My journey to a debt free life

Cherryfudge

Onebrokelady said:

foxgloves said:

I've just read an article about 'vampire appliances' (in the 'Guardian', I think) & it was quite eye-opening, as @Cherryfudge says. I'm going to watch my use of phone & laptop chargers as I know I do often plug them in then forget about them, particularly my phone, until I need to use it. So you're ahead of the curve there, @Onebrokelady, with your decision to unplug everything.
F

I too have been guilty of leaving my phone and iPad charging or not switching the charger off when I've unplugged my phone . I really go into turning them off because they get quite warm and I was worried about a fire risk. The only problem I have at the moment is DD has lots of electrical things plugged in all the time along with her charger which she never unplugs so that's costing me money. It's plugged into an extension lead under her bed and she can't get to the socket without moving her bed so that's why she leaves it on but I think I need to have a word. When she moves out my electric bill will drop through the floor 😀

I wonder if it would be safer and longer-term cheaper for your DD to replace her extension lead with a tower or an extension that has individual switches for each socket and is wall mounted? I've heard all the horror stories about fires as I work in a setting where we train to be able to evacuate immobile people, so I'm super-careful! Going to sleep with things on charge is definitely not a good idea (my son thinks the smoke would wake him - just the opposite).

Please insure against the hole in the floor long before your DD moves out.

And incidentally (please don't try this alone as I think the risk to your joints wouldn't be worth it and I'd feel horrible if I was the cause of further pain), apparently cleaning the coils on the back of fridges saves a bit of money as well as reducing fire risk, as the appliance works more effectively. I suspect yours are cleaner than mine anyway.  

Hope you have a good rest tonight.

Sun_Addict

I have an extension lead with individual switched sockets for my working from home set up, it’s very handy as I can switch on/off what I need. 

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

Onebrokelady said:

foxgloves said:

I've just read an article about 'vampire appliances' (in the 'Guardian', I think) & it was quite eye-opening, as @Cherryfudge says. I'm going to watch my use of phone & laptop chargers as I know I do often plug them in then forget about them, particularly my phone, until I need to use it. So you're ahead of the curve there, @Onebrokelady, with your decision to unplug everything.
F

I too have been guilty of leaving my phone and iPad charging or not switching the charger off when I've unplugged my phone . I really go into turning them off because they get quite warm and I was worried about a fire risk. The only problem I have at the moment is DD has lots of electrical things plugged in all the time along with her charger which she never unplugs so that's costing me money. It's plugged into an extension lead under her bed and she can't get to the socket without moving her bed so that's why she leaves it on but I think I need to have a word. When she moves out my electric bill will drop through the floor 😀

I wonder if it would be safer and longer-term cheaper for your DD to replace her extension lead with a tower or an extension that has individual switches for each socket and is wall mounted? I've heard all the horror stories about fires as I work in a setting where we train to be able to evacuate immobile people, so I'm super-careful! Going to sleep with things on charge is definitely not a good idea (my son thinks the smoke would wake him - just the opposite).

Please insure against the hole in the floor long before your DD moves out.

And incidentally (please don't try this alone as I think the risk to your joints wouldn't be worth it and I'd feel horrible if I was the cause of further pain), apparently cleaning the coils on the back of fridges saves a bit of money as well as reducing fire risk, as the appliance works more effectively. I suspect yours are cleaner than mine anyway.  

Hope you have a good rest tonight.

I actually can't remember the last time I cleaned behind my fridge 🤢😀I will be adding it to my list of things to do though. I forgot you can get towers and leads with switches I will get her to have a look .

Onebrokelady

Sun_Addict said:

I have an extension lead with individual switched sockets for my working from home set up, it’s very handy as I can switch on/off what I need. 

I had forgotten you can get them with individual switches. I need a smaller one for my room because I'm currently using a four socket extension when I only use two of the plugs so a switches one would be a lot better 😊

Onebrokelady

Felt rough this morning so stayed in bed until 1pm. I'm fed up with this now, it needs to go away. I haven't moved from the sofa all day apart from to take B round the block, I haven't sorted the chickens yet and have run out of paracetamol so really need to go down to the shop 😟 

DD is in a bad mood because she has a very painful hip for some reason so she keeps snapping at me, I think she realised just now though because I just stopped engaging with her and she started chatting to me really cheerfully 🙄 we used to have massive rows when she was like this but I've learned not to react and remove myself from her vicinity which seems to work better than me shouting back at her.

Its really cold here today so the heating is on and I am wearing layers to keep warm, I can't believe that last week we were wearing T-shirt's and had all the windows open, I know that was the wrong weather for the time of year but it was lovely

Cherryfudge

Last week was amazing, wasn't it? We went to my daughter's for a BBQ and she was in shorts... two days later we woke up to a decent coating of snow!

I think the weather is warming up here in the north and the wind is blowing to the south so perhaps tomorrow will be warmer/less cold for you.

It sounds as though your daughter has got the message! Hopefully both of you will be feeling better soon, as you say it's outstayed its welcome.  

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

Last week was amazing, wasn't it? We went to my daughter's for a BBQ and she was in shorts... two days later we woke up to a decent coating of snow!

I think the weather is warming up here in the north and the wind is blowing to the south so perhaps tomorrow will be warmer/less cold for you.

It sounds as though your daughter has got the message! Hopefully both of you will be feeling better soon, as you say it's outstayed its welcome.  

Yes it was, sadly I missed a lot of it because I was in bed 😟. Today has been really nice here and quite warm in the sun 😊

Sun_Addict

Sorry to hear you still feel rough 😩 It’s felt warmer here the past couple of days and today has been very sunny. Hopefully the cold snap has gone.

Onebrokelady

What a difference a day makes, I woke  up this morning feeling a lot better than yesterday🎉🎉 DD wanted to go to Ikea for a blind for her window so we went there. Sadly they don't do the right size for her window so she got curtains instead which would look lovely but they don't fit on her pole properly ( the brackets are in the way) so guess where I'm going on Tuesday to buy a curtain pole 🙄 

I'm going back to work tomorrow so will hopefully still feel ok in the morning. I'm doing 9-5 in clinics so not a bad day to go back.

I spent  last night reading and catching up on the DMP support thread and have been encouraged about trying to self manage my plan. I still need to look at the figures for my budget and have a few questions to ask but I'm feeling more confident about it now. I think now that I have had to cut my hours for health reasons I need to put my health needs before earning more money so if my DMP drags on ( it's already fairly lengthy ) then so be it. I can reassess in the future if anything changes but at the moment I need to concentrate on being able to live while paying back the money I owe. I've been on my plan for four years already and still have a very long way to go and I think slow and steady is going  to have to be my mantra for now
I just won't be able to keep up with my current plan if the prices of everything keep rising as they are so need to get some leaway from somewhere 

Cherryfudge

It's very good to hear you are feeling better!

I'm sure many people won't be able to keep up with their current DMPs, and as you say, you have to think of your health and take it slow and steady.