My monthly outgoings - please take a look

moneypuddle

Hi

I intend to post a full SOA shortly, but all the info isn't at my disposal at the moment. However I am determined to take the bull by the horns and reduce my outgoings though, so I wondered if any fresh eyes could take a look at my bills and identify where I might be able to reduce anything.

This doesn't include my food, petrol etc (I already know they are both problem areas) but just includes all monthly direct debits.

Mortgage £580
Council Tax £142
Owe parents for car £125
Car Tax £12
Car Insurance £18
Life Assurance £17
Water £29
Virgin £60
Pet Insurance £4
Home Insurance £11
Lottery £8
My phone £19
Husbands phone £19
Sofa payment £51
TV Licence £12
Gas and elec £92
Gym £29 (tied in for next 6 months). This is used. I do attend 5-7 times per week

Any advice very welcome. Does anything seem particularly high?

bsms1147

suggest losing the £8 on lottery
phone can most likely be half that or better, as soon as out of contract
do you need life insurance/assurance?
water meter? + water saving devices

moneypuddle

- Have always hung on the lottery as my way out of debt but I guess its time to lose it!
- I thought the phone was pretty good. I'm out of contract in Nov so will take a look then
- Thought about dropping the life assurance too but have been recommended by almost everyone to keep it
- We're on a water meter. That is 2 adults and 1 child

Thanks for you comments

[Deleted User]

£19 each for mobiles seems very high if you are out of contract find better deals or blagg better off your current providers
of course your incomes also have a bearing on wether or not your out goings are sound

stevemLS

Virgin £60?

firesidemaid

if you want to do the 'lottery' put £100 in premium bonds - you have 100 chances to win each month and can get your money back at any time.

firesidemaid

car tax - big engine, older car? I pay £20 a year.


phones - you can get decent data/mins/txts for £7.50 a month PLUS a phone plus perks if two of you eg. Tesco

sourcrates

Can't see much wrong with that, 8 quid on the lotto ain't gonna make any difference one way or another, my mobile is £46 a month, so £19 to me is reasonable, insurances I would keep, I'm not a big fan of cutting to the bone, to me paying less to the debts, is more preferable than doing without.

I know this will probebly draw scorn from some quarters, but life is short, and you need to live it, your credit card company will not go under because you pay it £10 a month less than you should.

I'm not suggesting you should live a lavish lifestyle, but nor do I think you should live on bread and dripping either.

Some money savers take "savings" a little too far at times, just be sensible.

katsu

But that £8 a month is largely wasted so why not use it to get a bit debt free earlier or save it to buy premium bonds as per the suggestion above if you want a bit of a 'win' to look forward to?

A year of the lottery money would nearly cover 2 months of sofa payments so putting small amounts aside can help make a difference to the breaking space in your SOA. Small wastes do add up and the only way to repay all the debt is to find every pound that is owed.

bsms1147

sourcrates wrote: »

your credit card company will not go under because you pay it £10 a month less than you should.

But you might though.

Sareybox

I would (have) got rid of the Virgin TV & I also cancelled our TV licence as we don't watch live TV any more. I'd also stop playing the lottery,