Save a penny here, save a penny there...

We are just one of many thousands of families who across the country are trying to save money and reduce their outgoings wherever they can. A report on the BBC earlier in the week prompted me to compare our electricity costs with those of other providers. I was shocked to discover that we could save more than £600 a year on the £178 we pay each month. We have no gas incidentally as we are so rural so everything is electric.
I did call our existing supplier to see if we could get the amount we pay reduced but they made the explanation so confusing and difficult to understand. All I was interested in was the monthly amount, not units, tariffs and usage blocks. So in the end a quick call to our new supplier offering us this enormous saving was all that was needed. Apparently they do all the rest so I was pleased with that.
Next on the list was our pet insurance. We've been with the same provider for about 9 years and in that time, the premium has slowly crept up as these things have an annoying habit of doing. Again, checking on line, we found that we were able to have slightly better cover for £10 a month less. Again a quick call had this sorted out.
Finally, a call to they guys who look after our pipes and electrics internally on behalf of Anglia Water. We had been paying them £25 and have seldom ever claimed. So a call to them mentioning that we were looking at saving money and might be leaving them was all it took for them to take £10 off the amount we pay each month, and provide exactly the same cover!
So, it really does pay to ring round and see if you can get things cheaper. It's actually quite a satisfying experience. I know a lot of people simply don't bother as they don't want the hassle. But we are living in times now where we simply have to save money in order to survive. I was always one for just leaving things as they were, relying on the direct debit each month and not giving any thought to whether or not we were paying too much. I'm just lucky my wife is the complete opposite. Without her, I know we wouldn't be here now.
At risk of sounding like Martin Lewis, the UK's Money Saving Expert, it worked for us and I'm pleased we did it...

Doing fine on a budget & Kwik Fit

Like many, we have been living on a budget for some time now. It's easy to assume that having a limit to the amount you can spend on food and consumables would be restrictive and force us to do without things. In fact the opposite is true. There are things certainly that we no longer buy but these are unhealthy foods and things that we really didn't need. In fact our new buying habits have enabled me to lose 6lbs in two weeks. I now actually enjoy being the careful shopper, hunting out bargains and trying to get the most for every penny. We now buy a lot of the things that are good for us and I'm really getting to enjoy the new healthy lifestyle. This has been helped in part by healthy eating money off vouchers which are now available in most supermarkets.
So out have gone the crisps and the fatty, sweet snacks and in are the crisp bread, the cracker and the granary loaf. We're eating just as well, feeling full, and shedding pounds. So all's good.

We had cause to get a new tyre fitted to the car yesterday. The inside rear had worn on the outer edge and it really needed doing. So we popped to our Spalding Kwik Fit and on arrival found all the bays full with cars. Fearing a long wait, my wife and son popped to a local store for some bits and pieces while I stayed at the garage. Before I knew it, the car was on the ramp, a space having been made almost immediately and the new tyre was being fitted. The whole thing too just 10 minutes by which time my wife and son had arrived back from their short trip. I'm not normally very complimentary when it comes to customer service but on this occasion, Kwik Fit are certainly worthy of my praise. A job very well done and worth all of the £55 spent.

I haven't mentioned the outcome of my medical examination last Thursday for my new job. This is mainly because, I haven't heard from my prospective employer though I was informed I had passed by the doctor I saw. It is true I'm not in perfect working order and do have to take some medication daily to control a few things, but I am physically fit and able to drive any size of vehicle safely. So I'm hopeful I'll hear something soon. I know they were checking my references last Friday as I had a call asking for my RBS employee number.

My vegetable plot is coming on nicely and things have begun to take root and start growing. I am having real problems with slugs for which there appear to be thousands all over the garden. I am using two beer traps and these have been very effective though I suspect the buggers have staggered into them after munching their way through my cucumber plants...

I've managed to transplant my honeydew watermelon plants from their propagator to a grow bag in my conservatory. I'm hopeful this will provide the ideal conditions needed, but time will tell.

There's a lot in the news at the moment about unrest across London sparked by the shooting in Tottenham last Thursday. There can be no justification whatsoever for the mindless violence and willful destruction we have witnessed. The investigation should be allowed to proceed and a full inquiry should take place to discover who was at fault. If the police are found to be at fault, then justice should be served according to law and there should be transparency at every stage.