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

£90 Virgin Media per month - £1080 pa
£47 BT broadband per month - £564 pa

Get rid of the Virgin Media.
We pay £26 for our Sky broadband.

Well. If you need to downsize I have a 4-bed in Wandsworth. Happy to do a straight swop if easier

I’d consider upgrading your bank account for travel insurance, AA membership and phone insurance about 20 quid a month. I’d drop virgin media and just watch stuff via broadband, rotate now/ Netflix.

The house insurance is whopping, stone built house with a couple of decent claims? I’d consider buildings only which should be much lower.

I agree with your treatment of the loyal cleaner. She does a good job and got you through tough times when you were ill. Slowly reducing hours and rates is also very reasonable.

No shame in admitting you need help we all do at times

Off the top of my head :

300 per month for gas/ electricity - £3600 pa - very tricky at the moment. Everyone's in limbo really. Also depends of course on size of property. A few things you can do is reduce usage of course, switch things off when not in use inc at the wall, turn the thermostat down and use alternative heat sources and make sure you're doing things like dressing for the weather/season

£174 Council tax per month - £2088 pa. - again little you can do about this. Check out the Mse site on re-banding that may help

£90 Virgin Media per month - £1080 pa. Wow! What are you getting for this?! Do you genuinely use it or would you be fine with standard tv licence and maybe one or 2 of the other cheaper streaming services? I mean this is an area I consider myself somewhat...cheeky - but I pay less than £35 per month for tv licence and 3 streaming services and always have plenty of choice to watch something

£47 BT broadband per month - £564 pa crikey! I was thinking the above INCLUDED your broadband! I'm £18.99 a month for this

£80 Water rates per month - £960 pa I'm in Scotland where water isn't privatised but I'm thinking you could switch supplier? Also reduce usage tons of tips online

£470 House insurance per month - £5640pa Is that building or contents or both? Again can you shop around for a better deal? Haggle?

£600 Cleaner per month - £7200 pa very much dependent on personal circumstances, size of house, family, what hours you work etc and of course the going rate in your area. Could possibly reduce the hours?

£250 gardener per month - £4000 pa again very dependent on personal circumstances etc does seem quite high unless you've a large garden? And is it really every month?

Annual fees

AA membership £272

Really? Wow this has shot up since I had a car! But it does seem high to me - again shop around, do you really need the cover you're paying for etc

Car insurance ( 2 cars) 537.76

That doesn't seem too bad - but again shop around, haggle, check what you're getting for the price

Car service (1 car) 450.00

That seems pretty steep

Travel insurance 523.70

This implies a fair amount of travelling and likely outside of Europe too - saving on the travel generally would probably save you a fortune

@Savvysix1984 (apt username) is right about check into certain bank accounts that provide a lot of extras too. I don't use these as I don't need the extras but for people who do could well be worth the money saved

Virgin Media and Broadband (we pay about £30 total for broadband and TV package)

Home insurance (we pay £40 combined buildings & contents)

Travel insurance - seems very high but depends how much travel you do I suppose

Cleaner and gardener - personal choice of course but I hope you're getting an awful lot of cleaning and gardening done for those figures!

@Examsrus

I agree with your treatment of the loyal cleaner. She does a good job and got you through tough times when you were ill. Slowly reducing hours and rates is also very reasonable.

Reducing rates isnt reasonable £20 is an acceptable rate.

Nuts! Posted too soon

Was going to correct a few things

ARE you retiring or simply accessing pensions?

If you are retiring if you're in fairly good health then yes I agree cleaner and gardener are extras you could cut down a lot if not get rid of altogether

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

Absolutely!

Re virgin and BT I think they're both a rip off! The quality and speed of your broadband is largely due to local supply rather than individual suppliers.

You haven't shopped around for insurance for 22 years?!

There are some pre existing conditions included.

That can REALLY bump costs up on travel insurance, my dad has copd and mums had cancer so theirs was high when they still traveled

Another thought which you may not be ready for is if your running costs are so high should you downsize …

Yea I was thinking along same lines plus if you're retiring you can live anywhere. Why not get a lovely cottage on the coast for example? Or a loft even? You don't have to stay in London

Or you could take in lodgers. Or even just travelling students etc

Currently hot water and heating on 6am to 10 am and then 4pm to 10 pm

Wow! Also sounds to me as if you have an old heating system? Most people have combi boilers now so the water doesn't have to be switched on as such.

