Have you saved money? Want to tell the world?

thriftyfiftyslady

I realised I had been paying PPI. Phoned the CC company and just asked for a copy of the document I must have signed - years ago. That did it! They knew thay could not fullfill my request. I told them I wanted to cancel. Got £570 back within 6 weeks. Bought a new draft proof front door with the money - my savings will go on and on.Our Central Heating SERVICE has now become a CHECK so I cancelled it £35 per month - we now have a new bank account ,£12.50 a month which includes emergency cover,travel insurance and loads more!!I forwarded your site to my 4 daughters and we all 16 in the family went to Pizza Express on Sunday with a voucher each. Total bill £155 - Wow!!


I now find I am paying £55 for my broadband,£15 for my mobile and £36 for SKY TV (no cable) anyone any ideas ?

Thanks Martin - we love you:T

pennypinchingpenguin

ive been using the site a year or so and like many im sure, its changed my life! ive been unemployed nearly 5 years through illness, before that id just left a job to return to studying. when i did work i was too young and silly to think about being sensible with money. i didnt have huge debts and now i still live at home so i am lucky i dont have bills and mortgages to pay. just towards rent and my own food. i pay £10 a month to my sister for my mobile bill (half price as she used to work there - i did first but after i left she got a deal on a new plan i couldnt get) and try to spend £10 a week on food. i have a free bus pass which lasts until aug 2010 - saves at least £70 a month. i just borrow dvds and cds from my sisters - they seem to have hundreds - dont see the point, as well as the cost, i never really watch more than once. or i just watch tv or listen to the radio. i joined the library again so free internet and books, although mostly i buy books at poundshop or charity shop and take them back. i rarely pay full price for anything except food. i buy presents etc in advance so i can either buy in sales or spend a little at a time. i managed xmas for 15 people (presents only) on £166 - saved £130. i am saving my boots points and tesco points until i really need them when i am back on jobseekers (which wont be too long i dont think) and have less money. i have managed to pay £500 off my overdraft and save £900 in an isa, in the last two years. sold an old mobile on envirofone. use vouchers for things i buy (not if its something i dont buy or need) pick up loose change in the street (not if its just fallen from someone else - without giving it back anyway!) i always take my own carrier bags when shopping.
not much in comparison to others but i feel that i already am set in this way that when the time comes for me to have my own home and all the expenses that come with it, i will be much better organised and all the better for it!

bettyspaghetti

Just saved nearly £350 on hubby's van insurance. That'll be very useful for our holiday spending money!!
Thank you, Martin!!!!!!! We luv this website!!!!!!

ThinkingOfLinking

I am moving house (to another rented property) this summer and thanks to the thread on haggling down rent, I am determined to get myself somewhere lovely at a knock down rate.

I am generally getting much better at getting great deals and have not only saved money but MADE money from this site.

I'll update this when I've secured a deal for my new home; I am determined to then save for a chunky deposit on a mortgaged place.

hutchy78

Hi does anybody know where to send bank reclaim letters to, i bank with HALIFAX thanx anyone who can help.

middlplay

Just to say this week I have saved money thanks to this website. We've save money on our loan and our BT phonebill, so a big thankyou to you.

bosky

Can u tell me how can i save money

kennyg123

I downloaded and filled in the budget planner off this website.Horrified to find out where all the hard earned cash was going.

Gradually working my way through all the advice on MSE. Just saved loads of cash by swopping broadband provider, using override provider for phone and of course, stopped smoking! Saving so far = £170 per month

JayZed

Thanks to this website, and in particular this forum, just in the last three days I have saved:

£500 in mortgage payments, thanks to posters on the forum letting me know that I could switch from my Nationwide fixed rate to the BMR 90 days before the end of my fixed rate deal.

About £300 in Council Tax refunds, and at least £300 a year going forward because I took Martin's advice and challenged my banding.

That's a particularly good week, but all the other things that this site's inspired me to do over the past year or two - overpaying my mortgage, choosing the best savings accounts, getting 0% credit cards and so on - has probably made me quite a bit more. Thanks Martin and all the MSE forum contributors!

Stan73

Actually it all started with my wife. We both new that we needed to really sort money out and after seriously going over our overdraft limit and wasting lots on charges etc she downloaded MSE budget planner.

We filled it in and it confirmed we were spending more than we were bringing in, something I think we both knew but didn't want to admit as money discussions had been difficult in the past and has led to rows and arguments.

The budget planner galvanised us into action so that with some cancelled DDs, spending less on non essential items and actually looking at our bank account regularly and talking about what funds etc are there and are going out we haven't exceeded our limit since May of last year and are comfortably under it most months.

On top of this I have applied and got a CC with a long 0% - this will save us approx 3300 over the next year or so. In addition my wife has applied for refunds of bank charges and I have applied for PPI refund on my CC.
While we are not banking on getting anything what the difference is prior to looking at MSE is that we are aware that there are areas of our finances we haven't looked at but we will and so I think for the first time we really are in control of our finances. We have a long way to go to being debt free (apart from a mortgage) but we are on the road and we are moving.

So thank-you very much to Martin and to the forum.

Stan