Building savings to bubblewrap my new life.

MovingForwards

That's great, soup is so versatile.
Mere mortals are not allowed to connect / disconnect gas. It shouldn't cost too much to do and is a quick job to remove the cooker and cap the pipe.

doingitanyway

MovingForwards said:

That's great, soup is so versatile.
Mere mortals are not allowed to connect / disconnect gas. It shouldn't cost too much to do and is a quick job to remove the cooker and cap the pipe.

Thanks. It is just the finding someone to do it but I will start looking

MovingForwards

Any gas Safe engineer can do it, this is one job I would just pay the cheapest person to do. Longest part will be moving the cooker out 😉

doingitanyway

Yes @MovingForwards. I just need to find someone

doingitanyway

As I am in tier 4 I cannot have anyone new in my household. That is annoying. So, I can't have a gas engineer come in until I go down a tier. I will use checkatr3de and create a shortlist anyway so I am ready. I will also check with neighbours to see if anyone knows a qualified gas engineer...

Tried out the induction hob (thanks MF: good thinking) it works fine, so now it can be packed away until I need it.

I did not buy any cakes, mince pies, biscuits, chocolates or conventional Christmas food. I'm going to walk (will be so happy to get my bike fixed) to the SM and see if there are any YS goodies/baddies. If not no worries as the exercise will do me good and I need to buy fizz for a friend who I will see before the NY.  I also need milk and f&v for the soup maker/smoothie maker. Now, it just needs to stop raining...

I have peeped at sales online but I have my eye on £1,000 in my EF by March so my resolve is strong (so far)

I hope everyone is ok

MovingForwards

You can have trades people in DIA and don't have to wait until the tier reduces. If you want to of course.

Enjoy your walk and I hope there's some bargains in the shop. 

longway2go

It's my understanding you can have a trade's person in if you are comfortable as they can't perform their job at home. 

doingitanyway

Thanks @MovingForwards and @longway2go. I had not realised. That's great. I can't wait for the cooker to be gone now  

doingitanyway

Saving money will be the big things and small things, changing my behaviours and creating new habits. So far I am doing okay. 

I have started walking everywhere within a 3 mile radius and the unconscious frittering on travel fares for short journeys has stopped. I took transport a few days ago as I had walked to the SM and had too much to carry back. I took transport back from a visit to a friend (socially distanced walk) This is a massive improvement and I am £20 up on what I would have spent on fares.

I closed an account that wasn’t serving me and saved £17 a month.

I set up a SO for PB’s savings

The overall plan is using another account I use infrequently for all discretionary spending, paying a set amount in and using an app so I can monitor my spends easily in real time. I used to use cash more and contactless spends have left me disorganised. I’m moving away from cash so the app will help.

I have a letter to do to streamline my accounts further. I will do that today.

The next step in the plan is buying a start phone so I can download the app. (previously used a dumb phone for a few years after my smart phone broke) I did that this morning. A big deal for me as it was a pricey purchase. I used my CC, so now I need to cut back so I can repay in full when the bill comes.

In less savings focused news: I had a lovely catch up with a friend. A gorgeous walk on the common.

Asking friends for a gas engineer came to nothing so I will go online. Like MF recently outlined, one thing impacts another, so unless I get the engineer I can’t confirm collection of cooker or rejig the kitchen!

I seem to be food focused and love the new soup maker. I’ve had soup every day since the purchase! Today’s soup of the day is lentil, tomato, smoked paprika, turkey, chorizo and rocket!

Hope everyone has a good day.

Skint_yet_Again

Soup sounds lovely. Well done on sorting your accounts and saving on transport.