How much are the bills?

[SamanthaJane]

I was wondering how much people spend on bills? Electricity, garden maintenance (if u have to pay someone), phone bills?

I'm looking into renting at the end of the year once i have everything sorted and i want to start working out some sort of a budget and knowing what i am in for.

Do u put money aside each week so that u have the money in time?

When i rented with my boyfriend, we rented from the girl who lived in the main bedroom (even though she was hardly ever there:rolleyes:) and she included the money for bills in our rent each week, so i've never had to see how much things cost.

[SammieSnail]

Oh bills....:banghead:

Well it all depends hey....

We get paid fortnightly but put money aside for monthly and quarterly bills....there's only DH and I....oh and Tarni (the dog) she runs the heater like mad :laughing:

Electricity: $25-$35 per week (approx. depending on how damn cold it gets lol)...we have Pay-as-you-go electricity which is like pre-paid mobile credit
Phone: $60-$90 per month (again depending how many calls etc...we usually only ever make local calls and we get 50 free per month due to plan we are on...)
Groceries: $100-$130 per week (this includes all food, toiletries and cleaning products)

other bills depend on your circumstances....we have health insurance, broadband, mortgage payments, rates etc....

You're one organised chicka to be budgeting and planning ahead....good on you :yes:

Must admit, DH is the one who sorts out our finances

[OscarTheGrouch]

Monthly approx:
Home phone bill: $25
Mobile phone bill: $30
Electricity: $100-150
Food: $500-700

Plus we have luxuries like Foxtel and of course a broadband connection. We probably spend about $80 a month on our e-tag (toll charges). Then there's the rent, which is very high. The list goes on.......

[spring]

When I was living in a rented flat with my DDs dad he had a direct debet of $40 a fortnight come out of his account for the electricity & that pretty much covered it sometimes we would get a bill for like $16 or somthing but most of the time it was enough.

[Lillynix]

DH and I aren't renting, so we have a mortgage to pay, but our monthly bills are pretty much this:

Per Month -

Home Phone - $40
ADSL - $60 (DH won't live withouth ADSL, i'd be happy with dialup! LoL)
Credit Card - $400
Electricity - $100 (we actually pay this every three months, and both have been around $300 so it works out to be around $100 a month)
Groceries - $260 (there are currently only the two of us so we can get away with only spending $130 a fortnight)
Fuel for car - $150 (we spend $75 a fortnight on fuel)

And that's pretty much it! Of course unexpected bills pop up but we deal with them when they happen LoL

Hope that helped a little!

[onabreak]

When I rented with 3 people we usually split everything in 3's that was the easiest thing to do at the time. But sometimes I found in unfare as I hardly ever used the phone and still had to pay about $40/mth.

[tyler's mum]

i pay money on my bills every week,, i try to put about $50-$100 aside every week to pay on my bills doesnt always work...lol:rolleyes:

ge $80 a month
my phone is normally around $70-$90 i have dial up:rolleyes:
Credit Card $40 a month i try to pay a bit more
Electricity is normally around $220 me and my sister go half's she lives in the granny flat
pay tv $40 a month
food $30-$80 a week depending on what tyler needs such as nappies & milk

[Ana Gram]

We pay $100 a week towards bills and it still isn't enough to pay everything on time.

[jessgray]

i have all my bills on centapay so i dont see the money lol
i pay fortnightly:
white goods (we rent a fridge,washing machine,freezer and computer) $93
electricity:$100
gas:$50
phone:$50
and our internet is about $35 a month but that isnt on centapay i go to the post office for that :)
i recently increased the aounts on my centapy stuff coz we are behind on bills and it is the only way we'd get in frount lol

[SamanthaJane]

Thanks! So many bills! Yuck! :thumbsdown:

[BlessedWithBlue]

Home Phone is usually $170 p month which includes our broadband connection
Credit Cards- Combined payments $85 p/month
Electricity every 3 months is about $300
Gas $100 every 3 months
Mobile Phone Bill- $50-$100 p/month
Groceries- About $30-$50 p/week depends, ds is in cloth nappies so it's only usually stuff that we need for dinner for the week.
Foxtel- $70 p/month

I usually pay about $100 p/week on our Buyer's Edge account so everything is paid by the time the interest free runs out.

then there's car payments and rent

[TJ]

I put $100 onto my credit card each week, and then each month my bills are automatically taken off the credit account.

Approx per month
2 x mobiles $120
Home phone $30
Internet $50
Electricity $70

and the the left over each month goes towards regos & insurances

Our groceries are about $100 a week for hubby and I.

We of course then still have to pay rent and petrol

[Mum&bubs]

Oh bills!!! cant stand them :banghead: :banghead:

Electricity is usually $200- $300 a month except this month which seemed to rise to $400 possibly because of the heater!

Internet- $50 a month
Phone- $70 a month
Food- $200 a week

and we have foxtel which is $100 a month.

