I must admit this is the one that took me the longest to do and once I did it – I have indeed saved hundreds.

I came up with a hundred and one excuses. I used past bad experiences. I used lack of time. I used the uncertainty of my living circumstances at the time. I didn’t have the energy. It wasn’t that I was lazy. I just kept procrastinating because I wasn’t sure, I didn’t trust the process – well a number of things.

So what am I talking about?

You’ve probably already guessed.

Switching service providers eg.

Energy – gas and electric

Insurance companies – most commonly – car, contents

Mobile phone providers

Broadband provider

And there are probably more.

Many years ago a salesman knocked on my door. He sold us on switching our energy supplier. We went through the process, I can’t even remember what we had to do but it was quite complex I think. Anyway I ended up paying a wapping bill to the outgoing energy supplier just before it was switched to the new one. I was not happy because I was not expecting it and I did not have sufficient funds in my account.

So for years I kept saying that I was quite happy with my energy supplier even though I was being told that I could save hundreds per year if I switched.

I think a lot of people get comfortable and don’t want the hassle involved in switching a supplier. We are used to getting the renewal reminders via the post of email and just letting it run on. Now when I started to get savvy with my money I did decide that I would look at switching.

I’d get the renewal reminder with the date they would be taking the new amount from my account, which was always more than the previous year. I’d make a mental note that this time I’ll go to one of those comparison sites and look to see if I can get a better deal.

Mmm. Of course by the time I would remember, eventually find the letter or check the email, I’d missed the date.

I decided that things needed to change. I needed to change.

I first tested it with my broadband and mobile phone provider which was BT. It just seemed I was paying far too much. I did some research and found another provider that would be around £30 per month cheaper. I went through the process of signing up. BT contacted me to find out why I was moving and in the end gave me a better deal so I stayed with them. That was painless.

I decided to shop around for a different contents insurance provider because I was paying over £200 per year. I signed up with another provider for around £70 for the year. That is a massive saving. I had been paying around £20 a month for the previous insurance. I decided to pay the £70 in one go.

For some reason, even though I was constantly getting messages that I could save in excess of £200 on my energy bills I was still procrastinating.

I finally took the plunge. I went onto a few price comparison sites and found a provider that said I’d save over £200 a year by switching. I didn’t have to do anything. They did it all. I’m glad to say the switch happened all behind the scenes. I just had to give a meter reading to the new supplier. I had been paying £190 per month for gas and electric. With the new supplier my bill reduced to £140 per month.

I did, however, get a bit panicky when I noticed that I’d made payments to both my old provider and my new provider. I thought oh no the same thing has happened as before. However, my financial situation is different now of course – I have an emergency fund and always have a financial buffer in my current account. I received an email from my old provider letting me know that once the new provider had my meter reading they would be paying me the credit on my account. I checked my account online and I was over £200 in credit. They did indeed pay the money into my account.

So in my case I have saved hundreds of pounds by switching.

So it is now your turn to check out some of the price comparison sites..

I do suggest you go to them all to find the best prices.

Then all you have to do is follow the instructions and let them do all the heavy lifting.