I began preparing for redundancy as if it were going to happen the very next month. This is not a bad idea even if you are not at risk; Fully identifying your financial position, and preparing a plan in advance of such a disaster can mitigate its affects. Identify all your actual and potential sources of income. What are your obligations in terms of mortgages and other debt payments? Do you have savings? How quickly could you obtain government assistance, and what kind would it be?

I am in the fortunate position of living at home with my parents again, following my marriage breakup. The government, if I were made involuntarily redundant, would pay me £64.30 a week as Job Seeker’s Allowance, or £257.20 a month. As it stands, this would be of no material use whatsoever. My loan repayment alone is £413 a month, and that doesn’t even begin to take into account essentials such as food. The loan is insured against such an event, so it wouldn’t be a total disaster for me – but what about you?

My goal was to be debt free by New Years Day 2010. The employment panic set in around August, which gave 4 months until my target – and I was not convinced, in the slightest (courtesy of my “doom and gloom” attitude!) that I would make it. So, I began a frenzied attack on my already pared down budget, and began working myself into the ground grabbing all overtime possible.

How am I doing? … tired.

I have taken a step back now, and calculated my legal position. By virtue of UK employment law I am entitled to a weeks pay (a statutory minimum of £380 a week, if no higher is paid at the discretion of the employer), for every full year of employment. I am also entitled to a minimum of a weeks notice for every full year employed, or pay in lieu.

The interesting point from this little mental arithmetic is that I would be due either 4 weeks full pay and 4 weeks statutory minimum pay (if not more), or 8 weeks notice and 8 weeks statutory minimum pay (again, if not more) depending on my choice to work the notice period or not.

Bottom line, if I had bothered to look back in August, is my target would have been met no matter what. What my little journey to exhaustion lane has done though, is bring forward my debt freedom date somewhat, and I know that I can go into next year without any major concerns of sudden instability.

I have also read the Head Cheese’s budget report for the next financial year, and my department appears unaffected. So it appears things are good until April 2011 if nothing else!

Good times!

• Personal Finance: Pessimist or Frugalist?
• One in Four Households Struggling
• 7 Reasons My Friend is Poor
• A Formal Complaint to my Bank
• Personal Recessions

As I wrote several months ago in my Financial Meltdown series, I took out a consolidation loan in January 2009 to pay off 2 higher-rated loans, and get in return one, cheaper, lower rate loan. The two old loans were with Barclays (my banking provider of choice), and so was the new loan.

I made an appointment with a Personal Banker in January, and proceeded to spend over an hour with her. I was open and honest, and she really spent time with me. I discussed my goals, where I was financially, and she talked through the options open to me. I left feeling very, very happy. I had finally taken steps to securing my financial future for the first time in my adult life and left with an even more positive view of my bank of choice.

The first of the two higher-rate loans was settled without complication. The other – due to the loan being created on the ‘old’ system but settled using the ‘new’ – refused to close in its entirety.  I was advised to “not worry about it” and it would resolve itself eventually.

The account remained attached to my online banking with a balance showing. I phoned every few months to check all was in order, and each time I was assured: all was in order. During each call, the balance remaining was described as simply the PPI refund that I had not had to pay during settlement. The ‘new system’ would get bored with it eventually and close it off.

On the 3rd July 2009 I received a ‘Loan Account Statement’ covering the 1st October 2008 to 2nd July 2009 listing a ‘Closing Balance’ at the end. No further correspondence was received and I took this to mean that the settled loan was in the final throes of being removed from my account. A little cheer was given, and the letter filed.

Fast forward to this month, and a Direct Debit for £7.83 bounced from my current account (as the instruction had been canceled by the branch when the old loan was settled). Curious as to what this amount was for, I phoned my branch. The lady I spoke to advised – after considerable digging – it was an attempt to take payment for the old loan still showing on my account. Due to limited information available to counter staff, she could not offer any further information.

Perplexed, I phoned the Barclays Loan line and spoke to a lending specialist, who could not answer why the payment attempt was made. Nor could she answer why it had taken over 10 months to attempt it. All she could tell me was I now owed Barclays £8.29 – courtesy of daily interest. I paid this with her by Fund Transfer, but she could not guarantee me that it would not be registered with the Credit Reference Agencies as a Late Payment.

In a letter to Barclays Customer Relations I penned:

“I find this incomprehensible and indefensible. Not only have I wasted most of this evening reviewing correspondence, bank and loan statements, and telephone records, but now fear negative reporting to my credit rating. Ostensibly, the payment is some 10 months late, but not due to any action or inaction on my part. When you settle a loan and receive repeated reassurances that everything is in order, is it unreasonable to believe that this is the case?

Currently, the loan account is registered as Satisfactory with no late payment markers. I want to ensure that this loan account is now marked as Settled without detriment to my credit history – for what is either a Personal Banker error; a computer error; or a combination of the two. I would also like to discuss the matter of compensating my time for having to be writing this letter in the first place.“

I love Barclays. But a relationship where they have treated me very well over the last 14 years is in danger of falling apart from a silly error on their part. The outcome of this complaint will very much determine where the remainder of my adult banking is conducted.

Tread carefully, Barclays. Very carefully indeed.

Have you ever been in conflict with your bank?

• My Net Worth Update - Sep 2009
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 2
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Spend Less Than You Earn
• Is Debt Worth It? Does It Matter?
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Know What You Owe

Folks. I apologise for the lack of posts lately. Suffice to say I have been having a war with TalkTalk (my ISP) the last few weeks. They refused to believe I didn’t have access, and only finally resolved the situation this morning.