[EskimoMumma]

Ok Have a firm seat here are my bills. We have no set way of paying them. WE are paid fortnightly (FTB and DP's pay) and basically 1 pay of the month is food and bills, other pay is rent and food :rolleyes:

Rent- 867pcm
Phone-250
Electricity- 280-300(quartly)
Water- 70-90(quartely)
Gas- 100-180, i geuss i never see the bill tho lol
Internet- 40a month
Foxtel- 100 a month
Cigerettes/Food shopping(is combined, we buy cartons)-240 for smokes, 160 for meat and about 500-600 for groceries (cleaning supplies and other bits and peices including pantry goods and nappies and whatever grab throughout the fortnight after the big shop) this is all monthly expenses but it is divided into fortnightly..
Petrol-450-500 a month
My random expenses-100-150




I hate bills yet at the same tim elove getting mail :laughing:

[Illusional]

I have everything Direct Debited - or set to Transfer from my bank before I even get out of bed on pay day... that way what I cant touch - I cant spend.

Fortnightly I pay:

Phone $20
Elec $40
Mobile $15 (at the most - prepay so I just put $30 on it when I run out - which usually lasts me over a month)
DSL $20
Rent $411.50
Savings account $20
Car Rego $10

Total: $536.50

Thats about it.. I dont set aside money for food - I just buy what I need - but dont go over $200 a fortnight.

the phone and elec bill may be a bit more than that when the bill comes in - but at least 90% if not 100% of it is paid already.. makes a big difference to getting hit with a lump sum.

Any other bills that are regular.. ie: a debt, childcare, anything else.. I break it down into a weekly amount then double it to pay it fortnightly (or leave it as weekly as some of them have to be).

Thats the best way to do it - estimate your bill.. then divide it into a weekly amount - so you know what its going to cost you. I try to pay a bit more than needed - then i dont worry about it.

[Lil X-men]

Phone $100 pm
Electricity $150 pm (we have pool tho uses alot of Power)
Broadband $34 pm
Groceries $600pm ( 2 adults one child)
Petrol $240pm, car rego $380 every six months
Insurance $120 pm
Cell phone $49 pm
We also have rates as home owner $500 a quarter
Remember to allow a spare amount of $$ for unexpected costs like medical costs, and car break downs etc. Things will enevitably crop up and set you back from time to time.

We never seem to keep up with bills, but thats probably coz we pay $420 pw on Mortgage payments!!!
Its not cheap renting I tells ya, but it's nice having your independence. I have rented since I was 17 and I wouldnt change it, mum and I clashed at home together as much as I love her.
I am 24 now and DH and I own our home, so it's not impossible and you can do it on your own with out the help of your parents (I mean living with them) if you really want to, we did it just takes a lot of discipline and saving blah how boring does that sound!!
Good luck girl I hope it all goes well.

[*Sparkles*]

My bills are about the same as everyone else's. I really think it depends on where you live though. It is alot more expensive living in Melbourne compared to the Gold Coast. We never used to have gas in Qld, but in Melb it is an extra $1000 a year for heating etc. Plus there are citylink tolls in Melb. I also do more washing as we wear warmer clothes and more of them. It all adds up.
No matter, what our bills are, we are always broke... the price of fuel doesn't help either :thumbsdown:

[carls888]

I actually sat down and worked out how much we spend on bills just to live each year. Insurance, rates, electricity, phone, internet, petrol, gas, etc...

It was $20,000!

And that didn't include the mortgage or food.

:eek: :eek:

So I was surprised!

And we don't seem to live really outlandishly. Eat out once a week, usually Thai takeaway or something similar. But OMG.

Anyway, don't mean to scare anyone but it was a sobering experience at how much it costs just to live these days.

Carla

[whatwasithinking]

Word of warning Samantha - DO NOT GET A HOUSE WITH INSLAB FLOOR HEATING!! Just the last three months alone has cost us $1085.00 in electricity. Yep that's right $1085.00 :eek:

[EskimoMumma]

Word of warning Samantha - DO NOT GET A HOUSE WITH INSLAB FLOOR HEATING!! Just the last three months alone has cost us $1085.00 in electricity. Yep that's right $1085.00 :eek:


WHAT?!?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek: Thats expensive!

But I'd hate to be at my mums house. because they all shower 10-20minutes (thanks to their huge gas water heater) their quarterly water bill is nearly 500 and their electricity it hink is about 600... (they can afford it tho)

[whatwasithinking]

WHAT?!?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek: Thats expensive!

But I'd hate to be at my mums house. because they all shower 10-20minutes (thanks to their huge gas water heater) their quarterly water bill is nearly 500 and their electricity it hink is about 600... (they can afford it tho)

And I rang the elect coy and it was right - it is so expensive cause a) it is on 24/7 and b) it has to warm the whole house from cold cold tiles (and our house is not small and it is entirely tiles (except for the puter room).

[subaruforestermum]

Once your established, I've found it alot easier to pay a set amount on your bills each week, that way there is not a large lump sum cost at the end of each month.

[*Sparkles*]

And I rang the elect coy and it was right - it is so expensive cause a) it is on 24/7 and b) it has to warm the whole house from cold cold tiles (and our house is not small and it is entirely tiles (except for the puter room).

Donna, have you thought about installing ducted heating? Sure, it will be an initial expensive outlay, but it would pay for itself within a year!