subject: Five Household Bills You're Likely To Be Paying Too Much For [print this page] One of the positive traits that we possess as Brits is that we don't mind paying for quality as long as we know that we're getting the best value for money possible.
The problem that a lot of us have is that a lot of the time we don't actually know whether we're getting good value for money or not.
And whilst the information regarding the following five household bills won't apply to everyone, there's a good chance that for most around the UK they are indeed paying too much for these services.
1. Water - if you're currently paying for your water usage by being billed a certain amount of money each month, you may be able to benefit from having a water meter installed.
There's a generally rule with water meters, which is if you have more bedrooms in your house than most people, you should be able to see a reduction in your water bills by having a meter installed.
If it doesn't work out more effective to have a meter installed, to save money it's simply a matter of looking at your water usage.
For example, have showers rather than baths, use your washing up liquid to water parts of the garden in the summer months and use a water butt to catch rain water, also for use with watering the garden.
2. Gas - if you have a gas central heating system, you could save yourself up to 300 pounds a year by having a condensing combi boiler installed.
Meaning that you only heat up the water that you need, rather that heating up a full tank, there are some aspects that you have to look at, such as how energy efficient the boiler is and due to the installation costs, if it's going to be worthwhile, but there's no doubt that with a good quality combi boiler, you'll be able to save a substantial amount on your annual gas bills.
3. Electricity - the best way to save money on your electricity bills is to simply be more thoughtful and sensible with your usage.
Rather than leaving lights and lamps on when not in use, be sure to turn them off; use energy saving light bulbs where possible; never use the standby function on your TV or computer and one of the big ways to save is to unplug electrical items that aren't in use, as with most appliances, whilst they may be switched off, they can still be using a small amount of electricity.
4. Home phones - once considered a necessity in any household, home phones aren't really necessary in the modern day for the simple fact that most people have mobile phones.
And so if you're paying out 30 pound a month for a mobile phone contract, do you really need to be paying out for your home phone, too?
5. Insurance - with most insurances related to the home, it's easy to just renew them when the renewal time approaches. This is not advised, however, as there's a good chance that your renewal won't be anywhere near the cheapest you can receive if you simply take a look around at what other insurers can offer you.
