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With the recent European Central Bank interest rate rise it is more important than ever to look at where your money is going. A mortgage of €250,000 over 30 years will have an additional €40 per month to repay with this .25% rate change. Coupled with some of the Irish Banks re-adjusting their own mortgage rates the financial pressure on households is rising rapidly. We are all aware of the increasing costs of Electricity, Fuel and Gas over the past few years and proposed future increases. Adding these rises to the interest rate rise, our disposable income is disappearing before our eyes. This is an important time to review all your bills to see where some savings can be made.
Save money on Insurance
Most of us pay our Motor and House insurance premiums by habit, rarely if ever making comparisons with quotes from other Insurance companies. With many families insurance costs quite high, picking up your phone to seek another quote might save you quite a bit.
Be sure to shop around. It may take a little time, but it could save you money.
Ensure you are getting all discounts. You can usually get discounts if you have a smoke detector or a House alarm.
Switch from Monthly premium payments. In paying your premium monthlyyou are paying a charge to the insurance company for this payment method and a transaction charge to your bank. Always pay your insurance bills annually.
Ensure correct Insurance cover. Having the correct insurance cover is vital. You have a rebuild cost in case of a total loss as the level of cover you need on your House insurance.
Get the correct floor area in the house and ring your insurance company to ensure you have the correct level of cover and are not over insured. They have the current rebuild costs per square meter so take the time to measure the floor area of your home. You can simply measure the length and depth of the house and multiply it by 2 for a two storey house, to get a rough calculation.
Saving Money on your Cable TV
Many Households have taken up the various Cable TV packages over the past few years. Are you paying for packages that you are not using? Review your usage, if you find you use the terrestrial stations more than the 100’s of channels, think about canceling the package or simply check if a cheaper package is available providing the channels you actually look at.
Saving Money on your Utilities
How many times do the kids leave on the emersion, heating water? You can blame the high electricity bill on the utility company or you can get that elusive timer you keep mentioning every time you turn the water heater off, after someone else has left it on. Dare I mention low energy bulbs.
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