Purpl are working with Utility Warehouse to offer customers the chance to lower their monthly outgoings, having the potential to get gas, electricity, broadband, mobile & home insurance in one bill. And so I thought I would share some thoughts on how to save on monthly bills as a disabled person.

My Personal Story of Saving Money

My name is Sam and I work for Purpl, I am also a disabled woman. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2004 and in 2013, I had surgery to remove my large intestine and I live with an ileostomy. Since 2013, I have had to have 13 major surgeries, including two abdominal reconstructions. I now live with multiple hernias, a permanent ileostomy, chronic fatigue and chronic pain. Like everyone, I am conscious of spending, and if I can do anything to lower my monthly outgoings I will. I have been out of work since 2020 and have spent months in hospital and treatment after my bowel perforated and I developed Sepsis and ended up in a coma, so budgeting as a disabled person is incredibly important to me.

I started working for Purpl in October and I love it here! The best part of Purpl for me is that the founder is a disabled woman and myself and the social media manager are both disabled women too, we are a tiny team of passionate disability activists who want to do what we can to improve the lives of disabled people in the UK and help offset the disability price tag through curating and sourcing the best deals and discounts we can! I understand the pressures of the extra costs of living with a disability and also how it can feel so difficult to get extra support. So here is how I managed to save money on bills and increase my monthly savings through a few affordable living tips.

How to Save on Utilities

WaterSure is a scheme which helps some people with their water bills. To apply for the scheme, you must be on benefits and need to use a lot of water either for medical reasons or because your household has a certain number of school-age children. You also need to be on a water meter or be waiting to have one installed. But though I claim PIP (Personal Independence Payments), I do not claim any means tested benefits so I am not eligible for this. It is worth checking if you can get WaterSure support!

Alongside working for Purpl, I am also a member and as I just moved house, I decided to try out the Utility Warehouse deal, I clicked on the link and filled in a bit of information and the next day I got a call from a woman who talked me through all the Utility Warehouse savings. It was a real person in their home, not a robot in sight! It turned out she was also a disabled woman and worked remotely from home. She took her time and was incredibly patient as we went through each part of the offers, I never felt pressured or rushed.

Top Benefits of Utility Warehouse for Budgeting

You save more money, the more utilities you take from them, and so we decided to go with Gas, Electricity, Broadband and new sims for our mobile phones. If you are already in a contract, Utility Warehouse can fund you to get out of those contracts and pay them off, with up to £400 towards any early termination fees with your current suppliers. They say “More than 1,000,000 households have switched to UW. Over £70,000,000 saved on bills via our cashback card. Annual savings up to £300+ a year for multi-service customers.”

We have just signed up but we believe we will save about £20 a month on gas and electricity, the broadband is about the same as we were paying but on our mobiles we are saving a lot. The first SIM is £23 a month and extra SIMS are £8 a month. We were out of contract on our phones and so we got four SIMS for us and our children, and just through the mobiles, we are saving £80 a month between the four contracts! This will help with budgeting for disabled individuals like myself and these savings are before any extra savings via the cashback card!

Maximise Monthly Savings with the Utility Warehouse Cashback Card

I think the best thing about Utility Warehouse though is something that isn’t talked about too much, or maybe misunderstood, is the cashback card. You top up the card and then use it to spend on all your normal monthly outgoings, your supermarket shops, household spends and everything else, including stores like Sainsbury’s, M&S, Ikea and Argos. You then earn money through this, from 1-10% cashback and this amount is taken directly off your bill. Other people who are already with UW have told me they earn around £30-40 a month through the card and this makes a huge difference to your monthly outgoings with massive saving on gas, electricity, broadband and mobile.

You can use the card in store and online, and can even use it to pay for your monthly subscriptions such as Amazon, Netflix, Disney+ etc. I already use a different cashback card and so I have a good idea of how they work and I will be swapping over to the UW cashback card. But if you have never used or heard of a cashback card before then you can ask Utility Warehouse to explain more. I know that I can save up to £40 a month on my current cashback card that I use to do my weekly food shops and some online shopping and so I am hopeful that it will be even better with Utility Warehouse as the cashback percentages are much higher than on the one I use at the minute.

Stress-free switching

The process of changing suppliers is one that fills me with dread, I hate the rigmarole of it all, I hate feeling a bit stupid when tackling the complexity of it and it is definitely I job that I put off. But the people at Utility Warehouse were great, honestly, it felt like I was chatting with a friend on the phone. She really took her time and I felt heard and respected as a disabled person, she was supportive as she talked through our bills and reliably advised on where she thought we could save money and where we couldn’t and then worked through the paperwork with us, it really was a stress-free switching experience! I can update this blog in a few months and let you all know exactly how much we have saved, but for now I am happy with the move over and initial savings.

Can you save money on your bills?

Ready to start saving on your bills? Discover how Utility Warehouse and Purpl can help you reduce monthly costs! If you would like to discuss changing suppliers and find out whether you could save money, then head over to our Purpl and Utility Warehouse page, click get code and shop offer, fill in your contact information and you will receive a call advising you on what you could save.

We have lots of information on our blog about saving money, budgeting as a disabled person and disability benefits, check out our article on PIP Discounts and Freebies 2024 and how to Maximise Savings with Your PIP Benefits

And don’t forget to join the Members Only Facebook page – you can share your money saving stories and successes and also get to hear about the newest brands and discounts from Purpl as they come in!