Monthly budget where to cut back

[stormynight1]

electric 133
council tax 145.12
tv licence 13.25
water 15
waste 27.72
phone 132.03
insurance 34.01
food 330
service charge 120
wifi 34.48
car lease 376
insurance 70
credit card 83
boiler 12
gym 55
sofa 43.16
internet 40
petrol 208
parking 48
Total 2037.91
The cost is for 2 of us but trying to cut back where would you cut the costs?

Why wifi and internet? The costs of these seem very high.
Phone is also high, even for 2. Are you on contracts?
Presumably the only other thing on there that’s discretionary is the gym. Unless you can pay less for parking?

The rest is what it is I imagine.

You can’t really cut any of those things apart from maybe electric and food by being more careful. All your other out goings are part of a credit agreement e.g car lease, contract phones etc etc

Phones at £132.03 leapt out at me too. I pay £16 a month (on a contract).

Phone is high - DH and I jointly pay out around £50 for ours with unlimited mins and texts etc and both have newish Iphones. (him the 13pro me the 12 pro)
Food could be cut - that's around £80 a week for 2, we spend that on 4 (6 and 2 year old and 2 cats, includes all toiletries etc)
When does the sofa end? Could you clear it?

What is boiler?

Cheaper phones?

Cheaper wifi ?

Cheaper gym?

What are the payments for Wifi, phone and internet do some of these cover the same thing?

Food seems high if its just 2 of you.

There is nothing for rent or mortgage?

What is the waste payment for?

The things I would look at are Car lease, phones, gym, credit cards and sofa? - When do the contracts run out, any chance of swapping to 0% interest?

£120 a month of this is debt. I would try to avoid getting into anymore debt.

Is waste disposal not included in your council tax?
Do you own or rent? Could you move to some where without a service charge? Phone costs are very high. You seem to be paying for internet twice. Can you down grade to a cheaper gym?

Give up the gym and go for a run or do exercises at home from You Tube - loads of free classes on there.
Phones are ridiculously expensive. I'm paying £22pm on a contract for a Samsung phone which does everything I need and has a decent camera.
Why Internet and WiFi?
Cars - is that 2 cars on finance?

Phone, wifi and internet add up to over 200, which is expensive.
Electricity looks high for 2 if that's going to increase in April.
What is the waste for? I'm assuming this can't be changed, but it's not something I'm familiar with.
Gym is discretionary send if you need to cut back.
Car lease, on renewal, could be reduced.

I'd cutback the phone/internet spend, and use the extra money to clear the sofa and credit card debt.

Gym - walk, run, swim, cycle instead.

The phone is a huge amount, why is it so high? Also do you need wifi and broadband?

Electric is really high I pay approx £80 a month and there’s 4 of us, I’d look at phone and gym to cut out. Food also very high again that’s £80 a week. The rest hard to know without going into detail

Phone seems high , Wi-Fi and internet?

Your phone, internet, wifi, is very high. Switch to sim only asap and get a cheaper home broadband package, I pay £23 a month for broadband/home phone plus £10 for sim only.

Gym obviously could be reduced - look are pure gym for instance for low no contract likewise car costs but I'm guessing they are under contract

Food scope to reduce immediately

I use the gym for my physio my partner could cut it back that would be 25 extra a month. Phones are high due having me having an Apple Watch and us both having newish phones. sofa boiler and credit card is about to stop we have 2 months left to pay. The car has just been renewed for when it’s due up in August. His work used to pay half of the car finance but he’s now self employed so we have to pay all of it until August. Internet shouldn’t be showing twice waste is as in waste and water. Electric covers everything including heating and boiler

I'd do some meal planning and more careful food shopping. DH and I eat well on £70pw, and could cut that back if we needed to. Phones need sorting out asap, i have an Iphone 12 mini for £27 pm on unlimited usage, DH just PAYG about £15. membership of a local leisure centre might be cheaper than your gym subs. I pay £33 and DH goes free as he teaches a class once a week. With the remainder just check you are getting the best deal, once your credit card and other debts have been paid off you will be much better off.

The gym is the best deal I pay 25 partner pays 27 can’t get it any better at the moment

Sell the car and buy one outright / at a lower cost

I think it’s helpful for you and other people to separate out bills from debt repayments. In truth the newish phones the Apple Watch the boiler the sofa the credit card items and possibly the lease car are all decisions you have made in the past to get into debt for the things you would like/need. Not a criticism at all op lots of people live like this but when times are hard it makes a massive difference to your budget. Hopefully the end of some of these debts will help you as well as others suggestions. I’m really writing this for everyone as times get hard. Debt advice centres around a sustainable budget but we always separate out the bills from the debt repayments. Going forward having an emergency fund and saving up may not feel like much fun but it is a safeguard. Best of luck with it all

How much do you need to cut down by op? You have things that you could reduce if you had to but doesn’t sound like you want to. That’s fine if you don’t need to, but if you do you’re going to have make some sacrifices.

It's a lot of charges for stuff, but I suppose it's hard to get out of some. For example, if you need the car for work? But if you have any savings could you buy an older car outright? Ours is a 10 year old Ford fiesta, looks and runs fine and doesn't cost us much in repairs. Not suggesting you buy one that old though probably. But a 5 year old?

There is a lot of digital stuff to pay, WiFi AND Internet, why? And your phone bill of £132 a month is a lot, is part of this paying off the handsets? I suggest when you reach the end of the contracts don't get the latest phone, and swap to Giffgaff or Smarty. DH and me pay £5-6 each per month. Are you remembering to Switch to WiFi when you're home?

Gym is optional of course. Do you actually use it? A lot of people pay and end up not going.

You could probably get food bills down a bit. Could you have beans on toast or plenty of soup with nice bread for dinner say twice a week?

You haven't put in your rent or mortgage, money for clothes or going out etc. Christmas, birthdays, dentist opticians. All the infrequent things that still come around regularly. I suggest looking on Moneysavingexpert.com.

Do you use the TV license (bbc and live programmes?)
Do you need separate home Internet to mobile Internet?

I have an iPhone 11, dh iPhone X and Dd1 has a 12. I pay £72 a month. You can reduce that. Dd2 and 3 have refurbished iPhone 8s on £6 a month each.

I pay £7.65 a month for my mobile. It does all I need. Access to calls, text, messenger, WhatsApp and the internet ( via home when I'm here).
If I were you, that would be my first non essential saving.