We took a look at their financial products and services and have identified potential savings of £544 which will help towards their 'garage conversion' fund.
David said: 'Before I met Karien I was not very good with money but with her help I have learned to control my spending. We'd saved £2,500 saved to cover the cost of converting our garage however we ended up using this to pay off outstanding debts'.
As well as their planned garage conversion, David and Karien, who is originally from South Africa, want to use any savings made to put towards a trip to visit Karien's family in October and also to put towards David's plans to purchase a motorbike in December.
By using the comparison tools available on moneysupermarket.com we have managed to save David and Karien £544.25 over the year by carrying out quick and simple comparisons across utilities, home insurance, current accounts and TV, broadband and phone packages.
David added: 'I thought I was a fairly savvy saver and that I had shopped around for the best deals, so when I was told that I could save nearly £700 per year I was astounded. I would urge absolutely everyone to take a look at their finances and utilities the resources we have available online especially through moneysupermarket.com'
Like many people, David and Karien are paying the standard prices for gas and electricity. They pay Scottish Power £36.00 per month for gas and British Gas £35.00 per month for electricity. A quick search using our Utilities comparison tool showed that if they moved onto npower's Sign Online 15 tariff paying by monthly direct debit they would save £217.35 over the year.
David and Karien are paying £314 for buildings and contents insurance for their four-bedroomed home. However, we managed to slash this to £156 - £157 less than their current premium. The policy is with Swinton Insurance and it includes a £25 cashback offer.
The Piries each have a current account with Royal Bank of Scotland which pays just 0.1% on balances in credit. However, if they moved their accounts over to the Hailfax Reward Account they would have £5 a month credited to their account as long as they pay in £1,000 or more.
This will give them a combined annual earning of £120 - £118.27 more than if they stayed with RBS.
The couple pay £11.25 a month for their home phone. This is with BT and the cost includes line rental and free evening and weekend calls.
In addition, David and Karien have broadband with Plusnet which costs £15 per month and they have a basic Sky television package for which they are paying £16.50 each month. However, they are also paying Sky £5 a month for broadband they aren't receiving. David said he didn't realise he couldn't get Sky broadband until after he subscribed for it and he hasn't got round to cancelling it.
For many people, home services is an area where considerable savings can be made because of the product bundles now on offer. However, David and Karien's options are restricted because of where they live - many of the leading broadband deals aren't available in their area.
However if the couple bundled their products together with BT he would receive broadband with speeds up to 8Mbps and 10GB of downloads plus unlimited evening & weekend calls and a basic TV package for an average monthly cost of £38.14 on an 18 month contract including line rental. Over 12 months this will give a saving of £52.32.
Disclaimer: Please note that any rates or deals mentioned in this article were available at the time of writing.
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