when you inevitably break down and go to the pub with friends (or buy that amazing new videogame, whatever) you throw your planning out of whack and end up splurging out more than you might have. I find that it's much easier to stick to if you plan to spend a small amount - that tenner won't break your budget and knowing that you have X much to spend will help keep you on track. Definitely check in with the Finance threads, I stay up on those regularly to keep myself on track.
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May 17, 2012 14:56
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Grumpwagon posted:This isn't really answering your question, but I was in a similar situation a few years ago, and trust me, it's not worth it. Just get all his stuff in one place so it will be easy and fast to pick it up, give him a call and tell him come get it within x days, because you're getting ready to move, or you're throwing it out. That way, you'll see him one more time, then you never have to see him again. Seconding this advice. He's had more than enough time to come get his poo poo and basically forfeited it when he decided to start avoiding you. If he really needed any of it he'd have taken it with him when he left, or made more of an effort to come get it. I have a former tenant who also left some stuff when she moved out and we're still good friends. I have informed her that she's had enough time to get her stuff and it's going to goodwill/the trash once I get packed because hell if I'm dragging her poo poo halfway across the country and I'm not taking the time to deliver it to her.
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May 17, 2012 19:07
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Anyone have any tips of for apartment hunting in San Francisco? I'm planning on moving in with a old roommate and her boyfriend, and we're looking for a one bedroom apartment with a living space area big enough to be partitioned into another bedroom, somewhere in Chinatown or at least near the Financial District/Union Square. Our max limit is about $1600. The worst part is that I did find an apartment that would have been perfect six months ago, but I couldn't move in. 
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May 20, 2012 07:47
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Splash Attack posted:Anyone have any tips of for apartment hunting in San Francisco? http://jasonevanish.com/2012/05/20/sf-startup-survival-guide-how-to-find-an-apartment-in-san-francisco/ http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032519
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May 20, 2012 18:09
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Anyone have any experience with ABF shipping? They seem to be a blend between PODS and traditional movers, they drop off a moving pod thing to load up at your leisure, but also include movers to load/unload if you want. I got a coupon for $50 off my move from ABF through the post office when I filled out my change of address forms so I've been looking at using them.
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May 20, 2012 23:27
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Anyone have any experience with ABF shipping? They seem to be a blend between PODS and traditional movers, they drop off a moving pod thing to load up at your leisure, but also include movers to load/unload if you want. I got a coupon for $50 off my move from ABF through the post office when I filled out my change of address forms so I've been looking at using them. Used them and help my sister used them. They are great. No complaints at all from me.
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May 21, 2012 02:49
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Ashcans posted:One additional piece of advice. Even if you don't plan on going out or doing much that costs money, make a little space in your budget for it. At one point I was trying to save money and decided I wouldn't go out, buy anything, total lockdown. That's really hard to stick to, and when you inevitably break down and go to the pub with friends (or buy that amazing new videogame, whatever) you throw your planning out of whack and end up splurging out more than you might have. I find that it's much easier to stick to if you plan to spend a small amount - that tenner won't break your budget and knowing that you have X much to spend will help keep you on track. We've taken your advice and budgeted so that we'll have about £100 to spend on just stuff we want like going out or games or clothes. You're probably right about splurging if we don't allow ourselves to have some money to spend on things we enjoy & as it turns out we can actually afford it as we won't be as hard up as we thought! Again, thanks for your help! We found a house this weekend and have just put in for our credit checks etc. so hopefully they'll come back clear & we can have the house on the 1st of July 
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May 21, 2012 21:43
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Is there a thread like this but for houses not apartments?
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May 23, 2012 00:42
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b0nes posted:Is there a thread like this but for houses not apartments? Theres a House Buying Megathread in BFC.
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May 23, 2012 00:45
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Is there an easy way to figure out what internet service providers are in your area? I've been googling around and found sites that claim to compare what services are at a zip code but each one of these sites have been utter trash.
