How much have you saved?

A question about : How much have you saved?

There were some fantastic notes here before the technical glitch. It'd be great to get them on again and any new ones. It's a very valuable board - both for me - as a testimonial and for other new people on the site to see - just how much it is possible to save people. Please post your messages here if you can.

Thanks

martin

Best answers:

• OK, here goes again.
  Savings to date:
  1) credit card switching: I've switched a Ј4k debt about 4 times now onto 0% credit card deals - the latest being the PC World Marbles card with 9 months interest free.
  Saving = approx Ј400 compared to a personal loan.
  2) Gas & electricity switch: I used the USwitch service recently, and changed supplier by filling in an online form, signing and returning two letters the new provider sent me, and taking the final meter readings. Not really too much work.
  Saving = approx Ј50 per year
  3) Cash back credit card: I used to have a Natwest Airmiles creadit card that I used for business expenses. Having read Martin's credit card scheme article, I now have an Amex Blue card that I use for all business and househould expenses (approx Ј1000 per month).
  Saving: 1% cashback on, say, Ј10k per annum = Ј100
  4) Mortgage: a knock on from using the Amex Blue card for my household expenses is that my mortgage (being an offset type one) now benefits from all of the cash in my current account that stays there until the end of the month.
  Saving: approx 5 years off my mortgage term
  5) Annual travel insurance: I used moneysupermarket.com to compare my renewal quote to others, and bagged a Europe policy that includes Golf and Business travel options for less than my old provider, with the same levels of basic cover.
  Saving: Ј30 per year.
  So, if I ever meet up with Martin I should be able to buy him a beer or two!
  Darryl.
• By having a water meter installed, my monthly DD has been reduced by Ј20. A tip I heard from Martin on a 5- live interview.
• Hi martin, after seeing you on This Morning (your first apperance) I was inspired to sort out our finances.
  It was a bit like pulling teeth to pursuade my partner to change our various accounts but I stuck with it and we have managed to save approx Ј400 per month just on interest.
  We changed our mortgage to a base rate tracker(0.55% above base for the term) and stayed with current provider so no fees were charged.
  We changed our bank account to Cahoot and got a pc world marbles card and transfered all our balances.
  All of this without even leaving my desk!
  My aim is now to find a way of saving money on something every week.
  MONEY SAVED IS MONEY EARNT!!!
• I have only just started this money saving malarkey however it is quite adictive! I was paying ridiculous interest on a 'student' credit card- i didn't have a clue!, by transfering it to the pcworld marbles card I will have saved myself at least Ј250 over the rest of this yr. When the interest free period is up on this one I'll definately be switching again.
  One other thing I now do, is always check to see if I can get an item cheaper online using the likes of kelkoo.com. I do this for everything, books (these normally end up beings cheapeast if u can by them in a supermarket), cds, electrical items, cosmetics now even groceries(they give out loads of money off coupons and will all be trying to get your custom-make sure they are aware that you allow your personal info to be used to get offers and info from them).
  I must have saved at least Ј200 this yr so far.
  Thanks Martin!
• Hi
  My contact lenses were costing me Ј210 a year with Specsavers because I have an astigmatism in both eyesso I need special lenses. However, after reading Martins article on contact lenses I found that I could save Ј60 if I ordered them from Postoptics !!
  When Specsavers found out that I'm going to order from elsewhere, they weren't very happy!
  I have now tried saving on other things. For instance I drink 2 litres of water a day- that is alot of Volvic! Anyway I found that buying Volvic bottles all the time would cost me Ј170 for a year! So instead I have bought a Brita Filter and found that I have saved alot because now I only have to pay Ј14 a year for the cartridges! Thats a saving of over Ј150 a year...... good when you're only a student as well.
  Thanks Martin for starting me on this money saving mission!
  PS- Martin is sooooooo cute!
• Well I am deep into a relationship. My girlfriend wnats to move back to england from canada and we want to set up home next year.
  So today I have looked at my finances (and they are a mess) and changed a few things whih I pay out monthly.
  Ј10 union membership cancelled. I have never used them.
  Ј2.50 clothes insurance. Never claimed and dont need it.
  I have changed the following as well
  Taken a three month payment holiday from a loan I have (11% APR) and will put the money I not using on that into paying a sizeable chunk of my store card (28%)
  Moved a credit card balance to a 6 month 0% interest rate. Cut up all but one card and my current account card.
  Used petrolbusters website to find garage I travel pass regualr and estimate savings of Ј200 a year.
  Looked at my daily expenses (food mainly) and decided to take sandwiches to work as well as drinks. I estimate savings of Ј3 a day (food is expensive in London)
  I am going to stop using the car for getting to the station. Will only save me 50p a day by switching to public transport , but probably just as quick.
