Average home costs £9,590 to run

The cost of running the average UK home has risen £179 over the last year. We look at a couple of ways to keep your bills down.

Running a home is getting ever more expensive. Over the last year, the average UK water bill has risen by £27 (5.6%), while the average gas and electricity bill has risen by £70 (4.2%). That’s according to research by Halifax.

Admittedly, the overall rise doesn’t look so high when you look at it in percentage terms – the £179 increase works out at 1.9%. However, if you’re one of the many folk who have been hit by a pay freeze in recent years – or worse - any increase in household costs poses a challenge.

Here’s the full breakdown on how household costs have risen:

Cost of owning and running a house by category, Jan 2008-Jan 2013

The most cheering figure in the table is the 21% fall in mortgage payments. That’s mainly due to the Bank of England’s ultra-low 0.5% base rate.

But that fall is offset by the massive 56% rise in gas and electricity bills. Sadly, I fear there are further rises to come, so it’s essential that you shop around once a year and make sure you’re getting the cheapest energy deal possible.

Read more in How to pay 2011 energy prices! 

How do you compare?

Looking at the table as a whole, how do your household bills compare? If you have a family, are your costs pretty similar? Or are you paying quite a bit more?

It’s these big household bills that can make the difference between financial stability and constantly running in the red. So it’s really important that you focus on these costs and know exactly how much you’re spending on them.

One way to monitor your spending is Lovemoney’s MoneyTrack tool. This tool allows you to monitor all your bank and credit card accounts in one place, and you can also divide your spending into a wide range of different categories including ‘Mortgages/rent’, ‘Telephone & broadband’ and ‘eating out.’

So it’s easy to see how much you’re spending on different areas even if you’re using different credit and debit cards for your transactions.

If you know how much you’re spending, and where you’re spending it, you may be able to spot areas where you can cut back. You can also set a budget with spending targets for each area. Once again, MoneyTrack can help here – the budgeting function means you can quickly see if you’re keeping within your spending limits.

Setting a budget and sticking to it could be a great way to cutt

If you want more tips on how to budget and cut your spending, check out these Lovemoney articles:

Set a budget and stick to it

Five steps to brilliant budgeting

Big budget day month day one: how to plan a budget

Big budget month day two: looking at your spending