Simple Savings

Yesterday was one of those productive days where I got down to ticking off things I'd been putting off for ages.

First thing in the morning, I rang the lady who runs the Kumon Centre in HX. I had left her a message on Monday but hadn't heard from her. I normally don't follow up on calls; I hate talking to answering machines and I try not to call someone if I can because I just can't handle the interaction. But for some reason, I thought I'd try and see if I could get through to her.

And she picked up!

The result was we had a very friendly and informative (for me) chat and I had most of my questions answered. We are booked in for a parent info session on Monday and Beth will sit a diagnostic test to see where she's at with her math. [Math ability is generally poor in Aus and I'm hoping Kumon can help Beth get an edge as she gets older.]

The next thing I did was to compare energy supply rates using GoSwitch and SwitchWise. I finally went with the supplier and plan that will save us $269 a year on a Loyalty Saver plan (the same retailer has an Easy Saver plan that would save us $270, but requires us to lock in a contract for 2 years, and I wasn't sure I wanted to do that).

The retailer is supposed to call me to confirm details.

Finally, I filled out an inquiry form on iPrimus, our broadband and home phone service provider (another way of avoiding direct contact!). I wanted to ask about their VOIP Lingo service.

The customer service officer called me back within the day, talked me through the options, answered all my questions, and after analyzing our monthly spend, actually advised me to downgrade to a cheaper plan so we could save money.

Instead of the $87+ we currently pay, we are switching to a plan that costs $59.95 with no change to our home phone or broadband usage, and with line rental included. So we get to enjoy a savings of $27+ every month. And it cost us nothing, just a couple of minutes on the phone.
Wow.

That's not all. The same guy suggested we look at the SIM Saver mobile phone plan that would allow us to retain our numbers while spending less on phone calls and texts.

It was a bit of info overload at that point, so I said I would look into it at a later time.

In all, we're looking at saving potentially $593 pa. Awesome.

The only thing that tops that is going through my insurance policies and writing up a table for my financial planner so he could review them and advise on the best strategy for the future.

I ended up writing three letters to my respective insurers asking questions and informing them (in some cases) that I wanted to surrender the policies. That should free up some cashflow to be redirected to where they are most needed.

Taking charge of where our money is going is so empowering!