Help in cutting monthly outgoings

[PensionPotPreparation]

Hoping for some help. I preface all this by saying that I know we have been in a very lucky position owing to DH's high paid job, to the extent that I haven't really had to budget. I know that sounds so entitled. Sorry.

But now we are about to start drawing down from our pension funds, and I have been preparing a schedule of regular outgoings and when they are paid so we can set up a standing arrangement of payments into our bank account from our pension pot and investments.

And I confess that seeing monthly payments written down and annualising them is an eye opener. And to my embarrassment I don't really know if the amounts are reasonable for our lifestyle or whether there are clear flags that we could shop around to reduce payments and fees/ or change what we pay for /do

Again, I am aware that this may come across as stealth boasting, it is not intended that way...I am hoping that some of you may be able to point out that certain standard bills etc are much higher than they should be/ you would expect.

So for example we pay
£300 per month for gas/ electricity - £3600 pa
£174 Council tax per month - £2088 pa
£90 Virgin Media per month - £1080 pa
£47 BT broadband per month - £564 pa
£80 Water rates per month - £960 pa
£470 House insurance per month - £5640pa
£600 Cleaner per month - £7200 pa
£250 gardener per month - £4000 pa

Annual fees
AA membership £272
Car insurance ( 2 cars) 537.76
Car service (1 car) 450.00
Travel insurance 523.70

Do any of those scream out as being unusually high. Together they come to just under £27000 pa.
Food costs/ eating out/ theatre/ gym membership/ magazine and club subscriptions / holidays etc I can see more readily where cuts can (have to) be made.

Thanks

House insurance
Possibly broadband
Virgin media - you could do better

The obvious places to cut back are the cleaner and gardener. There a lifestyle choice and not a necessity.
You should be able to combine the Virgin tv and by broadband £137 combined is ridiculous!

Virgin media and BT together

The cleaner per month seems high - how long are they coming for / what are they doing? Is this the right figure?

Wow! Too high!

I pay £17 per month through my Halifax account and get family holiday insurance, AA, mobile phone insurance and emergency cover.

Why do you pay for virgin and BT. Can you not merge them? We have a virgin TV and broadband package and pay £33 per month.

How is your house insurance so high also? Do you live in a mansion? Ours is £200 per year.

I think you need to shop around. Go on comparison sites and don't accept renewals. I think you're overpaying in lots of ways.

House insurance amount is VERY high.

Cleaner & gardener are discretionary, do you need them if you are now both retired?

Virgin Media & Broadband are more than you need to be paying.

Presumably you don't have a lot of choice with council tax without moving.
Water seems high for two, metered or rateable value?

Why do you only service 1 car?
Clearly you could cut down the AA and travel insurance, but if you need them they might be good value.

Why do you need a cleaner and a gardener? Is it because of disabilities?
Seems an obvious area to cut.

Home insurance seems very high.

How any hours a week do your cleaner and gardener come? Do you need the gardener all year round? Those both seem high as well.

Aw you sure that's a monthly rate for house insurance? It's more than my annual cost! Virgin and broadband also high, and cleaner seems very high too. How many hours a week do you have the cleaner and gardener?

your house insurance just made my jaw drop!!! presumably you have an expensive rebuild cost for the house itself, and a safe full of diamonds insured for that?!

My home and contents insurance is £16 per month so I would def look at that. Could get a better deal on broadband / tv

Actually wow yes the house insurance is crazy - we pay that per year

Much of that is crazily high!

For example, for my large 4 bed, Council Tax Band G house I pay:

£30 ish per month for water (metered)

Until imminent gas & elec price rises, £100 per month

House insurance £300 annually

How many hours of cleaning and gardening are you having? It's either an awful lot or you're a very generous employer. If retiring you can hopefully cut back on this? E.g I have two hours per week, £26. Arguably I do need a gardener, it just doesn't get done mostly!

A good place to start might be a few hours on the Money Saving Expert website.

