Ditching It

waterplate

Hi SpendingPennies, you're doing a lot better than me keeping your blog updated on here!  Congratulations on getting under 180K, that's a great milestone.  I'm so pleased to hear about your sofa being fixed for free as well - far better than landfilling it and having to shell out for a new one!  And I hope your family member and colleague continue to recover well.

I'm starting to wane a bit on the exercise front too - I'm now failing to drag myself out for walks after dinner as I was up to a couple of weeks ago, so want to restart that as soon as this allegedly terrible weather next week passes. I have kept up my morning weights three times a week over WhatsApp with friends though, which is fantastic motivation as it's almost the entirety of my social life at the moment and doesn't cost a penny!

SpendingPennies

Hi @waterplate  thanks for dropping in. I’m spending quite a lot of time on here at the moment, I think I’m a bit obsessed with money saving right now. Sadly that obsession doesn’t extend to keeping fit. I am fitting in a walk every day but that’s about it. I need to get back into fitness, this time last year I was very active and also much slimmer, I have put on a stone since March 😩 I’ve got to sort myself out. 
We ventured out into the garden today and ended up cutting some trees back. It was quite cold and hard work too. But we had been quoted £200 per tree so it was worth the aches and pains. Even managed to get sun burnt through the clouds too. 

mark55man

sunburnt in February - that's impressive!! you have my respect (and sympathies)

SpendingPennies

Well another week has passed, very little money saving news here. We had the Tesco valentines meal deal last night which was surprisingly good 🥳
It’s been mostly another money saving month so far. I’m off work this week and decorating my office to hopefully make working from home a bit more enjoyable. I have paint etc in the shed, just needed to buy some filler and new light switches yesterday so no big spends. 

Unfortunately my mobile phone isn’t charging, I have watched a few you tube videos as to how to fix it, but no joy. I’m on a cheap sim only tariff so will probably look to buy another  phone and stay on my old tariff. My IPhone 7 is just 3 years old, I would have hoped to have had it for a bit longer 😩
Oh well, back to the painting...

SpendingPennies

Been a while since we switched utility suppliers, so not sure if this is typical?
 We received a welcome pack from the new supplier last week. But subsequently an email saying the existing supplier had put a hold on the switch. Existing supplier phoned twice yesterday to persuade us to stay with them, both times I confirmed we wanted to switch. Both callers checked our accounts were in credit and agreed the switch would go ahead on 25th Feb. This morning I have an email from existing supplier saying there is a problem and they have put a hold on the switch, they are going to send a letter explaining why. . I’ve logged back into our account and can see we are  in credit, so don’t know what the problem could be.

Wondering whether this is normal practice? 

AgathaSquirrel

We switch fairly regularly and I can’t remember there ever being an occasion where they’ve put a hold on it. Hope it gets sorted out soon.

mark55man

sounds like cash flow - I would be insisting and not taking no for an answer - or at least getting more information on what the delay is

waterplate

I've switched a LOT and never had this happen.  Definitely sounds suspicious - mark55man is likely to be right.  Is it a small and relatively new supplier you're with?  A fair few have gone under because they've charged rock bottom prices (to attract the likes of us!) and then when they can't sustain that and have to hike prices, savvy consumers leave.  You have every right to switch so don't take no for an answer!

mark55man

I also think that there are rules about preserving your surplus you might want to explore, if you have switched you keep your surplus, if you haven't switched and it goes bust then you are protected, but I think if you are mid switch it is not clear, and your bonus may not be covered, then you  have a battle to show they unreasonably delayed. 

either make it happen or cancel the switch so that you are in the protected category.  (Possibly better to ask someone who knows what the scoop is for sure on the energy board)

SpendingPennies

Been a couple of weeks since I posted. Thanks Agatgasquirrel, Waterplate and Mark55man for your input on our utilities switch, I’ve been trying to sort it ever since, which has involved mainly waiting for hours on end in various call queues getting more and more impatient 🤬 Turns out (by phone call no 4) that supplier has decided our gas supply wasn’t in credit after all (despite first 3 calls and online account saying we were in credit). We were asked to take yet another meter reading whereby they decided we owed £470. Seems our smart reader was not so smart after all. Long story short I paid the money just to get away because I am fed up with their ongoing incompetence. Electric has transferred across, nothing happened with gas just yet.

DH has changed mobile phone suppliers this week reducing his monthly cost from £40 to £10pcm. 
That went a bit wrong too, he was over charged twice and then had no phone service for a week. Beginning to think we are cursed 😂

So another month has ended, pay day, mortgage payment and savings snaffle all incomplete. Yay. 🥳 Mortgage now stands at £178,640. I’ve added £1000 to our overpayment account so we now have £3150 sat in there. I had wanted to overpay a little more in February but have held back until the gas transfer is totally sorted, hope to pay a little extra soon. 

DH has gone back to school today (he’s a teacher) We live 30 ish miles from school so will have to start paying for petrol again. I have been working at home for just over 11 months now.