I saved about $1000 today
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23492
Printed Date: 29 September 2025 at 9:26pm
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Topic: I saved about $1000 today
Posted By: lizzle
Subject: I saved about $1000 today
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:36pm
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So the simple savings goal this month is to check on all your bills to make sure you were getting the best deal. I kinda dismissed this as i figured we were already.
Today I rang around the power companies and found that we could save $100 a year (not a lot I know) by changing. So rang my current company and asked if there were any cheaper plans as we were considering changing. They offered me a $100credit to stay on. Ka-ching - $100 free money! then looked at our telecom - we pay $25 a month for talk it up downunder. Worked it out, and we are no longer getting anything out of it (brilliant when we lived in Gisborne, but not so handy now I live near family) so cancelled that - $300 - a year saved Then looked at bank fees - we pay about $20 each in fees. Found a new acoc**t and switched to it - $5 a month unlimited. $360 a year saved then looked at our loan and debt. If we consolidate our debt, we pay only $81 a week for 2 years, as opposed to a ot more (can't remember exact number) and we are out of debt in two years. $400 a year (interest) So almost a thousand dollars! Am so impressed. Tomorrow we look at how to save money wqith the insurance - we pay monthly and am sure I can save a significant amount by going yearly. |
Replies:
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:36pm
| Hehe - i misspelt account - obviously a dodgy word huh! |
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:39pm
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Wow. Am impressed!!!! -------------   
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Posted By: pepsi
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:42pm
LOL, I wasn't sure if that was a mistake or if you were just annoyed at your bank 
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lizzle wrote:Posted By: monkey33
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:46pm
| Wow that is awesome! I might do the same with our power company, we have never looked around at other options before! |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 9:47pm
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Lizzle we pay our insurance yearly as it is cheaper. What we do is pay extra each week into our bill paying account so that by Nov we have accrued enough to pay the home, contents and both car insurances off in full. Have been doing it for a couple of years now and it works out quite well, because only bills come out of that account we are never tempted to touch it.
Oh and yay for saving a $1000 that's awesome. lol at the misspelling of account as well, I had to look at it for while to work out what is was blanking out. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 10:04pm
| When i spoke to the companies I just said that - "other company" was offering me this deal and was wondering if there is another account I should be on so I can get a similiar without changing companies. Power company was great, telecom - no so much. I would imagine insurance would also be good, but i LOVE AMI and don't want to change. |
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 05 January 2009 at 10:31pm
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There is usually a loading on insurance premiums paid monthly/fortnightly etc. So you should definitely be able to save there as well - I know where I work it ranges from 2% to 10% annual loading depending on the amount of premium you pay (over $20k premium paid by annual direct debit is 2% from memory, under $2k paid by monthly direct debit is 10%).
Well done on saving that much today though!! |
Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 8:55am
i love ami too! i don't think i'll ever change from them...we pay quarterly so i might look at changing it to yearly and see how much we could save we switched from telecom to vodafone for our home ph and broadband which saves us abit and i love not being with them anymore  ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 10:11am
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Yes, I love AMI too. They've been great, we'd have to be able to get a substantially better deal before I'd ever change.
We're also with Vodafone - I only changed because they were offering free broadband for a year, but I've been very happy and we pay less than we did with Telecom. -------------
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Posted By: Natalie_G
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 10:48am
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Good on you.
We only mangaged to save $50 a month by changing from Telecom for phone and internet to Orcon for a way better deal. Gotta start somewhere ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 11:28am
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Right, off to ring my power company too! Thanks Lizzle ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: CuriousG
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 1:08pm
Wow, that is amazing - wanna go through mine too?  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 2:15pm
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Well I tried that with my power company and I got no offer of any monies at all. Bugger! ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: IVFGirl1111
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 6:11pm
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Wow!
Which power company where you with and which one where you going to change to? ------------- TTC 6 years IVF it is IVF/ICSI round one 10 eggs, 8 mature, 3 fertilised BFN IVF/ICSI #2 = 22 eggs! 20 mature, 15 fertilised, 1 fresh transfer and 2 frosties BFN 2 Frosties still in freezer thank god |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 7:25pm
| We are with contact and were thinking of changing to Energy Direct (a wanganui company) |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 7:49pm
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Good for you!!
I had wondered about doing that too, Lizzle (contact to energy direct). I know it sounds silly, but it just sounds like so much hassle to change! We are already on a low user rate so I don't think it would make much difference. And I have been thinking about whether we should pay AMI (I love them too) annually instead of monthly, but our review comes up next month so I'll look at it then. -------------  |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 9:37pm
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We use about 10000 kw a year (apparently) an even those savings were minimal ($120) but with a credit, not worth the hassle
I got an old bill and gave them the numbers and they worked it out for me. Then went through ALL our bills for theyear and worked out how much we would've paid with energy direct. They have a website so it is pretty easy to do. ETA so I actually make sense |
Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 9:56pm
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Genesis told me to go onto consumer power switch (ww.w.consumer.co.nz) to compare all the power companies, and see which one is best for your money. If you have a bill handy you can enter all the details online, and it will tell you how much you will save if you join with X company. ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: mawsal
Date Posted: 06 January 2009 at 10:00pm
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For those looking at changing power companies, consumer have a great tool on their website which lets you compare prices between all the companies for your specific area:
http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch/ Good luck with the saving! :) |
Posted By: IVFGirl1111
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 11:36am
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Just thought Id let you guys know that we have saved nearly $1000 today too!
By changing from Telecom to Vodafone home phone and by changing to Westpac! Nearly saving $1000 a year - all the little things add up! So now what else to change? I think we may be on a good deal with Empower anyway - but still worth checking! So aside from banks, phone companies, power and insurance what else is there to look into changing? ------------- TTC 6 years IVF it is IVF/ICSI round one 10 eggs, 8 mature, 3 fertilised BFN IVF/ICSI #2 = 22 eggs! 20 mature, 15 fertilised, 1 fresh transfer and 2 frosties BFN 2 Frosties still in freezer thank god |
Posted By: gypsynita
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 4:15pm
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well... we changed from doing our groceries at pak 'n'save to shopping at countdown instead, and even though we still spend the same amount on a shop, we now get points through their reward program which gets paid out in vouchers I was pretty happy with that! ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 1:42pm
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Well we are in the savings mode this year. I rang the bank last week to moan about bank fees & they canged our account so now our fees have gone from $28ish to $0ish a month.
I also looked into changing power, but we get $320 back a year from them so will stick with them for now. Our insurances are paid yearly & through AA, been a member for over 10yrs & no clains so get a good deal. Last year we got a yearly zoo pay (in auckland), sometimes we use it heaps and other not as much, but all ways have somewhere to take the kids FREE. I got made redundant from work last year, but we are used to being on/off 1 wage (when having babies) so got rid of all c/cards & got a loaded card, you put your money on & can only spend what you have on it, so no monthy bills. We are also planning meals, not so much t/aways, which is good as loosing weight. TM is also good, it is a good way of having a big cleanout & updating kids toys. I like the idea of a bill account, might do that & get interest on the money being saved for the yearly bills instead of the month before panic to pay them. |