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Many UK residents would be well-advised to review their household finances to make sure their outgoings are adequately covered by earnings. Recent price increases across a number of areas will mean that a larger proportion of households could be overspending their monthly budgets now without immediately realising it.
The increases in energy costs have received wide press coverage recently with many providers raising costs by up to 15%. The average annual household fuel bill is now expected to be around £800. Add to that council tax bills of £1000 per year and food bills at £450 per month and you come to an annual outlay of over £7000 and that's before mortgage payments (another £10,000 for the average mortgage at today's rates) and insurance and motoring costs. Most people also have costs associated with mobile phones, satellite TV subscriptions and other regular bills. So the average UK household needs around £20,000 net just to run their home.
According to the Office of National Statistics the average weekly salary for a male in 2007 was £498 or about £26,000 per year before tax or £19,409 after tax. As we can see the sums don't add up and that's before any additional luxuries like holidays, new clothes and extraordinary expenses.
In this situation it becomes even more important that people shop around for the best possible deal they can on anything that drains their cash. Find a better mortgage, find a cheaper loan, switch to a cheaper energy provider, cancel that expensive phone contract; there a number of steps people can take to reduce their outgoings it's just that some don't yet realise that they need to.
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