The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Evening Diary

A relaxing day today in the main and indulged myself in writing 2 new lists - 1 being for the holiday :j.

Posting on Skinny's diary, I've just had a LBM - the money I currently pay to the debt will become spare - doh! How an earth did I not work that out before now? :eek: Maybe because I've been saving and OPing alongside and I haven't yet created budget spreadsheets for beyond debt-free date. So this is super exciting news :j:j

I've also completed the P!necone survey, so that's £3 more for the pot

liltdiddylilt

Hello!!!

Caught up!!! Yes it does help with the pension, means it is easy to move!! :j so a good thing for you!

Skinny the regulations have changed which means that all fees have to be explained upfront and in most cases charged upfront. I am a bit concerned as to where your fee came from? Who is 'managing' your pension? And did they provide you with a service for this fee as that is the fundamental law of the new changes! If you didn't get a review explaining how your pension is doing, recommendations as to what you may want to do in regards to fund changes, and an explanation of the new charging system, you might want to tell them to stick their fee until they provide you with a reason to pay them...

Glad the stamps arrived Ali xx

AlexLK

All sounding excellent, Ali.

I'm considering trying swapping our utilities from being billed every quarter to paying via direct debit monthly as I think I remember you saying it was a lot cheaper to do this? Any ideas the best way to go about this?

Ali-OK

AlexLK wrote: »

All sounding excellent, Ali.

I'm considering trying swapping our utilities from being billed every quarter to paying via direct debit monthly as I think I remember you saying it was a lot cheaper to do this? Any ideas the best way to go about this?

This is an easy money-saver Alex and definitely one to do. I'd either go to your suppliers website or phone them and just ask to move it to monthly DD. Also savings to be had by 'paperless billing' which tends to be automatic with monthly payments.

Have you checked you're with the cheapest suppliers too? Something interesting I found last year was 'dual fuel' tarriffs were more expensive than going with separate suppliers.

Few more ways to make/save money - cashback site for using a comparison site (like Uswitch etc), comparison sites giving cashback for following through on an energy quote (like energylinx or the MSE Energy Club) and then of course the best supplier/tarriff for the fuel and your use.

iSupply (electric) have dropped both their daily standing charge and electricity unit price - I put Mum onto that last year as was the cheapest for her and she's had a letter through as her 12 months are up, but she's going to stick with it due to the price drop (another £1 for per month saved). All adds up!

Ali-OK

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Hello!!!

Caught up!!! Yes it does help with the pension, means it is easy to move!! :j so a good thing for you!

Skinny the regulations have changed which means that all fees have to be explained upfront and in most cases charged upfront. I am a bit concerned as to where your fee came from? Who is 'managing' your pension? And did they provide you with a service for this fee as that is the fundamental law of the new changes! If you didn't get a review explaining how your pension is doing, recommendations as to what you may want to do in regards to fund changes, and an explanation of the new charging system, you might want to tell them to stick their fee until they provide you with a reason to pay them...

Glad the stamps arrived Ali xx

Thank you :T:T:T

Whoop to pension move plans :j:j:j

If you won't let me pay you for the stamps, can I donate to your Mum's fundraising cause please? I'd really like to do that

AlexLK

Ali-OK wrote: »

This is an easy money-saver Alex and definitely one to do. I'd either go to your suppliers website or phone them and just ask to move it to monthly DD. Also savings to be had by 'paperless billing' which tends to be automatic with monthly payments.

Have you checked you're with the cheapest suppliers too? Something interesting I found last year was 'dual fuel' tarriffs were more expensive than going with separate suppliers.

Few more ways to make/save money - cashback site for using a comparison site (like Uswitch etc), comparison sites giving cashback for following through on an energy quote (like energylinx or the MSE Energy Club) and then of course the best supplier/tarriff for the fuel and your use.

iSupply (electric) have dropped both their daily standing charge and electricity unit price - I put Mum onto that last year as was the cheapest for her and she's had a letter through as her 12 months are up, but she's going to stick with it due to the price drop (another £1 for per month saved). All adds up!

Thank you, Ali.

Currently I'm with British Gas as a duel fuel customer. I've done an initial enquiry on Uswitch and they reckon I could save about £250 per year with another duel fuel supplier.

I'll check all the links out that you mention.

Ali-OK

Bet you can save over £300 using separate suppliers BG were very expensive for gas, bit cheaper (but not the cheapest) for electricity.

liltdiddylilt

You're kidding me Ali?!? I used to work for an energy company (admittedly 10 years ago!) and I picked up tonnes of fab tips on moneysaving but the dual fuel tariffs were cheapest, especially if you paid by DD monthly which was just coming in around then. I must look this up although I can't complain as I saved £300 this year compared to last switching always pays I also got £55 cashback! And with the cheapest company too!

The only other thing I learnt that stuck with me is that each energy and gas supplier has an area that they look after. These are numbers and for instance E.On look after network 11, the East Midlands, and EDF the South East. Whenever you are a customer *in area* your prices will be more expensive than those for customers out of area with the same company. So whilst EDF might be cheaper for someone in the North, for me it would be a more expensive tariff to cover groundworks etc!! HTH

And I have PM'd you about the fund... Yes, I don't mind that but I really did it for YOU, not for a gain!! it's a bit like Phoebe when she is trying to be selfless but everytime she does something she gets a good feeling about it and ruins it :rotfl: xx

Ali-OK

Nope, not kidding at all . I'd have agreed with you up until last year when I compared prices as well as dual vs. separate and switched. Only got £34 cashback though but cheapest suppliers and a saving of over £300. Time for me to do the gas switching game again too

:rotfl: Only trying to pass on the good deed . It'd be an improvement on my usual once a week which is letting someone go infront of me in Ald! with just a few items compared to my trolley

AlexLK

Ali-OK wrote: »

Bet you can save over £300 using separate suppliers BG were very expensive for gas, bit cheaper (but not the cheapest) for electricity.

Thanks, I'll have another look at Uswitch tonight.