Help me get rid of my stupid debts

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

jambalaya wrote: »

The figures for gas and electricity are my estimates - we get them both from EON but its £98 a month direct debit combined. I think that they are high but were in summer so i should be in surplus on the account by now, but were not - i think its £30 debit!
We have in the past looked into cavity wall insulation to try and reduce the heating bill - but they said we couldn't have it. 1930's semi and there are too many 'tie in' bricks IIRC.
Last year i looked quite a lot at the usage and reduced the leccy by 1% over the year (according to EON) - but gas stayed the same.

I have been around all windows and doors and sealed gaps - draft proofed where necessary.

I could switch to another supplier but have no confidence whatsoever in the comparison sites - how do you know if they really are comparing like for like?

Hi jambalaya

Hope you don't mind me intruding on your thread but thought I might be able to give you a couple of ideas about your energy usage.

You're certainly going in the right direction having reduced your electricity already and we may be able to help you cut back more.

We've an Energy Efficiency team who specialise in helping customers reduce their usage. Have a chat with them. Give them a list of your appliances and they'll be happy to advise of any possible savings.

Ask for a copy of a booklet called '100 ways to save money by saving energy.' It's free and contains lots of useful ideas.

Check out our website, too; particularly the Interactive House and Energy Fit scheme. More good tips here.

Ask for a free electricity monitor so you can keep a check on your usage.

On the billing side, make sure we're charging to actual meter readings. If estimates have been used, give us a call with up to date readings. We'll re-bill the account accurately and review your monthly payments.

As others have said, make sure you're on the best tariff for your circumstances. For instance, there's savings to be made by managing your account online. Full details of all our tariffs are available on the website.

However, for the best possible picture, pop your annual usage in kWh on to one of the comparison sites. This will list all the tariffs, both with us and the other suppliers. Choose the one best for you.

Hope the above is of use jambalaya. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help. Good luck with the savings.

Malc

batgirl21

Hi Good luck first of all and my first thought was do you take the £80 pocket money in cash or hold it in a separate account?
I have started doing this instead of having it in my account with the direct debits etc and now I'm really aware exactly what I'm spending it on. Befor I would have not thought twice about buying a magazine a dress etc but actually knowing what I can spend on myself exactly and thinking about whats coming up in my life that I need money to finance has definately made me think twice about daft purchases and then feel really good about not spending.

On the diet front if your trying to lose weight planning really is the key to weight loss for many people and I have found that I spend less and loose more weight went I have planned and shopped for the week. I'm a slimming world person so its all made from scratch but I'm aware other diets eg WW often use alot of ready meals which I believe can be pricey so that could be worth looking at.

jambalaya

joedenise wrote: »

With regard to 2) I am with Virgin and have unlimited mobile use, 100 minutes of talk and, I think, 300 texts a month, this deal costs me £15 a month, don't know if they're still doing this deal as I got mine several months ago, it is a 24 month contract with a Blackberry phone. This might be worth looking into.

With regard to 3) Do you mealplan, batchcook, stick to a list, compare prices online (mysupermarket.com) before going shopping? I do all these and rarely spend more than £30-35 per week (for 2 of us). I stretch meals with extra veg, use smaller portions of meat than I used to, make veggie soups and freeze in single portions and we use these as starters (take 2 from freezer), my OH also takes to work for his lunch and microwaves thus saving money.

With regard to 4), you'll probably be able to reduce this once you both do a spending diary and see where you are "wasting" money. Perhaps it's something like coffees on the way to work, magazines, chocolate etc; all of which add up over the month. My OH and I have about £20 between us a week, so half of what you and your partner have, but more often than not don't use it, in which case I don't draw the money the following week and we make do, so in effect we probably don't spend more than about £40-£50 a month.

HTH

Denise

Hi Denise thanks for taking the time to read the thread. The reason why my wife is on 3 is that she's always on the phone to her mum and they both get 2000 free 3 to 3 minute IIRC. Will look at deal this evening including Virgin, although i'm sure she sends well in excess of 300 texts... :whistle:

We do plan meals for the week, buy according to the list which we make from the planned meals etc. We cook each day and already use less meat than we used to, for example a curry or a stirfry now has one chicken breast in instead of two, and we already bulk meals out with veg or potatoes or rice.

We don't compare prices online yet, but thats something i can have a go at. A question though - do you just take the consensus of the cheapest overall and go to that store, or do you make trips to 3 or 4 different supermarkets?

I am guilty of buying coffee on the way to work about 2-3 times a week which i can give up (in my defence its McDs not starbucks)

Thanks for your suggestions!

jambalaya

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi jambalaya

Hope you don't mind me intruding on your thread but thought I might be able to give you a couple of ideas about your energy usage.

