SHOP around when looking to take out a new policy or renew an existing one. You can find advice and links to the price comparison sites at moneysavingexpert.com
Energy suppliers
COMPARING electricity and gas suppliers could save you money. Uswitch.com offers a comprehensive comparison database which can help you to compare the leading providers in your region, gives you an estimate of how much you could save on your fuel bills and enables you to change providers. If you don’t want the hassle of switching once you’ve compared the costs, you can always call up your current supplier and try to get them to price-match.
SHOPPING around for a package that best suits your own requirements can significantly cut your telephone bills. The cost of landline phone calls is made up of separate components – line rental and a series of tariffs covering calls to other UK landlines, mobiles and overseas. Choosing the cheapest combination of tariffs to match your own usage will undercut any stand-alone provider, making you considerable savings.
Mobile telephones
THE variety of networks and tariffs can make finding the best deal confusing but there are a number of easy-to-use comparison sites such asMobilephonechecker.co.uk
Shopping
FOOD costs have rocketed over recent months, but there are simple ways to reduce costs. Looking out for coupons in magazines, on packets and online will save you money and sticking to a list or shopping online will help you resist unnecessary impulse buys. Mysupermarket.co.uk includes a downshift challenge to show the scale of possible savings. If you’re worried about tasting the difference, find a review of super- markets’ own brand products at Supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk
Banking
SEEKING out the best interest rates will boost your savings and there are some great offers around to save you money on your current accounts, including 0% overdrafts and cash back for switching.
Many banks only pay around 0.1% interest on current accounts in credit while overdrafts can often incur charges of around 20% so switching to an account offering a better deal can make a big difference.
Cash back
WHEN shopping online make sure that you register with one of the cash-back websites.
These offer you a percentage of your purchase price back from participating stores.
Paperless billing
THIS can save you money on many household bills. Many suppliers such as utility companies and telephone providers give discounts for opting to get bills via e-mail rather than post.
Standby reduction devices
A TELEVISION left on standby can consume nearly 70% of the electricity that it would if it were switched on.
A standby reduction device is a socket that slots into a normal electricity power point.
You can then connect your appliances to the socket as normal and use the remote control that comes with the standby reduction device to turn off your appliances.
If you have a number of appliances across the house, you can turn them all off simultaneously.
A standby reduction device will cost you around £15 each, but you are likely to recoup the cost within 12-18 months or sooner if you usually leave appliances on overnight.
The four-day wait
IF you are about to buy something which really isn’t a necessity and you have a little voice whispering in your ear, listen to it and wait four days before you make the purchase.
It gives you time to seek advice, compare prices, come up with an alternative, or even to decide that you didn’t really need or want it!
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