A Brisbane rental listing gives you one weekly figure. Living there adds the supermarket shop, the air-con bill and the car that needs tyres just before Christmas.

For October 2026, our worked budgets allow about $3,690 a month for a single renter, $4,925 for a couple and $7,110 for a family of four. Use the assumptions below to build your own budget before committing to a lease.

Research checked 28 October 2026. All amounts are Australian dollars for the whole household. These are Brisbane InFocus planning examples, not measured household averages or minimum living costs. Rent and grocery inputs are weekly; other allowances are monthly. We convert weekly costs using × 52 ÷ 12, then round displayed totals.

The single person rents a modest one-bedroom unit alone and has no car. The couple rents a two-bedroom unit and also lives car-free. Our family has 2 adults and 2 primary-school-aged children in a three-bedroom rental, with 1 paid-off car and no paid childcare.

Each example includes everyday spending and money set aside for irregular bills. Add private health insurance, childcare, private school fees, debt repayments, holidays and long-term savings where they apply. No benefits, rebates or concessions have been deducted. Compare the result with take-home income after tax.

Domain's September 2026 Rental Report puts Brisbane's median asking rent at $700 a week for houses and $660 for units. Those broad figures cover different property sizes and locations. They don't establish the price of a particular one-bedroom flat or family home.

Our examples use $550, $650 and $750 a week respectively. Treat those figures as search budgets to test against suitable available listings. The RTA's median-rent data offers another check by property type and area, using new rental bonds. Its method differs from asking-rent reports.

At $650 a week, rent is about $2,817 a month. Multiplying by 4 gives $2,600 and misses about $217 each month. A $50 weekly rent increase adds roughly $217 to your monthly budget.

Sharing can change the single-person calculation substantially. Replacing the $550 rent input with an illustrative $300 room reduces rent by about $1,083 a month. Check whether bills are included and adjust those rows too. This example isn't a quote for an available room.

The table shows monthly allowances, rounded to the nearest dollar. Grocery inputs are $120 a week for the single person, $200 for the couple and $320 for the family. The totals use unrounded conversions, so adding displayed rows can differ by $1.

The family transport allowance includes $520 for car running costs and a separate $150 replacement reserve. That reserve is money put aside for a future vehicle. It isn't a current loan payment.

Our grocery allowances assume most meals are prepared at home and include basic cleaning supplies. Coffee out, takeaway and restaurant meals sit in the leisure row. Special diets, teenagers and convenience meals can change the shop considerably.

CHOICE's supermarket research published in September 2026 compared a selected basket using June fieldwork. It helps compare those products across chains. It doesn't measure a household's complete weekly food bill.

Build an online basket with your usual breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Add the washing powder and toilet paper that disappear from a food-only estimate. Keep 4 weeks of receipts and replace our allowance with your actual average. A $30 weekly difference changes the monthly total by $130.

The electricity allowances are $130, $165 and $220 a month. For context, the Australian Energy Regulator's 2026–27 flat-rate comparison price for the Energex area is $1,988 a year at 4,600 kWh, about $166 a month. It's a reference price at a specified usage level, not a prediction of your bill.

An afternoon of air-con in a hot upstairs room can change the calculation. Ask about cooling, insulation and any embedded electricity network. Compare the daily supply charge and usage rates through Energy Made Easy. Add gas separately if the home uses it.

Our water row allows for consumption charges where payable. Under the RTA's rules for general tenancies, full consumption charges require conditions including individual metering, water efficiency and an agreement that you pay. Fixed water access and sewerage charges stay with the owner. Check the lease and billing conditions.

Internet is allowed at $80 a month, with mobile plans separate. Replace both with actual quotes. Check the ongoing price after a promotion, modem charges and connection fees.

Translink charges 50 cents per journey across its network, with exclusions including Airtrain and dedicated school buses. Ten ordinary commuting journeys cost $5 a week, about $22 a month. Our car-free budgets allow $30 for the single person and $60 for the couple. Regular rideshare trips or car hire need another allowance.

Cheap fares are useful when the timetable fits your life. Test the trip from a prospective home at your actual work hours. Include the walk to the stop, weekend frequency and the journey home after an evening out. Grocery-bag handles digging into your fingers on an exposed walk deserve a place in that decision.

The family's $520 car allowance comprises $160 fuel, $100 registration and compulsory third-party insurance, $90 other car insurance, $100 servicing and tyres, and $70 parking and tolls each month. These are illustrative inputs for a paid-off vehicle. Obtain quotes and use your kilometres. Add finance repayments if needed.

RACQ's 2025 study gives a useful comparison: its light passenger category averages about $979 a month under conventional finance. That's an older financed-car benchmark with different assumptions from our paid-off-car example.

Suppose a well-connected unit costs $700 a week and a farther-out alternative costs $600. The rent saving is about $433 a month. If the move requires a car costing $670 a month including its replacement reserve, while removing $60 of public transport spending, the household pays about $177 more overall. These are hypothetical homes, not suburb price claims.

Compare actual properties in the same way. A second car, paid work parking or a longer daily drive can use up a rent saving quickly.

The health, personal care and clothing row covers routine out-of-pocket spending. Contents insurance has its own allowance. Replace these with your needs, especially for regular treatment, dental work or insurance excesses.

The family has $200 a month for school costs and activities. Paid childcare and outside-school-hours care are excluded. Get the provider's fees and estimate your own Child Care Subsidy through Services Australia before adding the gap you expect to pay. Check holiday care separately.

Our irregular-expense reserves are $150, $250 and $350 a month. Use them for gifts, household replacements and small surprises. Pet care, professional memberships and subscription renewals need explicit amounts if that reserve won't cover them. A large emergency or overseas holiday needs additional savings.

For general tenancies, the RTA sets a maximum bond of 4 weeks' rent. Maximum rent requested in advance is 1 month for a fixed-term agreement or 2 weeks for a periodic agreement.

At $650 a week, a 4-week bond is $2,600. Adding a worked allowance of 1 month's rent in advance, approximately $2,817 using our conversion, means roughly $5,417 before removalists, furniture or connections. Confirm the exact amount due under the agreement.

Bond is money tied up and potentially refundable, subject to the tenancy outcome. Advance rent pays for an initial rental period already represented in the ongoing budget. Keep these amounts in your moving cash requirement so you avoid counting advance rent twice as an expense. Allow for overlapping leases and the time before an old bond is returned.

Copy the worksheet below into a note or spreadsheet. Enter your own costs in one consistent period. Weekly × 52 ÷ 12 gives monthly; fortnightly × 26 ÷ 12 gives monthly; quarterly ÷ 3 and annual ÷ 12 spread larger bills across the year.

For each expense, record the amount, billing frequency and monthly equivalent. Fill every relevant line, including zeros where a cost doesn't apply. Add the monthly expenses, then subtract them and your savings target from reliable monthly take-home income.

Keep bond and other moving cash on a separate list. Review the budget after your first full month and again when a lease, insurance policy or energy plan renews. Moneysmart also provides a free budget planner for a more detailed household check.

Before signing a lease, put 2 real properties through the worksheet. Price the journey you will make most often and check the bills that come with each home. That gives you a practical amount to compare with your income, plus room to decide what you want left for the weekend.

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