You're certainly going in the right direction having reduced your electricity already and we may be able to help you cut back more.

We've an Energy Efficiency team who specialise in helping customers reduce their usage. Have a chat with them. Give them a list of your appliances and they'll be happy to advise of any possible savings.

Ask for a copy of a booklet called '100 ways to save money by saving energy.' It's free and contains lots of useful ideas.

Check out our website, too; particularly the Interactive House and Energy Fit scheme. More good tips here.

Ask for a free electricity monitor so you can keep a check on your usage.

On the billing side, make sure we're charging to actual meter readings. If estimates have been used, give us a call with up to date readings. We'll re-bill the account accurately and review your monthly payments.

As others have said, make sure you're on the best tariff for your circumstances. For instance, there's savings to be made by managing your account online. Full details of all our tariffs are available on the website.

However, for the best possible picture, pop your annual usage in kWh on to one of the comparison sites. This will list all the tariffs, both with us and the other suppliers. Choose the one best for you.

Hope the above is of use jambalaya. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help. Good luck with the savings.

Malc

Hi Malc thanks for taking the time to read my thread. I already have an energy monitor which i could perhaps attribute the 1% reduction in my electricity usage to. I've just downloaded the pdf of that save energy to save money guide - i'll read that this evening.

You mention billing - i already conduct my account over the net and make sure that i always input meter readings rather than letting estimates be used to calculate the bill

My main worry energywise is gas. I know i have to cut my expenditure allround but especially during the last two winters i have thrown caution to the wind and had the heating on plenty to keep the house warm, knowing full well that the bills going to be massive. The only way i can see to reduce this cost is more loft insulation - but its not a simple fix for me. My loft has a small amount of insulation but is boarded out entirely and there are 'built in' cupboards all around the eaves meaning that i can't lift quite a lot of the boards and if i could, i couldn't install the correct depth of insulation...

I'll give the comparison sites a shot later and see what happens.

Thanks.

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff

Hi Jambalaya,

Welcome to the forums. My wife and I have been on a complete economy drive for about six months now trying to clear our debts. There's been plenty of good tips on here already, but here are a few I can offer - mostly on food shopping as I've become a bit obsessed with it recently...

1. Obviously others have already suggested cutting down on meat - we're vegetarians and have very little dairy too, which keeps the costs down and keeps it healthier too.

2. Drop the brands - I think you said you are shopping at aldi but you might find the value brands in the big supermarkets are chepaer in a lot of cases. We decided a few months back to try Asda Smart Price at least once and only return to a higher graded product if we really though it was worse - my trolley is now almost entirely white and green. If you are cooking from scratch with fresh veg then really it won't make much difference if you are using fancy branded pasta or smart price. Some things that most people buy branded versions of I've just stopped using. A few months ago when I'd run out of shave gel i used a tiny bit of smart price hand soap instead and it worked fine so it's what I've been using ever since. Maybe this example won't work for you - if you have sensitive skin, for example - but it just goes to show what you can save if you stop taking every purchase for granted and really question them.

3. Shop in the evenings - if you can go to the supermarket in the evenings you can often get bread and veg on good clearance prices. Last week I got about 5kg of carrots and parsnips for about £1.50 and 48 rolls for 80p. It's now all in the freezer (the veg as a spicy soup). So a portion of soup and 2 rolls for my lunch will now be costing me about 15p - bargain

If you are struggling on the 'pocket money' front you could join the No Spending Day challenges on the forums and also you could ration it. Start by limiting yourself to a tenner a week. Get it out on Monday morning and see how long you can make it last. I've founf that doing that, I don't want to risk spending it in case I need it later and end up still having it at the end of the week

Are you using eBay? You could get some of the bits for your kids on there - toys, clothes etc. You spend less and they get more. Also, have you got anything you can sell? We've been clearing stuff out and been pretty ruthless. If we aren't using it - it can go. Also, you'd be amazed at the c**p people will actually buy on there.

Hope that helps!

Good luck.

MummyEm

On the energy front, is you loft properly insulated?

With both energy and grocery budget in mind, I would recommend a slow cooker. I make big batches of a few of our favourites. Eat for dinner, then freeze up the rest in portions. Means we have lots of easy meals that just need defrosting and heating up. Great so I'm not cooking twice every evening as our kiddies are in bed most nights by the time hubbie is home from work. Loads of ideas and recipes on the OS board.

Some other ideas on the food front- We have also been looking at reducing our grocery shopping budget. I haven't yet managed to convince hubbie on a 'meat free' night but we normally now have a couple of very cheap evening meals per week - ommelettes, frittatas - great for using up leftovers.
I also sometimes alternate the day which I do the food shop-leave it one extra day. I try to make up a meal using leftovers / veggies on their last legs / or odds and ends from bottom of the freezer. Makes for some 'adventurous' combinations but sometimes really really yummy.