I've actually not had my ch on all winter. But I live alone in a small social housing flat so very different circumstances!

My outgoings total are around £900 a month total! That includes my rent

You sound very loyal to your providers, and unquestioning of their recommendations or renewals.

Frighteningly so! But then I have similar conversations with my mother. She's very hesitant to try companies she doesn't know very well! Don't even get me started on her expensive but poor service BT Palava!

we pay for this with Tesco points depending on how many points we have.

Yes - what loyalty cards have you got if any and do you use them to beat advantage?

I'm with Tesco mobile and I pay my phone bill with clubcard vouchers (double value!)

That you can afford it is at the moment irrelevant but you may not be able to in the future.

Plus I'd rather you had the money than the conglomerates!

Have you life assurance and critical illness cover? Have you considered potential care costs etc?

It's as we get older and less able to do really basic things for ourselves we tend to realise the value of being able to buy in help.

I'm younger but disabled and it's honestly sometimes the littlest things can make all the difference

And absolutely learn to haggle! Play them off against each other you WILL get better deals this way, even if they don't bring the price down further they'll throw in an "extra"

My immediate thought is if you are about to retire and you currently live in a house that's so big it needs someone to clean it at £600 per month and your gas and electricity bill is so high, wouldn't it make sense to downsize to a home that is less costly to run? For comparison we are in a 5 bed semi in the outskirts of London and our combined gas and electricity is £100 per month, and we have a cleaner that comes for 2.5 hours per week at £14 per hour. Do you really need someone to do all the general household chores like changing the bedding? As pp have said you are being significantly ripped of by your house insurance, our is £50 per month.

Wow....nearly all your items are rip off prices....we only pay £52 AA membership...2 cars for one example....call them all up and do deals or switch...!!

Your house insurance is massive. I did a comparison site thing online and saved about £1200 on house and car insurance per year. Always try to pay annually to get a better deal.

Seriously, are you having a fucking laugh. This is bull shit. I'll come in for 1k and sort your finances for you. You are either a troll or being a mug !

Your proposed savings are sensible because you are getting the same services at a cheaper rate.

Your original post also talked about cutting back on "food costs / eating out / theatre / gym membership / magazine and club subscriptions / holidays etc." and I'm not sure this is sensible, because you will get less for spending less. Why cut back in retirement on things you enjoy to save money if you can afford that lifestyle?

Thanks again everyone....clearly the insurance costs hit a particular nerve...

I decided to ask on our Street What's app if they thought £5,500 + pa for a buildings and contents insurance premium was "a rip off, about right , a veritable bargain for these 'ere parts." The responses so far have been "a tad high, but depends on exactly what insured", "About right" and "ours is over £7,000" .

So, seems I am not a troll, and if a mug, I'm in a cupboard full of others.

Plan to sit down and pore over the precise terms and conditions of competitor policies next week. We moved about 5 years ago to our current insurer so over due a look for sure.

The cleaning and gardening is, as some past posters said, a life style choice, together with a sense of loyalty/obligation to our lovely cleaner who is now, while fit as a fiddle, well beyond retirement age and thus would find it difficult to get a replacement job if she wanted or needed to.

I'll come back in a year to own up on how we have done.

We got rid of Sky, kept the satelite dish and then bought a freesat box for around £150 from John Lewis. So, no monthly fees. Now pay for Netflix at around £9.99 and get Prime as part of the Amazon package. Broadband about £30 per month with local supplier.

OP, while you're reviewing your costs,consider signing up to a cash back site. Quidco or Topcashback or similar.

You'll get £ every time you switch provider. It quickly adds up.

How many live in your house?

Hot water on here for 1 hour in the morning and covers showers for 5 during the day - we put it back on if someone has a bath.

The dishwasher/washing machine and one shower make their own hot water as needed - so 4 hours is excessive and expensive.

Whenever I renew insurance, I go on the comparison websites and get the cheapest. Companies are desperate for new business, and I always get a better price than the quote from my current insurers.

I also tend to get breakdown cover in with the car insurance, it tends to work out cheaper then getting them separately, unless one or other of the breakdown companies has an offer on.

I'm jealous of your council tax though, mine's £2k for a band C property and our council charges the second highest council tax in the country.