all talk and no action
Monday, July 28, 2008
Beating the credit crunch
As I've noticed my cash running out further and further from payday each month, I figured I should do something about it. The big change, and the one that took some effort, was to take my bike training, buy a 125cc motorbike and use that to get to work instead of driving. It's been well worth the day's training, which cost £125.
£8 gets me a full tank of petrol which lasts me two weeks, and parking is free; in my car, I got through about £30/£40 a week in petrol and parking was £5 a day. The repayments on my new bike work out at about £60 a month. I can't be bothered to work it out but I figure I'm about even once you factor in the extra insurance, clothes, etc. But after I've paid the bike off, I'll be saving. I also get to work in 15 minutes because traffic jams don't apply to bikes, and it's a LOT more fun!
An easier saving was found by heading to confused.com when my car insurance renewal came in last week. My renewal fee was a touch under £400 and I found a whole load of quotes for £200. A quick call to my insurance company to cancel and they matched the quote. And they offered me breakdown cover for £35 a year, so I took that and cancelled my £100 a year AA cover.
While running searches, I also discovered that I can halve the cost of my home insurance, so that's tomorrow's telephone call.
If you haven't bothed up until now (and I know we all should but we don't sometimes) hit a price comparison site to reduce your outgoings. And get yourself a bike, motored or pedal-power.
£8 gets me a full tank of petrol which lasts me two weeks, and parking is free; in my car, I got through about £30/£40 a week in petrol and parking was £5 a day. The repayments on my new bike work out at about £60 a month. I can't be bothered to work it out but I figure I'm about even once you factor in the extra insurance, clothes, etc. But after I've paid the bike off, I'll be saving. I also get to work in 15 minutes because traffic jams don't apply to bikes, and it's a LOT more fun!
An easier saving was found by heading to confused.com when my car insurance renewal came in last week. My renewal fee was a touch under £400 and I found a whole load of quotes for £200. A quick call to my insurance company to cancel and they matched the quote. And they offered me breakdown cover for £35 a year, so I took that and cancelled my £100 a year AA cover.
While running searches, I also discovered that I can halve the cost of my home insurance, so that's tomorrow's telephone call.
If you haven't bothed up until now (and I know we all should but we don't sometimes) hit a price comparison site to reduce your outgoings. And get yourself a bike, motored or pedal-power.
posted by paul, 7:32 PM
