Lowering household bills.

KayJ066

Hi All,

Next year me and my boyfriend want to go to on holiday and we want to save up for it instead of getting a credit card and getting into debt.

We've been thinking that if we take a look at our household bills and trying to reduce them we can save quite a bit and put that towards the holiday.

If i post our bills etc can someone take a look and give some advice.
Apologies if i'am posting on the wrong board but we aren't in debt so don't need DFW etc, we just need to see if there are any better deals out there.

Outgoings:

Gas- £20 p/m by direct debit- British Gas - Standard Plan
Electricity- £32p/m by direct debit-British Gas
Water - £40p/m by d/d
T.V Licence- £11 p/m d/d
virgin t.v (cant have sky as we live in a listed building)- £77p/m not d/d. (our package is XL TV, M broadband and i think M phone, plus sky movies)
Food Shopping (one i would love to cut down) roughly £200p/m for the both of us.

Can i get better deals on these? We both want to start eating more healthily aswell (not that we don't) but i was thinking maybe a fruit/veg/meat box every month and then just cooking from scratch every night, i'm really interested in cooking so will be good fun.

Any advice/suggs greatfully recieved.

SalAmander_2

You might well be able to get better deals on your water, gas and electricity by searching this very site. If the answers aren't here, there will be links to places that will give you other options. Make sure you have your bills with you in case you need to input information from them.

Join the grocery challenge if you want to set a reduced budget for food - you could cut that if you want to.

Otherwise I'm not really sure what you are wanting from us. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Meadows

I would say have a look at comparison sites to see if you can lower you gas and electric bill.

When it comes to shopping make sure you always have a little spare cash to be able to pick up the bargains when you see them, if you have freezer space try to get as much as you can from each meal by freezing anything that can be used for another meal.
Use chicken carcass to make stocks or soups.
Batch cook (make a large portion of the same thing saving time) and freeze into meal sized portions, that way you will always have something in the freezer for a quick meal.
Have a bash at making your own bread, really easy to do and with a little practise you will get great results, that dough can then be used to make loaves, rolls and pizza bases (if you like pizza).
Use cheaper cuts of meat and cook for longer, cheaper joints and slow roast.
Make sure lunches for work are made from home and not purchased from a shop.

BitterAndTwisted

KayJ066 wrote: »

Virgin TV (cant have sky as we live in a listed building)- £77p/m not d/d. (our package is XL TV, M broadband and i think M phone, plus sky movies).

Good Lord! That's a huge amount every month. I'd consider getting on a much less lavish tariff than that.

Everything else looks pretty sensible but I would recommend that you get a notebook and keep a spending diary. There's nothing quite so eye-opening as seeing exactly where every penny is being squandered. All those lattes, magazines and chocolate bars can really add up over a month.

How much do the pair of you spend on going out?

Penelope_Penguin

Welcome to Old Style!

KayJ066 wrote: »

Apologies if i'am posting on the wrong board but we aren't in debt so don't need DFW etc, we just need to see if there are any better deals out there.

I appreciate that, but there are plenty who post their SOA on DFW despite not being in debt

Take a look at the Grocery Challenge sticky on here. That'll help you reduce your grocery bills to a manageable level.

You're missing travel, entertainment, and clothing from your budget.

I agree, write down everything you spend - you may be amazed at how easily you can save by cutting out frivoulus spending.

I'll move this to DFW once you have nore OS input.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

domesticgoddess789

Hi KayJ066

I was reading your post and just wanted to say that Weezl74 and her team have created a fab resource feeding a family of four healthily for £100 a month. Considering there are just two of you, you may be able to bring this figure down even further.

The link is http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

Hope that helps.

Sarah_Joanne

Aww someone beat me to Weezl's site!

I'd recommend food budget / meal planning / batch cooking, which work very well together! Do you take packed lunches to work instead of buying out?

Spend a month detiailing every money you spend to see where you can cut down. E.G. Skip your daily bought coffee (£2 per day x 5 days per week x 47 weeks per year = £470 per year :eek: )

£40 a month for water seems expensive, as does your tv package. Do you watch a lot of movies? Maybe cancel that subscription. If you watch a couple a month switch to the PAYG LoveFilm instead.

If you do switch any services don't forget to use a cashback site

Good luck and hope you have a fab holiday!

annie123

that is a lot for water;
can you take showers instead of baths?
is the washing machine full when you use it?
Caught my teenage DD washing 2 T-shirts once:eek: got read the riot act, never done it since;)

ditch the tv package, much more fun to have a holiday

lots of ideas to reduce food costs on here, my son and his girlfriend have got their costs down to £30pw and that includes pack lunches for 2.

Meadows

Sarah_Joanne wrote: »

£40 a month for water seems expensive.

annie123 wrote: »

that is a lot for water; can you take showers instead of baths? is the washing machine full when you use it.

It all depends on whether or not Kay is on a water meter or an annual bill. If she is on an annual bill cutting down water usage will make no difference!

KayJ066

We are on a meter i think? We pay South West water by d/d, although we are nearly £100 in credit. Our sewerage is more than our water usage, we always have showers maybe 1 or 2 baths a week average.
We are def going to reduce our virgin package, for what we are paying we might aswell have the VIP package but we are going to take the movies away instead i think.

ubamother

if you ring Virgin and tell them you no longer want their service and ask them to completely remove all services they will do (almost literally) anything to keep you as a customer - after all, it costs them to take the equipment out, close the line etc. and if they do it, you are less likely, as a customer, to go back to their services. Having been a Virgin customer for around 10 years I don't think I've paid full price for the last five!