A NEW STUDY from Abbey has found that the true cost of moving - disregarding deposits and increased monthly payments of a mortgage - is £22,289.

The biggest expenses incurred during the moving process are, of course, stamp duty and legal fees. Then there are fees charged by estate agents, financial advisers and removal firms. Between them, these will amount to an average total of around £16,000. However on top of all that necessary expenditure, Mr and Mrs Average home-buyer now spend around £6,289 on their new home in the first year after moving.

Much of this (£1,522) is on building extensions, conversions and there are understandable expenses on improvements such as plumbing and replacement windows. But nearly £1,200 is forked out on furniture and nearly £300 on art and vases. Didn't these people have any before they moved? Or was their removal firm so disastrous that they had to buy replacements?

The answer isn't really that new home owners are obliged to spend this money on furniture and vases, it is that we want to. Furniture can be seen as a necessary purchase when you get a new home - if you move from a two-bedroom flat to a four-bedroom house, there is the expense of buying two beds, for instance - but mostly it is an indulgence.

We miscalculated when moving in to our self-build house six months ago as we had generously created lots of seating areas around the house without realising that we only have one sofa. After spending all our money building the house, we still haven't filled the furniture gaps but have a large collection of beanbags.

In the long term, I suppose we can blame the inevitable expenses of buying more furniture on moving but it isn't something I would include in the cost of building a house.

The Abbey survey includes £106 for buying crockery, cutlery, pots and pans in the cost of moving. While I can completely understand that if you move to a house with an Aga, sometimes specialist equipment is required, for the rest of us a new Le Creuset casserole dish cannot be included in the house budget.

Plates and forks are not house specific so while it is very easy, and enjoyable, to get caught up in buying everything new for a new home, I would imagine that there are an awful lot of people who unwrap their old vases and find a place for them in their new house. Selling, buying and moving is expensive enough.

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