Why are our bills so high? 6k a month...!

[NewtothisFBK4921]

Is anyone able to workout why our bills so high aside from suggesting we move house?! Are other people in similar size houses (5 bed, very old single glazed farmhouse) paying similar?

We pay about:
2k nurseries fees as work full-time (cheapest local village nursery, another year still school starts!)
£400 electricity bills each month (this is so high as bloody kitchen is only heated by underfloor heating, no radiators, which we didn't realised cost so much when we moved last year, we set it to 17 degrees so always freezing still)
£400 oil (thermostat to 17 daytime, 18 evening, single glazed house)
1.3k mortgage
£35 tv subscriptions
£35 Gigaclear
£100 for x 2 phones (£50ish each)
£265 car (Renault Clio)
£368 council tax (!)
Rest on food and baby wipes and trains to work etc.

Don't get me wrong we live in a gorgeous 5 bed in a village and appreciate we have a wonderful life but we moved from a terrace house in London and just can't workout why our bills have got so high. Especially as never eat out or anything like that anymore. Struggling to afford everything but on our salaries it shouldn't be so hard... am I missing something blindly obvious we can change (besides selling the house!) or is life just crazy expensive?!

You could get a certified refurbished iphone from Amazon, Music Magpie etc etc. Much cheaper.

So other bills for those asking:
Water £400 (but I think this must be as we didn't pay for about a year when we moved in as they had the wrong postcode as pretty sure water shouldn't be that high)
Health insurance £165 (husband) £70ish me (not sure why his is so high, we used to get these with work then carried them on when got new jobs, scared to cancel after sister had a stroke age 30 and had paused insurance but probably excessive I know
Cleaner £50 once a week (a luxury but so amazing with both working and having young kids)
Food I think about £800 a month
Trains to London £70x 2 a week

The oil and electric are all winter, summer is much better

Our salaries combined are about 8k a month so it doesn't leave masses of wiggle room if want to do a holiday, but furniture (as still totally empty rooms since London move!) or eat out etc. and husband been job hunting for last few months so down to about 3.5k a month, hence why suddenly feels so tight, before was just about manageable.

We each work from home most of the week (both london on different days so other can do kids pick up etc) so heating house as at home, but only heat to 18 degrees so still chilly, 16 at night as oldest child gets nosebleeds when gets super cold. Think I might get a heated jacket though, saw them recently and then won't need to heat at all when kids are at nursery - has anyone tried these?

We kept the house a little warmer this winter when had baby at home (18 degrees) but now he's starting nursery not really any need to heat in daytime if we can keep ourselves warm with a small radiator or hot water bottle or heated jacket

If anyone knows a good secondary glazing / insulation / solar panel company stamford way pls let me know! So far really struggled to find one.

Again so grateful for everyone's thoughts!

Your OP says you can't understand why your bills are so high but lists why right there £400 electric, £400 oil and high council tax as well as childcare of course - but that will reduce when your children go to school.

If £400 of gas and the same of electric is an average you are spending £9600 on fuel each year. I think the average is around £2,300 - something like that. To pay that £9,600 you will need to earn probably 13K allowing for tax and national insurance - more if you are higher rate tax payers. That is a wacking great chunk of your salaries.

You have asked for ideas other than moving house. Do you/your partner work the farm and that is why you have to stay in the farmhouse? If you have plenty of cash/savings but just don't want to waste it on bills then fair enough but your OP does state that you are struggling to afford everything/don't eat out any more?

Why stay somewhere (however lovely) that means that you are skint and cold and will struggle to save for your kids and potentially to provide your parental top up if they go to university despite being high earners?

Why not live in a "normal" house - be warm, have spare cash and holidays and be able to save for your kids future?

I guess when the nursery years ends you will be a lot better off depending on the wraparound that you need but it seems such a waste of your money. It's frustrating that the listed building means you can't change the windows even if you have the cash so it's not going to get much better?

Sorry just to add then we always have one-offs each month like emptying septic tank, house insurance, MOT etc. Always something different thrown at you but it's the electric for the kitchen mostly that I think is just bonkers high and need to workout how to get down

Ps Gigaclear is the internet

400 a month on oil?? Turn the heating off! I have an old cold house, but still, £400 of oil lasts months.

Cripes I just saw you added water to the mix!

This is why your bills are dear:
You:
Gas 400
Electric 400
Water 400
Council tax 368

Us - ordinary 3 bed semi:
Gas 110
Electric 110
Water 57 (not metered)
Council Tax 160

Have you looked into schemes like Great British Insulation and HUG2 to see if you qualify for any funded/part funded energy efficiency improvements?

£400 a month for water is ridiculous. We pay less than that a year with a meter and a lot of baths and teenager-length showers.

And mobiles - once you are out of contract, stick a cheap SIM card in your existing iPhones. You can keep your number and phone - no one will know (or likely care. Probably £5-10 each.

