Please help 'pick more meat' off our expenses/bills

EagerLearner

Hi all,

My time has come to submit our monthly costs to everyone to see whether you can 'pick any more meat' off them...

I consider myself a good MSER, but having read an article in a magazine this week about one savvy MSER that saved £16,000 in one year, I'm determined to learn from everyone else on here whether we can save further.

So without further ado:

My Expenses:

I have stripped these as much as possible since joining MSE.

Income: £1,220 + average £50 from Quidco (which goes into my personal savings)

Monthly Outgoings:

- £400 to our ISA savings (as OH pays the rent which is £650)
- £100 towards OH for rent (so he actually only pays £550 rent)
- £25-ish mobile phone (contract due to end in 6 months)
- £130 into ICICI savings (these are mine, not joint)
- £235 into joint account for shopping/bills etc
- £330ish to Egg Money card to spend - I try not to spend all & transfer leftover to savings


Our Monthly Expenses:

- £118 council tax (when we moved we missed 1 payment so this got spilt up between the remaining months making c/t even higher per month)
- £30-ish BT - although this will now reduce presumably to £11 as we're using Skpe (for pc calls) and voipcheap.com (for free pc to landline calls)
- £22 water - we have changed to meter a week ago so hope this will reduce further
- £25 gas - Southern Electric - this is standing order amount as we have only moved in 1 month ago - plan to read meter every 3 months.
- £25 electric - Southern Electric - this is standing order amount as we have only moved in 1 month ago - plan to read meter every 3 months.
- £12 - TV Licence
- £50 - gym
- £33 - Credit card (0% with RBOS charity card) minimum payment
- £175ish for shopping - we are trying to reduce and I have joined Grocery challenge this month to try to only spend £120

Other notes:

- I am using Egg Money as much as possible to earn max cashback and interest.
- Landlord will only allow us to move back to Seeboard - we could move & earn cashback of some sort via internet sites but we don't know if it would save us money?
- We have ISA with B&Bingley that has a good rate, and my personal savings are with ICICI, all recommended here on MSE.
- We owe £1700 on the charity c/card for holidays, of which £1,200 is sitting in my O/H (last years) ISA until we need to pay c/card off, plus I will pay £500 into when that time comes to pay it off
- We have a £2 piggybank due to MSE - has around £50 in it for our Xmas holiday

Many savings have been made by paying closer attention to what we spend - I created this spreadsheet (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=238575) and it seems to have gotten us on a tighter path over the last few months.


That's it - hopefully you might point me in the direction of any other bits we could do to further save - we want to get a mortgage next year as first timers - ho ho ho... :T

Thanks everyone

Glitterari

Do you really need the gym?

£50 is a lot.

You could do plenty of other things to get fit, esp being by the sea which are free and probably healthier because you're in the fresh air.

Also council run gyms are a lot cheaper if your attendance is a little 'erratic'

EagerLearner

Hi Glitterari - I was hoping someone would comment on anything (seemed most people have been reading but making no comment) - the gym is £25 each which is reasonable, and we keep it open as sometimes we do go... It's joint so if I cancel mine he has to cancel his and I guess you're right we have to think about that one. Could be £50 extra into our ISA per month.

CLAPTON

BT line: i dont understand the charging structure of voipcheap.com (which is a little worrying) but you might also consider call1899.com and
call8185.co.uk using your BT line. not free but e.g. 3 p per call (not per minute ) to landlines or 5ppm to mobiles during the day. (or other similar deals)

electric/gas: read the meters once a month and monitor your usage so you may be able to cut down BEFORE receiving a massive bill rather than afterwards. the best way of reducing the utility cost is to reduce usage rather than change supplier anyway.

gym : well up to you.


what about all your over spending...where does that fit in?

EagerLearner

CLAPTON wrote:

BT line: i dont understand the charging structure of voipcheap.com (which is a little worrying) but you might also consider call1899.com and
call8185.co.uk using your BT line. not free but e.g. 3 p per call (not per minute ) to landlines or 5ppm to mobiles during the day. (or other similar deals)

Voipcheap.com is completely free for PC to landline calls in all major countries. Once you have made a certain amount of landline calls, they ask you to deposit 10 Euros but that's all, you can then continue to make free calls to landlines. I will use my 10 Euros up calling 0845 numbers etc which I would have normally paid for on the BT phone. All other calls I use my mobile free minutes or OH if he still has some and I have run out on mine.

electric/gas: read the meters once a month and monitor your usage so you may be able to cut down BEFORE receiving a massive bill rather than afterwards. the best way of reducing the utility cost is to reduce usage rather than change supplier anyway.

This is a great idea :T - I will do this at the end of each month and pop it into the spreadsheet mentioned before to monitor usage.

what about all your over spending...where does that fit in?

How do you mean - the money I put onto Egg or...?

Glitterari

ok, can you move somewhere cheaper? Although I know Brighton is pretty pricey.

You're savings a lot of money - what's that for?

Do you drive, or use public transport? What are the costs for that?
Clothes?

EagerLearner

Glitterari wrote:

ok, can you move somewhere cheaper? Although I know Brighton is pretty pricey.

You're savings a lot of money - what's that for?

Do you drive, or use public transport? What are the costs for that?
Clothes?

Hi Glitterari - we are unable to move as have only just moved to this new flat for at least 6 months stay.

We are saving to buy a mortgage, hopefully in 6 months time, we tried 3 months ago but the market was too harsh for 1st timers. We've got our fingers crossed.

OH walks to work and my work pay for my bus pass as part of my package - however I do walk in 3 or 4 times a week to help fitness levels.

The £330 odd that I put onto Egg is what I use for 'frills' spending - ie: anything that is not a bill. I am trying to reduce this but in Brighton it's hard