From debt to freedom...

Drawingaline

Will it not affect hot water too? That was my issue when our boiler went, no hot showers or baths for a week unless I went to my sisters. Not good.

Our new boiler was 2k fully fitted. Went with a local plumber from checkatrade we had used before. British gas will be incredibly expensive, but do have the interest free loans they do. Tough decision.

Honeysucklelou2

Ooh that's a good idea, hot water bottles. Thank you Cherryfudge! I thought I might chat to my friend's husband who is a heating engineer and see if his opinion is the same. If it is beyond service and repair, fair enough, but equally I don't want it suggested as an up-selling strategy, if you see what I mean.

My other thought was to use £60 from the EF to go with the evoucher and get the heated clothes airer. The other problem of the central heating not working and a very dodgy tumble dryer is the difficulty in drying anything. The current tumble dryer takes a day ( I kid you not) to dry 1 load. That's having to check and set again repeatedly because it's not at a state of dryness to be able to put away. The amount of washing we have means there is a constant backlog of wet or damp washing. Hopefully the heated towel rail will be cheaper to run and help the washing to dry. I am really dreading the electricity statement.

On a positive note we do have the wood burner in the living room so can make that room warm and toasty! We always have an airer full of clothes in there to get as much dry as possible.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Drawing a line. I have no idea of costs so that's interesting to know that 2k was your figure.

Thankfully we do have hot water because we have an immersion. The boiler is an oil one so we tend to use the boiler to heat the water in winter and the immersion in summer. It has meant that we have continued to use the immersion, so I'm thankful we have that back up.

Drawingaline

Thats good then. Oil radiators work really well, we use two in our conservatory and once the room is heated (takes a while) it retains the heat well.

I really want a heated clothes dryer too so I can dry them in the conservatory rather than in the front room.

Honeysucklelou2

What an eventful day! I went to a nearby town with DD2 as she wanted to do a few jobs/get a couple of things. She wanted to go to Home Bargains, which happened to have an oil filled radiator:T. It's a larger one than the one I have but will allow movement of the heater, to whichever room needs it.:)

We went back home, then I was intending to go to work and set off but a strange sound started coming from the tyre. I assumed that it was flat and got out to check but the tyre wasn't flat at all. I set off again, but this horrible noise carried on:(. DS1 then rang to say that there had been a loud bang when I'd left and he'd found a chunk of metal where my car had been:eek::eek::eek:. I drove back home, very gingerly, to discover that part of the suspension coil had come off. That is the sum total of my knowledge of the piece and how to fix it. So will gave to wait for the garage to open on Monday and see what they can do. It just goes to show me anew, how precarious my finances are still, as there is often little to put into a car maintenance pot, beyond what I put aside to pay the tax, insurance and AA subscription.

On the plus side, at least it happened near home and not down a twisty lane on the way to work.

I've made some chocolate brownies, fruit cake and 2 lemon drizzle cakes. Hopefully the tins will remain full for a while.

Not a NSD but have paid £37 off a debt.:T

Cherryfudge

Sorry indeed to hear about the car troubles. Great you can get a heater though. Have you also thought of one of those old fashioned suspended airing racks that hang from the ceiling? They work remarkably well - my in-laws had one.

I hope tomorrow is a much better day for you. x

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Cherryfudge, I remember my grandmother having one of those . I guess if it's over or near the fire, things would dry quite quickly.

crazy_cat_lady

Oh no. Sorry about your car woes Depends which suspension coil it was but I paid £300 to have mine replaced a few years ago. I'll cross everything that it isn't too much.

Kitten868

It doesn't rain, it pours, eh? Poor you HSL. You've made massive strides forward and you're in a much better position to sort this now than you ever have been. How are you doing on the window finance? I would consider taking out a loan when that one is paid to replace the boiler and tumble drier and repair the car. That is terrible, awful advice but I think your costs would be more without them. It's not finance for something frivolous - it's essentials for a family. I cannot believe that you have been running a house of 6 kids without a decent tumble drier. You could potentially sort out the car and tumble drier without the loan by having enough money to cover the car repairs and getting a tumble drier on Freecycle?
Clothes hanging over the fire makes me uneasy but that may be as me and hubby are so tall.
You are brilliant and you will find the right solution for you. Its just annoying. Keep going - you're doing this xxxx

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you CCL and Kitten. Waiting now to contact the garage in the morning.

My lovely parents visited this afternoon and have kindly lent me a car for the week, so that I can get to work. There are no public transport options!

I chatted to my dad about the heated airer option and his response did make me think. He asked me where the water vapour was going to go. I thought I'd misheard as I didn't quite follow him at first. He pointed out that if the washing is being heated on the airer, the moisture from the clothes has to go somewhere and will, in time, affect the fabric of the building. Given that we battle black mould as it is, even when boilers are working correctly, it's made me think again. My dad has been researching tumble dryers and he and my mum have very kindly offered to lend me enough to get a new tumble dryer.

The blessings of today are the loan of a car to be able to get to work and the chance to clear the damp washing problem.:T