How much is the cost for utilities for a 2 bedroom apartment? (sale, apartments)

[Michelle21689]

How much was the bill for:
Electric
Gas
Water
Groceries
Internet/Cable
Miscellaneous fees
Whatever else I am missing

Thank you

[OhioJB]

Michelle, I'm guessing you are moving into a two bedroom apartment and want an idea of how much it will cost. Is that correct? I'll answer a some of these, but understand the cost of food will greatly depend on how many people will be living in the two bed apartment and what their eating habits are. For instance, when I was in my early 20's I ate so little birds got jealous because they thought I was stealing their thunder for how little they ate. I can't say that now that I'm at twice that age. A man my age can't live on one or two candy bars alone per day, along with a can or two of Pepsi, which is what I used to eat and drink.

Understand also that the electric will depend on square foot of the apartment, how well the windows seal out the cold, and how warm you like to keep your apartment during winter, and how cool in the summer. Some apartments have basically the same square footage for a two bedroom as they do a one bedroom, the difference being with a two bedroom the livingroom size is cut down compared to a one bedroom apartment.

I live in a one bedroom, and here are my recent bills.

One bedroom rent, $425/month. This building also has two bedroom apartments that go for I think around $475/month, but it's not a nice place mainly because you can hear your neighbors every move and conversation through the walls, floors and celiings. I know you didn't ask for rent price but I wanted to give you an idea of the cost of a lower priced place.

Electric is a touchy issue with me. I live on the bottom floor and just like any sound I make goes through the ceilng, so does my heat. And next door to me is the laundryroom and the manager's office, neither of which is heated. So I'm paying for a lot more than just my apartment. My last monthly bill for mid-January was $139.12. It would have been much cheaper if I hadn't been paying for my neighbor's heat, the laundryroom and manager's office.

My apartment is all electric so I have no gas bill, and water is included in the rent.

Internet I could get a little cheaper through Buckeye Cablesystem, but I'm with AT&T U-verse. My bill this month was $58 and some change. They used to charge me for the modem, but I got that as a discount plus I think $5 off, so it would have been higher without those discounts obviously. I only pay for a speed of 18 but it tests out usually at 23.47 and sometimes as high as 23.91. I've also done quality tests at Megapath's website and it always tests out as having great quality (jitter, packet loss, and one other besides upload and download speeds).

I got rid of cable, you should consider not having it and save yourself upwards of $100/month for U-verse 300, or a little less with a lower package. It's not worth it. You could have an antenna and get local stations, buy a Roku for about $100 and no monthly fee other than Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Acorn TV, or whatever else you decided to sign up for. There are a lot of Roku channels that are free but most are not worthy and have a ton of commercials. I pay $9.64/month for Netflix, $4.99 month for Acorn TV, and I have a very cheap PVR that I bought for $40 on Amazon that records one over the air (free tv using an antenna) show at a time. I have more video content to watch than I even have time for. Things I've recorded a year ago in some cases that I never watched because I spent the time watching something else. You don't have to have cable, it's an unnecessary expense. So unless you are rolling in the dough I suggest considering not getting cable.

Those are the main expenses for an apartment. You'd have miscellaneous costs like cleaning supplies, your non-food items, etc.

I do suggest making sure you move into a place you think you'd be ok living in for years, because it can be very hard to save to move into a better place in a short period if time, especially for a single person. At least a couple can each have a job and save money. Very hard for a single person to do so. The place I live in now I thought I'd be at for one year, so I overlooked the negatives. I've been here for 8 years now and still dreaming of the day I can live in a much better place.

There was a time I believed as many used to, you don't get any type of public assistance, you work for and earn everything you get. Considering the way companies pay people so poorly while execs get overcompensated, and our elected officials are bought and paid for by lobbyists for those companies/corporations, sometime people have no choice but to seek out help through HEAP for heat or food assistance. Don't be ashamed to if you ever have to get something like that, I no longer have a negative thought about people who are in need. I never really did because I knew some people needed it, but I also felt some people took advantage of it. In this age I believe a lot of people are in desperate need so I can't blame them for seeking help. Just a thought.

Sounds like maybe you are just starting out on your own and are curious about the costs so wanted to add that last paragraph.

[OhioJB]

One more thing, my phone service is Ooma Telo. It's a device that cost me about $99 on sale on Amazon and all's I pay now is about $4.30/month for taxes and fees for 5000 minutes. And I have a Tracfone to use as a backup or for emergency purposes when I'm driving somewhere.

The Ooma Telo hooks up to the router, as it's a VOIP telephone service. They do offer an Wifi attachment but I didn't buy that. Sometimes they offer it free on their site, but that's normally if you are buying the Telo at full price. I prefer to buy on Amazon anyways, as it's easy to make returns.

[Icemodeled]

For our rental units, which are all 2 bed 1 bath and older homes, most average..

Electric $35-60 (depends on amount of people and how careful you are to conserve, if electric heat, figure a bit more in winter)
Gas up to $100 in winter, very low in summer
Water also depends on the person but averages $30-40

[Michelle21689]

Thanks for responses everyone. I am planning on just Internet and not cable. I plan on a budget of$350/month with food for two. I wanna be able to save at least $1,000 but if I get a new car because I need one I don't want to spend a lot.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by OhioJB

Electric is a touchy issue with me. I live on the bottom floor and just like any sound I make goes through the ceilng, so does my heat. And next door to me is the laundryroom and the manager's office, neither of which is heated. So I'm paying for a lot more than just my apartment. My last monthly bill for mid-January was $139.12. It would have been much cheaper if I hadn't been paying for my neighbor's heat, the laundryroom and manager's office.

Knowing this puts you in a pretty exclusive club. You know the law. The first law of thermodynamics.

If you live above someone, you can keep your heating bills much lower by just having your place a few degrees cooler than the person below you. It's like having free radiant heat in the floor.

It works in reverse during air conditioning season. In your case, you'll probably be paying to cool the laundry room and office. Bummer.