AN ace deal-hunter saved nearly £1,500 on a year’s bills by “shopping simple” – and says too many of us get fooled by jargon and extras we do not need.
Crafty James Latter says that following a few basic principles makes it easy to be consistent and save cash.
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His rules are: Do your research; avoid meaningless or unnecessary add-ons and swerve bundle deals.
He says: “The key to saving this much is to keep things simple.
“Anyone who uses language I can’t understand, I avoid. Any deal that looks too good, do your homework first.”
James, 33, a video producer, continues: “There are some amazing deals out there.
“But you need to keep your wits about you as a consumer, especially when jargon is bandied around so much.”
The savings let him buy new gear for his business and pay for his mum to finally get online with a Plusnet broadband subscription and a Google Nexus tablet.
James chose his smartphone by looking at what he really uses it for, not what the device is capable of doing.
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His LG V20 is on a sim-only deal with Plusnet at just £8 per month, giving James unlimited minutes and 10GB data.
That saves him £360 a year over an equivalent plan costing £38 a month.
He bought the handset, unlocked, three years ago for £274 — meaning he could shop around for the cheapest deal.
James also avoided expensive TV packages, instead using Plusnet’s unlimited fibre broad-band costing £22.99 a month to stream movies from Netflix, which costs him £5.99.
That saves him just over £168 a year compared to Sky’s package of Superfast broadband, Sky TV and Netflix, costing £43 per month.
Having recently moved house, James needed a sofa, mattress and kitchen equipment.
Instead of rushing out to buy them all at once, he used tracking sites including CamelCamelCamel, which charts the price history of a given item and reveals whether it has previously been cheaper.
If James cannot find a price he is happy with, he searches for used items on eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Gumtree.
Among the deals he found were an almost-new Kenwood microwave for £15 and a leather sofa being given away free.
He says: “People get caught up in the marketing but it’s amazing the number of things on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that were much cheaper even a few weeks before.”
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James reckons his rules help him save on 80 to 100 items a year, saving him at least £750.
He saved a further £83 on his car insurance by challenging his renewal quote from Esure.
He says: “I just go for the cheapest comprehensive cover I can find and look for breakdown cover separately.”
James, from Walthamstow, East London, set up his business in Leeds eight years ago having graduated from university there, before moving back to the capital.
He adds: “I make time to do my research and look at online deals sites quite a lot.
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“There’s a buzz to knowing you get the best value.
“Being self-employed means my income can be a bit irregular but these savings mean if I do need to replace a piece of equipment, I can do so without worrying about where the money is coming from.
“And I can do nice things for people who need it, including my mum.”
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