Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

never_too_old

cw18 wrote: »

I think I turned into a chameleon when I first put all my figures into a spreadsheet as well :rotfl:

once i recovered it did me the world of good, i frequently open it and look at it and look at ways to tweak totals and now im on my 3rd month i can see where improvements have been made:D

enjoyfinancialchallenges

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Hi all,

Hope everyone's ok today. Just nipping in to say I'll be following you all in your journey and cheering you on, but I am out. after 8 years of penny pinching, scrimping and sacrifice it's starting to feel like deprivation and it's just not productive. I've noticed we're being penny wise and pound foolish. so we're easing up, stepping away from the budget and just getting on with life for a bit.

Best of luck to you all.

Sorry to hear you are leaving us alec eiffel, I also am penny wise and pound foolish at times but I work on the knowledge if I wasn't penny wise I couldn't be pound foolish,.... for long anyway!
I'm sure we would all like to hear from you occasionally so don't go completely, pop in from time to time and tell us about all you major expenditures, so we can feel happy knowing its not us. IYKWIM.:D Best wishes to you also.

alec_eiffel

I'll be about, just not writing everything down!

mooomin

alec_eiffel wrote: »

I'll be about, just not writing everything down!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

inspirespirit

Just wrote a really long post, computer crashed and I lost it all. Story of my life at the moment.

To cut a long story short, I moved into an old 3 bed semi victorian rented house in Sept 2009 (me and two sons, one disabled). I took electric and gas meter readings and set up DDebits for monthly 50 and 60 pounds respectively. Thereafter, just let the little man who came round take the readings as the meters were in cellar and I hated going down there. Stupidly, I didn't take a lot of notice after that as I was happy thinking I was paying monthly which I had done in my previous 3 bed semi without a problem.
We were moved last month into a housing association property suitable for disabled people as son is having hip replacement in April and the other propery was deemed unsuitable for him. So, on last day, myself and landlord took the meter readings and phoned them through.

They have just sent me a bill for £1,040 final bill for the leccy and gas !!!!!!!! I phoned and asked them why they had not let me know I was in arrears and they said the little old man who took the meter readings must have been getting them wrong !!!

I feel stupid now because I thought setting up everything up on Direct Debit meant I didn't need to worry. have worked out a payment plan with them to pay it off before the end of the year but it is leaving me so short I don't know how I'm going to manage.
Is it worth complaining do you think? Don't see what I can do, cos if I owe it, I owe it.
The other thing was, when I rang them to tell them I was moving, I said would my DDebits just continue as is and everything just transferred and they said yes. So again i didn't worry. however, they closed the old account instead of transferring and tried to take the £1,040 out of my bank account instead of the usual 50/60 pounds (obviously I hadn't got that amount in there), and now I have 2 charges of 15 pounds for unpaid DD's.

Really hope being on this thread will help me sort myself out !:(

sorry it's so long.

SandraScarlett

inspirespirit wrote: »

Just wrote a really long post, computer crashed and I lost it all. Story of my life at the moment.

To cut a long story short, I moved into an old 3 bed semi victorian rented house in Sept 2009 (me and two sons, one disabled). I took electric and gas meter readings and set up DDebits for monthly 50 and 60 pounds respectively. Thereafter, just let the little man who came round take the readings as the meters were in cellar and I hated going down there. Stupidly, I didn't take a lot of notice after that as I was happy thinking I was paying monthly which I had done in my previous 3 bed semi without a problem.
We were moved last month into a housing association property suitable for disabled people as son is having hip replacement in April and the other propery was deemed unsuitable for him. So, on last day, myself and landlord took the meter readings and phoned them through.

They have just sent me a bill for £1,040 final bill for the leccy and gas !!!!!!!! I phoned and asked them why they had not let me know I was in arrears and they said the little old man who took the meter readings must have been getting them wrong !!!

I feel stupid now because I thought setting up everything up on Direct Debit meant I didn't need to worry. have worked out a payment plan with them to pay it off before the end of the year but it is leaving me so short I don't know how I'm going to manage.
Is it worth complaining do you think? Don't see what I can do, cos if I owe it, I owe it.
The other thing was, when I rang them to tell them I was moving, I said would my DDebits just continue as is and everything just transferred and they said yes. So again i didn't worry. however, they closed the old account instead of transferring and tried to take the £1,040 out of my bank account instead of the usual 50/60 pounds (obviously I hadn't got that amount in there), and now I have 2 charges of 15 pounds for unpaid DD's.

Really hope being on this thread will help me sort myself out !:(

sorry it's so long.

Well, it's always worth a try complaining, if it'll help to bring your massive bill down! I'm assuming the little man was from the energy provider, and they have a duty to send you quarterly bills, or Williams, as mine always are, (far too big for a mere "Bill") and they should clearly show how much you are owing them, or have overpaid.

Some years ago I had a humdinger of an ongoing "discussion" with Scottish & Southern, that culminated in me being credited with several hundred pounds - all due to a faulty meter.

First off, I would ask to speak to Customer Care, and would stress your disabled son's condition, and why you are being moved, and ask why you were not sent regular bills, showing that you were in debt. And it doesn't hurt to start crying either.

HTH

xx

cw18

I believe it's quite normal to have accounts closed and opened with a house move, as they're linked to the meters. But normally they transfer the debit/credit balance between the two - and the only reason I know for trying to take anything owed would be if you're moving to a different supplier.

But I'm sure they should have given you notice of their intention to take the money, which I'd assume is when they sent out the letter. And if you got in touch straight away to work out the payment plan, then there's no reason at all they should have tried to claim the money.

In your shoes I'd certainly be getting in touch with them, and as part of the conversation I'd be asking them to refund the bank charges.

inspirespirit

I received the letter on the 9th and it said the money would be taken out of my account after the 9th, so I immediately rang my bank, but it wastoo late, they had already tried to take it out. When I spoke to them I asked about the charges and they told me to ask my bank, which I did, and they bounced me back to southern. She has now said she will speak to her superior and is ringing me back on Friday to confirm the payment plan and whethe I'll get my charges back (can't do anything before then apparently as they have to wait for the upaid direct debit to get back to them)
Also, this house has a water meter. they have estimated my charges to be 40 per month which is double what I was paying before when not metered but sounds about right based on what Cheryl is paying. (3 adults showering every day, dishwasher daily and washing machine 3 or 4 times per week).
The only way I can think of saving money is on my food bills. I reckon I have been spending around 150 per week on food etc., which I now realise is ridiculous for 3 of us. I want to halve it if possible.

cw18

inspirespirit wrote: »

Also, this house has a water meter. they have estimated my charges to be 40 per month which is double what I was paying before when not metered but sounds about right based on what Cheryl is paying. (3 adults showering every day, dishwasher daily and washing machine 3 or 4 times per week).

Hmmmm...... well I don't shower every day (I'm a big fan of strip washing) and don't have a dish-washer (hand wash my pots every 3 or 4 days - or after a batch cooking session - when there's enough to make it worth filling the washing-up bowl with water). But I do run 3 wash-loads most weeks (2 are just for work uniforms plus a few other small bits that fit in with them).

inspirespirit

I was thinking if you were paying around 14/16 pounds per month for yourself Cheryl, then 40 is probably about right for 3 of us. dunno whether I'll be able to convince the lads to strip wash instead of shower, and I always create a pile of dishes as cook from scratch every day. I try to make sure the dishy is completely full before putting a load through though.
(btw, I think we know each other from UKS - although I don't go on there much anymore )