I was in the supermarket last night standing at the checkout with our week’s worth of groceries piled on the conveyer belt.

I had zoned out and could not hear my son asking for the tractor which is just something he asks for whether there is a tractor there or not.

I couldn’t hear the hum of the supermarket; the buzzing overhead lights “clean up in aisle nine”.  I couldn’t hear my partner asking if I put the jar of peach baby porridge in the trolley (which I hadn’t, our son had done it while our backs were turned) so she left it on the conveyer belt……beep…….beep……….beep…beep.

All I could see was a set of glowing numbers slowly increasing with every beep and all I could hear was the beep that went along with every increase drowning out an entire supermarket.

All I could think was “when is it going to stop”
“Thank you”
Pushing trolley
Boot opens
Door closes
Driving home… “Sorry what was that?”

“I said why did you put the jar of baby porridge in the trolley?”
“I didn’t”
“Oh”
“So how much was it?”
“It was about twice as much as we used to spend on groceries no more than five years ago”
“That is ridiculous”
“We should open a supermarket…”

Ok we aren’t buying exactly the same food as we did five years ago and we do have a little monster but I’m sure you can identify with walking out of a supermarket feeling like you have just been mugged.

What makes it even harder is this is not an isolated feeling; I don’t just feel that way after grocery shopping.  I feel it when I open my power bill, my phone bill and of course when I see my insurance premiums increasing.

So how can we change that?
Well I am no expert in electricity companies and don’t run a supermarket but one thing I know a bit about is insurance so here are a couple of ways you can manage you insurance premiums.

Too much cover?
Make sure your cover is relevant and necessary, talk to us about what you have and whether it is still right for you. Has anything changed since we last spoke?

Can you do more?
Look at adding an excess to bring your premium down, take on more of the smaller claims and ask the insurer to look after the big ones.

But the number one way to control your health insurance premium is…

Group Schemes
Do you work in a company of twenty or more employees?
Being a member of a subsidised group scheme is the most effective way of controlling your premiums.
If you don’t have access to a subsidised group scheme but you work in a company of 20 or more then this could change.

If you answer “yes” or “maybe” to any of those three questions call me on 0800 222 511