this is me

Mobile phone....

Contact your provider and ask to be put on the lowest possible tariff, generally around £15 per month now. You could also ask for a pro forma to pay off the contract which for you, would be approximately £75 providing they can switch you to a lower tariff.

I used to run up horrendous bills on contract but am now with O2 PAYG, £15 per month top up and I get 400 texts and 150 off peak minutes per month with £3 left over for daytime calls if necessary.

emma_b wrote:

they are all good ideas, thanks every1, does pricechecking mean you look for cheapest things in smarkets?

smoking..after wedding its out, and thats 4 weeks away

sky, is it a 12mth contract? we got it in dec 2005, i will ring them up but feel cheeky.. can i say im cancelling if its under 12mths?

I think sky is usually a 12 month contract and you can cancel after that time is up. You can ask them to put you on the lowest priced package though - or at the very least make sure you're not paying for channels you don't even watch.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding :T

I think by pricechecking they mean looking for the cheapest things in the supermarket, and generally being more aware of the prices of things. Noticing BOGOFs, which items are better value etc. Its easy to add things to your trolley on impulse but if you're thinking about the cost it puts you off. For example... if I went shopping with a budget of £20 for a week and then on impulse went to put some cake into my trolley I might think 'that £2 cake is a whole 10% of my budget, do I really want it that much?!' and usually the answer is no!! That makes me sound really quite sad but it makes sense in my head :rotfl:

emma_b wrote:

LOL, i know what you mean, altho id probly think mmmmmmmmm cake !!

we are on the £18 contract we dont get any movies or anything, i might ring them and see what they can do!

the thing with me and smarkets is i go with my switch card and not cash and its always £50 no matter what i leave out, its getting silly now, and thats in a small trolley too!

When I lived on my own (currently back with parents ) I used to make a list of meals that I was going to eat for the coming week - including a mixture of quick and easy things for when i was home late and things that took a bit longer. Of course the quick and easy can be reheating a portion of something that you've made previously and frozen :T

Then, with that list, I used to make a shopping list of each thing that was needed for those meals and the necessaries for packed lunches/breakfast etc. This list was always surprisingly short but I found it did the job - I tried to only buy what was on it and found I ate just as well without spending as much :T I think this was because I was not throwing so much away and because I cut back on impulse buys which I then struggled to find 'time' to eat, as it were, before they went off.

The Old Style Board has loads of recipes and ideas... worth a good look!