Joining in with Robyn’s frugal friday series again today – she’s got a guest post today, why not pop over and see what she’s talking about!
I like thinking about tea, and cake, and flowers and adventures and pottering and baking and cheerful things. What I don’t like is thinking about money. I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have to worry about money on a daily basis, but unfortunately I still have to think about it occasionally.
A while back we decided this January would be the month for Project Piggy Bank.
I could say ‘January will be the month we go on an agonising and tedious trawl through comparison websites and tear our hair out reading terms and conditions and trying to understand how much we need to insure the house for’ but that wouldn’t be very cheerful now, would it? No. So Project Piggy Bank it is, because piggy banks are cheerful and, after all, the less we spend on insurance, the more we can spend on cake and adventures.
In fact, that can be the mantra for Project Piggy Bank:
less on bills, more on adventures
I’m feeling more cheerful already!
I want to keep things simple, so Project Piggy Bank isn’t about trying to do EVERYTHING related to money. We won’t be looking at what we spend on food, or treats, or holidays. Just bills. One thing at a time.
We check the car insurance and breakdown cover each year, so won’t be doing those until their renewal time is up. And I’ve recently changed my mobile phone contract, so I won’t be looking at that either. Instead, we’ll be focusing on the house bills:
- buildings and contents insurance
- gas and electricity
- landline telephone and internet
That doesn’t seem so frightening written down! I’m going to start with the buildings insurance, since that’s due this month, and I’ll be using the Money Saving Expert guide to hold my hand along the way.
I’m not going to go through the details here, but I will report back how much we’ve managed to save, and what cheerful things we’re going to spend the savings on.
Have you been through all your bills like this? How much did you save?
a cheerful living adventure 
Project Piggy Bank is exactly what I plan on doing this year – I have a couple of big expenses coming up but I intend to save when and where I can to make up for it. January will be fine as it is a bit of a detox month, both health wise and money wise after the excesses of Christmas – it will be tougher as I get through the year but I am determined to save lots this year!
Good luck with yours!!!
Good luck! Ooh, what are your big expenses? Exciting things??
Good Luck!! One thing we have learned is that you don’t get any benefit from being a loyal customer; it’s definitely worth shopping around when it comes to insurance and power providers.
Also multibuys in supermarkets need checking out; often the single items multiplied are less expensive than the multipacks. (In Tesco’s, anyway).
If you have any savings in a bank, they often reduce the interest rate on that account and don’t tell you if there is a better option – it’s worth checking with moneysavingexpert.com
Hope it goes well!!
Thanks Barbara! I certainly will be shopping around, this has been neglected for far too long! We’re quite on the ball with supermarkets and their dubious pricing though – pesky folk, they are! As for savings, I suspect the tiny amount I have isn’t going to make much difference…
🙂
I check the insurances each year – being in a flat we only have contents for the house, Buildings is a block policy. I go though the comparison sites as per the MSE guide you mention, then check for cashback. I then switch to the the other computer to make the purchase if there is cashback as sometimes it doesn’t track if you’ve already done comparison sites first! This year I warned our existing provider that when they gave me their renewal quote they needed to make it their absolute cheapest price, and to my astonishment they did, and beat everyone else easily!
Good luck with project piggy bank, and thanks for joining in again!
A new car after my last one died, and same as you – making our home a palace!! It may take a few years but determined to get a good head start by savings lots asap!!
Excellent. Remember – fairy lights and fabric and mirrors and disco balls are your friends! Pictures on blog please if you’re still doing it!
I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to insurance. We’ve been burnt making claims before, so we tend to stick with the company we currently have, who’ve given us impeccable service when we have had to make a claim in the past.
However, I did just halve my mobile bill a few months ago. Totally worth shopping around as plans are always changing!
Thanks for the reminder, it’s a good time to start shopping smarter!