Money saving ideas.
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We also have to pay for those ads SW Water keep putting on TV and YouTube. Why do they do that?
The Govt contribution is £50 P/A (£25 off each half yearly bill) but even with that deduction, our payments for metered water are £48 P/M. I wonder how many holiday makers realise we pay so they can enjoy our coastline?
We had a water meter installed at our previous house and made a worthwhile saving over the non-metered cost. This house was already on a meter when we bought it so I cannot make a comparison.
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Waterbills do seem to vary a lot, we're on a meter, 3 bedroom bungalow, 2 of us, cost £21.20 a month. We don't have a dishwasher or tumbledrier, shower rather than use the bath and only occasionally use a hosepipe if absolutely necessary. Washing machine 2/3 times a week.
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The Earth would have to turn flat before I gave up my Dishwasher. Had once since first married and loathe pot washing.
We do a “where are we” income/expenditure review around every 18 months now. It all started when I decided to give up work early, and we took a long hard look at our finances to see what giving up the larger of the two salaries (at the time) would be like. It was the best thing we ever did, as it made us focus on the things we need, the things we cherish and love, and the stuff that is just “padding” really. I have developed and honed my bargaining skills when dealing with such as insurance, wifi providers, etc… and never ever accept any so called deal or offer they think might keep us onboard.
I feel for those who have never been in this situation before, if you have an existing mortgage or loan, interest rate rises will hurt, and there’s nothing you can do but pay up. Whilst the rates were three times higher when we had our first mortgage, we went into it knowing how high they were and made decisions accordingly. I think some will need to make priority decisions over what is the most important aspects of their lives. For others, it’s going to be a matter of struggling through if they can. Which is despicable in a country as affluent as ours, the spread of wealth and well being is badly skewed.
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Whilst the interest rate rise is not good, except for savers. It was so much higher for years while we were paying our mortgage. Two years running, or more, we paid the required amount all year only to find at the end of the year we owed more!
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Oh yes DEBSC! Well do we recall17.5%. That sweet little letter every month or so, telling you rate was going down quarter of a % was met with such joy😁
As to savings….Premium Bonds. We seem to win at least every other month, and we have had some prizes up to £250. £50 this month👍
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It really is a matter of getting priorities right. Many of us, I'm sure, will remember when mortgage interest rates were 15%. Yes, 15%. We managed, we decided which expenditure was the more important. The mortgage came top of the list, we didn't want to lose our house. But we coped. If we couldn't afford it we didn't have it. Credit cards hadn't been invented although major purchases such as a washing machine could be bought on hire purchase. We were far more aware of the value of money and soon learned how to manage it once we started work. The end result, as far as I and my wife are concerned, is that now in retirement we have a very nice house and garden, a caravan of course which allows several holidays a year, a decent car albeit 7 years old and, very importantly, no debts. We are still of a mind that if we can't afford it we don't have it until we can and also consider carefully any purchases that we make. I'd like a newer car and a better camera but what we have already more than adequately does the job.
We had one holiday a year, staying in the UK, frequently reducing the cost by going with my in-laws. We didn't have mobile phones, iPads or anything similar. They hadn't been invented. Our TV had very few channels but from which we could easily find something interesting to watch, or we made our own entertainment. We didn't have or need dozens of streaming services. We had one modest car which got us around with no problems. In the very early days, early 1970's, we didn't even have a phone in the house, we used the phone box up the road. Tattoos were almost never seen except for a few people in the services. Now, it looks as though more than half the younger population has them and, I understand, they are not cheap.
To my mind, the younger generation spend far more money as a percentage of their income on things which are not needed, except in their mind. They are frivolous unnecessary luxuries.
I know a lady in her late forties quite well, a single mother, who has told me that she goes to the supermarket actively looking for bargains. There is nothing at all wrong with that but her reason for doing so is that she has to pay for her latest i-phone, her 12 year old son's i-phone and several TV streaming services because, in her words, " Me and Ollie (her son) like to binge watch". If ever I have asked her if she saw a particular programme on terrestrial TV she tells me "I never watch those channels". I don't think she is alone in this mindset.
Speaking to the lady's father many years ago, I commented that he and his wife (we knew them well enough to talk candidly) appeared to be trying to keep up with the Jones's. His reply was "We are the Jones's". Perhaps that is where his daughter got her financial education. Soon after, he had to hand his car back as he couldn't afford it.
One day I am sure that real life will catch up with her and many others like her and they will come down with such a bump but grumbling as they do so that the state should give them more financial assistance.
The answer is to get priorities right. Simple!
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brue as to light bulbs we are all Led except microwave, oven and sewing machine even Oh's shed 1 old style light with a double D fluorescent tube, I remember my late MIL she used to do a lot of knitting and crochet and used to like the 150w bulbs everywhere gosh it did seem bright in her house.
France is all on water meters and we had a new one fitted no charge as they do them every 15 years whether they need changing or not and the rates are reasonable compared to some countries, we did have water meters when we lived in Malvern many years ago, also do use a small dishwasher and have changed the washing machine not long ago and use a cooler wash also make sure I have a full load as to help with saving water and have never used a water hose from the tap only for watering the garden or washing cars and caravan as we generally use the water butts as the Karcher pressure washer has a built in water pump that is used with the water butts, we have 1 of the square cuve/water container and that take 1000 litres our friends have 6 of them also others friends have 6 we will put more around this Autumn.
