Time to Face The Music 1 September 2020 at 3:15PM edited 3 September 2020 at 7:59AM in Debt free diaries 6.8K replies 405.3K views

alt80

It's moved incredibly quickly and the wider issue of high inflation / increase in rates factors too, I do wonder what the future holds. Grew my business during and after the last recession but it's a different entity now however a lot didn't fare so well especially in my industry. Tbh I'm really trying to reduce my personal spends and streamline business spends and reduce liabilities all round. I'd like to be in a position when I refinance my portfolio to not be so leveraged. Idk possibly over thinking it as usual but I don't think the way things have been turning during this year are good for any of us and hope Truss can get it under control before we are all faced with a longer term prospect of continued high inflation. Turning to energy specifically, perhaps I'm going soft in my old age but I mainly worry for those on low incomes and the hospitality industry. Realistically we are both fortunate enough that it'll just likely mean a slightly longer time saving for some luxury or maybe one / a couple less weekend breaks over the year / few less dinners out or something but some are going to find this really difficult.

Think it would be money well spent for you to look at the A/C as you say it will make your house a lot more comfortable and with planning to stay long term I think it's one of the best alterations you could make to your home. We are fortunate that during the summer months the house remains cool. Solar with battery storage is interesting I'm not sure where we are rn with battery technology but have a feeling it will dramatically improve over the next say 5 years could be worth holding off for a few years to see where things go you may find the technology gets both better and cheaper. 

Will have to try to make a weekend trip to Ripon some time next year. For short UK breaks we have started to take the dog with us so how dog friendly it is up there is attractive.

Washing machines and dryers tend to be better separately - Miele still come with 10 year warranties, whilst they are expensive they are worth it and will take a battering. Put these in HMOs as well as my own home and they've been bombproof. 

RelievedSheff

Unfortunately we don't have room for separate washer and dryer units otherwise that is the route we would go down.

We looked at the Miele units and they would have been our preferred option but at £1400 for the cheapest one we could find it is a big chunk of money on one appliance.

Think we are going down the LG route which have 10 year warranty on the drive but is coming in at £550 so a lot more reasonable.   

RelievedSheff

Not a no spends day but not very spendy either. Just picked a couple of bits up from the shop on the way to work. I don't think we will bother with the big weekly shop this week. We have most things in that we will need.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are from stores. Breakfast was toast, we have both taken our packed lunches to work and dinner tonight is salmon and chilli fish cakes, air fried chips and vegetables.

Tonight's jobs are:

• walking the dog
• marinating tomorrow nights beef ribs
• dusting the house

Sun_Addict

Salmon and chilli fish cakes sound nice, do you make them yourself? 

On the appliances front, I must say I’m happy with my Beko ones, I was hesitant at first but they’re lasting far longer than any other, supposedly better, make I’ve had in the past (touches wood). 

RelievedSheff

Sun_Addict said:

Salmon and chilli fish cakes sound nice, do you make them yourself? 

On the appliances front, I must say I’m happy with my Beko ones, I was hesitant at first but they’re lasting far longer than any other, supposedly better, make I’ve had in the past (touches wood). 

I often do make fish cakes but these ones are from Sainsbury's. Bought them at the weekend to cook on the van but we ended up having a takeaway instead so we will eat them tonight.

To be fair to the Beko washer dryer it has lasted far longer than our previous Hotpoint washing machines. But it has been very temperamental so we are getting something with a longer warranty this time.

We will keep the Beko until we get back off holiday. It is still washing fine we will just have to dry the washing in the spare bathroom for a little while.

At least this time we have the money in savings to buy the new machine so it won't be adding to the credit card balance. Annoying though as the savings account was just starting to build up to a reasonable amount  

alt80

Didn't realise anyone else did the 10 year warranty tbf.

It's unreal just how small a lot of new build kitchens / utility areas are - meant to be designed to house appliances etc I'm sure, but they always seem a squeeze to me. People I know who live in them don't seem too bothered so maybe just what I'm used to or something idk.

RelievedSheff

alt80 said:

Didn't realise anyone else did the 10 year warranty tbf.

It's unreal just how small a lot of new build kitchens / utility areas are - meant to be designed to house appliances etc I'm sure, but they always seem a squeeze to me. People I know who live in them don't seem too bothered so maybe just what I'm used to or something idk.

It definitely isn't the biggest kitchen ever.

We could get rid of the dishwasher I suppose and put a tumble dryer there. We don't use the dishwasher that often. But then again that is working just fine so don't really want to get rid of it for the sake of it either.

milann

Fingers crossed the machine lasts until after your holiday🤞

RelievedSheff

milann said:

Fingers crossed the machine lasts until after your holiday🤞

Fairly certain it will. It is the condenser unit for the dryer part that has failed again. So we can still wash with it, just not do a dry cycle. We can work around that for now.

LittleMissDetermined

RelievedSheff said:

alt80 said:

Didn't realise anyone else did the 10 year warranty tbf.

It's unreal just how small a lot of new build kitchens / utility areas are - meant to be designed to house appliances etc I'm sure, but they always seem a squeeze to me. People I know who live in them don't seem too bothered so maybe just what I'm used to or something idk.

It definitely isn't the biggest kitchen ever.

We could get rid of the dishwasher I suppose and put a tumble dryer there. We don't use the dishwasher that often. But then again that is working just fine so don't really want to get rid of it for the sake of it either.

Ours is a really big kitchen, but I’d have to lose cupboard space and do some messing around for a dryer to fit in which is why we went for the washer/dryer. Although we hardly use the dryer function because of the middle bathroom being a great drying room.