Monthly home expenses

[Evil Baby]

I recently just bought a house, move in date will be August 29th. I'm just going back over the monthly costs and was wondering if anybody can think of anthing I missed.


house insurance - 69.09/month(known cost)
water - 50/month(estimated on parents water bill)
gas - 80/month(estimated on parents water bill)
hydro - 90/month(estimated on parents water bill)
Mortgage - 672.90/month(known cost)
food - 240/month(known cost)
cats - 40/month(known cost)
Cell phones - 169.60/month(went high, can easily be cut down)
car gas - 175/month(avg over last 3 months)
internet - 34.15/month(online quote)
OSAP - 400/month(estimate)

Total - 2011.84/month


City taxes - 482.10 - for end of september
Titles insurance - 225
Lawers fee's - 350
land transfer fee - 925
Term life insurance - 256.08
vet bills - 400
Total - 2638.18

I know the lawers fee is low, my friend is doing them and is cutting out a lot of the cost. Don't have exact cost but it should be close.

These bills are paid out of my income, my fiance's income goes towards movies, eaiting out and random cost that occur from owning a house and car.

Is there anything else in here that I should be expecting?

[fireguy9]

I recently just bought a house, move in date will be August 29th. I'm just going back over the monthly costs and was wondering if anybody can think of anthing I missed.


house insurance - 69.09/month(known cost)
water - 50/month(estimated on parents water bill)
gas - 80/month(estimated on parents water bill)
hydro - 90/month(estimated on parents water bill)
Mortgage - 672.90/month(known cost)
food - 240/month(known cost)
cats - 40/month(known cost)
Cell phones - 169.60/month(went high, can easily be cut down)
car gas - 175/month(avg over last 3 months)
internet - 34.15/month(online quote)
OSAP - 400/month(estimate)

Total - 2011.84/month


City taxes - 482.10 - for end of september
Titles insurance - 225
Lawers fee's - 350
land transfer fee - 925
Term life insurance - 256.08
vet bills - 400
Total - 2638.18

I know the lawers fee is low, my friend is doing them and is cutting out a lot of the cost. Don't have exact cost but it should be close.

These bills are paid out of my income, my fiance's income goes towards movies, eaiting out and random cost that occur from owning a house and car.

Is there anything else in here that I should be expecting?

wow your insur is high
water seems high compared to mine
expect more on nat gas
what the heck is term life at such a high amt? mine is $15 month for 250k
cable or sat tv

[Evil Baby]

wow your insur is high
water seems high compared to mine
expect more on nat gas
what the heck is term life at such a high amt? mine is $15 month for 250k
cable or sat tv

Yeah the insurance is a little high at the moment. I've been gettin really bad quotes because we are first time home buyers and the house is 75 years old.

The term life quote is for the entire year, not for a month and it is for two people.

[CSK'sMom]

Which city in Niagara Evil? Some cities are still subsidizing water rates and others are not anylonger. This results in some cities paying much higher rates so your estimate from your parents may be way off. I can tell you I just got our hydro and water bills. $228 for hydro and $200 for water, each for 2 months. Here in Niagara Falls we pay the true cost of water as we aren't subsidized at all. Your house insurance seems quite high to me. We are paying $400/year. We only paid $510/yr for a 110 yr old farmhouse heated with wood.

[Jucius Maximus]

Auto Insurance
Land Line Phone?
Water Heater Rental Charge?

[Evil Baby]

It will be in Niagara Falls. My parents bills are also in Niagara Falls but yes the bill may be off. They have a pool and 5 people living in the house so we tried to base it on that. I'm also trying to go off my experience from when I lived in Toronto. I will make a few more calls on the house insurance when I get the time. Problem is we've never had insurance on anything before, and I'm not bundling anything.

Mind if I ask who you are insured through?


Land line - paid for by my company
Auto insurance - paid for by my dad for the next year
Rental heater charge - That I did forget about, thanks.

[poohsing]

How about TV & cable? Depending on what area you live in, could run up to $100/mth. How about not going out to movies and subscribing to some movie channels or renting? ;)
$240 for food for 2 ppl for 1 month seems low.

[CSK'sMom]

We also have 5 people in the house and a pool. Who did you get quotes from for house insurance, that is really, really high for NF. We know people in Mount Carmel Estates (think million dollar homes) that aren't paying as much as you've been quoted. Try bundling your home and auto and see what the difference is. By using one company for both you should see a significant decrease even though our auto rates are quite high here in NF.

[Evil Baby]

How about TV & cable? Depending on what area you live in, could run up to $100/mth. How about not going out to movies and subscribing to some movie channels or renting? ;)
$240 for food for 2 ppl for 1 month seems low.

$240 a month on food is no problem for us. We've been doing it for a while so that's a pretty solid number.
As for cable, cable, we're going FTA at the moment.

Also we get 2 free movie rentals a day because my fiancee works at Rogers Video. We're not tight on cash at the moment I'm just trying to figure out bills is all. If money does get tight we have lots of fat we can cut.

We also have 5 people in the house and a pool. Who did you get quotes from for house insurance, that is really, really high for NF. We know people in Mount Carmel Estates (think million dollar homes) that aren't paying as much as you've been quoted. Try bundling your home and auto and see what the difference is. By using one company for both you should see a significant decrease even though our auto rates are quite high here in NF.


It's through RBC. We used kenetix and I called a fw places. All of them gave me the same price range. Around $760 for the year(which mine is, only 11 payments). It might have something to do with us only being 24 years old. I'm not sure, but like I said I'll make time to make a few more calls.

[3weddings]

Credit Cards?
Car Payments?

[don_dada76]

For Home Insurance, I found that Allstate had the best price. I did a fair bit of shopping around. FYI, I have my car insurance elsewhere.

Good luck.

[Dustbunny]

The one you have that isn't normally on most people's lists is $400 for the vet. Someone getting spayed?

Your list seems pretty complete. The ongoing expenses I don't see are things like from prescriptions to grooming; clothes, hair cuts, etc. and so on that come up every month or so. Also, since this is your first house, count on needing some money for things you probably don't already own. Gardening equipment, snow shovels, outdoor mats, hose/nozzle/sprinkler, you name it, there will be things you need or want pretty quickly. Some you may be able to borrow or get from parent's extras but that won't be all of it. You may also want to paint which means brushes, rollers, trays, tape and paint.

You also need tools. Basic at first, but don't forget them. Their costs can really add up so allow at least a few hundred dollars the first year for the basics. There are lists around on the web, but off the top of my head you probably need a hammer, drill, flashlight, straight edge, measuring tape, stud finder (the ones with the laser levels as they serve a lot of purposes), a set of screwdrivers, some wrenches and assorted doo dads and thing-amigigs as you need them. Also get yourself a really good (meaning with clear illustrations) fix it, DIY book as it will save you all sorts of troubles. There are some really good ones out there that deal with maintenance and repair and others that deal with reno so get ones that suit your purpose. They usually cost about $25 each and Costco often has them.

Most of that stuff you can get over time, but you will want things to hang pictures and get settled right away.

Also, I don't notice any moving expenses on your list. Even if you are moving yourself you may have some costs there you want to consider and don't forget any hookup costs that the utility companies may ding you with.