I feel like I haven’t been in total control of our finances as much as usual for the last nine months or so with me not being very well but March seemed like a great time to put that right as I’ve been feeling so much better lately and both our home and car insurance were up for renewal as well as my phone contract finally coming to an end.
I took a day off work last week so I could fully focus on all things budget related, gather together our bank statements and any of our insurance renewal letters and sat myself down with a copy of my free budget planner and got to work, with the help of Mr Frugal where things were in his name.
Money Saved
I called to cancel my phone contract with EE which was £33 a month and the team there ended up offering me 8GB data with unlimited calls and texts for £16.99 a month. Saving: £16 a month.
We cancelled Mr Frugal’s phone contract with EE which was £37 a month put him on to the same deal as I’ve taken out. This is one of those things that I should have done before as I totally planned to. I even included the savings in a budget I wrote out for us back in September but we just forgot to phone and do the actual cancellation and then never got around to it as my op was in October and life didn’t get back to normal until the last couple of weeks. Saving: £20 a month.
We cancelled Master Frugal’s gym membership as he hasn’t been going the last few weeks as his football team practice 2 or 3 nights a week now that the nights are drawing out a bit. It was well worth the £14 when he was going to the gym once a week and swimming once or twice a week but now it’s just cheaper to give him the money when he wants to go along as that will work out cheaper. Football costs him £1 a week which is much cheaper and something he enjoys even more. Saving: £14 a month
Our home insurance was due for renewal this month and the renewal quote was a lot higher than it was last year for some reason. It was far from the cheapest when we took it out but the great cashback we got at the time made it work out better value when we took that into account so we went for it. I knew I’d have to change this year as without the cashback included it wasn’t a good price anyway but the renewal price is over £40 a month. We’ve got a similar policy for £15.37 a month and that has £24 cashback on top which is brilliant. Saving: £24 a month
I cancelled a cheeky little Direct Debit that I am convinced I have already cancelled but has turned up on my bank statement again over the last few months. I think it’s slipped by me as it’s for such a small amount and I haven’t been checking the statements in huge detail while I’ve been ill but it’s all sorted now. I’ve also emailed them to let them know what’s happened. Saving: £3 a month
I think I told you about this one already in last weeks five frugal things post but I even cancelled our English Heritage membership which was around £7 a month. As much as I love it, it’s only good value if we’re using it regularly and I can’t see that we will be over the next few months at least as we so many other plans. Saving:£8 a month.
Money Made
We got a great deal on annual family travel insurance £48 with £5 cash back and a £10 gift card for Debenhams. Made £15
We’ve earned £24 cashback with Top Cash Back for switching our home insurance to a much better deal. Made £24
I may not have much to share each month but I will try and do something similar in the last week of each month to give you an idea of where we’re saving money and where we’re making it as a family. I’m not sure that April will be as successful as March for saving money but I think it will be better for making money as I have some things to list on eBay and there may possibly be a car boot sale if we can get organised.
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