Outgoings to high

atlantis187

I think my outgoing are to high and need to get these down.

Here is a breakdown all the figures posted are the best deals I can currently get by shopping around:

No mortgage or rent:
These are yearly figures:

Council Tax: £1170
My car insur: £1000
Wife car insur: £760
Road tax 1: £150
Road tax 2: £135
M.O.T x2: £70
Water Bill: £425
Gas/elec: £1200 (£100 DD a month - used the MSE Collective Switch)
Home Insur: £135
T.V. Licence: £150
Phone Line: £120 (half price deal)
Broadband: £120 (half price deal)
Sky Tv: £120 (Half Price deal)
my mobile: £120 (sim only £10 a month)
Wife Mobile: £72 (sim only £6 a month

All this comes to nearly £500 a month. I have also not included repairs to any of the cars and fuel costs as I really aint got a clue how much we spend on these but it is a lot.

We cant get rid of 1 of these cars as the wife does the school run and the school is miles away.

Anyway of getting the above a little lower

Dobbibill

To reduce insurances (car/home) use TCB or Quidco cashback sites. Although you have to pay it out initially, it's still a net saving when the cashback pays out.

Are you in a position to change one of the cars to make it cheaper to insure, run and maintain?

You could always ditch the sky TV and opt for Freeview/Freesat.

Sparx

Fill in this monthly SOA (statement of affairs) then copy and paste it here.

You will get better advice then and an easier understanding as to where your money goes every month. People can also advise you better once you break down your monthly commitments and spending.

As you said, you've not noted what you spend on car repairs and running costs, so the info you've given could be 50% of your monthly spend. Although begs the question, why are you ploughing a lot of money into car repairs? If it's constantly then you need to look at a cheaper and more reliable car.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

ValiantSon

It sounds like your cars may have become uneconomic to run if you are regularly paying for repairs. You may be better of getting rid of them both and buying one newer (but not new) car. If you are wise about your purchase then you will not only save on one set of insurance, road tax and MOTs, but also fuel bills, repair bills and also probably bring the road tax down to a cheaper price due to the improved emissions of more modern engines. It may also reduce your insurance premiums as older cars are not necessarily cheaper to insure.

I'd also get rid of the Sky subscription if you feel that you are spending too much. It isn't an essential and it eats a whole in your wallet. You have to pay the £150 for the TV licence if you want to watch TV, but you don't have to pay £120 to Sky to do this!

You haven't said anything about food bills, but I'd suggest also looking at your outgoings on food and, if not already doing so, do more cooking from scratch (including batch cooking which can be frozen) and not buying take-aways, including coffees and sandwiches for lunch. Take a packed lunch to work and make a flask.

Your water bill seems quite high. I assume that you are paying rates. Have a look at whether switching to a meter might save you money.

Your broadband and phone is not very expensive, but cheaper deals are available, so when your deal expires do a comparison on MSE to find the cheapest option. If you are paying for fibre then you might want to consider ditching it for ADSL.

YorkshireBoy

atlantis187 wrote: »

Council Tax: £1170

Unavoidable really?

My car insur: £1000
Wife car insur: £760

Fancy cars?...or limited/poor driving history?

Water Bill: £425

Seems high? We're on a meter and pay £27 a month for 2 of us.

Gas/elec: £1200

We're £90/mth for a 4 bed detatched.

Home Insur: £135

Seems a good price (for B&C?)

Sky Tv: £120 (Half Price deal)

Never had Sky. I think the £5K+ I've saved is lying around somewhere.

my mobile: £120 (sim only £10 a month)
Wife Mobile: £72 (sim only £6 a month

Similar (£10 + £8), but good benefits. Can't match them now for a new contract.

I have also not included repairs to any of the cars and fuel costs as I really aint got a clue how much we spend on these but it is a lot.

Unless you're paying cash, then you will know if you look at bank and credit card statements. Best not to pay cash as, as you've found, it gets frittered.

atlantis187

don't really want to get rid of sky (well actually the wife wont let me. lol) as we mainly use the recording feature and also have the box hooked up with a magic eye to watch upstairs for free, so saving on having to pay for multiroom. Also this cannot be done with a freesat box.

Ogordo

atlantis187 wrote: »

I think my outgoing are to high and need to get these down.

Here is a breakdown all the figures posted are the best deals I can currently get by shopping around:

No mortgage or rent:
These are yearly figures:

Council Tax: £1170
My car insur: £1000
Wife car insur: £760
Road tax 1: £150
Road tax 2: £135
M.O.T x2: £70
Water Bill: £425
Gas/elec: £1200 (£100 DD a month - used the MSE Collective Switch)
Home Insur: £135
T.V. Licence: £150
Phone Line: £120 (half price deal)
Broadband: £120 (half price deal)
Sky Tv: £120 (Half Price deal)
my mobile: £120 (sim only £10 a month)
Wife Mobile: £72 (sim only £6 a month

All this comes to nearly £500 a month. I have also not included repairs to any of the cars and fuel costs as I really aint got a clue how much we spend on these but it is a lot.

We cant get rid of 1 of these cars as the wife does the school run and the school is miles away.

Anyway of getting the above a little lower

atlantis187 wrote: »

don't really want to get rid of sky (well actually the wife wont let me. lol) as we mainly use the recording feature and also have the box hooked up with a magic eye to watch upstairs for free, so saving on having to pay for multiroom. Also this cannot be done with a freesat box.

Maybe I'm a bit harsh but what is your goal? To record live TV? To manage outgoings/spending?
Does binning off sky go to succeeding with that goal? I'd bin off the tv subscription.

PeacefulWaters

Food?
Entertainment?
Work lunches?
Coffee?
Miscellaneous spend that you don't track?

Incomes?

RG2015

This is a very useful benchmarking exercise. Here are my comparable figures which come to £386 per month. I also have regular payments for life insurance, maintenance contacts and software costs which are my choice but not included by the OP. Similarly, I have excluded car maintenance, food and household and leisure costs.

The biggest difference is car insurance and I would look here first for savings. Mine is with Direct Line for fully comp for my wife and me. Many others had similar figures.

Council tax 1742
Car insurance (1) 208
MOT (1) 55
Water (metered) 468
Gas/electricity 1032
House/contents insurance 384
TV Licence 150
Phone/Fibre Broadband 402
My mobile 60
Wife's mobile 125

Stardustjunkie

Your car insurance is very dear. I would suggest looking at the cars you drive. Some cars are a lot more expensive to insure than others (for example, a Corsa is deemed high risk, so is more to insure than a KA for example).

Also, Sky is a luxury. Try considering a Now TV box or freesat.

atlantis187

I have a 7 seater Peugeot 5008 need this as there are 6 people in our house and with 2 years no claims my renewal last month came to £1040 with direct line, having shopped around they were the cheapest