Like the kitchen, stick a plug in rad in the nose-bleeder’s room. Heat where you need it - don’t pay to keep empty parts of the house toasty.

How long have you been in the house @NewtothisFBK4921? Sounds like you are still discovering some of the expenses? We had the same thing and had to do a forensic budget and be strict about updating it to really get a handle on how much the house cost to run. I’d also say your food costs seem high, can you look at those bills?

Is your water heated by the oil or electricity? I don't know much about oil but if you have a water tank constantly being heated that will cost a fortune.

Our 5 bed semi is £240pm for gas and electricity and £50pm for water.

I used to live in a house like yours @NewtothisFBK4921

Great fun a lot of the time, but a creeping sensation of it being like the Forth Bridge wrt maintenance and a total money pit wrt energy. We were oil and electric, too.

Do you have any open fires? Get wood burning stove in. There are some that throw out a lot of heat. Over spec the BTUs and keep doors open to allow warmth to spread. Wood should be a reasonable price up your way.

Solar and air source heat pumps are a waste of time for really old houses. They produce cheap but low level constant heat, which works fine in a house that’s thermally efficient, but a Grade II listed ain’t one of those! If those houses are unable to ’breathe’ then you end up with far worse problems.

I would pretty much get up and get dressed in the morning as if I was out for a walk. Minus the coat, obvs. However gilets formed a trusty part of the ensemble. Sheepskin slippers with a sole were a must. Jaunty silk or wool scarf. Thermals also featured. Occasionally fingerless gloves.

I agree with other comments about upping your curtains etc. You could fit thermal roller blinds in window recess. Those made a huge difference to us.

We also had one room that had wooden shutters. They were brilliant. When I would open them in the morning, the ‘whoosh’ of cold air that hit me was extraordinary.

HTH

You're both good earners - but good spenders too. On your salaries you should have had enough saved to buy a second hand clio outright, for example.

Your food bill, cleaner bill, phone bill, TV subs bill etc are all high, showing you've not really had to budget, until now, and you've bought a huge money pit of a house.

The good news is that means there is loads you can cut back on. Also check your free nursery hours.

I don’t quite understand how you are spending so much on gas/electricity/oil. Nearly 10 grand a year?

Until 2021, so before the COL crisis, I lived in a large 6 bed house with 3 m high ceilings on the ground floor, large windows, French windows etc and electric underfloor heating. Our gas/electric was 3000k pa. It would have been 6000k at the height of the utility crisis - but not 10 grand.

The water bill you quoted will be annual not monthly.

I didn't know this but just looked up water bills and they are based on rateable value - like your Council Tax - so (in addition to the arrears) that is why yours is so high.

If you ask to go on a water meter you could save a fortune.

Generally if you go on a meter and don't save you can go back but check the terms and conditions of this with your provider if you are concerned.

It's not "thrown at you" though is it, it's very predictable, so budget for it!

£800 on heating and electric is insanely high though, that and the childcare is what's crippling you. Everything else looks pretty normal. Phones maybe high, and it would be interesting to know what you're spending on food as maybe some cuts to make there.

I missed your second post sorry!

£400 a month on water - this should go down hugely once you've finished paying the debt. I've never paid more than £70pm for water and we are really HIGH users (big garden, lots of washing, multiple baths per day, both wfh so lots of toilet flushes etc during the day).

£800 on food is also very high. Is it just you, DH and one childcare-aged DC?

Same. 3 bed semi

Us - ordinary 3 bed semi:
Gas&E - 200 was 275
Water 60 meters
Council Tax 198

If the house is draining you maybe think about moving and not a listed building

I hate being cold so no way I could love somewhere with no double - well I have triple glassing

Childcare maybe a nanny will be cheaper once eldest at school

I have just read that your electric £400 is for all winter, so in fact not as bad as first thought was monthly!!!

@Agespot oh not that is monthly all winter, ie £400 every month in the winter but only £80-£150ish per month in summer. The kitchen is electric underfloor heating and it's freezing with its off, so it's £400 minimum per month just to keep it at 18 degrees. Bonkers. Wish we'd known that before buying!

Did you make any heat saving improvements for this coming winter? Your energy bills are wild!

Get a radiator fitted in kitchen.
Switch off under floor.
Invest in triple glazing
Insulate roof
Insulate underfloor
Thick lined curtains
Block any drafts.
This should bring down your heating bill.

If you can't change windows do temporary double glaze covers for winter.
But invest in double lined heavy curtains.
They will seriously help.

Those bills are a shocker OP! I would not live like that - cold and poor. Just move to a modern house and live your life comfortably.

Is there space in your kitchen to pop a log burner? Could you turn off the underfloor heating and get some radiators fitted.

I moved from a 5 bed Georgian with sash window house so I know only too well how drafty and cold they can get.