What Expenses to Expect for Renting?

New to renting? Or considering it? It goes without saying that an important matter to consider when you are renting a place is living expenses. It’s recommended to have a monthly budget to keep track of your finances.

The amount of money you can afford on renting will depend on what your monthly expenses are going to be, so it’s important that you think about this before renting. This is so that you won’t have any surprises during the month.

Additionally, it helps you keep track of your money so that you don’t spend money fruitlessly (and save)!

So let’s see what you can expect from the start of your renting period!

To start, you’ll have to move in first, so you have to consider a few things. For instance, “Do I have a lot of furniture that has to be moved?” Then you have to make the decision whether you’re going to use movers or just ask friends. Movers can be very expensive, but the process will go faster and be more convenient. To get the best price for moving, you can take a look at Kaodim.com.

If you don’t want to pay money to move you can always ask your friends, they will probably be happy to help you – just buy them some drinks or pay for their meal to thank them 😉

But what if you have no furniture and nothing to move? You’d have to buy new furniture which can be expensive. If you don’t have the money, take a look at thrift shops or shop online and get the best deals. You might also want to buy cleaning supplies, toilet paper, soap and so on.

After moving in

Now that you have settled in your new place, you might wonder. What are the monthly expenses can you expect?

Rent

To start, you have your Rent. This will be the same every month so make sure you reserve the amount of money you need to pay. This will prevent you from paying late, because if you don’t pay in time your landlord can ask fees from your end. These are unnecessary costs, so just prevent it!

Electricity and Water

Also, you might have to cook. Because Malaysia is pretty hot you need an air-con, so you need electricity. Alternatively, you can use fans as a replacement for air-conditioning if the weather’s not that hot. These costs depend on how much you use it. But it is a good idea to check what the average cost will be so that you can be more prepared. You can check this with your landlord.

When you have an evening for yourself, you might want to see something on Netflix, so you need Wi-Fi. This will cost you between RM70-RM200, depending on what your demands are.

Furniture

Depending on the place you’re renting, it might or might not have enough furniture. So you might need to buy new furniture or replace them (though do check this with your landlord first!).

Groceries

This one is kind of dangerous because this expense varies. What you can do to prevent this from becoming a big expense is say to yourself ‘This month I’m going to spend RM500 on groceries’ and stick to it. Now you know that you’ll be more aware when you buy groceries.

Fuel and Taxes

But what if you have a car? You have to pay your fuel and taxes. And of course, if you have a car or motorcycle, you need to have a parking space. For the fuel and taxes you can do the same thing as with groceries, just pick a amount of money you wanna spend, stick to that amount and save the rest. Your parking space depends on where you live, sometimes it’s free sometimes it’s not. Just check with the landlord.

Renter’s Insurance

You might also want to consider renter’s insurance just in case. The insurance usually covers the damage done to your belongings by floods or other causes. Better to be safe than sorry 🙂

Gym Membership

In order to be fit, it would be good to have a gym membership. This will be the same as your rent. You already know that you want it, so allocate an amount and save the rest. If you don’t wanna pay to be fit, just go for a run!

Going Out

Of course, going out is also fun, but this can be very expensive.

Overview

So don’t take your credit card when you go out. Just take some money with you, this will save you a lot of money! Another thing you can do is to make a pie chart, divide it into several sections and assign it accordingly. This will save you time and help you track your budgeting.

Good luck to make a overview of your expenses!

You might also wonder about your rent, so check out “How much rent should I pay?”.