Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

Before we start trying to save money on the small stuff (coupons, Utility Bills,shopping) maybe we should sort the elephant in the closet first? Elephant what elephant I hear you cry. The big fat elephant that's draining your cash quicker than anything else ... Your credit cards!

It's well known that if you don't pay the full balance off your credit card it's going to cost you hundreds of pounds a year but we'd rather spend our time trying to save pennies than stem the major leak.

The reasons we should are outlined here Don't Sweat The Small Stuff and if you have credit card debt it might be a good idea to read it :)

How Following The Herd Could Save You Money

Following the herd isn't something most people want to do but researchers have discovered a novel way of helping you save money on your utility bills. It relies on Smart Meter technology and what your neighborhood are doing. By comparing how much power you're using compared to other people in your area it's hoped that high energy users will feel inclined to join the herd,

Full article can be found here  Follow The Herd For Cheaper Electricity!

The Utility Warehouse 2011 Update

I've just updated my Blog with a post on the Utility Warehouse based on the comments visitors have left and my own om-going research. It makes interesting reading and you can find it here The Utility Warehouse - Saint Or Sinner.

It's interesting to note the split in opinions people either love or hate the UW there doesn't appear to be a middle ground which I find odd still take a look or yourself and don't forget to leave a comment :)

Another Utility Company Has A Fit!

Utility companies in the UK are having a FIT (Feed In Tariff) and the latest company to offer one is the Utility Warehouse. The Feed In Tariff allows anyone who can generate electricity to put any surplus back into the national grid and get paid for it.

The Utility Warehouse have gone one step better and are offering an extra 2 pence per kW hour on top of the standard FIT. Now would be a great time to get involved as rumor has it the government mat soon change the scheme to be not so generous.

Other Posts:

The Utility Warehouse gas a FIT!

Use Price Comparison Sites With Care

We all use them and I have to admit price comparison sites are really useful but there are a couple of things you may want to keep in mind when using them. Firstly they do get paid for any clients they refer and who ultimately switch supplier and secondly the cheapest company listed may not actually be the cheapest in reality.

I think the best way to use them is as a starting point for your own research and for that they rock.

Other Posts:

Utility Comparison Sites - The Long And The Short

How To Check Your Broadband Usage

We all know or suspect that checking our Broadband Usage is a good idea but how many of us actually do? My guess would be not many and that could be a costly mistake to make.

Going over your Internet data allowance particularly if you're on a mobile device could end up costing you an arm and a leg and even desktop users could face penalties if they don't have an all you can use contract.

Prevention is always better than a cure and it's easier than you think to monitor and in most cases it won't even cost you anything :)

Energy Bills In The UK Set To Reach £1500

It's hard to believe but it looks like energy bills are set to rise to an eye watering £1500 a year soon.  When we compare that to a couple of years ago it would have seemed impossible energy prices could rise so fast.

With budgets already stretched it looks like a lot of people are going to be in an unfortunate Catch-22 situation.  They're going to need more money to pay for energy but their wages are going up much slower than the escalating energy costs leaving them with a large hole in their budget.

Even switching supplier assuming you haven't already done so isn't going to make a huge difference to the amount your paying that's not to say it isn't worthwhile shopping around for cheaper utilities but with these outrageously high increases nothing short of a lottery win is going to make much difference.

The rest of this article what happens when energy bills hit £1500 per year can be found here.

Grrr Internet Service Providers Suck!

I hate my Internet Service Provider at the moment because I can't use my home PC. A call to the help desk informs me that they know a problem exists well hooray for that and that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. I doubt that as I've been off-line for over 3 hours already and have had to resort to my mobile phone for Internet access.

When you consider how much I'm paying for Broadband you'd think they could arrange some sort of a fail over when these inevitable hardware problems arise wouldn't you.

Never mind I need to catch up on the ironing anyway lol Maybe when I've finished I'll be back on-line so I can make a start on the 100 or so Emails stacking up in my Inbox :)

When Vodafone Say Simplify They Mean Lets Charge You More!

Here's a question for you. How can you add £23 million pounds to your bottom line without a price increase? Well Vodafone have found a very creative way of doing just that they call it "Simplifying your bill".

How does it work? Simple they decide to round up your bill to the nearest 50 pence so if your bill is £33.51 they'll round it up to £34.00! From October 2011 that's exactly what they're going to do adding on average 1.6% to the average bill.

The things we put up with to have the latest smart-phone and tariff astounds me it really does. Better if more of you were like me and have a cheap pay as you go phone which costs me about £15 per year and no contract. Snag is no Facebook or Twitter but then again do I need them when I'm not at home?

I like to be "In touch but out of reach" and that's exactly what my cheap phone allows me to do :)

The rest of this article can be found here Vodafone Raise Prices And Call It Simplifying Your Bill I call it rip off your clients because they're addicted to Facebook lol

Rising Energy Costs - The Government Wins And You Lose!

Yes the very institution that proclaims it's only purpose in life is to help us is making a small fortune because of the spiraling energy costs. How are they doing this in a word VAT. With average energy bills up by over £200 per year the government are raking in an additional £200 million a year in revenue because of the 5% VAT that's added to our bills.

Now if that ended today you and I would get back over £65 in the year not a massive amount but it would garner some relieve to the beleaguered families who are having to choose between eating or heating their homes.

It's time we stopped just sucking it up and started campaigning hard to get this unfair tax rescinded. Maybe a letter to your MP showing your displeasure might help. Couldn't hurt could it?

Full Article can be found here.

