COVID-19 Saving Money on your monthly bills...

artcasper

artcasper

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Hi Everyone.... I have done the following to reduce my monthly bills now that I am on furlough for 12 weeks and my pay has been reduced to 80% ( which is better than zero) and thought it might help!

Rang my local council about my COUNCIL TAX - Our payments are usually over 10 months and I have now spread these over 12 months - this has reduced our monthly payment by £41 per month

I have cancelled all my son's sporting direct debits - for athletics, tennis and table tennis.. About £40

Frozen the other half's gym membership - Saving £60 per month

Barclays Bank will allow us a 3 month payment holiday but unsure at the moment whether to do this - it won't affect credit scores and will just extend our mortgage term by 3 months.

I think thats all I can do for now!
 
Great stuff @artcasper. I didn't know about the Council Tax - will get MrA on to this tomorrow as he is one of the self employed who now has zero income and won't be getting a penny until June.

I have also looked at switching energy suppliers to get the cheapest energy at this time.

When I can get multiples of ingredients I am batch cooking all food and filling the oven with several items that can later be re-heated to make sure we use our energy wisely. My trusty ancient slow cooker is coming into its own as it uses very little electricity and can cook a large batch of stew that does us a couple of days.
 
I'm always a fan of saving money on bills. I have led financial capability projects for the past 6 years teaching people a lot of the same skills.

@artcasper that's great work and glad you have managed to save some pennies. I would recommend the moneysavingexpert website to anyone as there's lots of tips on there for saving money etc. As our income hasn't been affected we enjoy the two months with no council tax payment but it's great for those that are struggling to know they can spread this over a longer period of time.

Same with water. Our supplier generally bills every 6-12 months but you can set up weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments to match your income and make it more affordable. Many of them have affordability schemes too so if your income is greatly reduced then it's worth asking whether you qualify for any further help.
Similar with gas and electric. Compare and switch is the best way to save money but a quick phone call to your supplier and they will tell you whether there is any way you can save money with them. They can also spread payments weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly to help.

Mobile phones and broadband. There's some regulations starting to come in with these now but nothing major. We all know that once you are out of contract then they bump up the price. Easiest way to do this is compare what is available even if you don't want to switch, you need to know what's available to you and whether what you currently have is a good price or not. You call up and tell them you want to cancel your contract. You will be put through to the retentions team whose sole job is it is to keep you as a customer. I did this with my mobile recently, it had crept up to £9.46 per month on sim only and I received a text saying it was going up again due to retail price index. I looked around and I could switch to Three or Vodafone for £8 per month so I called EE and they haven't matched it exactly this time but for £8 a month I get my unlimited calls, texts and the 4gb data I had been having for £1.46 less per month. They basically want to keep customers that pay regularly and so when I log into my account I can see the following add on's they have used to keep me as a customer
Screenshot_20200331-164929__01.webp
 
VickiA said:
Great stuff @artcasper. I didn't know about the Council Tax - will get MrA on to this tomorrow as he is one of the self employed who now has zero income and won't be getting a penny until June.

I have also looked at switching energy suppliers to get the cheapest energy at this time.

When I can get multiples of ingredients I am batch cooking all food and filling the oven with several items that can later be re-heated to make sure we use our energy wisely. My trusty ancient slow cooker is coming into its own as it uses very little electricity and can cook a large batch of stew that does us a couple of days.
Click to expand...
Poor Mr A... sad times isn't it! I always batch cook but mainly mash potatoes for Sunday Dinner lol.. Altho when I do a pot of stew i freeze a small portion for me for another time! And Spag bol - batch cook that when I can as easy! x
 
Lady Kelly said:
I'm always a fan of saving money on bills. I have led financial capability projects for the past 6 years teaching people a lot of the same skills.

@artcasper that's great work and glad you have managed to save some pennies. I would recommend the moneysavingexpert website to anyone as there's lots of tips on there for saving money etc. As our income hasn't been affected we enjoy the two months with no council tax payment but it's great for those that are struggling to know they can spread this over a longer period of time.

