How to keep track of household fixed costs

Ask someone what their home costs each month and you usually get one number: the rent or the mortgage. Around it, though, sits a whole row of other amounts. Energy, water, insurance, broadband, local taxes, subscriptions. Some leave your account monthly, others quarterly or once a year. Those last ones are easy to forget, until they all arrive at once.

An overview of your fixed costs gives you calm: you know what is committed, what is left and where you could do better. This guide shows how to build that overview and keep it current without turning it into a chore.

What counts as a fixed cost?

Fixed costs are expenses that come back regularly and whose amount is more or less known in advance. For a household, they typically include:

Category	Examples
Housing	rent or mortgage, owners’ association or service charge, ground rent
Energy and water	electricity, gas or district heating, water
Taxes	property tax, municipal or local charges
Insurance	health (where private), contents, buildings, liability, car
Media and internet	broadband, TV, mobile, streaming services
Other	gym, memberships, childcare, public transport pass

What does not count: groceries, clothes and days out. Those are variable spending. Home maintenance is not a fixed cost either, even though it keeps coming back. More on that below.

Step 1: gather everything that goes out regularly

Your bank account is the quickest source. Go through the payments of the past twelve months. Twelve, not one: that way you also catch what is charged quarterly or yearly.

For each item, write down:

• the provider;
• the amount;
• how often you pay: monthly, quarterly or yearly;
• if relevant, the contract end date and notice period.

Also look for payments that are not direct debits, such as a local tax bill you pay in instalments, or an annual subscription on your credit card.

Step 2: convert everything to a monthly amount

A list of mixed amounts tells you little. Convert everything to one unit, usually per month:

• monthly: stays the same;
• quarterly: divide by 3;
• yearly: divide by 12.

A contents insurance of €144 a year is €12 a month. Add it all up and you have your monthly fixed costs. Multiply by twelve and you see what your home costs you in fixed spending each year. That second number is often more of an eye-opener, and more useful.

Step 3: group by category

Put the items together by category, as in the table above. At a glance you see where most of the money goes. For many households housing is by far the largest item, but a pile of small subscriptions can add up to a surprising amount.

Step 4: keep maintenance separate

Maintenance is an odd one. It recurs, but not with a fixed amount or on a fixed date. The boiler service, the chimney sweep, a new tap, clearing the gutters.

So do not add maintenance to your fixed costs. Track it separately, per year. That keeps your fixed-cost figure predictable, and at the end of the year you can see what your home cost in maintenance on top. Add the two into one number and you get a figure that changes every month and says very little. For the kind of maintenance to expect over a year, see our home maintenance schedule.

Where there is often something to gain

Making the overview is step one. Then you can act on it.

Subscriptions you no longer use

Streaming services, apps, a gym, a magazine. Go through them one by one and ask whether you used it last month.

Contracts that quietly became more expensive

When a fixed term ends, many contracts roll on at a different, often higher rate. For energy, broadband and insurance, check whether you are still in a fixed period and when it ends. That is usually the moment you can switch without paying anything. Our guide on how to keep track of contract notice periods shows how.

Double cover

Insurance policies sometimes overlap: travel insurance with cancellation cover your credit card already includes, or gadget insurance alongside your contents policy. Read the terms side by side.

Your energy instalments

In many countries your monthly energy payment is an estimate, settled against your actual use once a year. If it is too low you pay extra at the end; too high and you get money back. After each annual statement, check whether your monthly amount still fits.

Keep the overview current, with little effort

An overview you make once goes out of date quickly. A few habits keep it current:

1. New contract? Add it right away, with amount, frequency, end date and notice period.
2. Cancelled? Remove or archive it right away, and keep the cancellation confirmation.
3. Once a year, a quick review, for example in January when new rates are known.
4. Living together? One overview. If everyone in the household sees the same list, nobody has to ask whether the insurance has been renewed.

How Domeaz helps

In Domeaz you add a contract with three things: a name, an amount and how often you pay. The app converts quarterly and yearly amounts and shows your fixed costs per month and per year, broken down by category. Maintenance sits next to it, separately: enter the cost when you finish a job and you see what the home cost in maintenance this year, without it blurring your fixed costs.

If you like, add the contract’s end date and notice period too, and you will get a reminder in time. Domeaz is deliberately not a budgeting app and not a way to split costs between housemates: it is an overview of what your home costs. Free to start, with no ads. Take a look at Domeaz.