MSE Poll: How much are your typical monthly bills?

MSE_Chris_O

Poll started 15 March 2022

Life in the UK is getting far harder to afford, with household bills spiking in recent months. And the cost of living is only going to increase further from April as the price of energy soars. So this week, we want to know how much you spend on household bills each month.

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Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below.
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Thanks!

jasdev

What bills to include and not include in the figures, @MSE_Chris_O ?

jenniewb

Might be worth asking where in the country people are. I'd imagine that bills for things like rent and transport etc are higher in the south for example. 

CS99

Bills Survey - MSE, overall you do a great job. The bills survey looks like the most pointless and inaccurate data capture exercise. No idea what to include so that will skew the results. Two people in a Band A property versus two in band E will skew the results significantly. Cannot see how you could draw any conclusions from contributions.

tastyfish

Really ambiguous poll - does mortgage count as a household bill? If so, do you count other loans? If renting do you include rent? What about non-essential services such as contact lens schemes, health/income protection-style insurance premiums?

Some guidance would be good otherwise with everyone making their own assumptions the results are just going to be meaningless.

Also, the responses are tickboxes, meaning you can select more than one answer. I think whoever produced this poll needs to go back to the drawing board!

Dilly

CS99 said:

Bills Survey - MSE, overall you do a great job. The bills survey looks like the most pointless and inaccurate data capture exercise. No idea what to include so that will skew the results. Two people in a Band A property versus two in band E will skew the results significantly. Cannot see how you could draw any conclusions from contributions.

Agreed Who knows what should be included. One person may think an item is valid and another may not. Not accurate at all

billshep

As others say, what to include?  Gas and Elec are the hot topics right now, but should we also include coucil tax, insurance, water, phone, anything else?

Archie_Duke

So much scope for individual interpretation and ambiguity, of course. I included any ‘expenses’, ie anything that isn’t income. If it goes out from my budget regularly, it has some “monthly bill” equivalence. My home insurance I pay annually, for instance, but I can divide that into a monthly amount.