Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

Parkyp

I hope you managed to get out in the snow, it was -9 on the way to work this morning and boiler not working in my work 🥶. I hope you can find the funds because that sounds like a good plan if you can make that amount of money for not a lot time. Fingers crossed your hubby’s meeting goes well.

Suffolk_lass

Our DS's boiler has just packed up too -9 here last night. We have said he can come and use the shower here. He has been vaccinated because of his work and we will just have to postpone cleaning until he has been and gone. The boiler man says we should consider a new boiler as things are increasingly going wrong and this time is the motherboard. Fortunately the lodgers' rent has been saved and so there is money in the pot to pay. We own the house between us so it is our liability and asset

XSpender

I am so relieved we replaced our 20+ year old boiler in August.  It would not have coped with this cold weather and with DS and I at home all day it would have been a real problem.  I expect we would have called the BG repair team out so many times they would have condemned it. 

DS, the dog and I went for a lovely walk yesterday lunchtime.  The snow was almost blue it was that cold.  The snow was still powdery and the dog found it much easier on his old paws than the frozen snow we have had recently.

DS had a much better school day yesterday and wrote a great poem.  He doesn't have much to do today and next week is half term.  Thank God!!!!  My work is ramping up and numerous daily client meetings will start the week he goes back.

I couldn't resist paying the weekly £20 for my Sunday saving challenge to the ISA today.   The next savings transfer will be the Sunday account sweep. The budget is looking OK with money in the account to pay the bills and enough left in my spending categories to cover everything with a little left over.  2 weeks to pay day today, it feels much later in the month.  I am impatient for March; I want to build up the savings account, start the side hustle (although I am a bit nervous about it) and bring our puppy home    I am also impatient for the savings account to hit £3k but that will take a while longer.

It looks like we will start the side hustle in March with an initial investment of £800.  DH is confident that the initial sale will bring us a return of £150-£200.  We would ideally like to do 2-3 sales per month but will probably start with 1 in March and see how we get on as there are some logistics we need to get our heads around.

I have written a meal plan and a shopping list for the weekend.  The list is relatively short but GF wraps and DH SW meals for lunch will bump up the cost.  We will probably be getting a chippy tea tonight as DS is choosing what we have after getting such good feedback from his teacher this morning.  DH has eaten HM ready meals this week to clear down the freezer and the SW meals are cheaper than him going to the shop and spending £6/day on a sandwich and a drink.  If I make him sandwiches he scoffs them on the drive to work!  He also works in an unheated office, half open to the elements so needs something warm.

Yesterday DH boss had a pre-meeting meeting about the meeting happening today and it was all very positive so DH is feeling more confident about it.  DH meeting is at 9am and he will call and let me know how it went.

f0xh0les

With all this cold weather the condensate pipe often freezes.   Really easy fix.  Just in case that is what the problem is.  There is no other reason that a boiler would fail just because it is cold - except for coincidence.  Much more likely the water in the outside draining pipe has frozen. It can literally be fixed with a kettle of hot water.   Unless you are related to the plumber, and have  already checked the pipe outside, do not take his word for it that the boiler needs changing.   Sorry if you know all this, but during the Beast from t'East  they had a whole segment on one of the evening programmes about 'enterprising' boiler engineers charging £150+ for defrosting the pipe and taking out the 'ice-cube' that had formed and blocked it.  Literally 5 minute job, no parts, just huge bill for nothing.     2 days later, I woke up to no heating or hot water and flashing boiler lights and error codes.   Minus temperatures for a few days and suddenly no heating usually means  ice in the pipe.    Sorry if you know all this already.

Parkyp

f0xh0les said:

With all this cold weather the condensate pipe often freezes.   Really easy fix.  Just in case that is what the problem is.  There is no other reason that a boiler would fail just because it is cold - except for coincidence.  Much more likely the water in the outside draining pipe has frozen. It can literally be fixed with a kettle of hot water.   Unless you are related to the plumber, and have  already checked the pipe outside, do not take his word for it that the boiler needs changing.   Sorry if you know all this, but during the Beast from t'East  they had a whole segment on one of the evening programmes about 'enterprising' boiler engineers charging £150+ for defrosting the pipe and taking out the 'ice-cube' that had formed and blocked it.  Literally 5 minute job, no parts, just huge bill for nothing.     2 days later, I woke up to no heating or hot water and flashing boiler lights and error codes.   Minus temperatures for a few days and suddenly no heating usually means  ice in the pipe.    Sorry if you know all this already.