  Noticed that pizzas are about a third the prize I pay in asda if I cook them myself . estimate savings of Ј120 a month.
  Changed my overseas telecoms provider . I spend Ј100 a month phoning canada , but by switching to telediscount , that will come down by 75%.
  Total Savings per year (excluding credit cards which I cannot work out) Ј1920 (estimated) and I will probably save a bit more because my priorities have changed and now must save for a house.
• I think I'm over Ј7500 per year better off because of money saving tips from here and other internet sites.
  The approximate breakdown of this follows. I think once you start you tend to look for a better deal all the time. Add to this the Ј14K I saved on double glazing by shopping around and I think you can probably understand why I am quite pleased with it all ;D
  Monthly reduced outgoings:
  Ј300 mortgage
  Ј10 life insurance
  Ј50 gas/electricity
  Ј30 mobile phones
  Ј30 credit card interest
  Ј7 home insurance
  Ј5 pet insurance
  Annual reduced outgoings:
  Ј150 car1 insurance
  Ј200 car2 insurance
  Ј800 holiday
  Ј65 travel insurance
  Annual increased income:
  Ј250 credit card cashback
  Ј500 interest received (0% balance transfer)
  Ј500 improved interest on savings
• Unbelievable! That's fantastic ;D
• Having seen Martin on daytime TV, where he was advising a telephone caller who had large phone bills to check which BT tariff she was on, I checked mine and found I too was on BT Standard (a rip-off according to Martin).
  I now use a mixture of Smart Talk Anytime for landlines and Telediscount for mobiles and made a saving of Ј50 on my last quarter's phone bill!
  I have also saved Ј152 on my car insurance premium - a Norwich Union Direct quote at a saving of over 50% found through your insurance link. Brilliant!
• Saved Ј338 - went through to buy.co.uk (not buy.com which is the link from the site!) and saved Ј108 on electricity and then checked out home insurance and saved a massive Ј230.
  Still trying to get my head round all the telephone options!
• Galstonian
  14k
  that's a heck of a lot of windows!!
• It was! I think it was 24 windows. Some DG salespeople are ridiculous using every underhand tactic you can imagine. One wanted a signature on what was effectively a blank contract! Anyway, after taking time and contacting many different suppliers all the way from national concerns to local joiners we found one with a product and a price we liked. They were Ј14K cheaper than the most expensive full quote we received; there were some who we stopped before that stage as they were going to be even more expensive!
  We got the work done in February. Get the work done when they are in a slack period as they would rather make a minimal amount than pay staff for doing nothing.
  I'm glad to say we are pleased with the product too and would not hesitate in recommeding the firm to others. Anyone looking for double glazing in the West of Scotland feel free to send a private message and I will name names.
• I'm quite new to this site (only joined it a couple of weeks ago) but so far I've transferred my credit card balance to 0% Egg card, changed my telephone provider to NTL (and joined Broadband at their cheaper option of Ј17.99 a month), opened an ING savings account and transferred my savings to that and written to complain about being mis-sold our mortgage endowment. WOW! Next on my list is to change our gas and electricity providers to Atlantic.
  I've no idea exactly how much we'll save but your site has really helped and inspired me to make the best of our finances.
  Thanks ***** ;D
• Ј426.22 by moving gas, electricity, telephone, mobiles (2) and ISP in 12 months.
  Not bad for things you use every day and take for granted.
  Mortgage possibly next...
  Mark E
• The site has given me the confidence to clear a personal loan, and transfer to 0% credit cards (including a Ј3.5k chunk on Barclaycard)
  If I can chase the 0% rate until my balance is repaid, I'll save a minimum of Ј2,500 - plus as time goes on, my savings will accumulate more interest also, until I decide to clear cc's.
  I'm putting Ј100 per month of my savings into Premium bonds - so the site might make me A MILLION ;D
• Definitely the mortgage,didnt even have to change provider,just by chance got through to someone who,instead of trying to sell me a product looked at our current interest rate,and suggested a different rate with no tie-ins or redemption penalties,thus saving Ј80 a month.He also said we should have had a mortgage review!Shall organise regular ones in future.Hooray for this particular bloke!
• Hoorah - what a wonderful note. Do the mortgage too - go on - do it
• yeah yeah yeah do the mortgage
  Seriously, if you want anything talked through drop me a note (I live over in the "mortgage" section of the board) and I will be delighted to explain
• ;D ;D ;D
  Hi All
  I have saved Ј60 per year on Internet connection by changing to fast4.net as Martin reccommended.
  Ј72 per year on gas and electricty and I have just applied for the Halifax credit card.
  Don't laugh now I have only started ;D
  I do have one worry Martin if you read this, I do not have any debts, even the mortgage is paid but I have had the same credit card for about 20 years and always pay off the bill at the end of the month, was tempted to apply for the one that gave free flight but after applying for the Halifax was worried that it might look bad. Would appreciate your comments.