CURLY AND CANDID

*A sponsored post that could help you make money from your clutter!

As most of you know I don’t hold with New Year resolutions. I start out with good intentions and by the end of January have abandoned my list altogether. Instead nowadays I set my mind on what I want to do and just go for it.

We moved in October last year and this meant having a huge clear out of DVDs, CDs and games which of course helped with the pre-move declutter and also made us some money. My goal for the first quarter of 2013 is continue in much the same way, making money from my clutter (there is still plenty of it lurking in cupboards and the Man Den / workshop that needs sorting).

In our house I am a keen declutter bug. If it hasn’t been used for six months or seen for longer then the chances are that it will be sold, recycled or put on Freecycle so that others might benefit from it. Roy however, while not quite what you would consider a hoarder is less likely to get rid on the basis of “it might come in handy later”. Personally I’m not sure we need 36 assorted cables, many of them duplicates “just in case” but I might be missing the point.

The way we have got past our difference of opinion on decluttering boils down to the fact that we can make money on it. When we moved Roy inherited a 16ft x 14ft workshop and has big plans for it, these plans cost money of course. I also have my eye on a new suite so a few extra pounds coming in here and there with the minimum of effort works well for us both.

I haven’t time for Ebay (or their fees), it is the wrong time of year for car boot sales and other alternatives are either costly, which makes the whole money making exercise pointless, or a pain to organise. We still have games, CDs and what not to get rid of and having done very well with Music Magpie in the past will be looking to them again. We want to sell a mobile phone, get rid of games that Roy and the boys have got bored with and I see from the site that I can even send them clothing (I have plenty of clothing which is too big now I’m slimming down that I have no intention of ever fitting into again) so it appears we can get rid of all our our unwanteds all at once.

Music Magpie — One of our previous declutter sessions with MusicMagpie earned us £58.16.

We are on a mission to get this new home the way we want it, fill it with beautiful things and are determined to do it without spending a fortune and to declutter and cash in along the way to give us more spending money to play with. Having used Music Magpie several times I wouldn’t hesitate to to recommend them.

(A useful one though hopefully!)

Many of my readers will know that I moved house in October last year. January is here already and we have now settled into the new bills (as you do) and have got the house nearly where we want it. The only worry that I have regarding this house is the electricity bill. We are yet to get a final direct debit that our current provider feels will meet our usage because when I entered the readings yesterday and had an interim bill produced online it would only tell me what the gas was as the electricity was too high (they expected it to be an estimate 1000kw lower).

Clearly my direct debit is going to soar when my bill gets re-adjusted again and this is not something I am looking forward to. We consider ourselves a fairly energy savvy family. We close doors, we turn the heating down, we switch off lights when we are not in the room, refuse to use standby and are in the process of changing all of our light bulbs over to energy savers (not as easy as it sounds given that this is an old house with many pretty light fixtures which take five candle bulbs each!). Clearly, having looked at reducing usage and energy waste, we felt the next step was to ensure that the tariff and perhaps even the energy company we are with is the best suited to our needs.

There are many energy switching services and comparisons available but the one that has been brought to my attention and which appeals the most is EnergyHelpLine. The EnergyHelpLine website is very simple to use and enables you to choose not only the type of energy you are searching for; it also allows you to search as a business customer and for tariffs that are specifically focussed on being green.

Having gone through the EnergyHelpLine comparisons, which really are ridiculously easy provided you know what plan you are on with your current provider (found on your bill, online or off) and either your current spend per month or year, or your KW usage. This information is easy to find and fill in. What I was then presented with is a list of suppliers complete with tariffs that were suitable to my specified needs and the approximate savings I could expect.

An example comparison page — Click to enlarge

It was easy to go through to relevant sites to get more information and most impressively, and unlike many comparison sites I didn’t need to enter my email address or phone number before I could proceed. Incidentally entering either usually ensures that within minutes my inbox would be by fast filling with “choose me!” emails and my phone ringing off the hook. This truly is a user friendly site.

My results were interesting actually. Using very accurate data it came out that I would only save £20 per year for changing suppliers. Usually I am very much a case of “Money is money, it all adds up so we’ll change” however as I am super happy with the service I get from my current provider I don’t feel changing right now will benefit me. I don’t see this as a negative result actually as now I know that for me the way for is to refocus my energy (!) on using less gas and electricity therefore EnergyHelpLine has helped me after all.

EnergyHelpLine is free to use and super easy. It has helped me see what I need to do in terms of sorting my energy out and hopefully will be useful some of you. Given my situation I have to ask…. What is your top energy saving tip? Any ideas are much appreciated.

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Don’t Plan, Do (and make money)

Energy Helpline and Reassessing Our Energy Usage