Dreadful dreadful service… but you get what you pay for. *ahem*.

Normal service will resume shortly.

• 10 Economic Predictions for 2010
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 4
• Savings Roundup - September 2009
• Weekly Roundup #3
• 7 Reasons My Friend is Poor

Every Friday I publish “Frugal Friday!“, an open-ended series with some of the simple and best ways to really save you money both now and in the future.

This Friday I am concentrating on reducing electricity bills. Here in the UK winter-time is traditionally the time of higher energy usage: the elderly use electric blankets, whole families have home lighting left on for longer as British Summer Time draws to a close, and we are generally stuck inside for the evenings more often requiring entertainment.

There are some simple steps you can take (and some cool gadgets you can buy without guilt!), to help lessen the impact of this seasonal increase in our home carbon emissions courtesy of our electric usage.

Check Your Tariff

Before last year, there was massive competition in the domestic supply market with various “lock in” and “fixed” deals. You may well have switched, I know I did. The fix on those tariffs has come to a close now though and prices are floating upwards so it’s time to get switching again.

There are hundreds of sites that will likely find you something cheaper; some good starting points are GoCompare, CompareTheMarket, and uSwitch. Don’t forget to finally go via QuidCo to get any cashback available, too!

Energy Saving Lightbulbs

Fairly obvious this one, and easy to achieve. Morrison’s just last week had an offer on of 4 for £1, and not low-quality either. As the nights get longer, more retailers will be trying to tempt us, so keep your eyes peeled. Even if you pay full price for them though you will still make a saving. The average bulb lasts for 5 years of normal use and consumes between 11 and 17 watts.

By switching all the bulbs in your house to low-energy equivalents, you could save around £112 a year and up to a whopping £307 over the life of a typical 8,000 hour bulb.

Turn Them Off

When you leave a room, turn the light off. Sounds so simple but take a moment and think – in the depths of winter – how often do you walk/drive/cycle around and think half of the houses you come across look like they are attempting to imitate the Blackpool Illuminations? Why pay even a reduced amount to keep an unoccupied room lit?

This can be a challenge with children, but with a little perseverance even the family dog can probably manage to turn the light out when it has finished in the kitchen. Your moody teenager may require slightly more effort.

Kill The Standby

Televisions, DVD players, computers, Satellite, Cable, modems, microwaves, food mixers, video recorders, printers, even modern intelligent washing machines and dishwashers. It’s amazing what has a ’standby’ mode these days. When standing by, ready for action, these devices are still sucking electricity and adding to your bills yet giving little to no benefit. Switch them off at the wall when you are done using them and again save upwards of £50 over the course of a typical year.

The Bye Bye Standby Energy Saving Kit takes the hassle out of such energy efficiencies by automatically killing the power for you when the device enters standby. It even comes with a handy remote to remotely control whatever you plug into it.

Monitor Your Usage

Last year, I got an Owl Cm119 Wireless Electricity Monitor, and they are absolutely fabulous. You can literally see, in real time, just how much money is being wasted in your home – and perhaps more impressive – see the difference after your efforts. The device pays for itself inside the first month or two, and you can find yourself doing seasonal challenges if you are not careful!

Banish the Tumble

As convenient as the tumble-dryer may be, it costs pounds to use every time. Pop the clothes out on the line if the weather is nice and get nicer clothes that last longer, dried for free courtesy of mother nature. Even if it is windy but lacking in sun you’ll be surprised how quickly clothes can dry in the open air.

Fridge & Freezer

If your freezer requires it, keep it defrosted regularly. Any build-up of ice means it has to work harder, consuming more electricity. If your fridge is regularly half-empty or more, fill it with water-filled bottles. These will help keep the inside temperature stable and reduce the effects opening and closing the door have. If your appliance(s) are older, when replacing ensure you get A-rated.

Never put warm or hot items in your fridge or freezer, either. Not only will this play havok with the internal temperature, it can take hours for your appliance to restore the previous temperature and damage food already within as well.

• Frugal Friday! 7 Tips to Reduce Your Grocery Bill
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 4
• Frugal Friday! Batch Cooking
• A Guide to: Individual Savings Accounts (ISA)
• Say Hello to Kublax

Every month I calculate my net worth and then publish it. While the exact figures of my wages are not disclosed, what it does to my net worth, is. This month I am so close … !

Where I work we receive our overtime 1-2 months after we actually work the hours, due to how the payroll operates and how claim cut-off dates affect claim periods. Therefore this month I am seeing the fruits of my labour from the last part of August and the beginning of September.

The graph speaks for itself.

The last little bit is just there to tease me I am sure. Flicking back through my budget for the previous 10 months there are so many places I could have shaved off that amount if I had really, really put my mind into it just a few more percentage points. If I hadn’t gone on holiday to Cyprus in April, for example. Sure the holiday itself was free – no flights or hotels to pay for – but I took over £1,000 in spending money and guiltily spent the lot.

But, there is little point in crying over spilt milk. What is done, is done.

According to one (of my many) mighty spreadsheets, this means next month is freedom month – assuming my car does not blow up in the meantime of course.

You may remember that last month I was going to attempt to make an additional £1,252.16 to bring forward the pay-off date a month nearer still. I nearly made it, but fell short by £653.58 as can be seen above.

Darnit.

• My Net Worth Update - Sep 2009
• Community Networking
• Why Rate Chasing is Worth It
• Job Front Update
• Personal Recessions