Bills
'Bills, bills, bills!' hollered theuber-rich Destiny's child through their porcelain veneers.
Though they talkedthe talk of the average young working individual, when it came down to it,their pay cheques had a few more, oh, squillion noughts on it than the rest ofus mere mortals.
Sadly, the harsh reality of reaching grown-up land is thatalong with freedom, confidence and dancing-till-daft-o-clock-in-the-morningalso comes fixed rate water bills, contents insurance and council tax.
Whenever you're moving into a new residenceit always pays to grill the current occupiers about how much they're spendingon gas and the like before signing on the dotted line.
Though it probably won'tbe a deal breaker, it's good to have some idea so that you don't get any nastyshocks.
It sounds old school, but before we signed up for our house, myflatmate and I sat down with a calculator to check we really could afford themonstrous bills on top of the already monstrous rent. Grrr.
But if you've got to do it, do it well Isay! Instead of plumping for any old company, shop around.
It's not even hardthese days with price comparison sites doing all the work for you.
Hell, MartinLewis is even making a career out of saving people money, and his popularityproves it's not just us students that enjoy the extra cash for othernecessities... like shoes and beer and stuff.
The tricky part you'll find however, isactually prising the money from everyone's accounts to where it needs to be -many a tiff has arisen from this let me tell you.
Do you have a direct debitfrom one person's account and trust the others to cough up, especially the onethat lives frugally all week to blow his/her entire allowance on sambuka at theweekend?
Do you all physically go down to the post office to pay in manner of aWWII family?
Or, like us brainy kids, do you opt for setting up a fresh accountwhere an equal amount from everyone's money pot is deposited?
To be safe, wemade the figure a few quid more than what we expect the bills to be, to thenshare the excess loot at the end of the year.
Result! Our mum's should beproud. Now go on, see how much you can save.