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May 23, 2012 20:36
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Dazzo posted:Is there an easy way to figure out what internet service providers are in your area? I've been googling around and found sites that claim to compare what services are at a zip code but each one of these sites have been utter trash. Are you renting? The property manager should have a list of available providers for that particular property. If you're still shopping around, add it to your list of questions to ask when you visit the complex. Most of them even have flyers to hand out. If you've already moved in/own your place/whatever, I'd just pay attention to who advertises in your area and check on the individual companies' websites to see if they provide service to your address. Hopefully you don't live in an area that only has one provider who will charge you out the rear end every month for lovely service (COMCAST  )
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May 23, 2012 22:16
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I've been lackadaisically searching for apartments in the areas around where I've been job searching, and was wondering if any one had opinions on lofts vs single story apartments. They're pretty much the same price, and a loft seems interesting but I worry that they might have some heating and cooling problems, i.e. the lofted area getting very hot in the summer. Is this something to worry about or is it not really an issue?
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May 27, 2012 22:03
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Where are you? What is the climate like? We had a loft-style place in Atlanta (the living room/kitchen had 16-25 foot ceilings, with a balcony area overlooking it). During the summer that space got really stuffy, and it was a pain to do anything about it - it meant either turning up the air conditioning, or setting up a bunch of fans to circulate things better. It would have probably made it a pain to heat the main room in the winter, but that wasn't really a concern because Atlanta rarely gets that cold. So yes, its a potential issue but it will depend on the layout and how much work someone has put into it.
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May 27, 2012 22:08
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Currently looking at places around Madison WI, but I live in central IL. I don't really know much about the climate in Madison though.
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May 27, 2012 22:28
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So my roommate/tenant moved out while the rest of us were gone at graduation so I couldn't do a proper walkthrough till now, and have discovered she left a heavy as poo poo mini fridge and bigass CRT TV in her room. I now have to deal with getting rid of them before my new tenants move in by myself. I texted her about them and she was all "tee hee I couldn't fit them in my car so I left them sorrryyyy". Are there any junk removal companies that I could hire using her security deposit to haul off this poo poo, or am I better off listing them on craigslist and hoping someone buys them in the next week?
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May 27, 2012 23:04
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:So my roommate/tenant moved out while the rest of us were gone at graduation so I couldn't do a proper walkthrough till now, and have discovered she left a heavy as poo poo mini fridge and bigass CRT TV in her room. I now have to deal with getting rid of them before my new tenants move in by myself. I texted her about them and she was all "tee hee I couldn't fit them in my car so I left them sorrryyyy". Some Goodwill and Salvation Army locations have pickup service for donations. Would have to call your local one and ask.
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May 27, 2012 23:46
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Burger Crime posted:Some Goodwill and Salvation Army locations have pickup service for donations. Would have to call your local one and ask. Didn't know that. I'll have to look into it. If I wasn't completely alone up a long flight of stairs with a TV that weighs at least 1/3 of my body weight I'd have just taken it to Goodwill without a thought. I've already got a poo poo ton of other stuff to take there. For now I've put them on craigslist and I hope someone will want them. If no one's inquired by the time I move out myself I'll lug them down to Goodwill.
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May 28, 2012 00:52
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Any advice for filling in tiny spaces around a window AC unit?
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May 30, 2012 10:12
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Duct tape if you don't care how it looks.
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May 30, 2012 10:17
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I have a big wide format printer I'm trying to pack. The original packaging was thrown away a long time ago. Initially I bought a huge-rear end 25"x25"x25" box since that was the only one the pack/ship store had in stock that was wide enough. Then I filled up the rest of the space with other random stuff. Now the box is way too heavy. The obvious solution is to take out the other stuff and distribute it into other boxes, but then I've got this $200 printer kicking around a huge box by itself which I imagine is not a good thing. If I wrap it in a poo poo ton more bubble wrap and tape can it just go in the truck by itself without a box and be ok? Or is there some other kind of packaging I could rig up? Rough dimensions of this thing are 25"x10"x8" or so.
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May 30, 2012 17:31
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Are you personally loading, transporting, and unloading it? If not, then you need to put it in some sort of box to protect it. Use the box that you bought, you will just have to work a little with it. It sounds like you are moving? If so, there has to be bulky, light stuff to help fill the box. Prime targets are cushions and pillows. If you somehow manage to not have those, look for any weirdly shaped stuff that won't fit anywhere else (dish racks and shower racks are good examples). Failing all this; the printer is 25Lx10Wx8H? Ok, take your box and cut off the flaps that close it. Now cut down the corners 12.5", to make new flaps. Presto, your box is now 25Lx25Wx12.5H, much closer to the object size. You'll still need to pad out the extra horizontal space, but in a pinch you can fold the flaps you cut off into braces.
