Household bills can add up in a hurry and take a big bite out of your income if you don’t watch them closely. For proof, consider that the typical American household spends nearly $25,000 a year on the 13 most essential bills, according to a recent report from bill-pay service doxo. That adds up to $2,058 a month — or roughly 40% of the typical U.S. income. Advertisement: High Yield Savings Offers Powered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above. Read More: Fidelity Says This Is a Surprising Risk of Holding Too Much Cash — Do You Have Too Much? Find Out: 10 Cars That Outlast the Average Vehicle Depending on where you live, household bills can be much bigger or smaller than average

One of the most important parts of personal finance is setting a monthly budget and sticking to it. Ideally, you’ll budget in such a way that you can put 15% to 20% of your income toward savings after all the bills are paid.Read Next: What If Your Utility Bills Doubled?Find Out: The New Retirement Problem Boomers Are FacingThat’s not always easy when the bills suck up a bigger percentage of your income than they should. Unfortunately, this is a problem for many Americans.Median earnings for full-time workers in the U.S. are $1,194 a week or $62,088 a year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That equals $5,174 a month.Meanwhile, a new report from bill-pay service doxo found that the typical American spends $24,695 a year or on household bills, or about $2,058 a month