Another idea is looking at local shops/farms. We get our eggs from farm down the road - cheaper than any I've found in shops or supermarkets!

good luck

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

jambalaya wrote: »

Hi Malc thanks for taking the time to read my thread. I already have an energy monitor which i could perhaps attribute the 1% reduction in my electricity usage to. I've just downloaded the pdf of that save energy to save money guide - i'll read that this evening.

You mention billing - i already conduct my account over the net and make sure that i always input meter readings rather than letting estimates be used to calculate the bill

My main worry energywise is gas. I know i have to cut my expenditure allround but especially during the last two winters i have thrown caution to the wind and had the heating on plenty to keep the house warm, knowing full well that the bills going to be massive. The only way i can see to reduce this cost is more loft insulation - but its not a simple fix for me. My loft has a small amount of insulation but is boarded out entirely and there are 'built in' cupboards all around the eaves meaning that i can't lift quite a lot of the boards and if i could, i couldn't install the correct depth of insulation...

I'll give the comparison sites a shot later and see what happens.

Thanks.

Hi jambalaya

Sounds like you're already doing quite a bit to control your energy usage.

I fully understand, given the last two winters, where the extra gas usage comes from. :snow_grin

Loft insulation is certainly an option. The Energy Efficiency team I mentioned earlier will be able to give you advice on this.

I'm not sure about properties built before or around 1930, but we do carry out free surveys to see if individual properties will benefit from loft insulation.

Again, the Energy Efficiency team will give you full details. There's also info on our website which might help.

Hope this helps a little jambalaya and best of luck with the savings. Let me know if I can help further as always happy to do so.

Malc

foxgloves

We have been dieting since January this year and contrary to our expectations, we are not spending any more money on our food budget. In fact, we are able to stick to it better because as portion sizes have been cut to comply with diet, our food is simply lasting longer. We cook everything from scratch and make all our bread, rolls, pizza bases in the bread maker which saves money if you look for good prices on flour ( in our case 1/4 Lidl white bread flour used to stretch out Waitrose essentials wholemeal) There is so much stuff we no longer buy at all because of dieting i.e crisps, biscuits, salted nuts, cakes, cream, naughty desserts, chocolate, & that frees up money for buying more of the healthy stuff. We usually do a roast chicken at the weekend, then I get at least 2 more meals from the leftover meat as well as 2 packed lunches for partner & stock for the freezer to use as the basis of something else later on. I did think that with both of us dieting we'd be spending more, but as we also eat lots of vegetarian options, using lentils & pulses (kidney beans = 19p a can at Aldi) and the amount we eat has been reduced, this hasn't been the case. I've lost 36lbs & husband has lost 40lbs, so we must be doing something right. I think there is a general myth that healthy food is more expensive. It can be, but depending on what you choose, it can also be significantly cheaper.

jambalaya

:j

Got £78 from 2 of the mobiles - paid is straight off the MBNA - so that now stands at £349.

Still waiting for £32 for 2 others which i'll pay straight off the MBNA too.

I've also got 13 items on ebay which end today... let the packaging marathon commence.

We did the weekly shop for £47 this week which was an achievement.

I looked into switching provider for gas and electricity. I'm on a fixed deal until next may with EON and the comparison site said i could save £110 over the year by switching to scottish power - but its not a fixed deal, its discounted from their standard rates till next september i think.

I'm just not sure if the hassle of switching is worth the potential saving where the price can still rise.

cassidy0111

foxgloves wrote: »

We have been dieting since January this year and contrary to our expectations, we are not spending any more money on our food budget. In fact, we are able to stick to it better because as portion sizes have been cut to comply with diet, our food is simply lasting longer. We cook everything from scratch and make all our bread, rolls, pizza bases in the bread maker which saves money if you look for good prices on flour ( in our case 1/4 Lidl white bread flour used to stretch out Waitrose essentials wholemeal) There is so much stuff we no longer buy at all because of dieting i.e crisps, biscuits, salted nuts, cakes, cream, naughty desserts, chocolate, & that frees up money for buying more of the healthy stuff. We usually do a roast chicken at the weekend, then I get at least 2 more meals from the leftover meat as well as 2 packed lunches for partner & stock for the freezer to use as the basis of something else later on. I did think that with both of us dieting we'd be spending more, but as we also eat lots of vegetarian options, using lentils & pulses (kidney beans = 19p a can at Aldi) and the amount we eat has been reduced, this hasn't been the case. I've lost 36lbs & husband has lost 40lbs, so we must be doing something right. I think there is a general myth that healthy food is more expensive. It can be, but depending on what you choose, it can also be significantly cheaper.

That is a fantastic weight loss and just goes to show that convenience foods can actually be more expensive.