Earlier this year, Halifax, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, revealed that housing expenses for a typical British household rose by almost a sixteenth (6%) in 2004/05.

However, the general level of inflation (which measures price changes) is around 2.2% a year, so housing expenses are rising at a much faster rate than the cost of other goods and services. Indeed, according to this survey from Clerical Medical, running the average UK household adds up to more than £679,000 over the course of a lifetime. Ouch!

So, if you’d like to hammer your household expenses, check out the following tips:

MASSACRE YOUR MORTGAGE

The greatest mistake that homeowners can make is to stick with the same mortgage deal for the full 25 years. Amazingly, according to one report, half of all mortgage borrowers (50%) have never changed their mortgage lender, and over two in five (41%) claim that they’ll never switch.

Sadly, with over 8,500 different mortgages to choose from, finding your ideal home loan is far from easy. However, it’s worth the effort, because a 2% saving on a typical £85,000 interest-only mortgage means an annual saving of a handsome £1,700 a year.

I could bore you by attempting to explain all of the ins and outs of mortgage interest rates, arrangement fees, exit penalties, blah, blah, blah. Instead, I recommend that you take expert, independent advice from leading no-fee mortgage broker London & Country Mortgages, which will search the entire market on your behalf. Easy as pie!

Compare home loans in our Mortgage Centre!

HAMMER YOUR HOME (BUILDINGS AND CONTENTS) INSURANCE

According to the latest quarterly British Insurance Premium Index from The AA, the UK’s biggest insurance broker, the average annual premium for buildings and contents insurance was £360 in April. However, shopping around could reduce this to £227, saving £133 a year. So, don’t renew your household insurance when it’s due: instead, shop around online for a cheaper quote!

Get quality quotes in our Insurance centre!

LOWER YOUR LIFE, CRITICAL ILLNESS AND INCOME PROTECTION INSURANCE PREMIUMS

Many of us have insurance policies to protect ourselves and our families, so that if something nasty were to happen to us, we wouldn’t lose our homes as a result. However, with a typical mortgage lasting 25 years, choosing the wrong insurance policies could mean paying well over the odds each month for three hundred months or more. D’oh!

Hence, it pays to choose your protection carefully, as you could easily save tens of thousands of pounds over the life of your home loan. These articles will help:

Life insurance: Oops, You Bought The Wrong Protection and More Buying Blunders To Beware Of

Income protection (long-term sickness cover): Look After Your Greatest Asset

Critical illness cover: Do I Need Critical Illness Insurance?

Get cheaper cover in our Insurance centre!

SWITCH YOUR MORTGAGE PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE (MPPI)

Around 2.5 million mortgages are protected by mortgage payment protection insurance, which provides monthly payouts to borrowers who are unable to work due to accident, sickness or unemployment. However, most MPPI policyholders bought their policies from their mortgage lenders, who charge as much as they possibly can for this rip-off cover.

Hence, a typical MPPI policyholder is paying over £400 a year for this protection, when similar cover can be had for around £250. A saving of £150 a year adds up to £3,750 over 25 years, so don’t delay: ditch and switch your MPPI today!

Get cheaper cover in our Insurance centre!

SLASH YOUR ENERGY, TELEPHONE AND WATER BILLS

Gas and electricity

The first step to trimming your energy bills is to use less of it, so read these energy-saving tips, which could reduce your energy usage by a fifth (20%).

Sadly, even though the cost of domestic gas and electricity has risen by two-thirds in the last couple of years, most of the UK’s 25 million households have never switched supplier. This is bad news, because buying your gas from British Gas and your electricity from your local supplier probably costs you an extra £200+ a year! So, shop around by visiting one of the many energy-comparison websites, such as Energy Helpline, Save on Your Bills, SimplySwitch and so on.

Home telephone

Why pay hundreds of pounds a year to BT when you can save a fortune simply by using alternative call suppliers? If you want super-fast broadband with your telephone, the out-and-out winner for home-phone calls is the “Talk3 International” package from the Carphone Warehouse, which I reviewed here.

For £20.99 a month (plus a one-off connection fee of £29.99), Talk3 International gives you up to 8Mb broadband (with a monthly allowance of 40Gb), free calls lasting up to 69 minutes to UK geographical numbers (those starting “01″ or “02″), free international calls to 28 countries, and includes your monthly line rental of £11, which you no longer pay to BT. What a bargain!

However, if you don’t want to switch broadband provider, you could make calls via an override provider, such as the popular www.1899.com or www.18185.co.uk. With 1899, I pay just 3p for any UK call beginning with “01″ or “02″, no matter what the time of day, or how long the call lasts, which slashes my bill for call charges to just a couple of pounds per month. You can even get free local and national calls at evenings and weekends with the Saver Option 2 tariff from Primus. Yippee!

For more tips on trimming your home-telephone bills, read this article.

Water

These eight tips will show you how to dodge the drought and pay less for the liquid of life. By the way, don’t forget to pay your bills by Direct Debit or standing order, as this could save you a further £200 a year.