The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Usual stuff we know Alex:

- Reduce household bills through shopping around for utilities, insurances, phone contracts, internet etc
- Reduce utility bills through changing bulbs to LED ones, turn heating down 1C
- Reduce food shop by meal planning and only buying what you need
- Increase fuel consumption by careful driving
- Use coupons/cashback sites/voucher codes
- Move debt to 0% cards
- Move bank accounts for the one off incentive rewards and/or higher interest

The 3 families they featured following the above would make savings of @ £4,600 (IIRC) over 1 year.

We always say the little things add up and they really do.

AlexLK

Ali-OK wrote: »

Usual stuff we know Alex:

- Reduce household bills through shopping around for utilities, insurances, phone contracts, internet etc
- Reduce utility bills through changing bulbs to LED ones, turn heating down 1C
- Reduce food shop by meal planning and only buying what you need
- Increase fuel consumption by careful driving
- Use coupons/cashback sites/voucher codes
- Move debt to 0% cards
- Move bank accounts for the one off incentive rewards and/or higher interest

The 3 families they featured following the above would make savings of @ £4,600 (IIRC) over 1 year.

We always say the little things add up and they really do.

I didn't know some of that stuff.


Definitely do the shopping around for insurance policies / utilities etc. in fact that was one of the first MSE things I did when I joined this site.


The first time I heard about LED light bulbs, you had written on here that it'd cost you more than £100 to fit them around your house. Frankly, I can't see them saving that much electricity or am I wrong? As for the heating, that's one for you softy Southerners.


Meal planning is difficult but since being on MSE I've reduced the food bill by buying only what I need, not things for the sake of it then throwing it away. Agree with that one.


Increasing fuel consumption by "careful driving"? ... Pull the other one, Ali, we're car enthusiasts, remember? Now had I been advising the public, I'd say driving carefully pays for one full bore launch per day but seeing the face of the driver in that 3 Series when you light up the rear tyres of a 40 year old car is priceless. Erm, on second thought that destroys your tyres ... not very MSE.


Agree with the rest though I generally fail.

Ali-OK

LED bulbs are coming right down in price now, so though there's probably a 1-2 year time span to break even, after that it's all saving and they're guaranteed for 5 years to start with (and should last 7-10). Going from 28 watt ES to 3-5 watt we've seen a consistent drop of 2-3 electricity units per week - doesn't sound much but it's one of those little savings that will get bigger over time. If you're going from 40,60 or 100 watt then much bigger savings to be made.

:rotfl: indeed I am a softy southerner who now wears an extra jumper too so our heating is generally 18-19C in the house (not the 24C I used to love :eek:)

Why is meal planning difficult? You have made good progress though to be fair - we'll get you to that next bit one day

:rotfl: I'd agree with you on the car stuff if I hadn't sold the sports car - leadfoot and Stirling weren't my nicknames for nothing :rotfl:. Nowadays, I'm a 1.0 3 cyclinder eco zero tax band runaround gal. Shock horror! Doesn't make me less an enthusiastic, more a tight git :rotfl:

Nooo, you're not failing, just need to do some more doing

AlexLK

I'll have a look into the LED bulbs if they last that long. We generally still have the incandescent type, I can't say I think much to the energy saving ones though they may have got better since the gas company sent us some free ones.


We have our heating set at 18C too but no jumpers required. 24C is shocking.


As for the meal planning, I find any type of planning difficult to be honest. I think it could work well though.


:rotfl: I can't really argue with your logic regarding the car when my daily driver apparently takes 17.2 seconds to get to 60mph ... Still, it makes the fun ones even more fun.

Brogden

AlexLK wrote: »

I'll have a look into the LED bulbs if they last that long. We generally still have the incandescent type, I can't say I think much to the energy saving ones though they may have got better since the gas company sent us some free ones.

We were sent free ones too quite a while ago too. A sort of swirly tube on a bayonet fitting and they flickered when switched on like the old fluorescent 'strip lights' and then gave a light dim enough to bring on depression . They put me off for years.

Ali - you're our 'Bulb Queen'........is there a brand / type that you would recommend without wanting to advertise? I have pretty much ignored all matters of energy consumption

Brogden

Ali-OK

Hi Brogden,

You are quite right - those curly energy saving ones were truly awful - dim lighting, took a while to flicker into life and just yuck - they were around 7 watts I think and given out by Br!tish G@s and probably other suppliers too. I stuck with incandescent or our halogens.

And then one third energy saving bulbs came out - usually about 28w and Ever Ready did some great ones in candle shape, halogens and spots, so our house was full of those. Immediate light, close to incandescent for brightness, but they didn't last long so were more expensive in the long run.

Then LEDs came into their own - 3.5 to 4 watts and available in 'Warm White' - almost identical to incandescent, immediately light up and come in all the same shapes and fittings. Dimmable ones too.

I've gone for LumiLife from LEDHut - a) because it's cheaper to buy LEDs online than in shops (including Wilko's, B&Q etc) plus they're always have either a sale, a VAT paid deal or free delivery and b) because you can get cashback from Qu!dco and c) the no quibble guarantee means if one blows it'll be easy to prove the purchase and get a free replacement. I noticed B&Q charge £11-15 a bulb, Wilkos £6-8 a bulb - I paid about £4-5 a bulb by buying online. I know they're still very expensive compared to incandescent though.

