Second Time Lucky

amycool

Debenhams order came today. I've decided to stop buying cheap multipacks of socks and pants for OH as they're full of holes, so for his birthday I've ordered some really good quality stuff and we can chuck out the worst of the holey stuff.

I've also taken advantage of the MSE Beer 52 offer of 18 beers for £20. OH loves drinking ale and trying new things so should be a good gift.

DD is very unwell this week so all sorting and exercise has been put on hold and replaced with refilling drinks, giving Calpol etc. Had very little sleep!

amycool

Very bad news!

Boiler man came to service and it turns out when it was fitted they should have put a filter on and didn't. All the dirt from the radiators has entered the system and 2 parts need replacing.

I'm still in warranty BUT they usually don't cover it until the other issue is sorted.

Best case scenario is £450 to clean the radiators and fit a filter and warranty covers the other parts.

Worst case scenario is we have to pay for £650 parts plus a filter.

Should find out today. Either way, we won't be overpaying anything this month and probably next as the holiday wiped out the excess money.

Having said all of this, I'm so glad we were frugal when younger and built up a big emergency pot. I can't imagine what it must be like having something like this happen and literally not having the money to pay.

amycool

So...boiler manufacturer is coming next week to replace one part and assess the rest. I suspect they'll say it's fine for now and by the time it breaks the warranty will have run out.

I finished decluttering and tidying the kitchen. Should massively reduce the amount of food we accidentally buy too much of and waste and it's easier to keep clean.

Tried every tip and trick in the book to clean some burnt grease on the hob but looks like I'll just have to accept it. It's a black oven so not obvious.

We're meeting a potential dog to borrow tomorrow! Fingers crossed it goes well and we'll have a part time pet that doesn't cost us anything!

amycool

Despite the boiler scuppering plans for overpaying this month, I've been pondering what to do next money-wise.

Needed:

Bathroom - already booked

New windows and door for the front of the house - windows don't open, which is dangerous and horrible in the summer and I hate the cheap uPVC door. Still can't decide between aluminium and white upvc.

Would be nice:

Garden makeover - we have a patio on a different level at the end of the garden, which is overtaken with weeds. I'd like to move the small shed to the side of the house and turn it into a play house for DD. Then the patio I would like clearing of horrible concrete slabs and weeds, membrane put down, a small pond and then gravel and a small patio with a bench. Definitely can't DIY as one slab weighs a ton.

Roof replacement - our roof is 60 years old and will probably need replacing in the next 5-10 years. I'd really like to put a window in on the shaded side to make the loft more usable and have solar tiles on the sunny side. I know they're crazily expensive but hoping the price will come down by the time we need to change it. I also want everything super insulated.

New kitchen - this could be done in phases. First brick up lounge/dining room doorway to make a separate lounge. Add double glass doors from dining room to conservatory. Brick up kitchen to conservatory door. Demolish half the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Brand new kitchen. In the shorter term I'd quite like to get the washing machine plumbed in to the conservatory so we could have the fridge actually in the kitchen.

Non house stuff:

Holiday to Denmark - I've been learning Danish and we've never been abroad as a family so this would be nice

Electric car when ours gets old

Horse riding lessons for DD

Driving lessons for DD - there are places where they can start quite young

Anyway, enough pondering!

amycool

Some good boiler news!

The Veissmann engineer came out, cleaned some tubes and declared the boiler totally fine and not needing any work! We do need to put a magna clean on (should be under £200) but no big hurry. That's £500 saved and I won't be using the guy who serviced it again. I'm thinking I'd rather spend extra each year and get it serviced by the company.

amycool

I've just done the banking and due to the good boiler news and a free council tax month, I've managed another £1000 overpayment! :j

I've also restarted the standing order into the regular saver. It will only gain us about £38 over the year but it's better than nothing and it's all set up now so no bother.

At some point we should start looking at ISAs again. We haven't been using them since the allowance changed but there's a chance that OH might reach the higher rate tax payers bracket in the next few years.

OH had to pay £105 for a work trip so hopefully that will be refunded next month. I've also noticed his "work related" outgoings (coffees, buying food out) have gone up massively this year. You can tell how stressful work is by the amount of falafel he eats. :rotfl:

Fingers crossed for a really low outgoing month of March. We don't have any insurance to pay, DD is in school so no outings and I think there's just the magna clean to get fitted but that could be put off. With any luck we'll be in 4 figures by April!

amycool

Well, my plan to not spend any money in March is going...well...

First we spent £80 at the Regatta sale on a Spring/Autumn coat for DD, a good warmish waterproof for OH and new walking boots for OH (his were second hand and very old). 70% off the coats and they should last a while as I got DD's a few sizes up.

Then I needed wrapping paper so was about to buy from The Works when I spotted a set of books that I thought DD would love, and then added some coloured card for crafts to get free delivery and 20% off. I'm an idiot. I always end up spending more for the free delivery. I'll save the books and card as a birthday present.

Then OH had to spent £180 on renewing his accreditation.

So we're not even a week in and £280 spent!!!!

Hopefully the next week will go better!

amycool

Now we are comfortable enough not to always have to buy the cheapest, I'm starting to think more in terms of quality and waste.

I have signed up to Splosh. It's a brilliant idea. You order a starter kit of bottles for laundry detergent, handwash, washing up liquid etc. Once they start to run out you order refills which come in environmentally friendly packaging and you keep reusing the bottles. The liquid inside is also better for the environment than most normal products. It saves space, a little money and we're wasting less plastic.

Yesterday I invested in some period pants. I'd never heard of them before but they replace sanitary products and can be reused over and over, massively reducing the amount of waste. I bought a starter pack of 5 to try them out. They're not cheap but I reckon if I carefully follow the care instructions they should easily pay for themselves within 2 years.

If anyone has any other ideas for easy ways to reduce waste please let me know!

amycool

Note to self: never say "This will be a low spend month" again.

The TV has broken. It was a Christmas gift in 2017 so only a bit over a year old and was working perfectly. I looked online for a fix and it seems to be a common fault with Bush TVs as they're not made very well. The cost of repair would be over half what was paid for it. I'm annoyed that it will have to be sent to the recycling after so little time but I can't see the point in repairing a poor quality TV. I've never had a TV break in all of my life so this was a shock!

So tomorrow we're off to town to buy a new one. Ironically we had just donated the spare TV to charity as we never used it. Typical!

Going to spend a bit more this time on a well known brand so probably around £300. £300 that I definitely hadn't planned to spend. On top of the £80 I hadn't planned to spend and the £87.50 I hadn't planned to spend. I also got a text from Beer52 with another 18 beers for £20 offer. Seems extravagant but OH buys craft ale every week anyway so I just need to make sure he only drinks 3-4 bottles a week.

amycool

Big relief! I decided to just check every possible reason for the TV not working and it turned out it only switched off when connected to the internet. Had to trawl the internet for about an hour but finally found a site where they had a software update and instructions and it appears to work!