The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Somebody remind me I'm here to save money as I am leaking it again and need to stop. :eek:

I've ordered 3 LED lightbulbs for the lounge - we really need 6 but I've not been happy with how long our previous energy-saving ones last, so this is a trial run using LED. Cost £20.47.

I've also ordered 4 LED spotlights - again there are 9 in total in the kitchen, utility and cloakroom, but will use these as a trial. Cost £31.07.

Hoping to see the electric bill drop quite a bit too from doing that.

Been to a very quiet Ald! and spent £23.19 total, but £8.81 of that is for Mum, reducing my shop to £14.38, of which £7 was a small frozen turkey on offer and will be our Xmas Day dinner! So I almost stuck to the list.

Have got the heating switched off though :j . Some lovely sunshine and 9C. A good time to get the sports car out and give it a Spring run and start thinking about getting that serviced too.

At least no frivolous spending and we've still got our Cineworld vouchers to use - DS can't find a film he really wants to go and see now. Typical :rotfl:

Rollercoaster_Rach

You are spending for the right reasons so don't worry!

I love the fact I'm now at kids club for DD. 'Muppets take Manhatten' this Saturday...god help me! She wants to see Tinkerbell but I will wait till it shows on a cheap Saturday when it's a bit old!!

Oh Ali...no massage for me! Was sooooo looking forward to it as never do things like this and it was such a bargain.......

RR xxx

Ali-OK

I am feeling quite well today for the first time in what feels like ages. I still haven't achieved much this afternoon, except 5 surveys and a bit of pottering this afternoon!

Financials for today then:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar Canvass - 60 points from 2 surveys
- Nectar Card - up at £38.28
- Inbox Pounds - nice push up to £4.36
- Qmee - zilch.

DS wants me to make some more choc chip muffins and dogs need some more biscuits, so they're on my To Do list for tomorrow. Decided to postpone kitchen decorating until Easter rather than try and rush it through in the remaining 3 days of this week.

Maybe I need to run through all the remaining books again with the Zapper website and finish off my study - seem to have completely stalled on that front, though it's the last room to do.

I'm in full on procrastination mode tonight :rotfl:

Ali-OK

Whoop whoop - delivery of lightbulbs at 8.30 this morning :j One was broken on arrival, but company have swiftly responded and are despatching a replacement. Typically, they all fit and brightness is good - I need to order the rest now :rotfl: Can still get 15% discount and 15% cashback via Quidco until the 24/2, so a job to do there. It's not going to be a NSD.

I've emailed my current energy supplier just to check they are in agreement with the switch date and will continue the deal price until then (as per their letter).

Procrastination in everything else continues - laziness whilst feeling well is enjoyable and I'm definitely taking advantage .

mizmir

Not sure how I've missed your diary for 2 days! Notifications going awry again. Great to hear you feeling so much better so soon - those hormones are tricky blighters - but you really feel it when they are balanced again.

I agree your spending is considered and sensible. I don't think we can stop spending altogether but if we can achieve mindful and controlled spending we will get there. I have to confess it never occurred to me to buy light bulbs on line. We have those fiddly little spot lights in the kitchen and they blow all the time. Perhaps LED is the way forward?

Excellent progress on switches and stuff too - you are on a roll!

Ali-OK

Hormones are definitely starting to balance, though I'm back wearing my thermal top otherwise I'd be turning the heating up and that's a no-no :rotfl:

I think LED bulbs are coming into their own now and prices are slowly coming down matched with better longevity. I'm buying from LED Hut - seem to have good reviews and a 5 year guarantee. I've just put in an order for just shy of £100 :eek: Should pay for itself within 10 months and £15 of cashback has tracked. I looked at equivalents in the DIY places and Wilko's, but nowhere as competitive as online. Guess they don't have the shop overheads.

I moved to 30% energy saving ones originally which were £4-5 each a few years back, but they blow so often it was costing more than the old incandescents I suspect!

You can pretty much get all the different variables now, except mini GU10s is a problem for our bathroom as the LED version is slightly longer and the cover won't fit back on which negates the IP44 rating and is too close to water from the shower to take any chances.

We'll have to change that fitting and the hall/landing ones too if want LED there, the latter have PIR floodlight type bulbs (linear) and originally were 100 watts each :eek: Got those down to 60w now. The replacement fittings are £100 each otherwise :eek: Actually, I might ask my electrician friend if it's possible to change the fitting inside the light to take the 3w version. Hmmm...off to send a text

I've definitely curtailed spending to only necessary so this feels a bit flambouyant, but will be a saving ongoing to the electric bills. When I'm debt-free, my sights will be on solar panels

Ali-OK

Thursday evening and 6 days gone out of the 9 days off :eek: Work tomorrow and then the weekend.

The excitement tonight of switching on the new LED bulbs and seeing the energy monitor hardly change was great . Can't wait now for all the other bulbs to arrive. The current 9 and 7w CFLs in the bedrooms and dining room will be moved to the loft, garage and outdoor lights to make way for the 3w LEDs. Saving both on buying more expensive LEDs and on electricity by removing the remaining 60w bulbs.

Spoke to electrician friend - he has a possible retrofit LED bulb for the hall and landing lights so we are going to try it - the fitment size might be an issue. There are LED replacements for the bathroom too so I've ordered just 1 to see how it fits and how bright it is adding £13 to today's massive spend. :eek:

Other financials:
- bank account checked - lots coming out tomorrow including car payment which will take the debt down from £11k to £10k :j
- freepostcodelottery checked - not me again, nor Beanie I suspect
- Nectar - so adpoints from last week not yet credited, nor 2 surveys for 60 points yesterday. Nectar have replied to my email but misunderstood my query so have written back.
- Nectar card is up to £38.43
- Inbox Pounds is flying up and now at £7.72. A £2 credit from last month was a nice surprise and welcome addition.
- Qmee - another 10p which I've moved to Paypal then current account - grand total of 99p.

No reply from the current energy supplier as yet, they are 'dealing with a high volume of customers at the moment' - not totally surprised after seeing a bit on the news that over 350,000 customers have switched away from them in the last 12 months :eek:

Back to early alarm clock tomorrow, so will be an early night here and yet to prep for work too. Better do that next!

Hope everyone has had a good day.

Ali-OK

A quick (well for me ) update this morning.

Today's DD car payment of £144.27 has taken the debt down into the £10's :j :j Just the March one left to go before I move the remainder onto a 0% CC.

£3,867.35 has been paid off since 1st October and also £1401 capital off the mortgage. :j:j

I'd never have done that without all the inspiration and motivation of you guys here. Thank you :T:T

I looked at the electricity account and comparison sites again last night and found I can save @ £30 a year by switching compared to current suppliers best tarriff that I'll be put on end of Feb - so I've started the ball rolling there. Will also gain another £17 cashback for that :j

Fingers crossed for smooth transitions, it's been a long time since I've switched.

Car insurance is next, trickier to use comparison sites with 2 cars, might be some long phone calls - here comes a Sunday morning set up of phone, laptop, pen, paper and a cuppa . Undecided on selling the sports car, with debt payments going well and everything continuing on 0% for at least another year, it's affordable to keep it.

Time to get DS moving and me off to work . Have a good day

Rollercoaster_Rach

Well done on that debt going DOWN!!!! you deserve it...you are so dedicated! xxxx
RR x

mizmir

Great news on the debt coming down - that is so encouraging and is as RR says well deserved!

Thanks for the info on the LEDs - hadn't thought about this before so that is something to look into over the weekend for sure. Might have o filch some from the "home improvements" pot. Sounds like it would be worth it.