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alona1

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

Hey Maman - well maybe I have been suckered in......... but when I was with N power (before i changed!) I had a chat with a really lovely lady who told me that the way to save money is to acutally switch the appliance totally off from the plug and it would save you money??

Maybe someone could tell me if I have just been guilable and taken in. She thinks must google this and find out if I have been..........

I did notice my electric did go down? But we also did things like have engergy saving lightbulbs...

This is true, it's mainly TV's from what I understand though and bigger appliances ie microwave, etc. Turn it all off if its not needed. It's still drawing power, the little things add up! :T

Sunnylooloo

Phew Alona I wasnt going mad.................. or giving people silly advice as I have told a couple of people later to "un plug"!!!


Thanks

DrowningInDebt_2

Hi Everyone, this is a great forum I made a difference tonight, normally I do my shopping at Asda on a Tuesday after work (tax credit day), last weeks bill £129 + £4.50 taxi fare. This week I got a lift to town from work at lunchtime and bought all my cleaning products and toiletries in the £ shop, which came to £17 and after work I got a lift to Netto which is quite far away but it only came to £59 + £6 taxi fare, making a saving of £51.50 :rotfl: This weekend I'm going to sit down with the kids and sort out some menus to help me with the weekly shop. I rang sky tonight to see about cancelling my subscription (52 a month) they're going to charge me £78.74 to cancel because I haven't had it 12 months until January! Next thing on my list is my electric bill, normally i leave the skybox and everything plugged in all night but i'm going to start turning all the plugs off except the fridge and freezer, hopefully i'll see a difference before the winter sets in. I'm also having the dishwasher taken out, it's something that my parents had put in when they were living with me but I really don't need it, the kids can earn their pocket money by washing the pots before I get home from work. My phone is a Nokia 5310 I think, no idea, but I have an international bolt on that gives me 200 minutes call time and texts at 10 a time to my partners number, if i switch to contract my texts will be 25p per time. I really can't do without that contact with my partner, long distance relationships are hard enough, I don't drink and I gave up smoking and that's how I justify it I've been holding for 23 minutes now on national debtlines number, is there anybody there? I only want to see if I can set up a debt managemment plan to get rid of my catalogues and provident and vanquis aarrrgggghhh!
Thanks for all your help peoples you've been great.
Oh and Sunny it took me some time to realise who DID was I was scrolling through the posts thinking 'who is sunny talking to?' Thanks for the directions to oldstyle stuff, my eyes are starting to ache now but i'll have plenty of time at the weekend to look through them after I finish the 11 loads of washing and making all those shepherds pies and lasagnes for the kids
Someone at work told me that if I do all my washing on 30 degrees instead of 40 I can make quite some savings too, does anyone know if there's any truth in that?

winner12

Well done to you and dont give up on the debt charities they are so busy helping people just like us this is when you realise you are not alone oh and yes the 30 wash does work and it will take alot less of your time to do the 11 loads

Sunnylooloo

Hey DID glad you realised I was talking to you hehehe (sorry it is just me too lazy to write DrowningInDebt all the time)

It sounds like you have really taken the bull by the horns, and brilliant that you hae some great ideas for getting the kids involved - much better if you all work together at this joint effort.

Wow about the shopping savings! It is amazing eh what you can do when you think about it all.

Yep keep hanging on for National Debtline - I know I had to wait for a bit - but the thing I really liked about them they really do take their time with every person that calls.

glad you found the links ok too.

Keep us updated on how you are getting on or just pop by for a chat!

LL
x

maman

Well done DiD on cutting back on the shopping. Just one question that bothered me..

DrowningInDebt wrote: »

This week I got a lift to town from work at lunchtime and bought all my cleaning products and toiletries in the £ shop, which came to £17...

Well done on going to the £shop, it's always worth a look in there, but can I ask what was the £17 for? It sounds an awful lot even for a month to me or were you stocking up? I'm not about to suggest you wash your hair with Stardrops:D but it just seemed a big expense.

DrowningInDebt_2

maman wrote: »

Well done DiD on cutting back on the shopping. Just one question that bothered me..



Well done on going to the £shop, it's always worth a look in there, but can I ask what was the £17 for? It sounds an awful lot even for a month to me or were you stocking up? I'm not about to suggest you wash your hair with Stardrops:D but it just seemed a big expense.

I admit I bought more than I had to, but I got things like Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner and bathroom cleaner, normally i buy Asda's own cleaning products and whatever is on special in the toiletries, but I stocked up on things like toothpaste and shampoo, toothpaste is ridiculously overpriced in Asda. I also picked up a couple of one off things like lunchboxes for the kids and a laundry basket for the bathroom and those foil trays for making frozen dinners. That shop was like Santas Grotto for me

Sunnylooloo

I totally get sucked into the £shop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maman

DrowningInDebt wrote: »

I admit I bought more than I had to, but I got things like Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner and bathroom cleaner, normally i buy Asda's own cleaning products and whatever is on special in the toiletries, but I stocked up on things like toothpaste and shampoo, toothpaste is ridiculously overpriced in Asda. I also picked up a couple of one off things like lunchboxes for the kids and a laundry basket for the bathroom and those foil trays for making frozen dinners. That shop was like Santas Grotto for me

That's great, so it'll cut down on future bills and help you with the batch cooking for the freezer. Well done, hope you didn't mind me asking.

thepurplegoldfish

I've just stumpled upon this, the best advise in the world is to contact the National Debt Helpline - These people are amazing, they have me sorted within a few weeks, essentially I did a Debt Relief Order, It was granted on the 1st June this year, I haven't had a single letter from any creditors since, the one thing I have had is a decent nights sleep (something that has eluded me for past 2 years).

Also I followed similar advise to what has been given above, compare Utilities, Landline, Broadband, Contents Insurance etc.... It makes a HUGE difference, also once you find out who is the cheapest, If you go through a Cashback site like Quidco or TopCashBack (My preferred choice), you can earn money from switching.

I switched to Npower saved over £400 a year compared to a really old tariff i'd been on, plus by going via topcashback i earned £30, I did similar things with Virgin media, Mobile Phone (got a new phone for free too, aswell as saving £18 a month by switching and £50 Cashback).

But first things first call the National Debt Helpline