NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

culpepper

Lynplatinum wrote: »

Got quote for fuel today (i.e. the monthly DD) now, this past year with Scottish P its been £96 per month - I ve just opted to move to First Ut!lity with MSEs Energy Club which bought it down to £84 per month but when putting in my final figures for Scottish P they had reduced my payments to £48 per month??????????????? Anyone guess an explanation??? (I was away last year for 6 weeks because I broke my leg but that was in the summer!!)

Have decided to go with the First Ut!lity one because I dont trust that the Scot P one is correct! And Im not ringing them up - takes ages to get thro and then they dont know anything/the system is down/they will call me back (and dont) thats why i wanted to change.

What do folks think has happened?? Anyone else had that experience?

That sounds very much like what happened to us with Bgas.
Our bill went up to £120 a month and we immediately switched to another company where we still are (7 years later) who could supply our fuel for £60.
At present we are paying 71 so it was well worth the switch despite bgas ringing us up in a panic and saying the £120 was a mistake ....
We have never regretted the switch..

suki1964

What strange weather we are having here Yesterday was sat in the garden, roasting,pitch black sky, listening to the most almighty thunder and watching hailstones the size of marbles bouncing across the fields - and we never got a drop of water, yet local villages are flooded. Weird and quite spooky

The storms have knocked out the wifi since Saturday and BT estimate at least another 48 hrs, which is a right pain in the bum. I feel like I'm cut off from the world lol. Still means I've got to fill the day productively instead of skiving on here ( on cell- so slow)

So I've managed to pick some rhubarb at last and I'm going to attempt jam for the first time. Probably only enough for one jar but will do as a practice run. Have a pan and a thermometer so should be ok if I can find a reciepe

Also got the mountain of ironing to tackle. Only been doing enough to get by cos of the arm, but back to work tomorrow so need to get it tackled. Said to my boss last night I'll give it a try back. If the arm gets to the point where I'm back on painkillers all the time then it may be time I call it a day. I love my job, I really do but I'm not prepared to get myself back to where I'm only fit to work, and not managing anything else. Getting too old for that

Oh all you lucky peeps who have choices of who supply's your power. We have just the two companies here so there's no competition at all. The only thing we can deal on is the oil and that's really just keeping an eye on the price and filling up when you think it's not going to get any lower. Sometimes you win

More spends today. Got to take the dog to the vet. Anal glands need doing every 4 to 6 weeks and I just can't bring myself to do them. Tell you I'm such a wimp with animals. I have the whole lot ruined as I'm so soft lol. Even the goldfish are treated like royalty in this house lol. When we have to be away for the daughters wedding next year I've press ganged a friend into staying over night here so my animals are not left alone. She's the one that will then have to drive up to hers to see to her own chooks and cat lol. Everyone thinks I'm mad and they are probably right.

Had to do a big shop this weekend Have been managing on small £10 to £15 shops for the past couple of months but have the grand children coming to stay for the weekend so had to stock up. Hit the chicken factory and filled the freezer for £10 and have stocked up on dry goods so fingers crossed it's just veg and milk shops for the next two weeks. And fingers crossed the veg in the garden will be starting by then. Tried a potato plant yesterday but still too small. The peas are flowering like mad now and the broad beans are forming away. Nothing on the toms yet and I'm still not sure how the courgettes are going to pan out but I live in hope.

Calm waters everyone xx

GreyQueen

What annoyed me was that I'd supplied annual figures for consumption to Co Op Energy and they'd set me up on a 12 month deal in such a way that when it ended I was the equivalent of one month in credit (my usage has been static over the years). And when I switched they took forever to finalise my account and re-imburse what they'd overcharged me, had to threaten to initiate a formal complaint to get them to sort it (fault was all at their end not SE as new provider).

I've only had to talk to SE once or twice but their customer service was great, and I work in that field myself, so have high standards.

Off to work now, have a good 'un, lovely peeps.

WeeMidgie

Like GQ I'm with Ebico, no daily standing charges, I just pay for actual usage. The unit cost is likely higher than on deals where there is a daily standing charge, but I am low usage for both gas and electricity so it works well for me.

The lid of my stainless steel electric kettle jammed in the shut position - the hinged lid was stuck. I was so annoyed, it was only 3 and a half years old. The thought of having to jettison a perfectly good kettle because of a jammed lid was enough to make me persevere!

I finally managed to get the lid off and used a small hacksaw to remove the plastic hinges, which had snapped, and also took the plastic filter off the short spout. So now I can either remove the lid manually, or fill the kettle through the spout. A good few more years use for the kettle, I hope!

nursemaggie

Off to Malta in a couple of hours all paid for by DD and SIL. See you next week. Have a good week everyone.

117pauline

nursemaggie - have a lovely holiday. Malta is definitely on my bucket list.

