I'm not a huge fan of spending money, but when I do have to (bills mainly, urgh), I spend a lot of time trying to find the best deal, cashback and value for money before I commit to anything at all. Here are some of my favourite hacks for money saving on some of those expensive bills.

Utilities over the last couple of years have been a nightmare. With ridiculous energy caps and every-growing bills, it's been a struggle to even be able to find a fixed deal, let alone them be of good value. You might not always be able to do much about your water bill but you can however shop around for your gas and electric.

One game-changer in the utility industry is Octopus and here are some reasons why I love them so much: 

•  Their passion for helping people is second-to-none - from their general customer service all the way through to their financial support scheme - Octopus Assist. 
• They have a range of different and flexible tariffs, if you're an Electric Vehicle household like we are, they even have specialist tariffs which allows you to charge your vehicles off-peak, for a much cheaper price per Kwh.
• They have introduced 'Octoplus', a rewards scheme where you get free energy at the greenest times, get paid to use less when the grid is overloaded and collect points which can be converted to credit or multiplied with partner vouchers.
• If you're a data-geek like me, Octopus provide you all the data and insights for your usage, allowing you to analyse and optimise to your heart's content.

There's so much most positive things I could write about Octopus but the list would be endless. I might do another post at some point going into a bit more detail on them. As with many utility companies, Octopus also offer a referral scheme for customers. So if you join and refer Bob from down the road, you will both receive £50 in credit! They do all of the switching for you, taking away any hassle and time from your own hands. If this sounds right up your street, be sure to check them out here!

Now this isn't a high monthly cost, but it's one that I certainly didn't need or miss. In 2023, the yearly cost of a TV licence is £159 (or at a discount of £79.50 if you are registered severely blind) and if you're like us, a household who don't watch live TV, or don't watch BBC iPlayer then you do not need one! We just live off Netflix/Amazon Prime/Disney+ and therefore, my £159 a year is better spent on those subscriptions rather than adding to the (already not cheap) cost for entertainment. So, have a think, do you really need a TV licence?

Okay, we all know that council tax is expensive. This is a different cost for different parts of the country but did you know that you may be eligible for a discount? Each council has different discounts and exceptions, for example, if you're a student, single person or have a disability. You can find out more from the Gov website by popping in your postcode and checking out the exemptions for your local council. 

I used to be a sucker for a high cost contract and phone back in the day. Around 6 years ago, I was spending £40 a month on my contract for an iPhone 7 and my phone was in perfectly good nick when the contract ended. I spoke to EE and swapped to a sim-only deal which had unlimited calls, texts and 20GB of data, all of £12 per month! Naturally, there is inflation that has added over the years, but the offers have also gotten better. 6 years later, I'm on the same sim-only deal but now with 40GB of data/unlimited calls and texts for less than £20 per month, I've threatened to leave multiple times too, so they have also added loyalty to my account, making my bill less than £5 per month...but I'm not sure if they've clicked that I'm only paying that much, it's great for my budget!

There are plenty of other providers too which offer great sim-only offers so, if you're got a perfectly working phone in your possession and your contract is about to end, check out whether a sim only can be a better fit for you.

I literally don't buy a single thing without visiting a cashback website before a purchase now. From clothes shopping to car and home insurance, literally whenever I know I'm buying online, I'll never go direct to the website. I'll always check both TopCashBack and Quidco to see which is the best deal (although I swear by TopCashBack and always have - I've earned back over £2,000 from them alone!). 

Car insurance prices are rocketing at the moment and are up 61% this year alone with more increases forecast next year. Now more than ever, it's important to shop around for your car insurance policy when it comes to renewal (and sometimes it's best to lock in a price earlier than your renewal). More often than not, your current insurance provider will raise the premiums each year and, if you haven't done your research, you could end up paying far more than you need to, and the circumstances are different for everyone. Take Mr B and I for example, when our policies ran out in 2021 with the same insurance provider, we each researched quotes for our cars and then multi-car policies. I went back to our existing supplier and managed to get a matched quote, Mr B on the other hand went back with a quote and they simply would not match for him - no points, no claims or anything that would impact this. He ended up leaving and getting a quote around £300 cheaper elsewhere. Moral of the story is what works for one person may not work for another.

If you're car insurance is due for renewal or even if it isn't, check out Money Saving Expert to see if you can find a cheaper deal.

Credit card interest rates are almost at a 30 year high, with interest rates on average hitting around 23% according to This Is Money. Balance transfer deals have been the godsend of my credit card usage over the years. Keeping track of when the promotional APR runs out and then finding the longest period 0% balance transfer is a way to keep interest minimal and the best way to manage credit card debt. If you are paying interest on your credit card, check out Money Saving Expert for the best balance transfer cards on the market as well as all of the tools and information you need to make the switch. 

I'm not going to lie, I have four different bank accounts, all with different banks, all for different reasons. I have one for my bills, a standard current account, another one for groceries and another for general monthly spending.

If you're paying for household bills out of one account, could you make some extra pennies with a cashback one? I personally pay £2 per month for my Natwest account and make around £5 a month on my bill cashback. It doesn't seem like much but over the year it adds up!

Monzo is who I do most of my spending through. The digital bank have been nothing short of amazing for me from helping me manage my money and spending with budgets and pots, all the way through to ease of use and effort. Speaking of which, I've started to change my legal name and it has been a nightmare with some banks, with traditional high-street banks wanting me to visit a branch (what's one of those when they're shutting them left, right and centre?), fill in an application form and take my photo ID and marriage certificate. Monzo was a simple 'what do you want to change your legal name to?' and 'please upload a copy of your marriage certificate' and within 2 hours it was done and new cards were sent. SO EASY. I couldn't recommend it enough and if it sounds like it's the sort of bank for you and you use this link to sign up, we both get a fiver!


So those are some of my household bill hacks to get started. What are some of your hacks?