is this possible

cagneuk

cagneuk wrote: »

Addition: we have the following birthdays/ anniversarys during saving/maternity period

march 7th birthday party 50 30
march 9th close friend birthday 20 10
march 17th brother in laws girlfriend 20 10
march 28th friends birthday party 20 15
march 30th sister in laws birthday 35 20
April 12th close friends birthday in blackpool 70
may 9th brother in law birthday 35 20
June 5th my wife's birthday 35 20
June 13th my eldest daughters birthday 150
june 19th wedding anniversary 35 0
june 27th brother in law 35 20
july 13th my close friends 20 10
july 21st mother in laws birthday 35 20
july 26th inlaws wedding anniversary 50 30
july 29th my birthday 35 20
oct 1st BABY DUE . YEY
oct 10th my mam's birthday 35 20
nov 7th best friends little girls birthday 20 5
nov 16th my sisters 35 20
nov 18th my dads birthday 35 20
nov 22nd father in laws birthday 35 20
nov 23rd mam and dads wedding anniversary 30 10
dec 25th christmas 1000 650
feb 24th daughters birthday 100
march 7th birthday party 50 10
march 9th close friend leanne birthday 20 10
march 17th brother in laws girlfriend 20 15
march 28th friends birthday party 20 0
march 30th sister in laws birthday 35 20
April 12th close friends birthday in blackpool 70 0
may 9th brother in law birthday 35 20
June 5th my wife's birthday 35 20
June 13th my eldest daughters birthday 150
june 19th wedding anniversary 35 0
june 27th brother in law 35 20

original total 2440 amended total 1555
Plus 12 random invites through the time at £20 so another £240

Amended SOA to follow once I've sorted gas/electric out and spoke to mobile provider

TotallyBroke

Yeah well done to you both for agreeing to the lower spends on the presents.

Now sign up to all the cashback sites you can and if you know what you want to buy each person then see if you can earn money by doing it online. Here on mse there is a dailyclicks section that will show you what to earn on and the diffferent cashback sites.
Also look in the voucher section on mse you may find some money off vouchers to use against the same purchase.

Again use a cashback site for the gas/electric. Ages ago when I switched to British Gas fixed tariff I earned myself £50 for going through quidco.

cagneuk

we've reduced our phone bills based on useage against package allowance. I'm over my allowance each month but they have reduced the package cost. My dw and I were both on 02 35 18 month
DW expires sept, I expire may, DW has been offered reduction to 30 giving 400 mins and 500 text.
As I have been with them a lot longer (4+ years) I was offered a reduction same tariff but for only £20 so that will change our outgoings.

We are changing from british gas standard dual fuel (i know I know) to e.on track and save dual fuel. Used MSE guide to get 35 amazon vouchers (hopefully) plus clubcard points.
just give british gas a new meter reading for both. last reading was 11/12 for both. Are you sitting down.....
Gas for 71 days...£466.31:eek:
Electricity for 71 days £136.50
Now I'm sorry but both DW and I are at work for most of the week and I can't understand how we can possibly use that much gas.
When questioned it they just sort of said well, if you want to, you can read your meter everyday for a week and then call back to give us the figures. Although what use that will do, other than clock up another £100 bill for them. :mad:
There is only the 3 of us in a 3 bedroom semi for pity's sake and we usually eat takeaway :rolleyes: and not use the gas cooker. We have a combi boiler installed last year to see if that would help but all that has done is lower the presure of our water.

Just hope that e.on can reduce the bills if not all presents will be bought with clubcard vouchers

TurnaroundSue

cagneuk wrote: »

Gas for 71 days...£466.31:eek:
Electricity for 71 days £136.50

OMG, that equates to £6.57 PER DAY for your gas and £1.92 PER DAY for electricity.

There is something not quite right there, unless you have your heating on full 24/7. I have a 4 bedroomed detached and on average at the moment during this cold spell my gas is roughly 25 units PER WEEK, which roughly equates to £4 PER WEEK and even then we could cut back. Have our heating on around 20 degrees for quite a bit as OH works shifts and is home during the day alot when I am in work and vis versa. Have you had your gas meter checked by an independent company. We had a problem with our gas meter and when we contacted TRANSCO it turned out that our meter was assigned to a house down the road:eek: . It took ages but they eventually got it sorted, so might be worth a call to them.

barnaby-bear

TurnaroundSue wrote: »

OMG, that equates to £6.57 PER DAY for your gas and £1.92 PER DAY for electricity.