Rising Energy Costs - Winners And Losers

The Great UK Mobile Data Scam - Don't Get Caught Out

Some things just come at you out of the blue and catch you unawares and that's what's happening to many people who have mobile data contracts and if you're not careful you to could become a victim.

What I'm talking about is using more data (Facebook, Web Browsing, Email and any other Internet related stuff) than your contract allows and then being charged through the nose for any overuse.

Want an example? According to their Website one of the major players in the market will charge you 60p per MB of data you've overused. That's per MB not GB and as we know there are 1000 MB's in a GB so a one GB over use could end up costing you £600! That's not a typo work it out for yourself.

If you happen to be abroad on holiday I shudder to think how much extra that's going to cost you and sadly as you've signed a contract you can't get out of paying no matter how unreasonable you think it is.

Discover what you need to do today to protect yourself by reading the rest of this article here Mobile Data Scams And How To Avoid Them

PS 500 MB's of data included in most contracts is a lot less than you may think no matter what the salesperson may have told you!

Over 60% Have Never Switched Utility Company

As strange as it might sound particularly as gas and electricity prices are spiraling out of control over 60% of UK residents have never switched suppliers. It is estimated that most people could save over £200 per year by switching yet many don't.

When you consider many people will spend hours researching the best and cheapest place to buy a £50 digital camera yet can't be bothered to spend the same amount of time looking at alternative utility suppliers they currently spend over £1100 per year.

Folk are strange and if you're one of the 60% why not spend a little time now looking at cheaper suppliers it could be well worth your while and save you a bundle.

A more detailed article can be found here Crippling Energy Bills Are Your Fault

An Alternative For The Utility Warehouse Cash Back Card

The Utility Warehouse has a pre paid cash back card enables you to save money shopping at various supermarkets and retailers. It's used by them as the icing on the cake and as a bonus for signing up with them for your utilities like gas, electricity, phone, mobile phone and broadband.

In many cases UW are not the cheapest supplier of these services and a large proportion of any money you save by switching to them is made up by this cash back scheme.

Santander have just released a cash back credit card that will give you 1% on supermarket shopping, 2% at certain department stores and 3% for buying petrol. It does have a £26 per year fee which means at 1% cash back you need to spend at least £2,600 to break even but for most people that's going to be easily done.

Also this is a credit card so no messing about topping it up before use and although UW's card will give you 3% for supermarket shopping I still think the Sanander 123 card could be a good fit for most people.

I'm going to apply for one and I'll let you all know how it turns out.

7 Million People Pushed Into Fuel Poverty

EDF is the latest energy company in the UK to raise energy prices. The rise is a whopping 15.4% for gas and 4.5% for electricity. It's estimated that this will add over £130 to the average bill per year.

Sadly it's also estimated that this will be enough to push the number of people into fuel poverty all the way up to 6.8 million. That's not a misprint just under 7 million people will have to juggle between eating, paying the mortgage or properly heating there homes.

Although by switching suppliers it's still possible to save a few pounds it's unlikely you'll be paying less than £1000 a year for your gas and electricity.

The world has finally gone mad when profit stops people from heating there homes and I fear for the elederly and anyone else on a low fixed wage. What do you think?

Related Post:

The Confusing Tariff Rip Off

Saving Money On Heating Oil

If you live in the USA you can benefit from cheaper heating oil by using a site called NeighborOil. This company acts like a Co-operative (although it is profit making) and buts heating oil on your behalf.

The advantage is that because it can bundle hundreds of people like you together it can negotiate fairly large discounts and some of this saving is then passed onto you.

I've been informed recently that there is a similar scheme in the UK called BoilerJuice.com which claims to do the same thing for us Brits. As I use oil for my central heating and I'm due a 900L fill over the next 30 days or so I'll give it a try and let you know if any real savings can be made.

Lets face it with the price of oil at the moment even a few pence per litre discount adds up.

Here's hoping :) If it doesn't work I may create my own co-operative (if it's legal that is)

Are You Getting The Best Gas And Electricity Prices?

With the cost of energy going up year on year and oil well over $100 per barrel making savings on gas and electricity bills has gone from desirable to essential. Many people in the UK now are struggling to put food on the table never mind find the extra money needed to pay for inflated utility bills.

Even switching supplier is no guarantee you're getting the best possible price because the energy companies are changing tariffs many times in a year so what was once the best deal could now be average.

In the UK there are three types of energy supplier you could choose.

1. Traditional energy suppliers like British Gas and Npower
2. Savings Clubs like the Utility Warehouse
3. Group savings schemes like Incahoot

Stories about the Utility Warehouse Scam and the large energy suppliers scam (although mot true) have left the public with a deep suspision of anyone attempting to get them to change suppliers.

Enter the new kid on the block Incahoot. Incahoot is one of the new generation of companies entering the utilities market which claims it can give you the best electricity and gas prices in the UK today.

It can offer cheaper prices because it behaves like a club. By buying energy on the wholesale market in bulk on behalf of its clients (you) it can negotiate a much better price than any individual could get (up to 30%+ cheaper) and it then passes these savings on to you the consumer.

The more people that sign on the better price they can get and the more money you save. I believe more and more people will switch to this type of supplier because not only are they cheaper but they are much more transparent and therefore in my opinion more trustworthy. They don't have a sales force on commission eating into the discounts so you can save more money.

If your utilities are coming up for renewal Incahoot may well be worth a look as at the moment they are cheaper and are offering a free Smart Meter when you sign up for a dual fuel tariff.