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May 30, 2012 18:50
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Those of you who have landlorded might be useful to this guy.
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May 31, 2012 03:39
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I found an apartment listing that's running 25% less in price than the surrounding ones. Looking at the listed amenities and location, its got everything I want. The catch I found is that its labeled month-to-month. I've only rented places that were 1 year leases. How risky is renting something that's not a one year lease? Will I run the risk of being kicked out with less than 1 month notice? Would you guys avoid a month-to-month contract? Raimondo fucked around with this message at 16:36 on May 31, 2012 |
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May 31, 2012 16:33
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Witha month to month lease, you would always get at least one month's notice of termination. You might inquire as to why it is month to month only.
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May 31, 2012 16:36
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Month to month contracts tend to run MORE since the landlord has to account for the fact that the tenant can skip out with a months notice, rather than having to break a lease (and still potentially being on the hook for the remainder of the lease). I would personally be wary that its cheaper AND its month to month.
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May 31, 2012 16:37
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I would personally avoid a straight month-to-month arrangement, because I don't want to move and then have to move again two months later. I have a kid and it makes moving into a nightmare. I agree that you should follow up and ask why it's like that - it's possible that the landlord had a bad experience and is now wary of getting into a full lease with some lunatic, but its also possible they're just trying to fill it for a few months and can't offer a full year. Another thing to be aware of is that with a month-to-month lease you are not guaranteed that 25% less rent for any particular length of time. So its entirely possible the landlord is fishing with the lower rate, and after a couple months will jack it back up to market rate - counting on you agreeing to pay up rather than go through the hassle of another move.
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May 31, 2012 16:45
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quote:Another thing to be aware of is that with a month-to-month lease you are not guaranteed that 25% less rent for any particular length of time. So its entirely possible the landlord is fishing with the lower rate, and after a couple months will jack it back up to market rate - counting on you agreeing to pay up rather than go through the hassle of another move. This is my guess as to what's happening. Landlords can be skeezy.
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May 31, 2012 16:50
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Ashcans posted:Another thing to be aware of is that with a month-to-month lease you are not guaranteed that 25% less rent for any particular length of time. So its entirely possible the landlord is fishing with the lower rate, and after a couple months will jack it back up to market rate - counting on you agreeing to pay up rather than go through the hassle of another move. This really depends on the actual lease terms. I'm currently on a month to month lease that fixes the price for the duration of my residency. In other words, I don't sign an entirely new lease every month, it's just that I have the opportunity to break it provided that I give the required 30 days notice. So I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you should demand that the price stay fixed for an amount of time considered "fair" to the landlord, i.e. one full year.
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May 31, 2012 17:02
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I've also seen month-to-month leases with clauses that if the landlord decides to sell you have to allow viewings at weekends / evenings and clean the place up. I had a friend move into a month-to-month and within one week was notified the place was up for sale and there would be a viewing that weekend. She ended up staying for 3 months but found out that the place had been omn the market for about 6 months and the previous tennant had got sick of the constant viewings. Have a look to see if it is sneakily for sale.
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May 31, 2012 18:31
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I think it was this thread I read it in but I'm not entirely sure, but it was about not leaving your mattress on the ground because it needs circulation or it gets moldy or some such. I'm hoping to move into this nice little apartment, 375 sqft, that'll be only a few blocks from my new job. I'm ok with the size but since its in a colder climate, coming from Austin to Denver, I figure I'll need more than the light quilt I have now. So I thought I'd find boxes that fit under my bed frame and put blankets and such in there for storage when they aren't needed. Does using the area under my bed for storage cause poor enough circulation that my bed will start to get funky quicker? I figure I can stuff my seasonal things and outdoor things under there so that my closet for clothes can remain relatively unencumbered.
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Jun 2, 2012 08:26
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Merou posted:I think it was this thread I read it in but I'm not entirely sure, but it was about not leaving your mattress on the ground because it needs circulation or it gets moldy or some such. There should still be plenty of airflow. They won't fit tightly, after all. Underbed storage is very common and convenient. The mattress thing is more: don't leave it on the ground like on the ground or on a concrete floor of a storage unit. That's all. Unless you live in a mad humid area I wouldn't even worry about it in a house. Vacuum/space bags will also help with your blanket/sweater/etc storage.