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We have 3 good sized water butts but intend to install another. We'd probably all be better off with underground storage which could be pumped up somehow. Years ago above ground soft water storage tanks were quite the norm. At present our water butts are dry so not much use to us!
Our local river is 8ft below it's normal level on the deep stretches for this time of the year. Looks like we need to save our natural supplies as much as our spending levels.
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"we generally use the water butts", writes RedKite. We do as well when we can. There have been several recent comments from various 'official' sources and also from gardening gurus about having and using a water butt. What they all seem to overlook is that there has been no significant rain in the past several weeks and none in the forecast for people living in the southern half of the country to put any water into the butts. Our butt (200 ltrs) has been empty for weeks. How are we supposed to use them? Fill them with a hosepipe from the tap???
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They were indeed. The bank sent me one without me asking when I was a student in 71/74. I cut it up straight away, seemed the sensible thing to do. I didn’t ask for one again until the early 80’s and I wanted to buy a ZX Spectrum computer and it was more than the bank guarantee card. Not a problem if you were buying a washing machine or something, as they had time to clear the cheque, but of course we were taking the computer away with us. Had a credit card ever since and a computer of one sort or another.
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Yes, Steve, I remember unsolicited Access cards being sent out in the early 70s and the issuers were later rapped over the knuckles. It was at a time of rampant inflation with sky high interest rates.
ZX Spectrum, eh. I had an Amstrad PCW.
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The Earth would have to turn flat before I gave up my Dishwasher. Had once since first married and loathe pot washing.
Interesting how we're all different; never had a dishwasher in my life, but I really don't mind washing up, doesn't bother me at all
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I totally agree with your comments which is why I cannot drum up a lot of sympathy for many people who are supposedly in poverty! Some people obviously are in dire straits and need assistance and help, but many others need to rethink what they spend their money on.
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Oh yes remember tge mortgage interest rate at 17.5%, and I remember us parting company with NatWest Bank at that time. As someone has said interest rates changed rapidly and often. We kept getting letters telling us we were overdrawn. Couldn't understand it, no mobile/online banking so a trip into the branch, remember them? Turns out they were paying our mortgage twice a month 😱😱😱. It was hard enough once a month.
We kept up with the mortgage increases and when they eventually began to drop we didn't put it down. It knocked a lot of time off the mortgage length. I was surprised that we didn't have to drop as the children cost more, generally robbing Peter to pay Paul. Budgeting by putting money away for quarterly bills on a monthly basis allowed that. Interest free credit - always saved for the item before buying this way, then tried to pay back from salary but if we hit bad times we could withdraw a payment from savings. Was always taught from an early age save half spend half! My in-laws liked it as they had savings, shame its not the same for us. Credit cards are great but only when paid off fully monthly or budgeted for over a couple of months. I still know when to add a purchase for longest 'free' time.
Luckily our offspring have sensible finance ideas, some of their friends didn't!
I have a friend who constantly pays for her daughter's, in her 40's, food shopping, she's married, working as does her husband on good salaries one child, I have to bite my tongue when she also clears her credit card when it reaches the limit. Lots of holidays expensive, to me, days out etc. I can't see how that helps anyone, one day mum won't be there to bail her out.... So like others I can't automatically summon sympathy for the poverty BUT that doesn't mean there aren't folk, in very important key jobs, who can't keep the wolf from the door.
That said I'm doing very well at spending at the moment and am very grateful that I can. Its still being thought about as that's capital projects, not day to day living - which I still concentrate hard on. But I'm doing my bit for the economy too st tge moment.
As an aside, having a large recess made into a cupboard as I type. Materials budgeted for June but purchased today, mdf sheets were £27.50 now £37.50 and all other wood and the door similar increase, so about a 25% increase overall for materials 😱😱.
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I am being a tad careful of lacking sympathy for those younger than us at the moment. Anyone who took on a mortgage a decade ago, without any idea of how this country could be in this state it is ten years on, is going to struggle, and will have to take a long hard look at finances. Some folks were in serious financial straits before this, many through no real fault of their own.
This country has sleep walked, jumped, been pushed into some profound changes that are having serious repercussions for all of us without the cushion of super wealth. I can’t help but think some of our trials are self inflicted down the last decades.
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Even for the summer £2 a day is pretty good going I would have thought. Excepting a few months when I was in France, my daily charges have not been below £2 since September 2012! For the summer months in 2021 (26 May to 25 September) I averaged £2.93 a day. This year so far, 26 May to 24 July my average is £4.51! My average daily cost for the last 12 months is £4.04 and that includes a lot of days away in my motorhome.
I admit to being a little extravagant with energy and recognise that I have to start to be more prudent about it. Even so you are going some to keep within £2 a day. My figures are based on actual bills.
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The problem is that we are often away for all of the month or part of the month so it's sometimes difficult to get a accurate picture of our energy use. The June to July bill was £86 and we were not there for all of that month. I also didn't account for the VAT element which is not included in the Smart Meter reading. So I reckon a more accurate figure is approaching £3 a day. I hate to think how much that will be when the heating goes on, probably double or maybe approaching treble, we will have to wait an see. Octopus are predicting a peak bill of £256 for January and that is, of course, without any future increases!!!
David
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Kj
Does that bill take into account your own energy created by your solar panels? So is it the net amount you have to pay after your own generated electricity? Just trying to establish what it might be without solar power?
David
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