How much have you saved?

MSE_Martin

There were some fantastic notes here before the technical glitch. It'd be great to get them on again and any new ones. It's a very valuable board - both for me - as a testimonial and for other new people on the site to see - just how much it is possible to save people. Please post your messages here if you can.

Thanks

martin

Darryl

OK, here goes again.

Savings to date:

1) credit card switching: I've switched a £4k debt about 4 times now onto 0% credit card deals - the latest being the PC World Marbles card with 9 months interest free.

Saving = approx £400 compared to a personal loan.

2) Gas & electricity switch: I used the USwitch service recently, and changed supplier by filling in an online form, signing and returning two letters the new provider sent me, and taking the final meter readings. Not really too much work.

Saving = approx £50 per year

3) Cash back credit card: I used to have a Natwest Airmiles creadit card that I used for business expenses. Having read Martin's credit card scheme article, I now have an Amex Blue card that I use for all business and househould expenses (approx £1000 per month).

Saving: 1% cashback on, say, £10k per annum = £100

4) Mortgage: a knock on from using the Amex Blue card for my household expenses is that my mortgage (being an offset type one) now benefits from all of the cash in my current account that stays there until the end of the month.

Saving: approx 5 years off my mortgage term

5) Annual travel insurance: I used moneysupermarket.com to compare my renewal quote to others, and bagged a Europe policy that includes Golf and Business travel options for less than my old provider, with the same levels of basic cover.

Saving: £30 per year.

So, if I ever meet up with Martin I should be able to buy him a beer or two!

Darryl.

System

By having a water meter installed, my monthly DD has been reduced by £20. A tip I heard from Martin on a 5- live interview.

laura_3-2

Hi martin, after seeing you on This Morning (your first apperance) I was inspired to sort out our finances.
It was a bit like pulling teeth to pursuade my partner to change our various accounts but I stuck with it and we have managed to save approx £400 per month just on interest.
We changed our mortgage to a base rate tracker(0.55% above base for the term) and stayed with current provider so no fees were charged.
We changed our bank account to Cahoot and got a pc world marbles card and transfered all our balances.

All of this without even leaving my desk!

My aim is now to find a way of saving money on something every week.

MONEY SAVED IS MONEY EARNT!!!

jojoral

I have only just started this money saving malarkey however it is quite adictive! I was paying ridiculous interest on a 'student' credit card- i didn't have a clue!, by transfering it to the pcworld marbles card I will have saved myself at least £250 over the rest of this yr. When the interest free period is up on this one I'll definately be switching again.

One other thing I now do, is always check to see if I can get an item cheaper online using the likes of kelkoo.com. I do this for everything, books (these normally end up beings cheapeast if u can by them in a supermarket), cds, electrical items, cosmetics now even groceries(they give out loads of money off coupons and will all be trying to get your custom-make sure they are aware that you allow your personal info to be used to get offers and info from them).
I must have saved at least £200 this yr so far.

Thanks Martin!

System

Hi

My contact lenses were costing me £210 a year with Specsavers because I have an astigmatism in both eyesso I need special lenses. However, after reading Martins article on contact lenses I found that I could save £60 if I ordered them from Postoptics !!

When Specsavers found out that I'm going to order from elsewhere, they weren't very happy!

I have now tried saving on other things. For instance I drink 2 litres of water a day- that is alot of Volvic! Anyway I found that buying Volvic bottles all the time would cost me £170 for a year! So instead I have bought a Brita Filter and found that I have saved alot because now I only have to pay £14 a year for the cartridges! Thats a saving of over £150 a year...... good when you're only a student as well.

Thanks Martin for starting me on this money saving mission!

PS- Martin is sooooooo cute!

merrik

Well I am deep into a relationship. My girlfriend wnats to move back to england from canada and we want to set up home next year.

So today I have looked at my finances (and they are a mess) and changed a few things whih I pay out monthly.

£10 union membership cancelled. I have never used them.
£2.50 clothes insurance. Never claimed and dont need it.

I have changed the following as well

Taken a three month payment holiday from a loan I have (11% APR) and will put the money I not using on that into paying a sizeable chunk of my store card (28%)

Moved a credit card balance to a 6 month 0% interest rate. Cut up all but one card and my current account card.

Used petrolbusters website to find garage I travel pass regualr and estimate savings of £200 a year.

Looked at my daily expenses (food mainly) and decided to take sandwiches to work as well as drinks. I estimate savings of £3 a day (food is expensive in London)

I am going to stop using the car for getting to the station. Will only save me 50p a day by switching to public transport , but probably just as quick.

Noticed that pizzas are about a third the prize I pay in asda if I cook them myself . estimate savings of £120 a month.

Changed my overseas telecoms provider . I spend £100 a month phoning canada , but by switching to telediscount , that will come down by 75%.

Total Savings per year (excluding credit cards which I cannot work out) £1920 (estimated) and I will probably save a bit more because my priorities have changed and now must save for a house.

Galstonian

I think I'm over £7500 per year better off because of money saving tips from here and other internet sites.

The approximate breakdown of this follows. I think once you start you tend to look for a better deal all the time. Add to this the £14K I saved on double glazing by shopping around and I think you can probably understand why I am quite pleased with it all ;D

Monthly reduced outgoings:
£300 mortgage
£10 life insurance
£50 gas/electricity
£30 mobile phones
£30 credit card interest
£7 home insurance
£5 pet insurance

Annual reduced outgoings:
£150 car1 insurance
£200 car2 insurance
£800 holiday
£65 travel insurance

Annual increased income:
£250 credit card cashback
£500 interest received (0% balance transfer)
£500 improved interest on savings

MSE_Martin

Unbelievable! That's fantastic ;D

System

Having seen Martin on daytime TV, where he was advising a telephone caller who had large phone bills to check which BT tariff she was on, I checked mine and found I too was on BT Standard (a rip-off according to Martin).

I now use a mixture of Smart Talk Anytime for landlines and Telediscount for mobiles and made a saving of £50 on my last quarter's phone bill!

I have also saved £152 on my car insurance premium - a Norwich Union Direct quote at a saving of over 50% found through your insurance link. Brilliant!

System

Saved £338 - went through to buy.co.uk (not buy.com which is the link from the site!) and saved £108 on electricity and then checked out home insurance and saved a massive £230.

Still trying to get my head round all the telephone options!