budget to avoid debt and save regularly

before_hollywood

hi all :hello:

just after a bit of guidance really, i bought my own place earlier this year and have worked out my budget of sorts, wondered if anyone would be so kind as to cast an eye over it, my income is £1430 per month take home and i am trying to avoid debt and start saving again

£385 mortgage
£17.44 home insurance
£28.50 tv license (its my first one so dec is my last payment at that much)
17.43 dental cover (there are no nhs dentists where i live)
4.89 broadband
40.92 car insurance
44.56 water rates
19.80 mobile
150 council tax (they screwed up my discounts so i have till early jan to pay £600 :eek:)
100 food (there is just one of me, but as i rent out part of my house i have limited freezer space)
60 gas and electric (yes that is both combined)
16-odd (landline)
£60 petrol

any ideas as to if i am paying too much on anything?

GeorgeUK

Do you have a water meter?
Would your rates be cheaper if you had one?

You've checked your utility and insurance prices on the comparison sites? (uswitch, moneysupermarket)

You haven't said if you have debts to pay off. (Not that i'd be jealous if you were debtfree...)

before_hollywood

water meter- no, checked and its about the same.
i'm on prepayment for gas and electric and apparently it would cost hundreds to have the meters removed as it was a previous owner that had them installed and i have only owned the house 5 months.
insurance- oh yes i compared markets, meerkats, went comparing, and went to the supermarkets

i dont have debts as such, just higher short term payments due to it being first year in first house

Tixy

Just having a quick look do you now what your CT monthly payment will be after Jan? Assume you are not entitled to the 25% disc cos of lodgers?

Water rates look high - how many people in total in the house? Is this meter or unmeasured? Might be worth considering a meter.

Car insurance? Is this the cheapest? Have you used the comparison sites? If you switch always check if you can earn cashback at quidco.

Nothing else looks that high to me - (maybe food could still be reduced a little even with a small freezer!)

Are you saving for things that you don't pay each month such as road tax, car servicing tyres & MOT, car breakdown cover if you have it, christmas presents etc. That would be my recommendation to stay debt free. Open a seperate account and save 1/12 of the annual cost of all these things each month, then if several happen at once you won't end up need to use credit.

misspoppy

A water meter will be cheaper if they tell you other wise they are wrong. There doesn't seem to be anything else that could be looked at to be honest.

before_hollywood

Tixy wrote: »

Just having a quick look do you now what your CT monthly payment will be after Jan? Assume you are not entitled to the 25% disc cos of lodgers?

Water rates look high - how many people in total in the house? Is this meter or unmeasured? Might be worth considering a meter.

Car insurance? Is this the cheapest? Have you used the comparison sites? If you switch always check if you can earn cashback at quidco.

Nothing else looks that high to me - (maybe food could still be reduced a little even with a small freezer!)

Are you saving for things that you don't pay each month such as road tax, car servicing tyres & MOT, car breakdown cover if you have it, christmas presents etc. That would be my recommendation to stay debt free. Open a seperate account and save 1/12 of the annual cost of all these things each month, then if several happen at once you won't end up need to use credit.

council tax is £90 a month for 10 months normally
i did the 'would you be better off with a meter' type thing on here when i moved in, i dont know how accurate the usage was cos it varies a lot with both of us having odd shifts
car insurance is the cheapest i could get at the time, i have a manchester postcode though, where i lived before wasnt a manchester postcode so was £100 a year cheaper, didnt have quidco then but will use it next june when i do the renewal quotes.
car tax i should budget more for, as it stands i get some income over the basic which i have stated above (its not guaranteed but can total £1800 a year quite easily) so i use bits of that, car things are easy to get cheap in my family and i spent a lot on it less than 12 months ago (garage bill would have been £700)

with a lot of my food i try and get the things i want when they are on bogof or 3 for 2 at morrisons, then top it up with fresh stuff etc, i rarely buy any unbranded stuff that way, i was spending similar amounts on white label stuff :eek:

am going to get a 0% credit card for insurance next time, i am paying interest on my monthly repayments