Do our household bills sound reasonable? What could be lower?

[itsalentilsone]

Just two of us (me and DP) living together in a 2 bed flat in South East. I am currently a student but that will be coming to an end in the next 3 months. We are trying hard to cut costs where we can and have been going over our finances to see where we can make savings. Any thoughts on what looks expensive or unnecessary would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Income:
£4,067

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage - £765.65
Mortgage protection insurance - £47.63
Help to Buy loan - £93.24
Service charge - £188.32
Gas - £55
Electricity £42
Water - £18
Internet - £40
Mobile phone 1 - £18
Mobile phone 2 - £22
Council Tax - £159.37
TV Licence - 13.25

Groceries - £240
Train travel (DP work commute) £477

Petrol - £60
Car payment - £238.74
Car Insurance - £59.32

Netflix - £10.99
Amazon music - £10.99
Oura ring - £5.99
Apple storage - £3
Private / misc payment - £150

Savings direct debit - £160

Very useful! Thank you

Did you get 25% single persons discount on your council tax as you are a student? If so this will actually go up.

Surely you get some free storage? I bet a lot of what you're paying to store is several copies of very similar photos, old downloads etc? Could you have a digital declutter to free up space and stick to free storage?

On your mobiles, that's still quite high. You can get many many Gb for under a tenner a month and roaming. Have a look at ID mobile.

If you are out of contract change your phone to Lebara. I did and my payment went from £16.50 to £5.00 per month

Here’s a referral code if interested: http://aklam.io/2fBSjw

Great -thanks for the code

Yes, currently get the discount but you are right we will lose the discount in a couple of months time

Just made the switch!

YouFibre for broadband - approx £20pcm (for YouFibre 150).

Someone might have mentioned this already but sounds like you need an app like Snoop / YNAB that categorises all your spending so you can track where the extra 1k is going and try to set some budgets around eating out / fun money etc. I would try to save a bit more than you are and move the savings to a high interest account at the start of the month.

Your food shop is incredibly low (I’m in awe at this!) and our gas / electric and council tax total £600 a month so I’m also jealous of that too!

I personally would get rid of the mortgage insurance, that £570 a year could prob reduce your mortgage term quite significantly. If you’ve got a 25 year mortgage that’s more than £14k saving.

The car is only temporary once that's paid off you'll feel a bit richer.

Give YNAB a trial if you really want to get a proper handle on your finances

There’s a bit you can trim on broadband and phones I reckon that might save you £20-30 a month all in
I’d keep the £3 on apple backups if you have iphones
I’d keep the income protection on the mortgage personally, but it’s a personal decision. But you don’t want to lose your home if something awful happens

I’d look at the leisure spending. If you are eating out once a week, just dropping one of those meals out a month will save you £40-50 which is more than you’ll save skimping on essentials. Think about how you can trim there either cutting things out or making cheap swaps. For example lunch at a coffee shop rather than an evening meal. Sticking to soft drinks . Only having one course. Getting a recipe box instead of takeaway/meal out. Cheaper Travelodge’s for weddings. Not buying new outfits. Having friends over rather than going to the pub. Etc etc. whatever it is you do for fun, it’s having that mindset that saving £50 a week is worth it… and being ruthless about whether you are getting value for the £50

What is the problem if you have £1k left over a month?

I'd look at what your interest is on savings Vs your car loan APR. Might be more cost effective if you have the money in savings to pay the car loan off early. You can then build your savings back up.

The £1k+ per month on leisure is very high IMO.

Cut that to save more or overpay on mortgage.

I hate reading these because they always have loads more money than I do even working full time and overtime, oh look yep over £1k spare each month, hey Ho. Like the TV properly programs, we are with Janet and John both 22, they have £950k and are struggling to find their first home !