Frugal Friday...

My current 4-wheeled partner in crime....

We have entered a financially squeaky time of year.  August is always financially squeaky however, and this means we can plan a bit - always helpful. The squeakiness is caused by several different factors:

1) I am self employed so when I am not available for work, I'm not earning any money. we have just spent a week volunteering at the beer festival, meaning I will be a week short on my August invoicing, when it occurs at the end of the month.
2) Car insurance fell due - and with 2 cars in the household this is significant.
3) Along with the car insurance comes breakdown cover - essential in my book, and one of those insurances that I am very happy to pay for...
4) Later on this month Home Contents Insurance becomes due...

I decided to tackle these items one at a time, first up being the shortfall in invoicing for August. My only method of covering this is to try to get extra days of work both before and after any break - on this occasion it was a couple of extra days over the last fortnight of July, and a couple over the first & second weeks back. the July time has been" set off" against the low August, and of course the August ones will fall within that period too. I also ensure that I set aside more in each regular month for tax & National Insurance payments, meaning that I can set aside less in any low month. All in all, that means that  the shortfall will be covered. Squeakiness point 1 averted.

My much loved first car - acquired for £100 in 1990!

Next on the agenda was the car insurance. In spite of neither of our cars being what you could in any way describe as sporty, a certain insurance company offering multicar policies and advertised by a gentleman wearing a naval uniform decided that a sum approaching £800 was a fair price to ask for renewal. Ummm....no, I don't think so. This is the same insurance company who, a couple of years ago, felt that it was entirely reasonable to charge me an extra £50 on my premium for a claim being changed to show no fault on my part. Apparently this was because "it might make me less careful in the future" - I know, you couldn't make it up, could you?! Anyway, this year I decided that their time had come, and so started searching for other quotes. Martin Lewis' excellent (and oft mentioned on this 'ere blog) site Money Saving Expert has a brilliant guide on this very subject - detailing the order to attack comparison sites etc. Well worth a read through. On this occasion it turned up a £200 saving across the two vehicles, which was not to be sneezed at, and well worth the inconvenience of having two separate policies. Add to this the fact that the money to pay for the insurances has been saved up over the course of the last 12 months and was sitting tucked away in our "Car" savings account, just waiting to be handed over, and - tick -Squeakiness point 2 alleviated!

Breakdown Insurance next then......previously we have always had this linked to the car insurance. The aformentioned Senior Naval officer's organisation required the sum of £137 for this, which seemed fairly high bearing in mind their suggestions that it is subsidised to their insurance customers. A quick search online revealed first one well-known national breakdown chain would offer Roadside, Recovery, At Home and Onward travel options for £144 - which considering the saving of £200 on the insurance in the first place, seemed pretty fair. A further quote from those gentlemen in Orange vans however revealed that their "online discount" would reduce this figure still further - to £135! Add to this the £60.60 cashback payable by buying via "TopCashback" and that adds up to one very budget-friendly premium. (A quick note on cashback -  always be careful to ensure that you don't pay over the odds for a product on the strength of getting cashback - there are sometimes problems with it tracking, and payment is never guaranteed until such time as the money arrives in your bank). As with the car insurance, the money is already stashed aside for this, so that will be Squeakiness point 3 running away with its tail between its legs....

My second car - and the start of an obsession with small, nippy french ones...

The Home Contents Insurance will be following a similar pattern to the car insurance - comparison sites, comparison against the renewal quote, and a couple of "stand Alone" quotes from those who aren't included on the comparison sites, before seeing if any of the leading players are covered on the cashback sites. I always try to use TopCashBack if possible as they don't charge an annual fee, have been about a long time, and are swift and reliable payers. I don't expect to save much - if anything - for this policy, but I am hopeful that some cashback might be possible. With a renewal date of the 22nd, this will be sorted out and in place by the end of the weekend, so we can take it that Squeakiness point 4 is currently hiding around the corner, shaking.

The only remaining question is whether to pay off that £200 saving on the car insurance against the mortgage....hmmmm, what do YOU think?!

Robyn