Bills Makeover -

[QforCucumber]

I am about go go onto maternity leave and though we have some savings and I think I've gone through everything to reduce outgoings I was wondering if anyone here would like to have a look at our monthly spends and see if you think there's anywhere else we could save/reduce as I know sometimes a fresh pair of eyes will see something I haven't already.

Current outgoings a month are as follows -

Mortgage - £472.51
Council Tax - £123.00
Gas/Electricity - £72.00
Sofas - £40.00 (only 6 months left of these, 0% finance)
Water - £48.70
Virgin Media - £73.97
Tv License - £37.62 (Every 3 months)
Insurances (life,home,pet) - £35.62
DP Loan - £281.29 (4.9%, 46 months remaining)
Car Taxes - £30.77 (covers 2 cars)
My Car finance - £187.76 (0% 52 Months remaining)
Car Insurances - £51.80 (covers 2 cars)
Vodafone - £42.98 (covers 2 phone contracts)

We then have petrol and food shop, don't include these as DP puts about £20 a month petrol in his car (has a van for work) and I only use mine to commute at £15 a week but anticipate I won't need this much when not travelling 15 miles a day.
Average approx £40/£50 a week on food at aldi for the 2 of us and 2 cats.
Can anyone see any obvious reductions I could make or does it look as though I've managed to get everything as low as really plausible?
Working in a male dominated construction environment so will only be getting SMP whilst off.
All ideas gratefully welcomed.

Tesco mobile us very good, I pay £7.50 a month for a lot of data/calls/texts. They cap it at £10, so I never go over. I only got to the £10 once due to ringing an Argos customer service number to complain about something
I like using Tesco as I can go instore if needed with any queries to their phone shop.
I bought the phone for £89, its a new Galaxy, so not tied in.

Nappies, I recommend Aldi/Lidl & their baby wipes.

I think you are doing well & you are very careful.

I got a now t.v box £15 one off payment, so no monthly bill.

Also I use Sainsburys Tu range for my DD clothes, only when its 25% off, when thats off things that are half price, Its about £1.60 each for a top/cardigan/cords etc.

Don't pay off the sofa's if they are on 0% interest, no point - keep the savings earning interest (not that it's great rates atm)

Definitely get used to the comparisons bit on www.topcashback.co.uk before renewing any insurances etc

set up monthly direct debit for tv license

look at new deals when virgin media contract ends - I'm with Talktalk for instance, get landline rental, unlimited broadband and evening weekend calls free to other landlines for £23 a month. I bought a freeview box for about £20 one off cost for lots of tv channels

are your mobiles in contract? again shop around when free to do so ifthey won't give you any discounts at present

OP can I ask who you get your insurance through please? for life/home ours is £80!

It is cheaper for monthly TV Licence but only by £3 over the year.

I'd definitely pay off the sofa too, get rid of the direct debit and your credit score will like it too.

Not sure who your DPs loan is with but with mine I can take up to two months (non-consecutive) repayment holidays per year. Interest is still accrued in those months but if you're stuck that's a decent amount to help you out in those months. :)