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Increase of £130 this year in cost of living for UK families.

Increase of £130 this year in cost of living for UK families.

*Please note the information in this article may be out of date

A new study has shown another increase in the cost of living in the UK with the figure of £24,801.51 being the new yearly average. This figure was reached by taking into account mortgage or rent payments, utilities, insurance, food costs, the cost of owning a car, the cost of clothing a family, mobile phone and landline, travelling to and from work and maintaining a property. The total does not include any luxuries, for example nights out, holidays, take aways, etc.

In order to take home, after tax and NIC's, the £25,000 per annum needed to keep the wolf from the door, the average UK family needs to be earning well over £30,000 gross. Add to that the cost of family holidays, extra classes and activities for children, nights out, cinama trips and so on, and a much higher gross wage needs to be achieved.

The study of 2,000 UK families by Skipton Financial Services revealed a yearly incease of £129.35 from the 2011 average cost of living. Rather unsurprisingly perhaps, given the consistent rise in costs, the study also showed that over a third of those who took part did not have a savings account. Of those who are managing to save, only one fifth of them are putting away more savings than last year.

The main areas which saw a price hike from last years figures were the cost of family food shopping, which increased by £33 a year from the 2011 figure. The average yearly food cost is now £4,491 or £86 a week. The increasing cost of fuel has pushed the yearly cost of filling the petrol tank up by £215. The new average yearly spend on fueling the car is now £2,668 a year, or £51 a week.

Television subscriptions and T.V. license costs have increased by £77 this year to an average of £654 a year. Mobile phone bills increased by £27 to an average yearly cost of £395, while Home Insurance costs also increased by £11 to £443 per annum.

The cost of the average families Utility bills stayed the same as in 2011, a yearly total of £1,283, the only cost catagory to see no change from the previous years figures.

Mortgage payment figures have seen a decrease of £215 from last year to a new average yearly total of £4,515. Credit card and loan repayment costs are also down £225 per annum.

Over all the study revealed a pessimistic outlook for most UK families for the new year with 6 out of 10 families prepairing to pay more on bills next year and only 1 in 10 expecting to be better off in 2013.

Source: Telegraph

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