Very good advice, I never knew that. Thank you

XSpender

Good to know f0xh0les.  Our old boiler would conk out even if it was cardigan weather never mind snowing.

DH meeting went brilliantly, even better than he could have expected, and with much more senior people attending than he thought  . Even though DH has never had a bad one of these meetings, which are common in his field, he will be just as anxious for the next one🤦‍♀️❤️

I spoke to a couple of colleagues and a few clients today and then bumped into a school mum friend in the local shop.  It was so nice to speak to some different people 😁. Although I miss having some time on my own at the minute I have also missed the energy I get from interacting with different people at work these last couple of months.  This should change form March and I will be back to lots of meetings with lots of clients again. 🙂

Parkyp

👏👏 for hubby’s meeting, some people generally just get anxious especially when the big wigs are involved lol x

Suffolk_lass

We have had a number of problems in the 7 years we have had that house with appliances.  Virtually every item the previous owner's partner installed was a triumph of bodging over following the instruction manuals So to be honest, after having to replace rubber tubes that exploded black gunk all over the kitchen (they should have been encased in a flexi steel tube) to inadequate valves that were supposedly reducing joints but were leaking gas and carbon monoxide (for the boiler), we are ready to move to a professional job, installed by a plumber and gas engineer we trust. He has been used by my friend to look after her rental houses which all have to have regular safety certificates and is trustworthy and competent.

Our Son knew to check for ice cubes before calling him out and when they looked up the error code it basically said you must call a professional - this is a dangerous problem. He did not condemn it out of hand but has hinted at other issues with the installation without actually bad-mouthing the previous people who have worked on it. Since bringing him in, it emerges that the guy who maintained it previously was often to be found the worse for drink in the pub and the young men living there just did not consider they should tell us (!!). We are 100% sure this is the right thing to do. The old washing machine had leaking hoses held together with duct tape and the outflow from the tumble dryer had about 2 feet of fluff completely blocking it. The sink leaked and all the cabinetry was wonky with badly fitted hinges

XSpender

Parkyp said:

👏👏 for hubby’s meeting, some people generally just get anxious especially when the big wigs are involved lol x

Thanks Parkyp.  He definitely is one of those people who gets anxious in these types of situations.

Suffolk_lass - I think your previous owner was our previous owner too!  He bodged so many jobs because he tried to do it himself on the cheap.

We have had a quiet day today.  The wind has been howling and as there is nothing between our house and open fields we get the full brunt of it.  We spent the morning catching up with the housework and then DH decided to paint the skirting in the living room which has been patchy since it was replaced in Nov 19!  We ended up ripping up the old carpet to reveal the varnished floor boards beneath and our next project  

£8.10 moved to the ISA from the Sunday Sweep of the current account and spending categories.

DH had a chat last night about a bill that we have due next month.  We were planning to add it to our debt but have decided to use our savings which will almost wipe them out but  we feel better doing that than adding to the debt.  We should still be able to reach our savings goal.

XSpender

What a beautiful day today.  We went for a longer walk, choosing different paths than usual, and even the old dog had a spring in his step.  He’s flat out now though 😴

DH has been painting the skirtings in preparation for the floors being sanded while I have done housework, laundry, cleaned the office carpet, and prepped some meals for next week.  Apart from breakfast we haven’t eaten well at all this week and DH is complaining of being too fat again and I haven’t had the best energy so will get back on track tomorrow.

I have organised the insurance for the new pup, £52 cash back earned, and have opted to pay it monthly at no extra charge.  I had put the money aside but will use it for the EF or some of our other savings goals instead.  Because they offer this option I won’t need to start a sinking fund for next year’s insurance in March either.  I usually shop around for insurance and utilities every year but this provider is the one that has been recommended to me by several friends and my sister so will probably stick with them.

We are under our food budget for the 2nd month running 😁I haven’t been able to save as much as I wanted towards the C0stco shop from this budget, maybe £30. I am not going to reduce the budget yet as I want to be consistent for a few months before I cut it back.

DH took out a new CC for BT purposes last year and we have identified that the monthly payment % is much higher that the 1% of the balance which I pay for exactly the same card.  This will increase our debt repayments by around £150 month and I won’t be able to continue to make the small ops to my cc that I made this month.  The card is on 0% so all will come off the debt but it will impact my ability to do both the monthly savings challenges and hit our original £10,500 savings goal.  I expect we will pay £9000 off the debt and save £7000 with having to pay DH bill as well.  DH has set up a payment plan for this bill so this will be cleared by the end of the year.  I have added it to the total debt figure for clarity.