A sense of the past explains the present and foretells the future

La_escocesa

Hey saorsie, hope you don't mind me popping into your diary... Loving reading about all your MSE efforts! Keep it up! :j

Oooh, energy monitor! Jealous!

saorsie

Hi La e - thanks for dropping by - pull up a chair anytime the energy monitor is awesome and very enlightening - pardon the pun For example the very on trend sunken halogen lights x 6 in my kitchen DO NOT get left on just for show anymore and so the dogs can 'see' in their basket at £15 extra per month - no way jose! :eek:

Very impressed by the H*llmark card offer contained in Martin's e mail this week, ordered yesterday, delivered today, saved £3 and so far haven't even had to pay the 49p postage - now that's what I call a bargain!

Finally received my £8 free bet from an offer which ended almost 2 weeks ago, complete with apology from their CS - so that's nice - if it all pans out ok should have £4.32 profit to add to the e-bike fund this evening. Need to sign up for a few more accounts me thinks as have about exhausted the freebies on my existing ones + am lagging behind on the make £10 a day challenge in September so must look lively.

-s-

carlos*the*mackem

saorsie wrote: »

Hi La e - thanks for dropping by - pull up a chair anytime the energy monitor is awesome and very enlightening - pardon the pun For example the very on trend sunken halogen lights x 6 in my kitchen DO NOT get left on just for show anymore and so the dogs can 'see' in their basket at £15 extra per month - no way jose! :eek:

-s-

Hello again!

We had 4 halogen lamps in our kitchen spotlight fitting; looked great, but lamps didn't seem to last 5 minutes, and ate electric :mad:
The halogen lamps have now been replaced with compact fluorescent (CFL) versions; just as effective (actually I think it gives a 'nicer' feel to the kitchen), but use only 44 watts in total, compared with 200 watts with the halogens in. Not only that, but they should last at least 10 years, based on the amount of daily use they get :j
Or you could try LED versions, which in theory should last for decades, while using even less energy than the CFLs; they'll cost quite a bit more though. Be warned, if you go for 'cheap' LEDs, you may as well not have the lights on at all; I know, I've tried them!

The CFLs have been installed for ooh, about 4 years now, and still going strong

Hang on, you said 'sunken' halogens didn't you? In that case, CFLs may not fit, but LEDs should. Check out DIY stores or electrical wholesalers to see what they've got to suit you

saorsie

Blimey Carlos - and thank you, you sure know a lot about lightbulbs sweets Was thinking maybe a candle in a holder like wee willie winkie may fit the bill in a kitschy sort of way or of course attempt the stairs down to the kitchen (3 storey house) in the dark, probably not to be recommended in reality though as have already fallen down the last 5 before when a little err 'tired and emotional' - ouchwas not very MSE as had to take 3 days off work :eek:

Well I have done the deed and the tumble dryer has been sold today via a small free add in the local rag - £35 towards the e bike fund and temptation firmly removed. Will now become a watcher of the local weather forecast on line and may also look to purchase one of these bad boys in preparation for the depths of winter:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/lakeland-dry-soon-heated-airer/F/C/washing-laundry/C/washing-laundry-clothes-horses-airers/productimage/21736?returnURL=/lakeland-dry-soon-heated-airer/F/C/washing-laundry/C/washing-laundry-clothes-horses-airers/product/21736

Demise of tumble dryer has also left a lovely space in utility passage just right for a small chest freezer, so have sourced and shall be purchasing this bad boy from Currys when they come back into stock via Qu*dco reserve & collect and cunningly make use of DS staff discount (knew he would be useful at some point!)

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/logik-lcf98w10-chest-freezer-white-04117194-pdt.html

Have also opened a H*lifax reward current account over the last few days to take advantage of the £50 cashback + £50 from t*pc*shb*ck and hopefully enjoy the £5 per month reward. Have had to move some DD's from my beloved F*rst D*rect bills account but will continue to have my salary and personal spending remain with them and just bounce payments across back and forth throughout the month to hit the £1000 pay in threshold, hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a faff using faster payments, have tested it with a small amount and it seemed to transfer instantly both ways

ISA with St*ndard L*fe is also on the move as they have sliced 0.3% off the interest rate, clearly it is the principle rather than the amount here! Will be transferring this to F*rst D*rect (aaaah give with one hand, take with the other) who have a reasonable fixed rate and was one of the recommendations on the ISA thread - so it must be alright cos those boys n girls really know their stuff.The process seems a bit of a faff as I want to transfer my existing funds and also continue to contribute to it this tax year however loyalty does not pay so it's farewell.

It has not been all cheerfulness and positivity unfortunately since my last post, in that somebody has hit the side of my car whilst it was parked overnight and clearly the note that they left leaving their contact details has 'blown away in the strong winds' - yeah right! So that's a job for tomorrow, contacting my insurance company and fingers crossed that I requested protected no claims when I took out the policy in March :eek:

-s-

saorsie

Have a small embassassing confession to make which I believe sums up my dedication to the MSE ethos .....................

