7 Renting Costs To Consider In Your Budget When Moving

Piggy bank kept on the packed boxes with moving budget slip on it

7 Renting Costs To Consider In Your Budget When Moving

Nov 07, 2019 The amount you spend on your rental property every month can make a significant impact on your overall financial situation. Thus, you need to prepare a budget for the rental costs. This is a fantastic way to organise your expenses and make sure that you stay within your financial boundary. While preparing the budget, you need to focus on how to save money while moving and ensure that you are not missing any rental costs. To save money, you need to follow some smart tactics like hiring budget removalists in Brisbane, getting back the security deposit, cleaning on your own and so on. As far as the renting costs are concerned, here are some expenses that you must consider while making your budget. Have a look!

1. Consider You Monthly Rent

The first thing you need to include in your budget is your weekly rent. The calculation is pretty simple because your weekly rent is fixed for the entire duration of your lease. Always remember that your rent should not be more than 30% of what your take home pay is. This will ensure that you are not stretching yourself too much every week. As your rent is the lion’s share in your weekly expense, it will be vital for you to carefully calculate the other renting costs and stick to your budget.

2. Security Deposit

Although it is a onetime expense, still you need to include this amount in your budget. Discuss with your landlord and decide an amount that you need to pay as bond money. As per the rules, the maximum security deposit the property-owner can ask cannot be more than the total rent amount of four weeks. So, you can include that amount in your budget. The best thing about security deposit is that you get it back at the end of lease. It means, when you are moving out of a rental property, you can utilise the bond money to pay the deposit where you are moving. The reason you need to mention it in your budget is that you don’t know how much you will get back. You can also save some amount by hiring budget removalists in Brisbane. Save as much money as you can.

3. Include Your Utility Costs

People often overlook the utilities when preparing a budget, but it is one of the biggest renting costs you need to take care of. You will have to pay this once a month, but there is no fixed amount like your rent. The charges of utilities entirely depend on the frequency of usage. While you include it in your moving checklist and its cost in the budget, you need to consider an average amount that will help. As average costs of utilities vary from place to place, you need to discuss it with the owner of the property before signing your lease so that you can be sure that the cost of utilities fits your budget. The list of utilities may include: • Electricity • Gas • Heating and Cooling • Water • Trash Removals • Television • Internet

4. Do Not Forget Renter’s Insurance

Many landlords want their tenants to get renter’s insurance during the lease term. The landlord will have insurance for the building only. It means you need insurance to protect your sporting gear, electronics, jewellery and basically everything that is not nailed down. This insurance is essential because it ensures you can get back all your cherished possessions if they are stolen, destroyed in a fire or even if you drop and break them. So, you must consider the amount of insurance in your budget. Different types of coverages are available for renters in Australia. • Portable contents insurance • Accidental damage cover • Contents insurance • High-value contents insurance

5. Include Laundry in your Budget

People often forget to include the cost of laundry in their budget, but it should be there. If you don’t have a washer and dryer at your place, you must consider the laundry cost in your budget. The overall cost of the laundry depends on two major factors – the location where you live and how often you use the machine. So, it is not easy to know what people spend in the laundry until you are settled in your new place. You need to save some money for the laundry every month. There are coin or card-operated washing machines in many places, so you can go for that. You can also choose to go to a nearby laundromat in Brisbane. The cost is most likely to be cheaper here. If you have a washing machine and you want to move it safely to your new place, hire experienced removalists in Brisbane. They will move your belongings without causing any damage to them.

6. Consider Parking Fee

The parking fee is not applicable everywhere, so you need to check it before signing the lease. Talk to the landlord and see if you need to pay any parking fee. The charges can be either monthly or annually. If you are not happy with the charges and think that it can unbalance your entire budget, look somewhere else. However, the parking fee is beneficial for those people who are planning to live in a densely populated area. In such places, it is a time-taking and challenging task to find a parking spot. This cost is also fixed and recurring like your weekly house rent.

7. Home Essentials

Paying for a place and paying to live in it are entirely two different things. So, you mustn’t forget to include the renting costs of those things that are not directly related to renting, such as furniture and decorative items, food, toiletries and cleaning supplies. You can put these things in a category in your budget that is different from renting, but you need to consider them every month. Some costs, such as decorative items and furniture, will cost you immediately after moving. Food and toiletries, on the other hand, must be budgeted for every month. Apply smart tactics to save money like hiring budget removalists in Brisbane, organising a garage sale while moving out and so on.

The Bottom Line

Many renters fail to identify certain renting costs when preparing their budget. This makes things more confusing because of numerous financial problems in future. The expenses mentioned here are the essential renting costs that everybody needs to take care of. Always remember that some expenses are fixed while some are flexible. Keep this in your mind while making the budget.