Seven hours that made me a packet

Ever feel like a fraud? I do - writing for these financial advice pages while personally maintaining the worst financial planning since the Enron board. But all that is about to change: I am going to attempt in a single day to put in place all the financial measures we constantly tell people will save them a packet. I call it the Day of Reckoning.

But I have a specific target. I want to see if I can save £1,500 in a year by simply spending one day making a few phone calls. At any rate, today I intend to maintain a constant 'saving rate' of at least £180 per hour based on the time it takes me in a working day to make a particular saving. Impossible? Read on.

10am

I get up at the crack of 10 to start things off the right way and tackle my biggest outgoing - my mortgage. I bought my flat six months ago with a £42,000 loan from the Yorkshire building society fixed for three years at 5.19 per cent. I am allowed to overpay my repayments by up to 10 per cent a year. I get little more than 3.6 per cent after tax in my savings account, so it makes sense to do so. My £4,200 payment, arranged in two minutes on the phone by Ansiya at the Yorkshire, will make a net saving of about £67 this year, allowing for my lost savings account interest. I also cancel the unnecessary payment protection insurance that they added for free for six months, hoping I wouldn't notice the fees when it came to the end of the free period, and save a whopping £516. I'm sure you will agree it's a great start.

· Total yearly saving so far: £583

10.45am

Now the complex stuff - switching phone services. I currently get my line and broadband from BT and calls from Toucan.

I am on the BT option 1 plan, which costs £11 per month for line rental. I spend about £20 a month on UK calls; my broadband is £23 a month but has six months left on its contract. I call BT to discuss my requirements. After five minutes of automatic menu options, they cut me off. I try their online broadband speed checker. It's offline. BT is not looking good, so I vote with my feet.

I call Toucan. And switch. Thanks to friendly Irish Anna at Toucan, my line rental is now £10 a month and I take out a package for free UK calls any time for another £10, all paid by direct debit. I've just saved myself about £131 this year. To top it all, I download Skype to give me free international calls over the internet, saving the £20 per year I spend phoning abroad. Eat that BT!

· Total yearly saving so far: £734

11.05am

What with all my free calls from my landline, I can afford to change my mobile phone tariff to give me fewer free minutes. I call Vodafone and swap from a 200-minutes-a-month plan to 125-a-month, saving me £5 a month.

· Total yearly saving so far: £794

11.15am

I'm currently with EDF (London) Energy. But disaster strikes when I give them my meter reading. It seems they have been underestimating my use for six months. My accurate reading apparently indicates that I owe them about £80. Terrified by the effect this will have on the hourly savings rate, I can hardly speak.

To make matters worse, after spending more than an hour going through the switching websites and calling the various suppliers, it seems that EDF is my cheapest option anyway (the Day of Reckoning took place before last week's announcement that it is putting its prices up by 19 per cent for gas and 8 per cent for electricity ). A setback.

· Total yearly saving so far: £714

12.55pm

Savings and banking. The first thing is to increase payments on my Egg credit card to pay off the full balance each month. This should save me about £3 a month in interest. Next up is opening an Isa. The National Savings Isa Direct pays 5.55 per cent. I open one online with the maximum £3,000 deposit. The tax benefits should save me £60 a year.

· Total yearly saving so far: £810

1.25pm

I blow an hour, and 99p, watching last week's episode of Lost online.

· Total yearly saving so far: £809

2.25pm

Back to banking. Apparently the best instant-access current account in the UK is with Indian bank Icici, paying 5.15 per cent. I'm wary: the last time I was in an Indian bank there was an unkempt guard with an AK-47 and a notice pleading with customers not to bribe the staff. But I throw caution to the wind and open an account - it pays 0.6 per cent more than I currently get with the Nationwide. That will make me about £30 this year, but I'm still below my aim of saving £180 an hour.

· Total yearly saving so far: £839

2.55pm

I'm going to Italy, so need travel insurance. Last year I took four trips and insurance cost me about £120. But I can take out annual insurance from the Student Travel Association for £85. I do it and count it as a saving of £35.

· Total yearly saving so far: £874

3.25pm

I call Lloyds TSB to demand a refund of £2.37 in overdraft interest they charged me because they lost two cheques I deposited in my account (a week later, alarmingly, they were put in an envelope and posted through the branch letterbox by an unknown individual).

· Total yearly saving so far: £876.37

3.35pm

I call Haringey council to see if I would benefit from having my flat's council tax band reassessed. Julie tells me that would be 'very silly'; it was last assessed in 1999 and its value has nearly trebled, so under its current value I would end up paying £769 a year more. I quietly replace the receiver.

· Total yearly saving so far: £876.37

4.00pm

Tax time. Instead of paying what I owe Her Majesty as soon as she asks for it, I delay until the last minute, so keeping the cash in my account and earning interest on it. That should save about £40.

· Total yearly saving so far: £916.37

4.30pm

Finally, my pension. I took out a stakeholder pension a few years ago, paid in the maximum for that year and have never touched it. I fill out a direct debit mandate to pay in £200 a month and Richard from my pension company says I'll save £670 in tax relief over the year.

· Total yearly saving so far: £1,586.37

4.50pm

My dad has found a Post Office account passbook in my name, opened when I was born. I speak to Steve at the National Insurance dormant account section. The account is still in existence, but he can't tell me over the phone what the balance is - but I shouldn't get too excited. 'Can I get an idea?' I ask. 'What could I buy with the balance? A car?'

'Maybe a stamp.'

'What class?'

'Second.'

The graph is boosted by 23p. Not a feast, but the icing on the cake.

· Total yearly saving so far: £1,586.60

5.00pm

Success! In seven hours I've saved almost £1,600, a whopping £226 an hour.

Save like Gareth

· Consider overpaying your mortgage if your lender will allow you to without penalties.

· Switch your telephone provider if you haven't already done so. Comparison websites such as uSwitch.com and Simplyswitch.com will compare costs based on your usage.

· Check your mobile phone usage and consider switching tariffs - or from contract to pay-as-you-go if you don't spend much.

· Dig out your gas and electricity bills and use a comparison website such as those mentioned above to see if you can find a better deal.

· Paying interest on your credit card? Consider switching to a lower rate. MBNA, Virgin and from Tuesday HSBC all offer 0 per cent for 12 months.

· Sort out your savings. Alliance & Leicester pays 10 per cent interest before tax on its regular savings account if you tie your money up for a year and make monthly deposits. Isas allow you to save tax-free.

· If you make a lot of trips abroad, consider annual travel insurance rather than lots of single-trip policies.