Anyone live in a 3 bedroom house with a couple of kids??

[Nekkid]

Not as strange as it sounds, honest! Just trying to get an idea of utility costs in the UK. Please weigh in with your monthly spend on electric, gas, water, sewerage, council tax, TV licence etc. I only mention the kids as it means the washing machine is going 24/7!
Thanks!

[timwilky]

3 bed semi, trying to get rid of kids

my monthly gas/electricity £170
tv/internet £81
rates £110
water/sewerage £52
TV I think about £14
Groceries £1000
Booze £300 conservative estimate, but probably considerably more
house insurance £40
bike insurance £120/year
Car 1 Insurance £250/year, £125 tax
Car 2 Insurance £350/year, £175 tax
Van insurance £360/year, £285 tax
family vehicle recovery policy £220/year

Big weekly expense used to be kids school bus fare, 3 kids, £36/week for a weekly discounted pass.

Welcome to rip off britain. I wont say how much it cost me to pay for university digs, driving lessons etc. It never ends.

[Nekkid]

Thanks timwilky, but yowzers 1000 quid a month on groceries! How much do your kids eat???

[dizzyblonde]

Probably changed a fair bit since Tims kids were around

[daveyrach]

4 bed house with us two and 4 kids.

Gas/Elec - £125 a month
TV/Net/Phone - £54
Rates - £125
Water/Sewerage - £55
Groceries - £440ish maybe nearer £500 (incl some booze)
Car 1 - £250 a year
Car 2 - £300 a year
TV licence - as Tim says about £14
Home insurance - £125 a year - this includes accidental loss or damage of all our mobile phones and push bikes etc.

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

The answer is too much money, and no way am I going to scare myself by breaking down the bills to what it costs per month, but I will say we are in the process of changing our dual fuel from one of the big six to a smaller firm saving about 10%. Groceries is about 1000 per month two teenage boys and the two of us.

[daveyrach]

I don't get how people spend so much on food. In my house it is me, my wife and 4 kids (aged 4,11, 15 and 17) we spend <£100 a week normally.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[johnnyrod]

Have yo ureally added up all the places you get food from? Seems pretty cheap, there are 3 of us (though one is a toddler) and two rabbits and we spend something like £150 a week all in on food, though I think we include in that the other supermarket stuff like washing liquid. We make almost everything (meals), but I guess we don't get the blue'n'whites much.

[daveyrach]

That's everything, other than having to pop out for a 4 pint of milk maybe once a wee at most but that only amounts to £4 extra over a month

I have to say my wife is very efficient and makes food go a long way.

[cheesypeeps]

4 bed house with us two and 4 kids.

Gas/Elec - £125 a month
TV/Net/Phone - £54
Rates - £125
Water/Sewerage - £55
Groceries - £440ish maybe nearer £500 (incl some booze)
Car 1 - £250 a year
Car 2 - £300 a year
TV licence - as Tim says about £14
Home insurance - £125 a year - this includes accidental loss or damage of all our mobile phones and push bikes etc.


£125 for gas and electricity...

Who from? I only live with one other in a 3bed semi and we're £150 a month!!

[dizzyblonde]

I have a family of four to feed, and I usually do a big weekly shop at Lidl which is around 75 quid, then pop to Asda for a few bits inbetween. So, it would probably add up to around 120 maximum. This includes all groceries and cleaning products.

[daveyrach]

£125 for gas and electricity...

Who from? I only live with one other in a 3bed semi and we're £150 a month!!

Scottish Power

I send my meter readings every month religiously. Our Direct Debit is £125 a month but my usage for March only came to £106 so come winter we will have a credit which normally covers the increased usage over winter.

During the summer my monthly usage drops to around £75-80 a month but in Winter it goes up to £120-£130 a month.

[daveyrach]

I have a family of four to feed, and I usually do a big weekly shop at Lidl which is around 75 quid, then pop to Asda for a few bits inbetween. So, it would probably add up to around 120 maximum. This includes all groceries and cleaning products.

That's more like it I can understand that.

[dizzyblonde]

That's more like it I can understand that.

It's very easy! We don't eat processed crap. Occasionally we might have an Asda pizza, but then Pegasus is up all night with bad indigestion!!!
We eat a lot of salad, I cook some great Greek staple dishes and the only bread is what goes in the eldests sandwiches for school. If Pegasus eats mass produced bread and it gives him indigestion! In fact any processed stuff gives hIm indigestion, so I have to be creative!