Yes, it's quite a cost to replace all the bulbs in and outside the house in one go, but we've also got lots of multi-bulb lights (4 kitchen, 3 utility, 2 cloakroom, 6 lounge, 2 hall, 3 bathroom plus bedrooms and other rooms) hence the volume and cost was high for us. But prices have dropped since a year ago and will probably continue to do so as their popularity grows. I *shouldn't* need to replace a bulb now for another 8-9 years.

That's my knowledge through research and replacing

Brogden

Ali-OK wrote: »

Hi Brogden,

You are quite right - those curly energy saving ones were truly awful - dim lighting, took a while to flicker into life and just yuck - they were around 7 watts I think and given out by Br!tish G@s and probably other suppliers too. I stuck with incandescent or our halogens.

And then one third energy saving bulbs came out - usually about 28w and Ever Ready did some great ones in candle shape, halogens and spots, so our house was full of those. Immediate light, close to incandescent for brightness, but they didn't last long so were more expensive in the long run.

Then LEDs came into their own - 3.5 to 4 watts and available in 'Warm White' - almost identical to incandescent, immediately light up and come in all the same shapes and fittings. Dimmable ones too.

I've gone for LumiLife from LEDHut - a) because it's cheaper to buy LEDs online than in shops (including Wilko's, B&Q etc) plus they're always have either a sale, a VAT paid deal or free delivery and b) because you can get cashback from Qu!dco and c) the no quibble guarantee means if one blows it'll be easy to prove the purchase and get a free replacement. I noticed B&Q charge £11-15 a bulb, Wilkos £6-8 a bulb - I paid about £4-5 a bulb by buying online. I know they're still very expensive compared to incandescent though.

Yes, it's quite a cost to replace all the bulbs in and outside the house in one go, but we've also got lots of multi-bulb lights (4 kitchen, 3 utility, 2 cloakroom, 6 lounge, 2 hall, 3 bathroom plus bedrooms and other rooms) hence the volume and cost was high for us. But prices have dropped since a year ago and will probably continue to do so as their popularity grows. I *shouldn't* need to replace a bulb now for another 8-9 years.

That's my knowledge through research and replacing

Thank you so much Ali. I teasingly said you were the 'Bulb Queen' but even so, I was not prepared for such a fantastic and generously informative post.

In a month I will have small funds to do something with and I am balancing debt against mortgage against household jobs including the electricity / gas / heating and.......bulbs :rotfl:!!

I am going to familiarise myself properly with the working of the electricity and gas meters and try to gauge a daily cost. I want to start using the traditional lightbulbs so I know where I am starting from

Thanks again Ali - the best information possible - I just need to see the current total costs for this dysfunctional family :rotfl:!! Then I will appreciate the savings based on your recommendations and will be acting accordingly

Brogden x

Ali-OK

It's surprising how many bulbs we have - I originally went round and made a list of the type, number, room - when you include bedside lamps and lounge lamps, it's quite staggering. Then you can cost up by room/type etc. There's also a savings calculator on the supplier website - how close it is to reality bit tricky to say. But if doing it in small areas, I'd probably choose to replace the highest wattage/usage ones first to get max savings underway.

We've got a few flakes of snow this morning :j not enough to cover the ground but pretty all the same. DS still asleep so it'll have probably melted by time he surfaces :rotfl:

I've made an appointment with H@lifax to open a kids 6% regular saver :money: but can't get one until 27th Jan :eek: Thoughts of DS and the cost of Uni on my mind. As they have to be under 15 to be eligible, decided to get that underway sooner rather than later. Max deposit is £100 a month, so my idea of matching pension payments into an ISA for myself has fallen by the wayside in favour of doing this (until I'm debt free when I'll kick that off).

Financials:
- bank account checked - a TT of £5.62 done, pot now at £80.01
- Nectar card - up 2p to £28.09 (not sure where that came from!)
- IP - up to £4.38
- Qmee still 35p - should move that and get it earning interest, however small

I'm still in love with my new washing machine standard 40C wash is 30 mins quicker than old one and stuff coming out drier - all round good news

Must go and read meters and get back into that routine - a bit brrr in my PJs so shower and dressing on the agenda shortly

Am going out for a fairly rare social night with friends which I'm looking forward to. Pub for a few drinks. Hope it's not expensive. Dinner will be batch chilli from the freezer - when I go and get it defrosting :rotfl:

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Brogden

.......a night out? :eek: You spendthrift

Well I suppose we'll grudgingly have to let you since you're such a kind helpful lady

Have good one x

liltdiddylilt

Oh enjoy your night out Ali!! Sounds lovely and sometimes it is good to let your hair down a bit!!

Am laughing at Alex's wife wanting to motorbike :rotfl: - maybe he can get her an electric bike? Pedal a bit, then coast, then pedal... maybe a tandem instead he can pedal, she can coast

Weather is freezing, hail storms keep whizzing over! Am in bed with the blanket on. 24C heating?!?! My dial doesn't go that far... so I tell myself while opting for gloves indoors lol. It stays between 15-18C always, except for when the washing needs drying when it goes to a max of 21 for about an hour. Tightwad I am.