Getting ahead with annual bills

One of the things I find most frustrating with my finances is getting on an even keel then suddenly...car tax...have to find £160. Or home insurance ...have to find £400...

So what I'm going to do is work out how much I think i need a year, then add 10% for safety then divide by 12 to work out how much to put away each month. that way I'll be ahead and actually have the money for those things rather than have to put it on a card and then end up paying twice as much for the privilege.

So what do I need?

Car tax £160
Car service & MOT £150
Home and contents insurance £450
Car insurance £350

The grand total is £1110 which means I need to put aside £ 92.50 per month. Fortunately I have an extra pay day this month as I get paid 4 weekly rather than monthly, so I can put aside the extra ( about £1000) just for this slush fund. At the moment I'm paying my home insurance monthly as it came with the mortgage so I need to put aside £50 per month to pay for the car bits, then when the home insurance comes up for renewal get a better deal and pay it in one go then start putting aside the full amount ( about £90)

This seems like a lot of money to put aside and keep putting aside, but its money that I have got to pay out anyway. Surely its better to have it ready rather than have to use a card or pay monthly. I want to get my monthly outgoings as low as possible so I can pay bits off the mortgage which will help in the long term. A small bonus is that this slush fund should generate a little bit of interest..not much , but if it slowly grows then I can slowly reduce the amount I need to put in every month.

day 5 and I have spent a little today, getting some tobacco. I know its an unnecessary cost, but its my only vice.... I used to smoke 10 - 15 cigs a day at work and I've managed to cut them out, but I still like to relax in front of the telly and have a couple of smokes. I guess I'll just have to get anyone I know that goes abroad to get me some cheap baccy. !!
On the plus side I've taken sandwiches to work every day this week which has saved me £3 a day so that £15 for the week....makes me feel better now thinking about that.