The 9 year plan...hold onto your hats and here we go!

EssexHebridean

Hi Jo, as LT says, timeswitches are wonderfully useful things. Basically they can be set to go on and off at certain times, allowing you to use appliances etc when you're not actually available to hit the power switch yourself. Basically, they "block" the power going to the appliance until the setting on the timeswitch says it's time for it to be on. For example - we run our dishwasher through the timeswitch - the setting on the switch enables the power to flow through from the socket between 1am - 4am giving plenty of time for the machine to run its cycle. The timeswitch unit plugs into the socket and then the dishwasher plugs into that. You set up the machine as usual - and press the "power on" switch as though you were going to set it running normally, only of course nothing will happen immediately. Come 1am, the timeswitch triggers the flow of electric through from the socket, and the machine does its wash as normal. Best place we've found to buy the timeswitches is Wilkinsons - they do a dirt cheap "manual" one, or a slightly more expensive digital one. We've currently got three on the go - we use one on the dishwasher as mentioned, one on the heater that warms the bathroom up before we go in there in the morning, and one on the kettle so it's boiled ready for when OH gets up to make the drinks in the morning! :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

[STRIKE]Get some ham out of the freezer to add to toasties for tea tonight[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Ring virgin to take off Sky Sports package[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Price check pet shop, jollyes, pets at home and The range for cat food.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Start making Christmas cards with bits I’ve got in.[/STRIKE]
Backup laptop Can't do this - the external HD won't connect to the laptop for some reason - am wondering if this might be a "vista issue" :mad:
[STRIKE]Set up outlook reminder for “TV licence” months…..[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Do Christmas present audit to see what we still need to buy – do a list for our days out.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Do my Christmas list[/STRIKE]
Tyre pressures – both cars.
Jet wash my car (too cold to wash by hand now)
[STRIKE]Portion up and freeze bacon.[/STRIKE] half done - one pack still to deal with.
Do breakdown cover for my car to start 29/11 but reduce mileage to 20k per year.
[STRIKE]Morrisons – buy stamps with 5% savings and see what else is on offer. Do any shopping that will be cheaper there than tesco – call in at Tesco on way back for the balance.[/STRIKE] No stamps though - the store weren't doing the 5% off!
[STRIKE]Do meal plan for next few weeks taking account of what we have in.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Join BB for free bingo money and see how I get on.[/STRIKE]

Urgh - never got to the boring bits with the car. Need to ring Admiral regarding breakdown cover too.

Jo_R_2

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Hi Jo, as LT says, timeswitches are wonderfully useful things. Basically they can be set to go on and off at certain times, allowing you to use appliances etc when you're not actually available to hit the power switch yourself. Basically, they "block" the power going to the appliance until the setting on the timeswitch says it's time for it to be on. For example - we run our dishwasher through the timeswitch - the setting on the switch enables the power to flow through from the socket between 1am - 4am giving plenty of time for the machine to run its cycle. The timeswitch unit plugs into the socket and then the dishwasher plugs into that. You set up the machine as usual - and press the "power on" switch as though you were going to set it running normally, only of course nothing will happen immediately. Come 1am, the timeswitch triggers the flow of electric through from the socket, and the machine does its wash as normal. Best place we've found to buy the timeswitches is Wilkinsons - they do a dirt cheap "manual" one, or a slightly more expensive digital one. We've currently got three on the go - we use one on the dishwasher as mentioned, one on the heater that warms the bathroom up before we go in there in the morning, and one on the kettle so it's boiled ready for when OH gets up to make the drinks in the morning! :rotfl:

Haha great stuff!

That's kinda how I imagined once I thought about it properly. Could definitely do with one for washing machine, kinda makes sense considering how much we use it. Will peruse Wilko's tomorrow.

mineallmine

EssexHebridean wrote: »

We only use gas to cook, so at the moment our DD is at the lowest level - £5 - per month, and we use about £8 per quarter in gas.....I have a special deal with British Gas where I can claim my credit once it goes over £50 rather than the usual amount they insist on (£100)! Leccy credit was also fairly high last time I looked - I'm waiting on the next bill to see if I can reduce the DD again.

Wow EH, thats great. How do you heat your house?