Same with water. Our supplier generally bills every 6-12 months but you can set up weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments to match your income and make it more affordable. Many of them have affordability schemes too so if your income is greatly reduced then it's worth asking whether you qualify for any further help.
Similar with gas and electric. Compare and switch is the best way to save money but a quick phone call to your supplier and they will tell you whether there is any way you can save money with them. They can also spread payments weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly to help.

Mobile phones and broadband. There's some regulations starting to come in with these now but nothing major. We all know that once you are out of contract then they bump up the price. Easiest way to do this is compare what is available even if you don't want to switch, you need to know what's available to you and whether what you currently have is a good price or not. You call up and tell them you want to cancel your contract. You will be put through to the retentions team whose sole job is it is to keep you as a customer. I did this with my mobile recently, it had crept up to £9.46 per month on sim only and I received a text saying it was going up again due to retail price index. I looked around and I could switch to Three or Vodafone for £8 per month so I called EE and they haven't matched it exactly this time but for £8 a month I get my unlimited calls, texts and the 4gb data I had been having for £1.46 less per month. They basically want to keep customers that pay regularly and so when I log into my account I can see the following add on's they have used to keep me as a customer
View attachment 137293
Click to expand...
I love Martin Lewis! Thanks to him a few years ago we got a refund for the council tax as our property was in the wrong band..

Our mobiles are pretty low (apart from mine) other half and son £3.99 / month My daughters is £10 / month but mine is £23 as I got a newer phone last september so can't change anything on mine at the moment - but I did get 6 months free Brit Box Subscription which is coming in handy at the moment! Recently done my gas and electricity and it was moved to a better deal so my monthly bill has just reduced by about £20 month..

Need to look at the water.. couldn't figure it out so need to get a paper bill out and look!

I love to save money when I can... x
 
With the council tax you can check your neighbours tax band, if your properties are similar in value they should all be the same band. I looked on a Martin Lewis website to find the website to check.
Also if you're a single (adult) occupant you get either 20 or 25% off of the bill. Contact your council if you're paying the full fee.

With the water I've found my bill is far cheaper using a meter, the cost was more than halved for me per year.
Also if you contact the local water board they will send out heavily discounted or free, water saving devices.

Or if you're on a meter simple things such as a weighted down container (ice cream tub?) or brick in your cystern, so that the water amount is reduced per flush.

I run my hot tap into a bucket whilst I'm waiting for it to get warm, you can use the collected clean cold water for pouring in the washing machine as it's filling up, or pour into the cystern after it's flushed if you have a removable lid to it?

Turn the tap off when cleaning your teeth, don't have it running continuously, just rinse the brush & turn off each time.

Time your showers, to reduce water consumption, try & spend 1minute less in there & that'll save water too.

Wash up with a full bowlful of dirty crockery /cutlery at the end of a meal/cooking session, that will save water & heating lots of small quantities of water too!

Also if all of your roof/guttering water goes into a soakaway (stone/brick type drain a few meters away from the property usually hidden underground) & you collect water in water butt(s) the water board give you a discount as its water they're not treating through the sewerage system.

Also if you own your own property/mortgage if you have an electric post, pylon or overhead cable on/in your property then you can claim a wayleave payment from the supplier, I don't think its much, but it all adds up, but I have yet to do some digging on that!

Oh & if you're an emergency services worker/NHS etc, you can get a 'blue light card' which offers discount on many online & store purchases. Think it's a small fee for 2yrs membership if you register with your NHS/police/coastguard official email address& official postal address. Same idea as a forces card I think?

Oh & finally if you have to launder your own work clothing with printed or embroidered logo's on it, you can claim back about £60 a year on tax, just write to your tax office&say you have no work facilities (only if you don't) to launder it, how long you've worked there, employee PAYE number, NI Number, work & home address and they'll adjust your tax code to reimburse it, I think you can go back 3yrs but ask if you can claim the maximum time limit back if applicable?

Don't forget if you're giving to a registered charity, that you can give them 'gift aid' on donations if you're a standard rate taxpayer, this gives them 25% more at no extra cost to you, as they're struggling for donations too.