There is something not quite right there, unless you have your heating on full 24/7. I have a 4 bedroomed detached and on average at the moment during this cold spell my gas is roughly 25 units PER WEEK, which roughly equates to £4 PER WEEK and even then we could cut back. Have our heating on around 20 degrees for quite a bit as OH works shifts and is home during the day alot when I am in work and vis versa. Have you had your gas meter checked by an independent company. We had a problem with our gas meter and when we contacted TRANSCO it turned out that our meter was assigned to a house down the road:eek: . It took ages but they eventually got it sorted, so might be worth a call to them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/are_you_paying_too_much_for_ga.html

Imperial billing confusion?
Immersion permanently switched on?
Meter connected to someone elses?

Seriously bizarre since you are out - try the utilities board - lots of bods in billing and engineering who will talk you through various checks to source the issue.

cagneuk

I asked about the imperial billing but they just discarded my question and said that wasn't possible with my meter being new. she wasn't that helpful really. but then again it was british gas

thanks for that transco thing will have a look after this week of testing m meter.

cagneuk

just read all the blogs on the watchdog site and I still don't get it. I think I'm on metric meter and metric billing.
Nevermind will pursue this with british gas.
thanks for all the tips on upping income and reducing outgoings.

lynzpower

LaraHoust wrote: »

Hey Cagneuk

On the present front, it's really easy to get people great, branded presents that don't cost the earth. There are so many ways to do this that are all listed on this site.

Here's a few from my Christmas list -

Sister - M&S Cashmere scarf - in the shop at £19.00
Used Mazuma to Recycle and old mobile phone = £10.00 M&S vouchers
I waited until the big sale day to get 25% off
Paid a total of - £5.50 ish
It's still the same scarf that I'd have bought her anyway

Friend - Boots Sanctuary Smellies - £15.00
I top up in Boots on mobile getting 40p per £10.00 in Advantage card points.
Plus extra vouchers through the year.
Sanctuary 3 for 2 offer on, plus voucher from ACM machine
Paid £9.00ish in points = £0.00 in money
Again, just the same present!

Dad - Magazine Subscription Gardener's World - £30.00
Paid using Tesco clubcard deals
Cost £0.00

Try writing reviews on Dooyoo for Amazon vouchers, Pigsback used to be good for clickthroughs but not so good now and all kinds of surveys etc. in the up your income board.

Also shop in the sales the whole year round, you'll be amazed.

totally true :T

Also online codes are briliant and a whole forum of them. I got a £15 off a £25 spend at la radoute, that 25 quid present will only cost a tenner ( think im going to get mum a dressing gown for Mday) I got some nice sets in the Boots sale the 15 quid ones for 2.50, will sort Xmas out.

caramia1812

cagneuk wrote: »

Will look at up income boards too. thanks

Just a bit curious about your statement re your internet connection. It makes no difference WHO the ISP is - if your actual line is capable of 10mb then ANY ISP will be able to deliver that 10mb to your home......Besides why do you NEED 10mb? I've been gaming online for over 6 years and only have 2.5mb max due to the area I live in and that still gives me enough "speed".

Have to comment about your present-buying though. I think it's quite shocking tbh. When I found myself in a hole last year the first thing I did was tell my family and friends about my position and not to expect anything from me (yeah and that included children) - it's called self-preservation. I also cut my utility bills by 50% each month and literally cut my usage by 50% to compensate.

You can't say you're bust if you are still buying for other people and not trying to cut down on the basic day to day living costs.

Sorry if it sounds harsh but it's true!

cagneuk

caramia1812 wrote: »

You can't say you're bust if you are still buying for other people and not trying to cut down on the basic day to day living costs.

Sorry if it sounds harsh but it's true!

Ok thanks for your opinion but I've never said I was bust, if you had read the original couple of posts it actually shows I'm living ok, all bills are being paid. OK we're not saving as much as we should but we both have good pensions we are paying into and we are a young family.

All I'm looking to do is secure our living expenses while my wife is on maternity pay. We are cutting down on living costs and cutting down on what we spend on presents.

Bust doesn't come into it unless we are talking about mt DW's increased size over her pregnancy.:T :T :T