It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

luvchocolate

Some one was asking about draughty windows. 
I have one in my lounge in winter I tape clear sellotape round the opening. 
Housing association property 

TheBanker

ladyholly said:

To all those people letting money accrue in their utility accounts. Have you thought of taking the money out and put it in a seperate savings account where it might earn a little bit of interest and more to the point , in my opinion, deprve the companies of the interest

I have thought about it, but decided not to. The interest I could earn on the balance is negligible, and I would have the additional effort of making manual payments during the winter to top up the Direct Debit. As things stand I should get to April without going into debt, assuming the January price rise isn't worse than expected, and assuming the government's £400 is added to my account balance rather than reducing my payment by £66 per month. 

Obviously for other people the extra interest will make it worthwhile - everyone has to do whatever works best for them.

The one time I would not let credit build up is if I was with a small supplier at risk of collapse, because of the delays people have reported in their balance being restored through the Supplier of Last Resort process. 

Northern_Tribe

ladyholly said:

To all those people letting money accrue in their utility accounts. Have you thought of taking the money out and put it in a seperate savings account where it might earn a little bit of interest and more to the point , in my opinion, deprve the companies of the interest

I have thought about it as well but my balance following my September payment which goes out on the 1st is just over £100 so it doesn't seem worth the effort. Also, I went into deficit over last winter which was cleared in the spring and became a credit during the summer. To me, that shows the system working and I'm happy to leave it alone for the sake of the £1.50 interest I might earn. Each to their own way of managing.

srn

After being with a small supplier last September and accruing a pretty hefty credit balance on my account to tide me over the winter and all the price increases, my supplier went bust and it took almost 8 months for my account to be sorted and for me to have my money back.  If I hadn't been pro active in helping to sort my account I don't think it would have been sorted now.  Where was my money for those months and who was earning interest on it?  Certainly not me, as is the case with all of these in credit balances, it must amount to hundreds of millions if you take into account all of the customers who have an in credit balance.  Another example of large companies making money off their customers.  No more of this for me, I pay a standard variable rate for the amount I use every month, master of my own destiny as much as I can be.

KxMx

I wasn't going to post this as thought it might be unkind, but as the discussion has since been had by others, I was honestly astonished to see one poster state a credit balance of £1k which they hope to increase.

I know different things work for different people, and savings rates aren't the best, but that is an astonishing amount of money in these harder times to basically lend the energy company, who can then earn interest on it themselves, making more corporate profits which the shareholders and bosses will benefit from. 
It also can be risky depending on the company these days. 

That amount would be far better sat in a personal account earning some interest for the customer, ready and waiting for when the bills come in. 

bellabella

I have a credit of just under £1k i was supposed to pay £136 per month but for a few months i  paid £350pm as i knew the hike in September was coming so i wanted to be ahead and have no worries, before September i was told if i continued to pay this i would be over £3k in credit . Come 1st September my minimum monthly DD would be £301 so I have upped it to £400 as i want a buffer before January increase by doing this i will have just over £1k in credit apparently but that is without the increase in January so i expect i will have to increase the amount again how much would i get in interest for maybe £2k in a current account for a few months very little i expect  but peace of mind i am ahead on my bills priceless yes i am lucky that i can do this i am aware many can't and if this goes on for too long i won't be able to . We have turned off the spare freezer and will turn off the beer fridge in the shed for the winter and just store cold in the garage we have no lights on at night just the TV and have bought a heated clothes airer so as not to use the TD so making as many savings as we can to build up as much of a buffer as we can everyone views things differently no one is right or wrong x

YorksLass

Spendless said:

I bought some Fairy w-u-l today, original  and noticed that the Platinum fairy that used to be in a silver bottle is now in a clear one, just the bottle is more moulded (has a slight pattern on it). Other than that it's green liquid just like original. Anyone know what that's about having 2 varieties  of fairy, one more expensive look very similar to each other rather than different - I can see that causing some confusion.

I've used Fairy w-u-l for years but will be trying a different one when I've finished the bottle I'm using.  It's gone up in price to £3 (1190 ml bottle size) but it's not so much that that's prompting the change, more the "new, improved formula".  It's definitely thinner, doesn't seem to work as well as it did before and smells awful.  

Just seen the recent MSE news post that Nectar points on the Sainsburys Bank credit card will be changing from 1st Nov - and not to the customers' benefit.  I use this to pay for my grocery online shopping (always paid off a couple of days after delivery) so will be getting less points than before.  Another 

Today I'll be paying my loose change (£24) into my bank account via the local PO that is closing next week.  It's in a Nisa store and I suspect that is closing too as they have lost their customer base from when it was a Co-op.  I have an alternative Co-op within walking distance that I use but an alternative PO is a bigger problem.  There are two others near me but they're difficult to get to and not within walking distance (don't have a car).  Grrr.

calleyw

luvchocolate said:

Some one was asking about draughty windows. 
I have one in my lounge in winter I tape clear sellotape round the opening. 
Housing association property 

When I lived in a flat that had single glazed windows.  My husband made up a wooden frame to fit  in the window with the plastic film stuck to it.  So no horrible sticky tape residue to deal with

TheBanker

YorksLass said:

Today I'll be paying my loose change (£24) into my bank account via the local PO that is closing next week.  It's in a Nisa store and I suspect that is closing too as they have lost their customer base from when it was a Co-op.  I have an alternative Co-op within walking distance that I use but an alternative PO is a bigger problem.  There are two others near me but they're difficult to get to and not within walking distance (don't have a car).  Grrr.

Near me there were two Co-ops within a 1 minute walk of each other. The smaller of these became a NISA, although they still sell Co-op branded goods. They stock a smaller range, charge more and don't accept the Co-op loyalty card. I expect it to close soon as it's always empty, not surprisingly. I only ever go in if the real Co-op has run out of something I want. 

We are very lucky that we still have our Post Office. Becoming more essential now there are fewer banks, and the banks that are left aren't open all day/every day any more. The high street I use has gone from having four banks with ATMs to none in the space of three years. The only free ATM now belongs to the Post Office.

Siebrie

The upscale supermarket close by has announced they will change their reward system. It used to be that with a loyalty card they gave you a 5% discount on healthy products. It was 10 and 15% for different type of loyalty cards, based on how much you spend there every month. They will now drop the 5% discount completely, only leaving the 10% for next month if you spend €90 this month. I never spend that much in that supermarket!