Am on Economy7 and have been making a real effort to use the dishwasher and washing machine on overnight. When we bought them we looked for models with inbuilt timers. I try and charge my phone at work when I can. We seem to be using so much electricity. Will see if effort to E7 overnight has made any impact on bill.

We have energy saving bulbs (candle ones) almost everywhere. Not yet changed the kitchen light to an effective ie bright enough energy saving alternative yet. Our old house had round flourescent bulb lights which lasted forever. Like these at Argos, tempting to save money! http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001801&langId=-1&searchTerms=FLUOERESCENT+LIGHTS

Katy83

Just thought I would let you know we did very well yesterday and didn't have the heating on all day. Bed last night was with a hot water bottle and the house was freezing this morning! The funny thing was I dressed really warm for work and ended up sweating all day in the office! :rolleyes:

Have got it on tonight though - 1 frozen day was enough!

EssexHebridean

Mineallmine - we have storage heaters which are a bit difficult to get used to but once you have them sussed, not too bad at all. We've got one realy effective one, and one not too bad one (in the front room and hallway respectively) and then two marginally better than useless ones in the two bedrooms. The bathroom is unheated but we use an oil filled rad in there in the mornings and evening when I shower. I've taken to showering before bed too as a) I find it helps me sleep and b) it's warmer than in the morning! Hot water is via an immersion heater which also goes on overnight on the E7 rate. I do the electricity readings once a week on a Sunday morning so I can keep an accurate eye on how much we're using and if we start to develop bad habits they are nipped in the bud quickly.

Just looked at our British Gas account and submitted the last reading on the 'leccy and found that we are £310 in credit! :eek::D:A I know we're due a bill anytime mind you so it won't be quite that high once that's take into account, but I still reckon we'll be over £200 up even once that's in. Loking over the last year's bills though, our per month bills average at exactly the same as the DD so I'm struggling to work out where the credit comes from!

Also on the subject of credit on things, I rang Virgin Media (I've spent more time on the phone to them recently than to my Mum!) as for some reason they have once again sent me a paper bill and charged me £1.25 for the priviledge! :mad: They are crediting that, but in the course of the call the chap I spoke with also told me that the account was in credit - something to do with the cancellation on the Sky Sports package. This should mean that they only take £17 from us in december which would be useful, but we will see!

Cat's joined us on the economy drive - she is now eating Go Cat complete at less than half the price of the posh James Wellbeloved food she's been on. No complaints so far, although frankly until she eats to the bottom of the bag we've bought complaining will do her zero good!

I'll do another post in a bit to explain the new challenge (in my sig) a bit, although I can't go into too much detail at this point (Ooh - secret squirrel stuff eh, sorry about that!)

taxi73

That new challenge sounds interesting...can't wait to suss that out..lol

EssexHebridean

Well, things are all up in the air at the moment but basically there is a chance that we might end up being a month without half of our income coming in. It might be February, it could (although I hope not!) be January, or it might not happen at all, and in the long run it won't be bad for us, it's just going to be a bit tricky to manage in the first instance. I won't go into details as it's not my "thing" to talk about, plus nothing is confirmed yet and so we don't want to jinx it. I will reveal all just as soon as I can!

Basically, the first half of our month's money is all accounted for at the moment which makes life more difficult. Yes, I could simply take the shortfall from the savings, but being the awkward little devil I am, I don't want to do that! So, the intial target is to save one months mortgage payment. Bit of a tall order considering the time available but I want to give it a bash. Needless to say I have armed myself with a spreadsheet and also a list of where savings can be made....! This is the reason for the bingo attempt, and I must also get some stuff on ebay too. Still on the hunt for other ways of making savings or earning extra income......:rolleyes: So far my spreadsheet shows over £50 of savings - most of which are still virtual at the moment but as and when they become slightly more "hard cash" I will transfer the money to the savings account I have set up and update the signature line too. I do love a challenge! Off now to rake through my CD's and sort out stuff for music magpie! :A

taxi73

Good luck with that then.That sure is a challenge.

Karmacat

Losing half your month's income won't be a bad thing? Definitely a cunning plan on the go there! I wish you well of it, and of the challenge..... any new ideas on moneyraising?

EDIT - even unused vouchers or something? I realised recently that of vouchers *received*, I have almost £50 in various points and vouchers.......... that could certainly get a fair proportion of supermarket shopping done. Hope you can find stuff like that squirrelled away........