How much do you spend on bills?

Catty89

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice! the bank charges are for mobile insurance, worldwide travel insurance AA cover, and an overdraft, and some contents insurance. i dont mind paying this as i have used the mobile insurance 2 times and holiday insurance will be useful.

The experian charges are because my credit report is still being sorted due to there last **** up and if i cancel this im unsure if they will still help me( unknown Aliases on my report are causing major problems for me)

The phone contracts are new and still have 23 months to go!! silly i no but kind of stuck with that now!

Yopu are very right about sky however this is one of the things my boyfriend says he 'needs' he used to spend 50quid every saturday and instead now stays in and says he will be too bored without it so have decided it is better than him spending about 300 on drink.

I am going to try and cut down our food budget as that is roughly 50 a week and i do throw quite alot out so i will definately be watching this in the future.

i have started to walk to work since the weather is nice, so i think that my petrol payments will drop slightly too.

I really dont know where the 700 goes that is the biggest problem i think:( we rarely go out and dont buy much clothes, it seems to go on things like nipping to the shops and il buy candles, air freshners, tights etc and before i know it its 20, i do that every now and then so i think my money just fritters away!!

SuzieSue

Catty89 wrote: »

I am going to try and cut down our food budget as that is roughly 50 a week and i do throw quite alot out so i will definately be watching this in the future.

I really dont know where the 700 goes that is the biggest problem i think:( we rarely go out and dont buy much clothes, it seems to go on things like nipping to the shops and il buy candles, air freshners, tights etc and before i know it its 20, i do that every now and then so i think my money just fritters away!!

I can't remember the last time I threw anything away, so it is certainly possible. You need to count how many bananas, carrots etc you need until you next go shopping to ensure you don't buy too many. You can freeze things like bread, butter and cheese and milk if the packs are too large for the two of you.

If you really don't know where your money goes, you need to stop using cash and buy everything on debit card. Only give yourself £10 a week cash for the odd chocolate bar.

Tixy

I'd definitely try the statement of affairs calculator posted by someone in a previous reply. it will help you think where else your money is going, things like car insurance, car maintenance, road tax, tv licence, clothes, haircuts, entertainment etc.
If when you've done it you still show a surplus that you don't have in practice then try keeping spending diaries for a couple of months.

If you feel like posting the statement of affairs on the debt free wannabe section people can advise there on where you may be overpaying / possible areas to find reductions so you can afford to put aside some savings.

moneypuddle

Mortgage £816
Mortgage protection £54
Council tax £137
Gas and elec £55
Water £26
Virgin media £40
Car £102
TV licence £12
Home insurance £14
Life insurance £17
Car insurance £19

So about £1300 too

split_second

Catty89 wrote: »

Hello:)

Me and my boyfriend moved out together in December to a 1 bedroom flat, we thought the price of our bills was fairly normal until i spoke to my friend who seems to pay much less in bills than us- was just wondering what the 'normal' sort of prices are for a 1 bed flat, We are trying to save for our mortgage deposit aswell and we are really struggling to save anything on top of bills.
Iv included what we spend on a 1 bed flat in Scotland.

Rent- 500pm
Elec/gas- 50 dd pm
council tax 110pm (over 10 months)
Food(inc. most toiletries) 200pm
Petrol 100pm
Car payments 150pm
Gym membership 50pm
Mobie phone x2- 70pm
Sky/broadband/landline- 60pm
Experian- 15pm
Bank charges x2- 30pm

These Payments come to roughly 1330 and we earn 2100.

Does anyone have any tips on saving money, even if its just a little as we have no savings,

thanks!!

right i will try and be as practical as i can.

do you do gym regularly? if so keep it, if not use it or get rid, experian needs to go when the issue with the credit score is gone.
cant do anything with the phone contracts for now

sounds like sky is a compromise against higher spending.

food shop- does this include bits towards making the house more homely? i know what i mean, odds and ends that having never lived together you probably dont have.

put the money aside at the start of the month after paying bills and treat it like you never had it, after a bit you wont miss it too much

savingmummy

If you dont know where the extra money goes ie, nipping to the shops. You may find a spending siary a good way to find out where it goes.
ALSO check your bank statements, make sure you have nothing coming out via DD you no longer use.
Its amazing how much you spend a day without knowing.
Even the £1 magazines a week and the odd coffee/lunch out all adds up.

Caleb11

Gas & elec 100
Phones x2 85
Virgin 40 (tv phone and broadband)
Petrol 100
Car insurance 55
Council tax 75 (single occupant discount)
Rent 300
Boiler cover 15
Home insurance 20
Tv licence 12
Credit card 10
Food (inc baby milk and nappys) £250

Total-£1062.

A saving tip I could give u is to budget for all your bills then set aside how much you want to save at the start of the month - say £300. Send that over to a saving account straight away so that left in your current account is only ur bill money and whatever else u need to spend. Also for the last year or so I've had basically no social life and treats like nights out and takeaways are rare as Ive been so dedicated to saving but once you see ur savings growing its worth.

I know my bills are a bit on the high side but I think you could cut down on your tv bill, gym, bank charges. Also compare unit prices for gas and electric and switch to the cheapest. It's so easy to change supplier. They do it all for u

InMyDreams

Catty89 wrote: »

I really dont know where the 700 goes that is the biggest problem i think:(

I agree. Until you identify where this huge chunk of money is going, then seems a bit pointless to beat yourself up about £70 spent on something tangible like phones.

Catty89 wrote: »

we rarely go out and dont buy much clothes, it seems to go on things like nipping to the shops and il buy candles, air freshners, tights etc and before i know it its 20, i do that every now and then so i think my money just fritters away!!

£700 on sundries like candles and tights (if that's all it is) is certainly more of a problem than £70 on phones. But probably much easier to do without, so that's promising.

I suspect that's not all it is though. You probably spend much more than you realise on food (if you include absolutely everything, down to every packet of crisps from a vending machine or coffee from Starbucks). But you've also not accounted for big purchases throughout the year either. Christmas, holidays, gifts for others and each other, computers and other expensive electrical items/gadgets, car expenses such as servicing, tax, insurance. Then there's hairdressing, magazines and newspapers...

Definitely keep a spending diary (try to never use cash and always ask for receipts otherwise it's easy to forget what you've spent) and don't let yourself off with the excuse 'ah yes, but this is a one-off just this month'. Next month there will be another 'one-off'.

This will help you to identify what is most important to you at the end of the month and where it will be easiest to cut back. What would really not effect your life if you did without it? Once you see how much you could potentially be saving, is everything you've spent, really worth the dent in your deposit savings? Maybe it is and you need to therefore re-asses your house/flat-buying aspirations. Maybe it isn't and this exercise will help you identify the least painful ways to cut back. Either way you can't make those decisions until you have all the facts in front of you.

clairenic1965

Hi

We spend per month.

Mortgage £800
Gas/elec - £150
Council tax £80
Water £30

19lottie82

I doubt you get your money's worth from your bank account fees. You can get phone insurance for £6 PCM. Have you ever used the RAC cover? Is your car old and likely to break down? Also the travel insurance? Are you going to use that in the forseeable future? I thought you were saving for a deposit? If so I would have though holidays were out of the window for the moment? £60 PCM is a LOT! Ditch it.