Reduce your Carbon Footprint with the Energy Saving Trust

The Energy Saving Trust are a non-profit organisation that provides free impartial advice tailored to suit you. Their advice can help you save money and fight climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from your home.

Use their Carbon Cutter to calculate your carbon footprint and start making a difference

If you are looking to reduce your CO2 emissions there plenty of special offers and government grants available to help you make energy saving improvements to your home.

Piggy says  “Don’t forget that every home sold or rented out now has to have an Energy Efficiency Certificate and savvy buyers are looking for a good rating. An investment now could pay dividends in the long run.”

New French and Saunders video

This is a link to one of the funnier promotional videos of 2009.  Jennifer Saunders is having a bit of trouble managing her bills!

French and Saunders video

(Piggy says “All joking aside the single billing technology Dawn French raves about is one of the features that helped Utility Warehouse to the top of the Which? customer satisfaction survey in April 2009″.)

G20 proposal to give us all more free time!

This seemed so incredible I wanted to share it with you to see if you were as stunned as I was when I saw it?

G20 Summit

Login with the following details

User Name: gordonbrown

Password: ebenezer1914

Piggy says “They do say ‘time is money’ – perhaps Gordon Brown has finally found a way to give us more of both.”

Financial Times reports that Buy-to-Let Market is picking up.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that for the first time in 2 years more landlords are buying than selling.  This is based upon information reported to ARLA by estate agents and is despite reports of an over supply of rental properties in some areas.

Could this be the start of an upswing in property prices?

Click here to read the whole story.

Cut your food bills!

The average cost of weekly grocery shopping has  increased this year by 9%.  This is not good news at time when most shoppers are concerned about saving money and we’re being bombarded by adverts from the big supermarkets about who really is the cheapest.

Because the contents of the ‘average basket’ used in comparisons varies so much, the true cost of shopping can be hard to work out. An easy way to work out who’s cheapest for the items you buy each week is to use mySupermarket.

Piggy says “Simply put the items you want to compare in your “trolley”, and see how prices compare at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Ocado all without leaving the comfort of your sofa.  Maybe now it doesn’t matter quite so much that I’m a piggy?!!”

Which? report finds that most energy companies are not doing enough to keep their customers happy.

The April edition of Which? magazine features a follow-up to the survey of energy suppliers they conducted last year.

Even though people are increasingly concerned about energy tariffs, it’s clear from the survey that there are more important things than price alone for most people.   Customer service is high on most people’s priorities; as are the time and administration benefits of being able to source several different services from one supplier.

Overall the new survey has found that that ‘customer satisfaction with suppliers has got worse.’

With one exception – the Utility Warehouse whose customer satisfaction rating has actually increased – to 83%!

(Piggy says ” the Utility Warehouse is a consumer discount club which offers it members access to a range of services in return for a small monthly membership fee of £1.76.  With their customer services based in London and unique single billing technology they historically have always featured highly on customer satisfaction surveys.  Price guarantees also mean that their service bundles are usually highly competitive.)

To download the full article click here

How to get a bank to give you £100.

Check my file has just launched it’s first banking survey since the credit crunch hit.  They say that customers are well advised to consider what their current bank offers and what the alternatives are.

(Piggy says – “these days the process of transferring is being simplified so that you don’t need to worry about the disruption it might cause to the same extent as in the past”.)

First Direct has come top in most surveys in the past – by a wide mark.  There’s even a £100 incentive to switch on offer, and once you are a First Direct customer you have access to some excellent mortgage deals.

Alliance & Leicester rates reasonably well on customer service. It also two great deals – its Premier Account offers a £100 incentive to switch, or its Premier Direct Account offers a massive 5% AER on balances up to £2500 – a rate that makes most current savings accounts look less than generous!

Energy prices dropping – now is the time to review!

The last of the six major energy supplies, npower, has just announced an 8% decrease to electricity prices, reducing average household bills by £36.  The changes will come into effect from 31st March 2009.

Piggy says “All the big six energy suppliers have now dropped prices, so this is an ideal time to review your utility provision and make sure that you are maximising your savings”

Why a professional Business image is your most cost effective marketing tool.

Elaine Boddy of Green and Brown strongly believes that whatever product you sell, whatever service you offer, you will always remain your best and most cost effective marketing tool.  How you present yourself alone could mean the difference between winning business or not, therefore your business image must be carefully considered. By representing your own business, you as a person will always “be the business” to your customers.

(Piggy says – “By helping customers to relate positively to you,  not just your products and services, you can build their trust and retain their loyalty; even in the face of stiff competition and tough financial times.”)

Here are some of Elaine’s top tips for creating a confident business image.

Piggy’s Email Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some simple troubleshooting tips for the most common problems whilst sending or receiving e-mail: