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

comeandgo

MovingForwards said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

LadOnTheHill said:

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

That's £40 pa they don't deserve, so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? Would you make £40 in interest?

If I fix my tariff and pay by DD they think my bill will be £2271.

Please tell me how an extra near £1200pa is cutting my nose off to spite my face? 

You can pay by direct debit without fixing your tariff.  You are confusing the two things I think.

C_J

We will need to order some more domestic heating oil soon, and I see it's now up to around 84p a litre!  I'm sure it's only going to get more expensive so I think I had better buy it now rather than wait, much as it pains me to do it.

I may have lost the plot a little. I spent the weekend creating a spreadsheet itemising every single thing I buy (w/r/t food shopping) and have started examining each item in great detail, deciding whether I can do without it, or buy it cheaper elsewhere, or find a cheaper substitute. It's been an oddly satisfying exercise   

Floss

newlywed said:

OH won’t go to direct debit either. We are still on prepay and non smart meters (which for a change looks like it’s in our favour as we can potentially kind of postpone the rate increases)

he won’t go to DD as his ex wife claimed to be paying the bills but didn’t and when she did a bunk, he was left with joint loans, debts and bills to sort out. Partly his fault for not checking but still…

So everyone has their own past and personal reasons for choosing payment methods. 

Suggestions of ways to potentially save money is always good though, but a choice as to whether the suggestions are acted on.

He could have an account in his name for DDs...

EssexHebridean

C_J said:

We will need to order some more domestic heating oil soon, and I see it's now up to around 84p a litre!  I'm sure it's only going to get more expensive so I think I had better buy it now rather than wait, much as it pains me to do it.

I may have lost the plot a little. I spent the weekend creating a spreadsheet itemising every single thing I buy (w/r/t food shopping) and have started examining each item in great detail, deciding whether I can do without it, or buy it cheaper elsewhere, or find a cheaper substitute. It's been an oddly satisfying exercise   

Haha - I should think that it might!  I've got a pretty shrewd idea of prices for the stuff we buy regularly, and we havr for years run with "target prices" for certain items too - so for example I know how much I'm willing to pay for a jar of MrEH's favourite coffee, for washing liquid and how much per pack for multibags of crisps. This can be really useful when playing the old "when is a good deal not a good deal" game! 

newlywed

C_J said:

I may have lost the plot a little. I spent the weekend creating a spreadsheet itemising every single thing I buy (w/r/t food shopping) and have started examining each item in great detail, deciding whether I can do without it, or buy it cheaper elsewhere, or find a cheaper substitute. It's been an oddly satisfying exercise   

I am planning to do similar… but enter all the prices and work out which are actually our cheaper meals using the cost of all the ingredients…

Some years ago, when on a tight budget and paying off debt, I created a similar spreadsheet and was surprised at some of the meal cost when all the ingredients were totalled up. 

MovingForwards

I'm not confusing the two things as I've been monitoring the proposed DD or continuing to pay on receipt of bill. They've always wanted to set the DD at nearly £100pm eg nearly £1200 pa when I've spent less than half of it a year.

newlywed

Floss said:

newlywed said:

OH won’t go to direct debit either. We are still on prepay and non smart meters (which for a change looks like it’s in our favour as we can potentially kind of postpone the rate increases)

he won’t go to DD as his ex wife claimed to be paying the bills but didn’t and when she did a bunk, he was left with joint loans, debts and bills to sort out. Partly his fault for not checking but still…

So everyone has their own past and personal reasons for choosing payment methods. 

Suggestions of ways to potentially save money is always good though, but a choice as to whether the suggestions are acted on.

He could have an account in his name for DDs...

Indeed he could… but then would still need to go actively log in and look

EssexHebridean

MovingForwards said:

I'm not confusing the two things as I've been monitoring the proposed DD or continuing to pay on receipt of bill. They've always wanted to set the DD at nearly £100pm eg nearly £1200 pa when I've spent less than half of it a year.

And this is where the variable DD method works well. There is no "set amount" that the energy company take, in that case. It simply automates the process that those paying on receipt of bill currently do manually. 

MovingForwards

It may do EH, however I wouldn't trust my supplier as far as I could throw them based on my experience to date.

Rosa_Damascena

MovingForwards said:

I'm not confusing the two things as I've been monitoring the proposed DD or continuing to pay on receipt of bill. They've always wanted to set the DD at nearly £100pm eg nearly £1200 pa when I've spent less than half of it a year.

But you still get a refund at the end of the year....so whilst it may well affect cashflow there is no net loss to you by DD. I'd rather have £40 in my pocket.