Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2013

amr547

any tips on how to get your bills down??? i'm struggling to see a way of how to reduce our bills. except our food bill, we cuold definitely do a lot with that one i think

32b3in2013

Evening

A few ebayers have paid so my new total is #11 - £6754.42 / £10,224 = 66.06%:j
There are another few to pay so I will be back to update then.

32b3

minicooper272

amr547 wrote: »

any tips on how to get your bills down??? i'm struggling to see a way of how to reduce our bills. except our food bill, we cuold definitely do a lot with that one i think

When was the last time you switched energy supplier? Can you ask them to send a smart meter? I was surprised to see how much energy some of our appliances used! If you have a water meter, AW have lots of bits and bobs campaigns to help save water if you just call and ask (I remember you saying you lived nearby). You can also save a lot by making sure you don't leave things on standby. Did you also know that if you leave laptop/phone chargers plugged in with no phone attached, they still draw 14W? Doesn't sound much, but over a year that's almost £5. With 2 laptops, 2 phones, a digibox, etc etc, it adds up!

amr547

minicooper272 wrote: »

When was the last time you switched energy supplier? Can you ask them to send a smart meter? I was surprised to see how much energy some of our appliances used! If you have a water meter, AW have lots of bits and bobs campaigns to help save water if you just call and ask (I remember you saying you lived nearby). You can also save a lot by making sure you don't leave things on standby. Did you also know that if you leave laptop/phone chargers plugged in with no phone attached, they still draw 14W? Doesn't sound much, but over a year that's almost £5. With 2 laptops, 2 phones, a digibox, etc etc, it adds up!

We're not 'allowed' to change energy suppliers according to my rental contract!!! So we are stuck with SSE. They are really helpful but we spend £120 a month on gas and electric combined, then £50 for water on top because there's no water. I'm sure we wouldn't use that much if we were on a meter! But we're not allowed one of those either...

Ooh, that's interesting! Might go and turn everything off now!

[Deleted User]

Another £220 paid today.

Getting very close. :cool:

[Deleted User]

amr547 wrote: »

They are really helpful but we spend £120 a month on gas and electric combined

How much? :eek:

I spend barely 1/3rd of that.

his_missus

Hello all,

amr - I started turning things off that don't need to be on all the time like the microwave, ps3, radio,stereo, unplugging chargers, not leaving tv on standby, not leaving lights on unnecessarily - only small things but it does make a difference. Hopefully your heating bill should drop over summer (then again, I've just put mine back on so I can dry the washing!)

That's a lot of money a month, but then a few of my friends are paying something similar to you and are amazed we only pay £50 a month (just reduced from £56 a month) for gas and leccy.

Also, me n Hubby work together as well as live together, it's not often we're apart... so we converted one of the bedrooms to a "retreat" sofa bed (so people can still stay over) tv, games console, craft area for me so we can have time apart when necessary to give us breathing space.

minicooper272

amr547 wrote: »

We're not 'allowed' to change energy suppliers according to my rental contract!!! So we are stuck with SSE. They are really helpful but we spend £120 a month on gas and electric combined, then £50 for water on top because there's no water. I'm sure we wouldn't use that much if we were on a meter! But we're not allowed one of those either...

Ooh, that's interesting! Might go and turn everything off now!

If you can't switch supplier, definitely see if you can change tariff with them. They always automatically put you on a more expensive tariff. Definitely turning everything off is a good idea!

amr547

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

How much? :eek:

I spend barely 1/3rd of that.

£80 on gas, £40 on electric the joys of living in a terraced house with a backboiler and no insulation...

amr547

minicooper272 wrote: »

If you can't switch supplier, definitely see if you can change tariff with them. They always automatically put you on a more expensive tariff. Definitely turning everything off is a good idea!

Thanks I dunno, we had a massive gas bill last summer -£300 for May - August. Nobody ccould work out why not even SSE :eek: so we pay £80 a month now to try and cover the bills. My winter bill was also £300!