Paying household bills

Moving into a house for the first time?

Excited about sharing with your friends?

Looking forward to the freedom and independence of being totally in control of when you eat, come in and go out?

That's great, but don't forget that you have to pay the bills as well as the rent!

When moving from halls of residence into a house it is important that you understand how to deal with utility bills.  These pages are based on a web site created by students who completed the Nottingham Advantage Award, Building Financial Capability module in Autumn 2011.  Hopefully they will give you an idea of how to responsibly manage your household bills.

Utility bills

The main household utility bills are:

• Water
• Gas
• Electricity
• Internet/broadband

 

Others bills you could have are:

• Landline telephone
• Satellite TV (packages can include telephone and internet)
• TV License (you need a TV License if you watch TV as it is broadcast on a television or via a laptop/computer.  If you only plan to watch catch up services or use the TV as a monitor for a games console, you do not need one.)
• Insurance for your possessions - particularly for your laptop and other electronic gadgets

Luckily student households, where everyone is on a full time course, do not have to pay council tax. 

 

Comparison sites

To help you find the right contract to suit your needs try a comparison website; some are listed below:

• Compare the Market
• USwitch
• Cable.co.uk - student broadband deals
• Money Supermarket

• Simply Switch

  NB: The University is not responsible for the content of external websites 

 

Budgeting

When sorting out your budget for the year you need to take these household bills into account.  The students who set up the original site found from their experience that the average cost of the basic utility bills was around £40 per month.  This will vary depending on the number of people in your house and how much you consume, and the number of bills you have to pay.

We have some useful tools you can use to help you with your budgeting.