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It’s been two months now since Jake and I got the key to our new flat and moved in together. Neither of us have lived with a partner before, so this was an exciting (and eye-opening) life milestone for the both of us.
When we told our families and friends about our successful flat hunt, we were inundated with free stuff. My mum gave us a ton of pots, pans and cutlery that she’d been hoarding in the cellar, a family friend gave us a bookcase, desk and fold out bed, and relatives clubbed together to get us a kettle, toaster and a microwave. Because of the generosity from friends and family, we assumed our moving in spending would be almost non-existent. Oh how wrong we were!
In this post, I’ll outline everything we’ve bought for the flat in the first month alone. I’ll also include essential living expenses so far such as rent, bills and food costs. This list won’t include items such as clothes, entertainment, whiskey or Twirls. Some of the items on the list below have been rounded up or down to the nearest ‘tidy’ number or grouped together.
Rent & Bills
- Letting agent fees and deposit - £850
- Rent, internet, electricity, water, council tax etc - £950
- Annual TV licence - £145
- Contents insurance - £50
- Virgin Media install charge - £25
Furniture and soft furnishings
- Bedroom rug - £60
- Mini coffee tables x 2 - £40
- Bedside cabinets x 2 - £50
- Cushions for dining room chairs x 4 - £16
- Bookcase - £40
- Tablecloth - £5
- Living room rug - £30
- Cushions x 3 - £30
- Throw - £20
- Clock x 2 - £20
- Indoor plants - £12
Kitchen
- Oven gloves - £3
- Baking trays - £4
- Food bags - £2
- Tea bags - £2
- Glass worktop cutting board - £3
- Chopping boards - £4
- Nescafe - £2
- Compost liners - £1
- Mug with a bike on - £3
- Kitchen scales - £10
- Pedal kitchen bin - £25
Cleaning
- Vacuum cleaner - £50
- Bathroom cleaner - £1
- Anti bacterial spray - £1
- Hand wash x 2 - £2
- Scourers - £1
- Microfiber cloths - £3
- Dishwasher tablets - £1
- Cream cleaner - £1
- General purpose cleaner - £1
- Harpic toilet cleaner - £1
- Mr Muscle - £1
- Wilko Dish Brush - £1
- Anti-bacterial wipes - 50p
- Soap dish - £1
- Baby wipes - £1
- Shower curtain - £5
Food
- Aldi and Sainsburys food shops - £270 (approximately)
Miscellaneous
- Bathroom light switch cord - £1
- Ironing board cover - £2.50
- Extension lead - £8
Grand total spent in the first month of living together: £2,755
Considering how many items were gifted to us and how much stuff we had of our own already, it’s shocking to see just how much money we spent in our first month alone. And, while this list demonstrates some non-essentials, I think we did well not to go overboard filling the flat with impulse purchases.
Here’s a list of the items that we fortunately didn’t need to buy…
Items donated to us
- Desk
- Chair/fold out bed
- Full dining set, cutlery, pots and pans, glasses and mugs
- Toaster
- Microwave
- Kettle
- Curtains (2 sets)
Things we already had
- Bedding
- Storage boxes
- Lamps
- Armchair
- Dining room chair
- Mini chest of drawers
- Projector (instead of a TV)
- TV stand
- Bookcase
- Wall art, pictures and photo frames
- Iron
- Ironing board
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