Being disorganised can cost you a small fortune
I have a confession to make. I am hideously, hopelessly, terrible at organisation. I have lists to remind me to look at lists – which I then lose. My desk would make a neat freak freak out.
Like many people, I live in a world of organised chaos. It works, kind of, but I would love to be one of those people who are methodical and enjoy planning. Oh well.
However, there are a few really simple organisational tips that anyone can do (relatively) painlessly that can save a packet.
Top of this list is taking control of your diary. Here’s how to do it.
STICK WITH ONE DIARY
Many of us use online diaries, usually linked to our phone or tablet provider, email service or app. Too much choice can result in confusion and mistakes, so stick to one calendar and use it for everything.
Most calendar functions allow you to combine calendars across different email addresses or within the app itself, which means you can keep work and leisure separate.
Chose the one that works for you and stick to it.
RENEWALS
Many of the big expenses we have are annual contracts, such as insurance, broadband, energy, mobile phones and many more.
These businesses are often required to notify us when an annual contract is due to finish (usually four weeks before expiration). Unfortunately, since businesses moved away from paper bills, these reminders often go into the big email pile of doom and are missed until it’s too late.
So, when you sign up for something, pop a note in your diary a month before the contract expiry date so you can look at what you can save by switching. It only takes a few seconds but you could save upwards of £1,000 a year by shifting to other service providers.
SNEAKY SUBSCRIPTIONS
It’s not just the big contracts that auto-renew. Chances are you’ve signed up to all sorts of things and forgotten that you’re paying for them. Cloud storage, music streaming, premium services (like on dating apps), voucher and membership schemes. All of these subscriptions debit you a monthly – or more likely annual – fee.
These fees can come off the debit or credit card you paid on initially, or even off a mobile phone bill, so you might not have noticed you are paying.
Grit your teeth and go back through your bank, credit card, e-payment service (like PayPal) and phone bill and look for these sneaky debits. If you’re not using the service cancel it and if you never signed up, ask for a full refund.
They have to cough up if they can’t prove you agreed to the debits. I usually suggest going back 13 months so you can catch all the annual debits. But if that seems like a faff, do it in monthly chunks – it’ll only take about 10 to 15 minutes and again, you could save a fortune and potentially reclaim some cash.
GIGS, EVENTS AND TRIPS
Lots of things got cancelled over the pandemic. Events, festivals, concerts, exhibitions and travel plans. When the world shut down, most of these events moved forward a year. But have you remembered what you booked?
If you can’t attend a rescheduled event in the UK you are entitled to a full refund – if you remember to ask for it before it happens, that is!
It’s not always easy to recall everything you might have booked, particularly if it was two years ago. Annoyingly, it’s hard to hunt for these confirmations in your emails.
Many events don’t specifically mention the name of the event itself. But you can get round this by typing ‘box office’ or ‘ticket confirmation’ into your email search drive and adding them to the diary too. If you’ve claimed vouchers, ask when they expire and make sure you use them.
Don’t forget you can use Resolver to make a complaint about pretty much anything, for free. Visit resolver.co.uk