cutting costs further still.....

JAMIEDODGER

hi all:)

have just reworked my budget for about the hundreth time (obsessed or what lol)

have been looking at ways to reduce the BILLS section of my budget ie all those payments that go out by DD.

a few things i noticed were:

- if i paid my car insurance this year in full, i would save on the horrendous aprs they charge you....lost all my no claims last year so when its up for renewal this year it should go down:), if i paid it in full, i could then technically save its cost monthly into savings account for next years insurance, which should be lower again, providing no more accidents fingers crossed. also if i went through quidco i could get some cashback:) does this seem viable?

- utilities bills. currently have small arrears on both gas and elec so am unable to switch atm, if i paid these both off out of my savings and then switched through quidco earning cash back, could i then pay the monthly amount into my savings account until the bill comes in therefore earning interest (or would the saving for paying by dd be better?) this will also enable me to switch frequently earning cashback through quidco etc, i think with the quidco cashback plus interest in account this might make more sense than the tiny reduction for paying by dd.....again what do people think of this????

- i am planning on changing my mobile to PAYG when my contract ends late next year (on 18mth contract) its a good deal however i still feel i use my mobile too much and would like to cut the cost.

- internet...same as mobile, will look for a better deal when contract ends in the summer

thats about it really......any suggestions?

JD

Honeybee_2

For your mobile, O2 do good deals.

I pay £15 per moth PAYG and that gives me 150 off peak, x-net minutes per month, 400 texts per month, 10% of my top ups back and little freebies here and there such as 20 free texts or minutes, etc.

gallygirl

JD - can't remember if you have your own house or are renting. But if buying, instead of a combined contents and buildings insurance check out getting them separately via quidco - mum's 2 insurances came to £130, but 2 x £120 from Lloyds!!!!! (tracked so should be ok).

How's the business going?

Batfink

JAMIEDODGER wrote:

- i am planning on changing my mobile to PAYG when my contract ends late next year (on 18mth contract) its a good deal however i still feel i use my mobile too much and would like to cut the cost.

Went through a similar dilema myself recently and eventually decided that a deal from e2save would be best for me.

They have quite a few 12 months free line rental deals at the moment. I got a free phone, free delivery, free line rental for the whole 12 months of the contract and 100mins and 25 texts included each month. I even got £37.50 through quidco too! Its a bit of hassle as you need to send off the bills to get a cheque back but its well worth it IMO.

They actually have even better deals now on some orange phones - i.e. more minutes and texts included but still no cost.

HTH
Batfink x

roswell

the car insurance is a good one,

How do you work your savings ? I snowball them eg i have seperate pots, this months "emergangy fund" got my savings for the month due to needing a new fridge, next month will be the christmas fund i will pay 2 months of savings into that so im set for xmas 2007, after that i have car insurance to pay in june have the money for it but will put a couple of months savings into that for when i make the payment so i have the money for 2008`s insurance. and so the cycle continues i find this easier than having set amounts each month into each pot. if any pot starts getting bigger than needed i look for somewhere else to put it / blance out the pots.

skylight

I use Powergen for both gas and elec and do not pay by direct debit. It costs me a fraction extra I believe, but I turn out meter readings every single month and put these on my website based account. A new bill is sent monthly and I pay this off, plus a bit extra in the sumemr to cover Winters bills.

It works for me, rather than paying by DD too much or too little. At least I know exactly where I stand.

I did the same as you for insurance - but for house insurance. I paid for the year in one go rather than monthly. It saved about £15 on interest/apr charges and I would not have recieved that much via interest on the savings. Claiming back £70 from Quidco makes it very lucrative. I don't have enough savings to do the same for our car insurances though, but am trying to make the effort!

mophead

Just wondering how do you pay for your tv licence?

I've just discovered that you pay more over the year (about £5) if you pay quaterly rather than monthly or in full. It's a small amount but it all adds up.

JAMIEDODGER

hi guys:)

mophead - i pay for my tv licence monthly by dd, no savings there for me, only the fact that i could put away the same amount in bank account (earning ME) interest and pay the following year in full.

charlotte - yes i thought the savings might be bigger to "save" the bill money as opposed to them taking it by dd....so will continue with that idea:)

roswell - i currently save for all annual expenses in pots with ING and have just opened a new hisave account. i find this the ONLY way for me to cover all those odd expenses like school trips, school uniforms, car tax and the like:)

Batfink and honeybee - i know there are good deals around but i really want to switch to PAYG

ali007 - i rent:) but will be looking around for cheaper contents insurance later in the year:D

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi... jamiedodger....

if you are changing your mobile phone... contract.....

it might be worth you going to the boots website.. and looking at their mobile phones..... they do contracts with the main mobile phone companies....

and you get loyalty points on your boots advantage card.....

which you can use.... for christmas pressies...

example..... contracted phone.... £35.00 a month..... you get £360.00 yes £360.00 back on your boots loyalty card to spend in boots...so in affect you are getting a new up to date mobile phone.... and free calls and texts for £70. for the year......or do what my friend done.. sold the phone... for over £100. so £30. profit on the phone... and all the call worked out free in the end......

there are other deals... with less monthly payment.. and less loyalty points... but it all helps.....

might be worth you taking a look......also go through a cashback site.... to get some extra pennies.. back in the pot....

JAMIEDODGER

hi CTC-

i have had a look at the boots site,although it is very tempting, i still would feel happier with a PAYG i think. my contract isnt due to expire for a little while yet so will wait until then to decide, many thanks for your post:)

JAMIEDODGER

ok so im doing a uturn:)
just called 02......

signed up for a new contract as mine had already expired (got dates wrong!)

free E900 phone

800 mins tues-fri any time any network
1000 txts
2000 mins sat-mon anytime any network

£40, so cheaper than im paying now but with more mins and a free fone:) ill settle for that:) plus i keep my number which i needed to do

i also phoned bt to find out when my contract for b/band expired, thats also finished too........went through quidco and signed up for talk talk 3 package, as am already with them for phone, which makes my broadband now free....


.....total saving £383.76 per year.

not bad for 10 mins work:

plus £5 from quidco:):):):T:T:T