There's nowt wrong with Lidl, no different than a main chain own brand and certainly not smart price ;-)

[daveyrach]

It's very easy! We don't eat processed crap. Occasionally we might have an Asda pizza, but then Pegasus is up all night with bad indigestion!!!
We eat a lot of salad, I cook some great Greek staple dishes and the only bread is what goes in the eldests sandwiches for school. If Pegasus eats mass produced bread and it gives him indigestion! In fact any processed stuff gives hIm indigestion, so I have to be creative!

There's nowt wrong with Lidl, no different than a main chain own brand and certainly not smart price ;-)

Couldn't agree more.

We rarely eat processed food, like you a Pizza now and again, my wife always cooks fresh everyday, might use the occasional shop bought jar of sauce to. Only bread we use is in my Daughters packed lunch aswell.

[dizzyblonde]

Forgot to add, chocolate isn't included in the processed food ban O:)

[Dicky Ticker]

Well if that is how much you all spend ,even taking an average be thankful you are not pensioners.

[thefallenangel]

Well if that is how much you all spend ,even taking an average be thankful you are not pensioners.


42% pensioners are classed as rich. 5 blokes about to walk from my place with £100k+ lump sums and £16k pension and even worse 4 years ago loads got their pension without having to retire!!!!


Sorry i don't buy the pensioners are poor argument

Back on top, my and my gf have a 3 bed semi and our gas+ elec is on average of £50 per month.

[metalmonkey]

Which is better shop between Lidl and Aldi for quaility of the food, range of stock?

[pookie]

prefer aldi as its better laid out with a sensible range ( champagne is tasty) ..may go to lidl for some exotic bargains..Aldi has some pretty decent non food stuff ( tools, garden stuff, cycling gear).

[dizzyblonde]

Widepants did the Aldi V Lidl thing and Lidl was his chosen winner.

I prefer Lidl, it's usually always cleaner. The Aldi here is filthy and terribly untidy. Both Lidls are pretty spotless, and the bacon don't look off!!
We were in Gainsborough a couple of weeks back and their Aldi was surprisingly far better. There's not much difference between the layout in the two stores tbh, or range of stock . It also depends on the size of the place and wether staff take pride in their store.



Gosh, I'd make a good mystery shopper!

[timwilky]

Kids round here are known to bully others who parents are accused of shopping at Aldi/Lidl etc. My kids would not let us consider the places, yes they tried to bully their parents.

Strange then that when my son business failed and was having to live on what he could earn casually. He then decided that Sainsburys was too expensive and resorted to Aldi. But did describe the place as scummy and hated the whole experience.

[dizzyblonde]

Snobbery.

A lot of Aldi and Lidl products are better quality than main supermarket chains. Sainsbury sell green meat!
Sure, their range may be smaller, but at least their fruit and veg tastes of fruit and veg. Not water!

The only supermarket that gives quality across the board is morrisons, but you pay!

If you were in Europe, Lidl is everywhere. Like ikea. Both are found on Cyprus...

[Teejayexc]

We were in Gainsborough a couple of weeks back ....


Ere, that's surprisingly close to me, why wasn't some sort of early warning issued?

[dizzyblonde]

That's because it was a spontaneous day out in Lincoln. We were bored, so we headed out!

Also opportunity to spy secretly on property along the way ;-)

[johnnyrod]

Indeed?

[twistednuts]

We are lazy gits (both working really, so our excuse is time) and we get an asda delivery once a week - £90 ish, then she'll go morrisons, sainsburys, waitrose etc throughout the week. Total weekly food is around £200. Two primary school kids.


But were all like beanpoles an theres never anythin to friggin eat!!!


Asdas vegetables and meat are shocking. Tried some Aldi stuff, but kids whinged.


Is it true Aldi, Lidl etc are European companies with far stricter food hygiene rules and all that stuff? If so im gonna nob Asda off cos im gettin fed up with it. And Sainsburys meat is always off.


Were all really to blame in all this, we took the bait about cheaper food, petrol etc, then the big companies monopolised it all, and now we're stuck with them and their raising prices for crap stuff.


Now all the local petrol stations are closed, as are all the local fresh grocery stores!!


What a rant eh!

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

Local butchers are better than any supermarket, ours minces turkey for us (which is a totally gross job) because they know it is for our youngest who is allergic to red meat, they have to totally clean the mincer first and they do it in bulk for us about 3 or 4 times a year. No supermarket would ever do that.