Tales from a country cottage

ani*fan

I remember we had this conversation a while ago lucielle and it stuck in my mind. A tank of oil is a massive outlay. And to have an account with your oil supplier means there is no choice but to go with them. Once I got over the shock of acknowledging how stupid I have been, blindly buying their oil without even asking how much it would cost (!!!!!!!!), I thought I'd make a plan.

I'll be due the usual payment in about 10 days. Then next month, the amount outstanding will be £80, only I'm sure they will want to take £178 as usual and keep my cash for me. My plan is to cancell the account at the end of this month once I've been paid, and settle the £80 there and then. I'll take the £98 leftover from my usual payment and put it in another account, which I'll open during my AL in the next couple of weeks. I'll need to find another £17 from somwhere to bring the total up to £115...the true cost of the amount of oil I want to buy per year.

OH is not a little bit worried, being a cold tattie and not as convinced as me that we can manage this. But I'm confident it will work out better.

I also plan to make a list of all local oil suppliers and their phone numbers so that when the time comes it's easy to compare them. Do you use any online suppliers, Lucielle, like boiler juice? How many do you compare before going for it?

ani*fan

Here's my list to keep me right. Hopefully it's not too long.

• Open new bank account for oil money
• Make list of suppliers
• Wait for payday to cancel old account
• Buy car insurance outright
• Take an MSE holiday (already booked)

The other thing I need to think about now the overdraft is gone :j is which of my interest gaining CCs to pay off first. I read elsewhere that MBNA can be particularly nasty if you get behind on payments. My Virgin card is MBNA. But Abbey just sent me a very patronising letter saying 'we've noticed you're only making mimimum payments...are you having difficulty? Do you want debt advice?' Cheeky gits. My Virgin card is still in action. I can use whatever I pay off it in an emergency. The Abbey card is essentially closed as I refused their interest hike last year. The Abbey card is about £400 bigger than the Virgin one. Virgin also already take way more than just the interest as a minimum payment whereas Abbey is getting paid off much slower.

So, reading back through this it would seem to make sense to tackle the Abbey one first. Apart from the possibility of Virgin getting nasty in the future. But saying that, don't they all get nasty when you don't give them their cash?

I think I've made the decision that it's got to be the Abbey. It makes sense somehow.

And I need to remember to find another 0% card when the M&S deal finishes early next year. But plenty of time to think about that.

lucielle

I use boiler juice as a bench mark, as they are usually the most expensive, then I phone round and play them off one against the other.
L

turfy6

Wow ani*fan you are sounding so positive its really inspiring. I wish I could do the oil thing, they charge you here for having separate accounts so I will just have to put it in the savings account. I cant believe weve gone a whole year whith NO OIL, thank god it was such a mild winter!!! lol The boiler is getting moved in the next couple of weeks so I must get saving for next winters oil really soon.
Glad you and OH have made it up and are enjoying this wonderful weather, long may it continue.:j

ani*fan

Hi there Turfy. Nice to see you again.

A whole winter with no oil? Good lord. I'm very glad you're still alive. Actually, going without oil would be an interesting challenge for me and OH though I expect our electricity bill would quadruple.

I'm dubbed up in bed today with a horrible tummy bug. Was awake half the night too feeling sick and running back and forward to the loo. Not good.

Worse still is that OH is finally feeling better after having a cold these last few days and is up and about, making big plans to get the shed painted, employ someone to trim our fir trees and goodness knows what else. I'm trying to direct from my sick bed, shouting things like 'get more than one quote! Buy the cheapest paint!' but who knows what will happen if I'm not there to keep a lid on the spending. Oh well. At least the jobs are getting done. And I'm not having to do them. Bonus. :cool:

It's another sunny day here but a bit chilly. Hope everyone enjoys their debt busting Saturday.

ani*fan

It's days like this that make me so happy to live in a draughty old cottage.

I may be dubbed up in bed feeling poorly, but the view from our bedroom window of trees and fields and horses in the sunshine is fantastic. Some of these trees must be over 100 years old. They really help me get perspective. They'll still be standing after me and OH and our debts have long gone.

I can hear the cows from our neighbouring farm getting excited about teatime coming. The birds all came back a few weeks ago and our woodpecker is back for the 4th year running, hammering away like his life depended on it. There's just so much activity outside just now. Spring is definitely here! :jThank goodness!

ani*fan

I think I've worked out a way to save us £100 a month in outgoings. Some of this isn't an actual saving but more a way of evening out the bills equally over 12 months. But either way, I think it's a good plan. Here it is:

• Get council tax changed to 12 monthly (£15)
• Buy car insurance outright (£25)
• Cancel oil account and pay into our own oil account (£63)
• Get new mobile contract (£10)

Total saving £113

Clearly something like the council tax isn't really saved, but I think for easier budgeting I'd rather pay the same every month.

I have wildly overestimated the petrol costs per month (£400) and have done a few sums and realised that as long as the MOT isn't too wildly expensive, this amount every month will cover petrol, insurance, tax and MOT. And as I'm now used to paying that amount into the petrol pot every month I 'm not missing it.

Mobile contract should have been negotiated months ago. Shame on me.

And the oil, I just can't wait to get rid of that particular DD. £178 indeed. :mad: It's in my hands now.

The cash is sitting there to buy a year's car insurance. I was going to do it today but feeling too rough. I have a couple of weeks and already know which one I'm buying.

I might post my new improved budget up here to see how it looks.

lucielle

Good for you on the budget.
L

Igamogam

Hi Ani
Just popping in to say hope you feeling better soon and OH is looking after you while you debt bust from your sick bed!

Here our council tax is paid over 10 months - get a 'holiday' for 2 months just after Christmas which is a bonus I can tell you - same with water rates
re your car insurance - can you buy it through topcashback? We got £45 back from ours and similar for our house insurance. Takes a few months for it to come through but its great when it does - just a thought if you haven't tried it.
Thinking of those CCs can you get yourself another 0% to move the others too or maybe a card with a low rate ( usually around6%) for the life of the balance?? Again just some idle thoughts if it hadn't crossed your mind.

Havent heard our woodpecker yet but the owl with hiccups is back looking for a mate

ani*fan

Your owl has hiccups? :rotfl:How cute is that? Our biggest furry purrball had hiccups for the first time the other day. Every time it happened he was glowering at everyone as though someone had done something bad to him!

Well, today I'm feeling better! Yippee!!:jI guess that's one good thing about feeling poorly...I always really appreciate feeling better then. :T

I have some ambitious plans for chores today. The sun is shining though there is a chill in the air and I'm all optimistic. Here's my list to help me keep track...

• Clean the bathroom - done
• Do dishes - done
• Clean the kitchen - done
• Dark wash - done
• Light wash - done
• Help OH with second coat on the shed - done
• Clean cat litters - done
• Burn rubbish - done
• Do recycling - done
• Finish shopping list and nag OH to get online and order us some food. We have NOTHING to eat and last shop came to about £15 and was full of cat food and bottles of sauce - done
• Do some study (maybe an hour to get me started? Will plan an hour but secretly aim for 2 )
• Tidy desk/filing
• Clean windows
• Uumm...that's about it so far.

Have a splendid sunshiney debtbusting day everyone.