How much are your bills?

[IJumpedAboardAPirateShip]

For context, we’ve lived abroad for 10yrs in a very expensive place which has salaries to match. Looking to move back to the U.K. and realistically our incoming will go down to 1/2-1/3 of what they are now but I’m trying to get a sense of what’s actually affordable as we have a skewed sense of what that is, so am trying to come up with a budget and then work out how much we’d need to be able to earn to afford the things we need/want.

If you’re a family of 4 in the south east, living in say a 4bed detached or semi what are your vague and general outgoings for things like electricity, heating, house insurance, water etc

I know things like food shops and holiday fluctuate wildly but I can also gauge that kind of spending, it’s the monthly bills I have no idea about.

Thankyou!

In the SE, london suburbs. Family of 4 + 1 dog. Detached mid sized new build 4 bed.

Monthly-

Gas & Elec (Dual Fuel) - £110 (we do run an electric vehicle)
Home&Contents ins- £ 14
Water- £30
Broadband & Landline- £24
Sky-£70
Council tax- £230 (this is higher than most areas)
TV Licence- £ 10
3 x Mobile phones- £36 total (mine and 2 DC)
Breakdown cover- £7
Car ins- £27

I assume that you've got the cost of a 4 bed detached in the SE covered, as that will be what most people struggle with, rather than an extra tenner here and there on your broadband?

The situation in the UK now is that you can get a deal on just about everything except water and council tax. Gas and electricity, insurance, broadband and TV services, mobiles, car breakdown etc - shopping around can get you significant savings, often more than 50% compared to 'full price', which in many cases, you'd be a fool to pay unless very well off.

Those prices posted above look typical, except that you can get TV services for a lot less than paying £70 pm to Sky, eg there are several streaming services (Now TV, Netflix, Amazon etc) that cost under a tenner a month each.

I second @BarbaraofSeville in reference to Bill's etc. However I live on a unique development where contractually its sky or no tv, blocks are put on certain streaming platforms....I do realise this probably wont apply to OP.

This is helpful thankyou, and yes have taken into account the bigger costs as that’s much easier to work out but we’re budgeters and here as I say things are so much more expensive (talking £150 for two phone contracts, broadband for £100 etc) just trying to get a sense of the landscape

Pretty similar to what's already been said

Electric and gas - 100
Water - 34
Council tax - 190
Car ins - 60ish a month for two cars
Home ins - 13
Broadband - 27

@AgainstAllOdds1 Pray tell: who do you use for gas and power? We are paying nearly £150 per month just on electricity with Bulb and there are only two of us living here (four bed detached plus home office)!

Is the electricity covering your heating or are there more heating/hot water costs on top? If it's the latter, that's insane.

Our house is smaller but I can't see how the electricity should cost so much more in a bigger house unless you have the whole place lit up like the proverbial Blackpool Illuminations.

We are two people in an extended 2 bed and our electricity is consistently just under £45 pm, we are with Avro and they ask for monthly readings, on which statements are sent.

Our gas obviously varies but they seem happy with our current £76 pm direct debit and we are currently nearly £200 in credit although we have me WFH through winter to see to that.

But if you are heating a 4 bed with electricity, it could be about right as electric heating is expensive and you have a large house, national average for gas and electric is around£100 pm so you would expect to pay more for a larger than average house.

All you can do is a price comparison for your circumstances, plus minimise usage or pay thousands for a gas central heating system if you have mains gas of course.

I live in Yorkshire, but I’d say general bills are similar all over the UK. We pay per month:
Gas and electric 95
Sky/phone/internet 90
Council tax 140
Water 30
House insurance 21

Really helpful, thankyou for ongoing responses

3 people, 3 bed in SE.

All pcm
GAS/electric £65
Water/waste water £35
Council tax £130
Virgin phone with international calls/tv/broadband £75

Per year
Contents insurance £100
Home insurance £100 ish
Car insurance £300 ish

Just bumping for more responses! Thanks so much

Different are I am s west

Large 3 bed end terrace
Two adults 2 teens

Water £110 p month
Gas /elec £150 p month
House ins £200 p month
2 x car insurances £600 per year
Really good broadband and landline £27
Mobile phones x4 £110 per month

Forgot to add

Council tax £155 per month

Tv licence is actually £13 per month in the UK. Council tax £230 Gas and electric £140, broadband Sky Netflix bundle £60. Water £55. Mobile £8 sim only. Car insurance £200 per year, house insurance £29 per month. Large 4 bed detached SE.

As you see costs vary a lot depending on area, age of house and your personal choice regarding streaming services and phone/internet needs. Also not all house insurers are the same. Cover levels vary.
Some people pay for boiler and appliances cover- can be fairly expensive for peace of mind.