Let’s All Save some $$$$

Alright all, each year I throw an annual let’s save a dollar day. What I do is jump on the phone and call all my expense providers and ask for a discount.
TBH I’m pretty blunt...it’s goes down the line of “X has offered me a better offer so give me a better rate/discount or I’m leaving”.

I started with the easy pickings on my home loan and got a .10bps discount which works out to be a nice $40 a month.

Next I called my private health care provider and whilst they couldn’t give me a monthly discount they waived a month which on my couples PH is $275.

I planned on calling a few more today but something came up and I didn’t get a chance.
I’ll get back onto it tomorrow.

Still that’s a handy $755 annual tax free saving to kick it off.

I want everyone to do the same and repot back with the results. What worked and what didn’t? And Ofcourse which provider you got the discount from.

 

Good idea
As far as Health care provider, I have a better idea, cancel your policy, save a fortune.

Oz has one of the best public health systems in the world

 

Great thread

 

Cancel your policy and you might get slugged 1% of taxable income re medicare surcharge.

 

TBH I was going to start a separate thread on this as that is exactly what I was thinking. My wife has unfortunately been unwell for a number of years and private health for her has been worth every cent.
Me however, in the 8 years I have had it, I have claimed back maybe $300.

I do want to discuss this though so perhaps I’ll start that thread as to not derail this one. The purpose of this is really just to get everyone on the phone for less than 1 hour whereby I guarantee most of us will save at a minimum $500! I don’t know too many jobs that pay $500 tax free for 1 hours work.

The two I did today took about 15 minutes.

 

Live near your work and sell your car. There's a min $5K pa saving there. You'll get healthier by walking to work so you can forget about your gym membership fees.

 

I have had 3 family members with serious health issues go through public system, they had great care. I am using public system, I wont be pursueded to go private, a waste of money. Lots of scare mongering and it works

My partner recently had heart surgery, via public health system
He got to pick the surgeon, make sure your GP has the networks with grear specialists practicing in public arena and piggy back on this

 

This is the reason I pay for private health insurance for my family - the policy is cheaper than the tax surcharge and allows me to get new glasses for free every couple of years.

 

Mate walking won’t get me a 6 pack! Haha
I appreciate their are lots of ways to cut things to save a buck. Point of this thread is just paying less for what you have.

 

He's kinda got a point. I did just that and the savings really add up!

Getting back on topic. Your strategy really adds up over time @albanga . Say you call your insurance every year and they give you a discount. When you call them the year after you get a discount on the discount.....etc etc.

It all still goes up of course but at a much lower rate than all the people letting their insurances roll over.

It compounds over time

 

Bump
May be a good time for some tips

 

Adjust your walking route to go past the bottle shop.

 

I have done this a bit perpetually over the last few years.

I’ve found that phone providers are pretty good along with internet too. And then utilities as well.

I just say I’ve been offered a better deal, or even, I’m exploring my options ‘what can you do for me?’ and generally I end up saving some decent money. Everything accumulates.

 

I did the honest thing with my electricity provider, got on the net and searched for the best "deal" out there, then got on their site and did the online chat to no avail, left feedback and waited a week, nothing so I switched
They rang and emailed when they got the notice to change provider form, I now get 22c solar feed in (up from 8c)
Reduced the pool filter hours back to 2hrs a day over winter.
Phone is down to a $30 pre paid
Gym, gave them notice, got a 20% ongoing discount (pre covid)
Always look in the marked down area in the supermarket
Put on a jumper when it gets cold instead of the heating

 

Just got my car insurance renewal and they tried to charge me $1150! So called them and asked what I paid last year they said $850 so had a bit of to and fro and whilst they said they couldn’t match last year I paid $890.

$260 net is a hell of a lot of money that some people just accept. Blows my mind people still don’t do these exercises at a minimum once a year.

 

Wouldn't it get harder and harder each year to actually find better offers if you are already on a discount? Or do you normally bluff?

I went the other way around and called Youi looking to change my car insurance from my current one with comminsure, they said I was on an exceptional plan, they couldn't believe it. And no way they could even match it.

 

Take care with Youi and Budget Direct etc. basically any online provider of cover. They all fail to mention in the TV ads that they compare savings under agreed value with market value. Of course the savings look good. If you use the Youi site and compare the agreed value option they arent at all cheap. I have also noted Suncorp (GIO) have tweaked their car cover. There are now three levels of cover. The mid tier requires you choose their listed direct repairers OR their repair centre. The base tier is repair centre only and they can send it anywhere they like at their cost. The top tier allows any approved repairer of choice that meets the assessment process...which requires the car also go to the claim centre. We had a barney over that and told them they can take it there at their own cost by tow truck AND back and they eventually relented and left it with the repairer we selected.

 

I took my wife to emergency in a public hospital in agony last Friday. It was a zoo. Looking at a 6+ hr wait to see a doctor.

Drive down the road 15 minutes to private hospital. $500 emergency fee. Walked straight in, got a bed and was seen immediately.

 

I've called youi for quotes about half a dozen times and they've never been anywhere near competitive.

 

I'm with you it's expensive PH system ok. We get smashed with medicare levy surcharge to the point where I believe for the same net money I could have private cover.