Utilties
 

so I'm looking for a new place and trying to decide between places. And I want to better compare the cost of living. But I can't because every apartment I have lived in so far has had paid utilties. So I am trying to figure out the average cost of utlties.

I thankfully don't have a wife or kids so my costs are generally pretty low.

I keep the computer at my office, and I don't watch TV. I don't keep lights on if I don't have to.

I like the house rather cold 65F and I want a small ass apartment. I keep all my stuff in the office basement. I brew all my beer at the office. I really just need enough space for clothing a bed and two tables. Ohh and I live in NJ where it is usualy in the 30-40's in the winter time.

I take semi cold showers every day and probably a hot bath every other day. I leave the sink running while I brush my teeth wash the dishes and shave.

Between breakfast lunch and dinner the burner on the stove is probably on an hour and a half every day.

What is my cost you think?

300$? 15$? What?
I have absolutely no idea.

I think the only way to really tell is to do it for a month or two and see what the bills are. If you have to pay utilities in either new place than it doesnt really matter.

what are the utilities you need to pay and how big is the place:

I paid about $30/mo for electricity in a 2 bdr appartment when I was single. This was in 2001 in Massachussets. If you have phone installed, add another $30. Heat was free for me at the time.

Then I paid $50 electricity in another appartment along with about $90 for TV and internet

Heat/cooling is actually the big unknown since it depends so much on the size, age and location of the place.

Kai

I don't have any idea how much your utilities will cost you, not even a ballpark. I live in military housing and it's all paid for.

However, I'm sure you could cut way down on your water by turning the water off during the above chores. Especially washing the dishes. That could take a while and use lots of water.

Just imagine the running water is homebrew; maybe that'll motivate you to conserve. ;)

Well I don't like doing dishes so to cut down on the amount of dishes I have. Ionly have 1 mug, 1 (beer) cup, 1 plate, 1 bowl, 1 fork, 1 tea spoon, 1 tablespoon, 1 table knife, 1 cutting knife.

Outside of my brew stuff I have 1 pot, 2 pans.

real minimalist huh?

Yea... anyway, I ran across a neat website researching utilities. roomates.com and roomies.net etc.
might split the rent with a cool roomate who will help bottle and save some bucks on rent at the same time.

I ended up being shocked at the utility bill in our last apartment. Heated with natural gas. Big place. Old place. No insulation. Parts of the bedroom were cold enough for lagering (not that I was homebrewing at the time).

North of $300 per month in the winter, just for the gas bill - and this was before the big surge in energy prices.

Where do you live?

But, my first apartment was good-sized, electric heat (not terribly efficient), but was much newer construction so the utilities were negligible.

Usually you can get an estimate from the landlord/housing comp or possibly even the current tenant. That's what I've done in the past. For houses and such you can sometimes even call the utilities and they'll tell you what the average usage was.

First of all, where do you live? England? Australia? Mexico? The moon? I believe the oxygen bill on the moon would be really expensive, whereas on Pluto, your heating bill would be your biggest concern.

In otherwords, it depends on the area. Get estimates from the Landlord... but don't rely on them, otherwise you'll be signing a deal with the landlord who is the best liar. Does the place you're looking at have a centralized water heater? Or individual ones? If you are looking in the wintertime, you might want to be certain you're getting estimates for both summer and winter. Best is to ask other tenants what their experience is like. A friend of mine once rented a summer home for a year. Turns out the place had NO insulation to speak of so the heating bill was obscene. Of course, she didn't discover that until months into the lease.

What about cable? Some places have it hooked up and you are forced to pay your pro rata share whether you watch it or not.

Gas bill will be dependant on whether your heating, oven, etc is gas or electric. It may fluctuate dramatically between summer and winter.

If you can get usage stats from the utility company, that would be ideal.

To all of those who asked me where I live: Refer to my first post?

Anyway yea, I just aksed the landlord. Anybody know how good those roomate sites are?