Decided to treat OH to lovely coffee yesterday afternoon in St*rbucks and as we are both caffeine fiends (in our one coffee a day that we allow ourselves, mindful of health concerns ) we always have extra shots in our skinny lattes at 25p a chuck. So whilst stood in the very long queue, I noted that if you paid on a St*rbucks reward card these badboys came free :T Sooooooo despite the madding crowd when it was my turn to be served, I loaded my reward card with £10 (so can do this again and not have to undergo the humiliation twice ) using my e** cashback credit card and thus acquiring a further 10p cashback in the process, and then paid for my drinks from the reward card thus saving 50p + the 10p cashback! Somehow those coffees tasted soooo much better and I will turn a blind eye to all the trees that were sacrificed by the 4 receipts I managed to generate by my thriftiness - oooh and the odd looks

-s-

saorsie

It's a gloomy day in Saorsies' world today - whilst sneaking a look at my e-bike !!!!!! last night I noticed that they had put the price up by £100 - what the f*%k is that all about?!?!?! :mad: Do they not realise that I have been carefully squirrelling away the money ready to purchase (clearly using my M*NA CC which has a spend £250 by end of October and 'enjoy' O% interest until June 2011 offer on it - thus leaving my saved up stash gathering lovely interest in the soon to be transferred ISA ) on the understanding that the asking price was £899 and they wouldn't hoik on over 11% increase without batting an eyelid?!

Anyway that's it now, they've had their chance of my custom, I am now officially looking elsewhere

On a positive note however, the sun is shining today and I am off so am hokey-cokeying like mad as now being officially tumbledryer-less, a girl has to rely on more traditional laundry methods - well until I fork out for the aforementioned heated airer but am holdng off with that as entered competition yesterday to win £500 of L*keland vouchers - coincidence or what Universe if you're listening, pretty please

-s-

carlos*the*mackem

saorsie wrote: »

Blimey Carlos - and thank you, you sure know a lot about lightbulbs sweets Was thinking maybe a candle in a holder like wee willie winkie may fit the bill in a kitschy sort of way or of course attempt the stairs down to the kitchen (3 storey house) in the dark, probably not to be recommended in reality though as have already fallen down the last 5 before when a little err 'tired and emotional' - ouchwas not very MSE as had to take 3 days off work :eek:
-s-

Ouch! That must have hurt

Like the candle idea though; knowing my luck, if I tried that, not only would I fall down the stairs, but the dropped candle would probably set the house on fire . Let's both stick to having lights on...energy-saving ones of course!

Sorry to hear about your car getting a 'hit and run'; I know how maddening it is to have that happen to you. When it happened to me, I had a courtesy car from the garage, so it wasn't even my car that got hit. No note, just lots of debris scattered across the road :mad:

carlos*the*mackem

Top money saving on the Starbucks front by the way! :money:

How did you get on with your car insurance? Hope it doesn't affect your no claims

Not surprised you're miffed about the bike; that's quite a price hike! Don't blame you for wanting to lust after something else

saorsie

Thank you Carlos - a girl can but try

Not terribly good on the car front but could also be worse. Excess is £350 so have decided to 'go private' and have it fixed without going through the insurance, having been quoted about the same and bypassing the hassle factor. Have now started a new savings pot to fund this as don't really want to pay it out of the "car insurance, car tax and MOT pot" as this will leave it short for when these expenses come round in February / March next year - could always raid the 'What If ......' fund (previously known as the emergency fund however after reading Hypnos thread today I am joining her refusal to have emergencies so have renamed it to sound more positive ) but would rather try and save up as much as I can before operation day which is 19th October.

Anyway it's payday today so yesterday had a right good clear out of the accounts and 'paid up' the passport renewal pot and the e bike fund so these can now be purchased with a clear conscience and also managed to squeeze an additional £100 out to start up the car repair pot which is good. Have added to it today with £8 from selling a wicker armchair via the free small ads and also some ebay stuff finished netting a timely £5 odd, a further £5 free bet offer should also pay out at the weekend so am quite happy with my little hat-trick of wheeler dealing.

OH did comment that I was turning into Del Boy this morning when the very nice man who I sold the chair to came and picked it up, however his 'humour' did turn to wonderment when I advised that the proceeds were bound for a new different pot as I had saved up all the money I needed for my e bike .

-s-

saorsie

Eeeeeeek - where has my guest bedroom gone :eek: - I am traumatised!! Anyone who knows me will appreciate my anguish as in my world a tidy house = a tidy mind (I can live with clumps of dog whiskers and cat pawprints all over my desk btw - apparently they do not count ) Anyway back to the story - in my strive to embrace all things moneysaving I applied to have my loft insulated (at present it has about a mm of very dodgy 'cotton wool' and you can feel the chill as you walk up the stairs <or perhaps I have a ghost??!!! :eek:>) for the very reasonable sum of £73. unfortunately what I didn't factor in is that they would need the loft empty to complete the work So yesterday evening OH and I set about the task - to be fair it only took 30 minutes as we do work very well together however it did unearth 5 christmas type trees, DD's prom dress (she's 27!) big bag of her old cuddly toys etc etc ......... you see where I'm coming from here?! Sooooooo can feel a mad free-cycle, free ad, e-bay session coming on as 50% of this 'treasure trove' is not repeat NOT going back into the loft. Will brave the depths this afternoon I think with a clipboard and therefore pledge that everything will be either given away, sold, repatriated with it's owner or re-stored back by mmmmmmm the end of the weekend :eek:

On a moneysaving front, have 3 things finishing on ebay today and all have good bids on them and lots of watchers so hoping for a bit more last minute action perhaps - who would have thought that there was so much interest for a PVC nurses uniform from *nn S*mmers - bought for a fancy dress and worn very uncomfortably once only
Used a £5 off voucher from The T*mes yesterday (recommended in Martins e mail and didn't even need to buy the paper as 'borrowed the appropriate page' from someone) to put towards mum's birthday pressie and need to get thinking caps on for sis' 50th - already got the card sorted in true MSE style

Sooooo must crack on - I could be some time

-s-