The random-interval personal finances review

[Diddums]

I do this every so often and so should you.

This time the motivation came from Shell Energy telling me that my monthly direct debit is going up by £230 (LOL).

Moved to Octopus and saved £30 off that right away, but I always like to dig in to other things too:

Sky broadband to Community Fibre: £35.50 a month, to £17.99 a month, £65 amazon voucher, 200% internet speed - £17.50 a month saved
Random web-hosting subscription cancelled - £6 a month saved
1x Spotify sub to be cancelled and add her to my Tidal account, which is 67p for 6 accounts - £10 a month saved

Thames water to be reviewed
Vodafone to be reviewed (not that fussed about this one as I find most other suppliers to be inferior)

What have you done lately to chop down your outgoings?

I'm sure @dLockers will post up a few spreadsheets for our awkward pleasures

 

[Diddums]

Looks like I can save another £18 a month by going from Vodafone to Smarty.

My average usage is 10gb a month and the closest they have is 30gb so that'll work fine, it also work's on 3's network so the coverage should be good.

Will have a proper look later.

 

[Diddums]

When my vodafone contract ended last year I went to Smarty PAYG and within a week moved onto VOXI PAYG (vodafone backbone) as the coverage was pretty abymsal with Smarty, not exactly out in the sticks either in Rugby.

Oh sweet, thanks for the heads up. Looks like I can get the same deal with Voxi for the same price. If they use Vodafone's network then the signal should still be decent. A few quid cashback on TCB too.

Did you not incur any penalties for breaking contracts early?

Rolling contract, my days of having multiple-year contracts are behind me.

Prices seem to be going up on everything, using the inflation plus 3.9% so looking at a near 15% increase which is ridiculous. Will be switching and ditching to negate some of that.

Exactly, hence this review. I tend to do it once or twice a year anyway, go through the statements and see what can be chopped or changed. So far I should be able to negate most of the increase in energy costs just by trimming the fat.

 

[Diddums]

Yep, check if you're out of contract on anything regularly. We're light on subscriptions, all phones on sim-only, debt free. Spreadsheet could be useful (if you remeber to check & update it often).

There's software out there that does it automatically now I think, never tried one though. Might hafta look in to them actually.


I seem to recall @Freefaller using something like this in the past?

 

[Diddums]

Pardon the question my good man. I recognise the name 123 Reg, but whom are Newsgroup Direct and what is a Usenet domain service they offer?

Why is the rum always gone?