The last few weeks have seen a dramatic increase in many family’s costs whether that be from gas and electric or simply petrol and diesel costs soaring through the roof. So I thought now was quite a good time to pop something on about how you can save some money. Many families will be feeling the pinch, and so far we have been extremely lucky not to be effected.
For people that don’t know me, my full time role is as an accountant for a large global company. For someone who handles “money” on a daily basis you would probably be shocked to know that I’m quite bad with money – it burns a whole in my pocket and I can’t wait to spend my savings on nice treats. Equally, I’m really tight when it comes to my daily money and I like to make it go as far as possible. My friends all laugh because no matter where we go, I usually have a discount code a loyalty card, or a coupon to use… it’s a running joke!
So, where to start – like anything you need to have a plan, and for us we have an excel file (shock) which we call our Budget Bible. We visit this regularly, at least every few months, to make sure we’re aware of contracts coming to an end and we’re able to make timely decisions. I handle the planning and Dan keeps us to the execusion – he is way more focussed and controlled than me and my impulse purchases.
In the last week alone, we have saved over £1200 from our upcoming years bills and I thought it might be nice to share with you how we did that.
First thing on the agenda was the car insurance. We got our renewal through a few weeks ago and our premium had gone up by over £100. We ran some comparison tools and found we could save almost £150 on our renewal by switching providers! We called our existing company to renew our details – we wondered if being married would save us money but the premium had actually increased… not only that but the compulsary excess had increased and we hadn’t realised, so even with 5 years of loyalty we have decided to cancel the renewal and switch.
Next, we checked the 3 cheapest providers from the comparison tool directly – sometimes they give a better price if you go direct but on this occasion this was also more expensive, coming in at £576.91!!! More expensive than the updated renewal by almost £30!
So we went back to Compare The Market, and found the same policy at £417 – slightly more than the cheapest quote we got but a more superior level of cover (Admiral gold verses Admiral essential) so that was a massive saving already compared to our renewal… but thats not the end!
We triple checked the details and noticed that when Compare the Market had transferred our information, Admiral had us down as “having use of another CAR”, but our second vehicle is a VAN so we updated that and the final price was £404.86 – bringing our saving to £170 verses buying directly or £140 from our renewal price, so it just proves that even in a difficult financial market it pays to shop around. As we went via compare the market, we also now get the option of their rewards – 2 for 1 cinema tickets or discounts on local takeaways and restaurants which is a great added bonus.
Comparison Site Tips!
- Always be sure to check comparison sites carefully, and ensure your details are transferred to the purchasing website correctly as you are liable for any incorrect information and even the smallest details can save you more money.
- Run your comparison during core working hours (Mon-Fri, 9-5) as we noticed some companies don’t give prices outside of their business hours
- Try switching round your job title and see if different titles for the same role have the same price. For example, being a technician or engineer can pretty much be the same role but the job title is interchangable depending on the company you work for. Don’t lie, but play around and see what has the cheaper premium using the comparison site.
- Check any claims that you’re listing are within the correct time period for the company you go with. Some comparison sites ask you for claims in the last 5 years but providers only ask for 3 years… so if you have an older claim make sure that you check this carefully as you may save yourself a bit more money if you can remove it.
- Protecting your no claims costs a little more upfront on your insurance but its a really smart thing to do if you can afford to, as it may save you more money in the long run than it costs up front should you be unfortunate and need to make a claim.
- Be careful to check the excess is affordable and comparable as different insurers have different levels of compulsary excess, and some of our cheapest quotes were just not affordable if something was to go wrong. Its all well and good getting your insurance for £300 but if you have an accident, could you really afford £1000 excess… probably not! So make a smart switch to a company that is affordable, with an affordable excess but also one which gives you the right level of cover for your needs.
Next on the agenda this week was renewing Dan’s phone contract. Back in December, we renewed my contract with EE and saved £48 per month, that’s over £1150 for the next 2 years without considering the CPI increases! I went for a more expensive phone 2 years ago than I would usually, and its really paid off as it is still in perfect working order! This enabled me to go for a 10gb sim only contract on a super cheap deal with EE which I can upgrade at any time should the phone break or need upgrading.
Dan’s contract is a second line on my account – we transferred it a few years ago when we moved in together because this saves us 10% on his line rental, being a second line on my account. He hates the conflict of bartering about his contract price, so it works out really well for us but we understand not everyone would feel comfortable sharing a bill with their partner.
On his last contract, we were also able to apply a 20% discount to Dan’s line via EE Perks – this is a discount service (link to our Savings page) open to certain employers, of which my employer is one.
When Dan’s contract was coming up for renewal but we knew his phone was also okay for now, we decided to put the same switch in place to sim only until he decides what new phone he would like – Dan uses way more data than me as I work from home, and the cheapest deal they offered us for our loyalty was £20 for 160gb – miles more than he needs, but he has the option to “gift” or transfer data to me if I need it; this will save us a further £35 a month.
Today I got an email from EE Perks reminding me that my code was due to expire so I went online and grabbed a new one. These codes are supposed to be applied when the contract is taken out, but because I had forgotten I contacted customer services and they were able to apply it for me.
With these small changes, we have brought our bill down from £115.42 in November (before the CPI increase) to a massively discounted £28 for both phones – this will save us (as long as we don’t need to upgrade) £1049.04 in the next year alone.
So… that’s volume 1 for now and a huge saving already. Let us know if there is something you’d like us to cover in the 2nd volume!
Jo-Anne x