A Diary of Reinventing Ourselves

MrsShazbat

getmore4less wrote: »

Loads of utility supplyer comparison sites, you need to also look at cashback options, not done ours recently so not familar with the current offerings.

I was thinking your high bills, you don't do loads of washing(well you do the ironing pile is huge) and drying but have really ineffcient machines.

Older venting and condencer TD use a lot based on the standard 160 cycle(3 a week you may be doing more) it would have to be really bad or used a lot to be doing more than around £10 a week.

Might be worth looking at a supplier that throws you a free energy monitor or get a plug in one to go round checking where your using all the power.

Another thought, you don't have an electric water heater that has been left on, I have seen this before with rentals people forget to check them when they move in. It might just need a slog to find where it is all going and working through changes, leaving lights on with halogens/incandecants is often one culprit to high bills, kitchen downlighters a few 50w halogens on a few hours a day(say 10*4hr*365 will be over £100 a year .

Quidco are doing £40 cashback if you switch supplier (dual fuel, or £20 singular) thru them at the moment. And if you use Chrome, you can add an extension that pops up when you visit a site that links to cashback thru Quidco. I was always a bit suspect of the cashback sites then came to Quidco thru having a NUS Extra card and I'm a bit addicted now! Someone mentioned uswitch - you can get cashback from Quidco thru them as well.

JforGEM

Hello FT,

I also have been reading your thread from the outset and like many others here just want to encourage you to keep up the good work. You are doing fab and remember Rome wasn't built in a day. It does take time researching pros and cons when changing suppliers but you've proved today that it is so worth it. Be kind to yourself.
I don't think it will be long before your OH is onboard too, in fact I think after your efforts today he'll start to see where your coming from.
I've just started shopping in L1dl and I'm really impressed with quality of their food and saving money into the bargain.

Forward_thinking

Evening! Thanks for the posts. Well, I have just spent the evening going through both of my threads with a toothcomb. I have pulled out two pages of golden nuggets to act on. So thank you for that!!

Much nicer evening. Children went to bed earlier than usual so I could have a rest. They needed the extra sleep too although my daughter is insisting on going to sleep with her disco ball on at the moment!!

I've eaten terribly today - really need to sort that out as I need to keep strong for both of us. Quite soon after OH arrived home I showed him the figures on fuel and telephone/broadband. I tried to keep quiet but couldn't. He was actually really interested and put on a comparison site on his lap top to look at phone deals with me. I also mentioned to him tonight about someone's suggestion of paying off a cc debt and hopefully getting the offer of a BT. He was really interested in that and said it was definitely worth doing. I'm pleased about that as I wanted to get rid of the small credit card to adhere to the snowball idea. OH didn't want to do that as he said it was purely a psychological strategy.

Right, off to look into costco and quidco and topcashback.

Night all.

Gettingtherequickly

Glad things are looking more positive for you and that you are slowly taking DH round to your way of thinking. Once he sees the benefits in the short term pain, he will be able to enjoy the benefit of the long term gain.

I heartily recommend Costco, ok there is a membership cost, but the savings you will make over a year will more than cover the cost. HOWEVER, you need to be disciplined when you go in there. Have a list and don't be afraid to use their own brand, the quality is excellent and savings huge, eg I use their own brand washing tabs, 120 costs about£18 which is a hell of a lot cheaper than branded, plus you get the bonus of having lidded storage which could be useful for the littlies to keep things in. Being an American company, everything is huge, so pizzas etc work out extremely cheap.

When are you expecting delivery of the car?

getmore4less

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

eg I use their own brand washing tabs, 120 costs about£18 which is a hell of a lot cheaper than branded

Thats 15p each a bit on the pricy side
they do these at 11.4p
http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/kirkland-signature-dishwasher-pacs-110-pack-567036

Branded are available at 10p when on offer and the likes of Lidl Aldi start at 10p and go down from there basic/classic are 5p or less.

Aldi Magnum(all in one) are good currently 9.7p

I see Costco do Fairy 172 pack for £19.99 (11.7p)
http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/fairy-professional-all-in-one-original-dishwasher-tablets-172pk-189966

Dishwasher tabs are a regular on HUKD
http://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/dishwasher-tablets

enthusiasticsaver

Forward_thinking wrote: »

Quite soon after OH arrived home I showed him the figures on fuel and telephone/broadband. I tried to keep quiet but couldn't. He was actually really interested and put on a comparison site on his lap top to look at phone deals with me. I also mentioned to him tonight about someone's suggestion of paying off a cc debt and hopefully getting the offer of a BT. He was really interested in that and said it was definitely worth doing. I'm pleased about that as I wanted to get rid of the small credit card to adhere to the snowball idea. OH didn't want to do that as he said it was purely a psychological strategy.

Right, off to look into costco and quidco and topcashback.

Night all.

Good that your OH seems to be getting on board but he is still throwing up obstacles to you actually getting rid of debt. Getting rid of a credit card once it is paid off and snowballing payments is a tried and tested method of getting rid of debt. Psychologically it helps people to see they are making progress if they actually shut down the credit cards as they clear them. No one needs 10 credit cards - usually those of us who are solvent stick with one or two. Is your husband wanting to keep a safety net in case the debt clearance doesn't work?

Forward_thinking

Morning!!! Fired up and ready to go....

To be honest, I was looking at the costco website and didn't find it that much cheaper. Only looked at dishwasher tablets, kitchen wipes and kitchen roll. I think sending OH in there (he passes it on the way home) would be a disaster and cost us hundreds. Think I might stick to Lidl.

I wasn't that taken up with quidco or topcashback either - everything they offer seems to be not right for us. Again, perhaps it's just me. Shopitize on the other hand looks good but we haven't used it yet.

Job for today is to get hold of figures and look at YNAB. Also got a couple of contacts on the work front.

No news about the car and obviously can't ring up and ask.

lee111s

Hi!


Glad he seems to be slowly but surely coming round to your way of thinking. Keep plugging away and he'll soon realise this isn't a fad, it's here to stay!


Regarding your broadband speed, reducing to "only" 40meg will be more that sufficient. To give you an idea of what that means, you'd still be able to watch 5-6 HD streams on BBC Iplayer and not notice any difference on web browsing. There's some good deals on the lower packages at the moment, definitely something worth considering!

getmore4less

I'm pleased about that as I wanted to get rid of the small credit card to adhere to the snowball idea

Snow ball is highest rate first not smallest debt

Hubby is right on this one.

getmore4less

Forward_thinking wrote: »

I wasn't that taken up with quidco or topcashback either - everything they offer seems to be not right for us. Again, perhaps it's just me. .

they just give cash back on the things you buy they don't do "offers" as such. these sites are just the icing on the deal you get from the supplier.