Bill-pruning and increasing my pension contribution

Despite all my recent efforts to cut down regular bills - as part of which we've saved considerably on home and contents insurance, joined an oil-buying group, and changed our AA cover to save £137 a year, and made various other changes, there was one insurance policy that I had not thought about cancelling.  It suddenly occurred to me, a few days ago, that it was something I no longer needed, and so I decided to cancel the plan, and divert the money saved on the monthly premium to my pension.  While I was about it, I also made a change to my clothes and spending allowance which I had been contemplating for a little while, cutting it by a quarter and adding that extra money to my pension as well.  

So today I rang the pension company and informed them of my increased contributions.  The young woman I spoke to congratulated me on making the change, wondering if I had had a pay rise.   

I am pleased to have taken this action; it feels good to have immediately diverted the money saved into something specific, particularly into the pension.  It does not feel very helpful to save money, if the difference is then swallowed up in general spending.

However, as I have mentioned before, I do like spending money on clothes, so the cut in spending money may be a bit of a challenge for me. I will see it as a test of my ingenuity....We will see how I get on.

Saving nearly £300 on home and contents insurance

For the first time in ages, or possibly ever, I've been really thorough about getting a good price for our home and contents renewal.  We had a renewal notice through from our existing insurer, with what I felt was a very high price, as well as one or two solicitations from other insurers.

Today, I've worked through the process Martin Lewis suggests, involving going through a number of online brokers, as well as getting a few direct quotes, and it really is amazing how much difference it makes to the price.  I spent more or less a whole morning on the - boring but still quite satisfying - process.  The result is that the quote I'm about to accept is very nearly £300 cheaper than our renewal quote.  

This isn't the cheapest quote, however, but about £80 higher.  After the poor service I experienced from my car insurer earlier in the year, I've looked at some online reviews, as well as bearing in mind comments I had heard from others about service, before choosing whom to go with.  I found some very positive feedback for Direct Line - and the person I spoke to there about a query had also been very helpful - and made my decision accordingly.

So, a slightly tedious process, but thoroughly worth doing when I consider how long it would take me to earn the £300....

Lessons from February

I like the way many personal finance blogs, particularly US ones, include a goals and net worth update at the end of each month. I'm a bit too inhibited to do the same, even anonymously, but this month felt I'd learnt various financial lessons, and had a few small successes, which I thought I would document. This may even become a habit....

Here's my list:

• Joined a local oil-buying consortium and cancelled my oil direct debit
  
• Continued using up toiletries, cleaning products and freezer contents
  
• Kept within our £50 a week food budget
  
• Saved most of my freelance earnings
  
• Experimented successfully with life without a car for a few weeks. (The experiment continues, beyond my control...)
  
• Learned that if an oyster card is not swiped firmly enough, the gate may open, but extra money will be deducted from the card as a penalty. (I got most of the extra few pounds re-credited when I queried how my card could be down to a £0 balance after a very few uses, but am not sure I have heard many things as nonsensical as this explanation. Others may not be aware of this quirk in the system....)
  
• Was charged interest in a catch-22 type situation by my credit card - but managed to get it deducted after pointing out the unfairness of the charge. (I had been asked to re-register my payment details after a new card was issued, did so immediately, but not in time for the next payment due date, and my payment was therefore inevitably late.)
  
• Discovered the dangers of buying cheap car insurance through a broker. Next time, I will check feedback on car insurers before renewing, rather than just going for the cheapest quote, as my current insurer was, for many days, completely failing to progress an insurance claim. (It is now ongoing again, after much pestering from me, thank goodness!)
  
• Learnt much about the handling of debts, budgeting, and the UK benefits system, as part of my financial capability training course. These budgeting tools from Martin Lewis's site were recommended to me; I intend to try some of them out in the

Planning

I've been working quite hard recently, including some time away from home, and consequently haven't been as well-organised in various respects as I might have been. As well as being inefficient with time and energy, my lack of proper forward planning has also led to some financial inefficency.

For instance, I recently ignored the telephone calls from the car insurance company about my renewal until the last possible moment, meaning that I didn't have time to shop around properly for a quote, as I had intended to do.

I've also forgotten to take my packed lunch in to work a couple of times, and therefore had to buy lunch out. I used to feel that a bought lunch was a nice treat on those days - two or three a week - when I was away from home. Nowadays, except on these few recent occasions of forgetfulness, I am in the habit of taking a packed lunch, and save buying lunch for a special occasion, usually a social gathering.

If I am in a hurry I am also more likely to leave making travel arrangements to the last moment, so not being able to take advantage of cheaper rail fares, as well as more likely to eat out for convenience rather than pleasure.

When things are going well, I enjoy planning ahead, and find it quite easy to do so, but I have noticed that my natural instinct is to put my own affairs on hold if feeling under pressure, and find myself living from one day to the next. I'd like to think it is partly the result of a conscientious nature, but is probably not ideal for my own health and happiness, and this is something I am resolved to work on. (A classic example of this is my old habit of leaving my expenses claims to languish for months before submitting them - though that is one habit I have now more or less broken.)