Just sorted my car insurance and breakdown cover. Renewal £209 then got it for £142 plus £18 breakdown cover so really pleased - I did not know that the premiums vary, day by day, I got a quote on 15 June for £149, same company and all details then £7 cheaper three weeks later - how strange is that?

I saw the dietitian last week who was so supportive. We spent an hour going over lots of factors and I came out feeling very positive and more in control.

My first goals are all to do with better patterns of eating and exercising - baby steps to get back on track. She suggested I may find the FODMAP diet beneficial in the future but just wanted me to feel better about food.

So now on Day 3, writing down everything eaten, exercise, mood, hunger levels etc and feeling good. I have decided to bribe myself so for every day no treats are bought, I put £2 away for our holiday fund.

Calm waters for everyone
Pauline

WeeMidgie

... Forgot to say, I had bought a small strimmer to tend to the front grass. Luckily I hadn't opened the box before my neighbour announced he'd be happy to convert both our front gardens to gravel, so today the strimmer got returned, and £22.49 will shortly land back in my bank account.

Very happy with that!

Lynplatinum

Ahoy there shipmates

NurseMaggie - I hope you have a great and well deserved holiday - I know how hard you have been saving for it! :beer:

Pauline - glad nurse had somat sensible to say! Amazing how food affects mood and vice versa! Having seen a documentary (and the found and read the original scientific paper on the net which supported the documentary) I am trying to keep my sugar levels stable - i.e. not suddenly swamp my system with a Mars Bar etc. I havent lost any weight TBH but I feel better for it; I am getting more done and hope being more active will start the weight loss off! We shall see!

NSD today plus a friend came round for lunch - which I made totally from storecupboard thatI am trying to eat up (recipe on MM&M if anyone wants them). I made Chilladas (used up lentils and Bouquet garni) and Mango Swirl (used up some of a tin of mango pulp and yogurt which would have been out of date tomorrow!) :j

So NBI grub!

The more I determine not to go out spending - i.e. NSD days - the more inventive I become about using stuff up and, tbh the more yummy the grub gets (apart from one thing recently). Less is definitely more :rotfl:

Finished my other curtain today and will put it up and take down the tracker curtain tomorrow - NBI curtains! (cos already had the material hanging around and the pole!)

Good thing Weemidgie on sorting out your refund - tomorrow - apart from curtain putting up and working in the evening - I will have time to sort out some refund for me too! V inspiring to hear from folk who have battled on getting a refund from big companies - I just dread the paperwork - keeping track of it all - and them ringing me up and being pesteringly persistent when I am either working or out having a good time! Why cant they just do the honourable thing and return dosh straight away???

Taking insipiration from you folk I shall spend sometime tomorrow fighting that good fight! :A
Sail on fellow sailors - tomorrow I shall cause big companies - stormy seas - if they dont cough up! :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I have EDF for my utilities provider for gas and electric and my monthly D/D is only £49 per month.but my house is quite small and I did spend out on it about 4 years ago to get the walls insulated and double insulation in the loft and an A rated boiler installed.

My son-in-law is a surveyor and he went round telling me where I could make savings ,even down the the light bulbs and my house has an 'A' rating now .
I only have the gas on for two hours every morning to heat the water and with the heating I only put on for an hour as and when required Never on a timed sequence I found I saved quite a bit this way. In fact last year I had over paid by £252 and I had a cheque back from them at the beginning of June in a rebate
Living in a smaller place after our bigger house has meant smaller bills for almost everything.Now I am living alone I just don't need so much space either tbh.Less to keep clean as well :):)

RicardaRacoon

Evening everyone

Since I didn't had anything better to do in that heat I did a decluttering session on Monday and Tuesday. End of it was four big rubbish bags with all sorts of things for the bin, a bag of books for next years book exchange and a bag of clothes and shoes for charity.
So what I've learned from my decluttering... I have plenty of everything from books to yarn to dvds to stitching stuff....

But I decided that I could do with another pair of relatively flat shoes (have a couple of high heeled ones, a pair of brogues with a medium heel and a pair of ballet flats) so will keep my eyes open but will only buy it if I come across a pair I really like for a reasonable price as I could live without.
Maybe I will find something on holiday, where I will also keep my eye open for a dress or two for fall/winter.

Will now do my mealplan for next week so that I can go to the shops tomorrow.
And will need a short trip into town to get new earphones... I break them quite frequently by pulling them to get my mobile out of my bag.... But that is about the only planned spending for the next few days beside food.

Jackie, very well done on making sure that the heat stays inside... I moved to a flat with much better windows and don't have to have the heating on so much as it stays inside better.

Pauline, writing everything down really helps to track eating traps. Am glad that the dietist was helful and nice!

Have a nice evening everyone!