Hmm can't think of anything else at the minute...
Bet you're all glad, this post goes on a bit! I'm such a tight wad! Lol! Xx
 
GPTV said:
With the council tax you can check your neighbours tax band, if your properties are similar in value they should all be the same band. I looked on a Martin Lewis website to find the website to check.
Also if you're a single (adult) occupant you get either 20 or 25% off of the bill. Contact your council if you're paying the full fee.

With the water I've found my bill is far cheaper using a meter, the cost was more than halved for me per year.
Also if you contact the local water board they will send out heavily discounted or free, water saving devices.

Or if you're on a meter simple things such as a weighted down container (ice cream tub?) or brick in your cystern, so that the water amount is reduced per flush.

I run my hot tap into a bucket whilst I'm waiting for it to get warm, you can use the collected clean cold water for pouring in the washing machine as it's filling up, or pour into the cystern after it's flushed if you have a removable lid to it?

Turn the tap off when cleaning your teeth, don't have it running continuously, just rinse the brush & turn off each time.

Time your showers, to reduce water consumption, try & spend 1minute less in there & that'll save water too.

Wash up with a full bowlful of dirty crockery /cutlery at the end of a meal/cooking session, that will save water & heating lots of small quantities of water too!

Also if all of your roof/guttering water goes into a soakaway (stone/brick type drain a few meters away from the property usually hidden underground) & you collect water in water butt(s) the water board give you a discount as its water they're not treating through the sewerage system.

Also if you own your own property/mortgage if you have an electric post, pylon or overhead cable on/in your property then you can claim a wayleave payment from the supplier, I don't think its much, but it all adds up, but I have yet to do some digging on that!

Oh & if you're an emergency services worker/NHS etc, you can get a 'blue light card' which offers discount on many online & store purchases. Think it's a small fee for 2yrs membership if you register with your NHS/police/coastguard official email address& official postal address. Same idea as a forces card I think?

Oh & finally if you have to launder your own work clothing with printed or embroidered logo's on it, you can claim back about £60 a year on tax, just write to your tax office&say you have no work facilities (only if you don't) to launder it, how long you've worked there, employee PAYE number, NI Number, work & home address and they'll adjust your tax code to reimburse it, I think you can go back 3yrs but ask if you can claim the maximum time limit back if applicable?

Don't forget if you're giving to a registered charity, that you can give them 'gift aid' on donations if you're a standard rate taxpayer, this gives them 25% more at no extra cost to you, as they're struggling for donations too.

Hmm can't think of anything else at the minute...
Bet you're all glad, this post goes on a bit! I'm such a tight wad! Lol! Xx
Click to expand...
Love it!
 
I've saved a lot on electric and water,for hot water in kitchen, l had fitted in place of the cold tap a small water heater with tap,it heats the moment the taps turned on, up to 75 f so no wasted water, the cost was £40. Had it 4 yes.
 
We saved a lot in our electric by changing all our bulbs to LED lights 2 or 3 years ago. Also, we got rid of all our economy 7 heating and changed to using portable oil filled radiatiors around 5 years ago. Hubby also followed Martin Lewis and every year, we change our electric providers. We are mainly using electric and because hubby uses it a lot for business, part of the electric fee is shouldered by the business.
 
A very small saving is available if you're with BT for TV and have the Sports packages. As there is no sport, they will refund the cost of a month's sports part of your package.
Or if you're feeling generous, you can have it donated to a fund to provide support to NHS workers during this crisis.
All you have to do is log on to your account at My BT, and find and fill on the online form.
 
I looked into saving money on showers by fitting a little filter thing, but it was like being dribbled on by a large dog. So I took the thing out.

Nice savings by the way above 👆
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
I looked into saving money on showers by fitting a little filter thing, but it was like being dribbled on by a large dog. So I took the thing out.

Nice savings by the way above 👆
Click to expand...
The way my other half saves on showers is by moaning at everyone else to hurry up why he takes as long as he likes 😜😜
 
teddymouse said:
I've saved a lot on electric and water,for hot water in kitchen, l had fitted in place of the cold tap a small water heater with tap,it heats the moment the taps turned on, up to 75 f so no wasted water, the cost was £40. Had it 4 yes.
Click to expand...


Looked on ebay and these tap heaters are now from £20.
 
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