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Jun 2, 2012 14:53
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2 questions about my gooncave. First, I live in a (rented) older house. A strange, yellow-orange discoloration has started to appear on my bathroom ceiling. I asked maintenance about it, and they said it wasn't mold, and was nothing to worry about. They're pretty lazy though, so I want a second opinion. Apologies for the camera phone pictures, I can probably find a better camera if needed. Any idea what this stuff is?   Secondly, I'm looking for a list of household chores that I can appropriate. I'm not looking for the normal, day to day stuff. I've got that stuff pretty under control. I'm looking for an exhaustive list compiled by a crazy person. Something that really covers every crazy thing you can do to clean your house. This seems good, and it's what I'm using for now, but it comes from a website with far too few animated gifs (ok, the gifs part is optional, I just want an exhaustive list, and wanted to know if anyone had a good one).
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Jun 2, 2012 17:04
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I have a lovely situation. I'm looking to move in a new rental place by July 1st. I'm in Kentucky. A month ago, I looked at a wonderful house. An application was sent in, but the house was offered to another couple. Once the other couple waffled around a bit with measurements, the landlord told us they planned to rent the house. We searched again, and found a duplex to rent through a rental company. This went much smoother, and we were able to sign a lease very quickly. The house is really nice, but not as good as the previous one. We are set to move in on June 14. Last night, we get an email from the owner of the first house. It turns out the other couple backed out of signing a lease, so the house is available again. However, we've already signed a lease and paid a deposit. We have not paid anything else besides this. Also, the house came available just yesterday - it wasn't even ready when we signed. When I asked the rental company about voiding our lease, they gave me a hard time and said I'd need to speak to someone else at their company, who isn't there on the weekends. I'm looking at the lease and my legal options. The lease states in the early termination clause that early termination requires 2 months rent as penalty prior to vacating the premises. I'm not sure the clause applies, since it assumes residency. Even if I'm being dumb or naive about that, there's a state law that may be on my side as well. http://tenant.net/Other_Areas/Kentucky/ltguide.html#3secj posted:Once the lease has been signed, the landlord may not charge rent until the tenant actually has possession of the premises. If the landlord does not allow the tenant to move in, the tenant may terminate the lease after giving at least five days' written notice. Upon termination, the landlord must return all prepaid rent, damage fees, and deposits. I'm not in possession of the house, so it doesn't sound like I'm totally bound to the lease yet. I may just be getting my hopes up, but I'm kind of looking for options. Anyone know anything about lease termination before the lease begins? Is it possible for me to just not pick up the keys and mark my deposit as a loss?
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Jun 2, 2012 21:16
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Since you haven't moved in they might cut you some slack, but since they don't have much time to find a new tenant I wouldn't count on it. The one time I was in a kind of similar situation (signed a lease and then got sent to another state for work about a week before I was supposed to move in) I ended up putting up an ad on Craigslist offering to pay half of the first month's rent to anybody who would take over the lease. That got things taken care of within a day or two.
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Jun 2, 2012 22:30
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I was in a sort of similar situation as you (signed an apartment lease, got a better job offer elsewhere before I'd even moved in). The apartment complex wouldn't let me out of the lease outright, but gave me an option to pay them a fee for them to re-rent it or I could find a sublessor. I chose the re-renting fee because gently caress being financially responsible for some stranger. I'm still on the hook for rent if they don't get someone else to rent it by the move-in date on my lease, but I'm pretty sure they'll find someone before then and I've found someone via craigslist who really wants it. Ask your landlord if you can do something like that. If it's as nice of a property as you say it is it should get snatched up pretty quickly, even quicker if you put up ads on craigslist.
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Jun 3, 2012 00:41
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What kind of tools do you guys keep in your apartment? I've got way too much poo poo and trying to figure out what I can get rid of, and I've got quite a few tools. A few years ago when I was in college I built a bar (which is now in a former roommates basement, still being used  ) and that involved quite a few tools. I've got a circular saw, reciprocating saw, two drills, a jig saw, a laminate trimmer, and a rather large tool box full of screws, nails, squares & triangles, etc etc.So I'm thinking a small drill for all the Ikea furniture, a couple of sizes of screw drivers (phillips and and flat head), utility knife, hammer, needle-nose pliers, regular pliers, and adjustable wrench. Any thoughts?
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Jun 3, 2012 02:14
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