Surely the house insurance is annual not monthly?

How many days does the cleaner do? If you pay £15 per hour that's 40 hours a month.

£300 per month for gas/ electricity - £3600 pa
Is this the new cost from April, or will it rise again significantly then? Depends on house size/insulation/boiler efficiency as to whether it's reasonable.
£174 Council tax per month - £2088 pa
Fixed. If anything, seems low given your huge energy/water costs.
£90 Virgin Media per month - £1080 pa
£47 BT broadband per month - £564 pa
Why are you paying Virgin & BT? Do you use all the television channels you are paying for?
£80 Water rates per month - £960 pa
This seems high compared to your council tax. If you have a water meter it's high (unless you're in the SW) assuming as you're retirement age that there are only 2 of you in the house. We have a meter and my family of 5 uses less than £40 water/mth.
£470 House insurance per month - £5640pa
This is huge. Again, could be due to house size/listed status/something else, but still huge. A "typical" family home could have an annual policy for your monthly cost. Are you sure this is correct?
£600 Cleaner per month - £7200 pa
Lifestyle choice - will you need the same hours once you are both retired?
£250 gardener per month - £4000 pa
Lifestyle choice - will you need the same hours once you are both retired?

Annual fees
AA membership £272
Expensive. Nationwide Flexplus bank account - £13/mth includes breakdown cover, mobile phone cover & annual travel insurance
Car insurance ( 2 cars) 537.76
Doesn't seem unreasonable
Car service (1 car) 450.00
Travel insurance 523.70
See above re AA

Overall, I'd agree it's time for a financial overhaul. There's nothing inherently wrong in spending on cleaner/gardener and being well insured, but it does seem silly to be paying more than you have to for the basics. Have you looked at the budgeting suggestions on MoneySavingExpert.com ?

Home insurance sounds high but, of course, depends on size of house and value of contents. I'd suggest you shop around though as, unless you change provider / challenge existing regularly, you will be paying too much.

If your DH is retiring, can the cleaner / gardener services be reduced slightly? Unless you are a big and busy household, I suspect you could cut a few hours at least off the cleaning.

Combining Virgin + BT, should make it cheaper.

Your travel insurance seem expensive. I have an annual world wide policy for around £50. Of course, if you are paying for 5-6 people it might be reasonable. Also, it depends on the level of cover. I'm OK to take some risk so go for a mid-level cover.

AA membership - it's worth checking with your bank whether this is covered by your account fee. I have AA membership through one of my LLoyds Bank accounts.

AA , travel and mobile insurance through my bank account.
Cleaner and Gardner - a lot.
House insurance- surely that's not right ?
Could easily get cheaper broadband/tv package

I have a cleaner at £60 a week for four hours. What’s yours doing for £150 a week? Unless your house is absolutely enormous that seems high.
House insurance is ridiculous unless you have priceless paintings

I think you've multiplied the gardener cost up wrong, should be 3k.

Gardener and cleaner are obvious places to cut. It sounds like you've retired - does that mean you'll have more time to do some of these things yourself if you need to cut back?

Are you sure the home insurance is a monthly amount? That's twice as much as I pay a year!

My house insurance (£1m coverage) is less than that for a year. Are you sure? Or are you actually the Queen?

You’re being fleeced by your house insurance

Agree with others re house insurance and cleaner costs. Your travel insurance is very high too though. Is it covering existing conditions?

We're mid-40s and pay about £70 a year for Europe wide cover for 2 adults and 2 kids (no winter sports).

House insurance? I have a 1.5 mill buildings with unlimited contents for about £700

Get an Amex platinum and you get travel insurance - partner gets a free platinum as well. About the same price but loads of extra offers on it

Alternate yourself and partner for aa and it will be half the price each year

house insurance - if in a flood risk area that might be ok. but do shop around.

holiday insurance seems expensive as well. we pay a lot less than that (5 persons).

cleaner - that's basically a whole day a week. how big is the house?