Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

KajiKita

Finally managed to do a survey! All 33p of it 😉
It was all about potential tax rises and possible combinations of them. If a certain combination comes in we are going to struggle … Ho Hum …

KK

KajiKita

Do you ever have those friendships that you have to bring to a close …? I’ve just done that this morning. I feel like poop but I also feel relieved …

KK

edinburgher

I feel your pain KK.

I have been chewing over this topic for months now. I'm very poor at making friends in real life, have only managed to pick up a couple in my adult years (former colleagues). Interactions with said friends is now reduced to a group chat and I haven't seen one of them in years. I suspect they have some kind of social anxiety but the reasons for lack of social contact all seem a bit invented when I would also see social meejya pics of them out and about with other people. In short, it has become very unrewarding and I feel I should cut ties and just move on. Still, hard when it's your closest thing to being normal 

KajiKita

edinburgher said:

I feel your pain KK.

I have been chewing over this topic for months now. I'm very poor at making friends in real life, have only managed to pick up a couple in my adult years (former colleagues). Interactions with said friends is now reduced to a group chat and I haven't seen one of them in years. I suspect they have some kind of social anxiety but the reasons for lack of social contact all seem a bit invented when I would also see social meejya pics of them out and about with other people. In short, it has become very unrewarding and I feel I should cut ties and just move on. Still, hard when it's your closest thing to being normal 

What are you seeing as 'normal', if you don't mind me asking? 
I have very few friends in RL and actually as I have got pickier I have started getting more ... (No I don't understand that either, but it is nice )

This morning's interaction arose in a phase of my life that is no longer relevant to me (it was an important part of my path at the time but is well in the rear view mirror now and I am very unlikely to revisit it) - perhaps it is the same for you and the ex-colleague? 

KK

edinburgher

Normal (to me) = having one or more friends who you spend time with and speak to so that you don't expect your wife just to listen to all your gubbins

KajiKita

edinburgher said:

Normal (to me) = having one or more friends who you spend time with and speak to so that you don't expect your wife just to listen to all your gubbins

Are we not Edinburgher gubbins listeners then …? 🤔😊

(I appreciate that there will be other gubbins that you may not want to share here! 😊)

KK

KajiKita

We’re coming out of our fixed dual fuel energy deal soon so I’m looking at alternatives, and going round and round and round … It’s so hard to compare tariffs for fixed deals or even going onto a variable tariff when every component is different prices per kWh for two energy types, different standing charges for the two energy types etc. My head is spinning. I tried talking it over with Mr KK and he just said ‘What do you think we should do …?’ 🙄😉😂😂🤷‍♀️

It looks like there is a reasonable deal with some company called EnergyF0x (we’d save c. £300 pa compared to going onto another fixed deal with current supplier, but I can’t get my head round whether it would be less than the current price cap or will the price cap rise significantly?) but I’ve never heard of them before. I’m guessing they are a newbie to the market and might go pop like a lot of small providers did before. Are the tariffs agreed with the smaller providers honoured if you are then moved onto one of the big players or not? Is it easier / safer just to suck up the bigger costs of going with a known name? 

Anybody dealing with this atm, I appreciate your input and thoughts 😊

KK

edinburgher

I think we looked at that provider recently, although they have recently rebranded. There were some quite negative reviews but also some generally positive reviews and this is perhaps about normal for an energy provider. I think they might have been around for a little while (as opposed to being a completely new company).

We ended up sticking with Mollusc as I couldn't get any family/reliable anecdotal feedback and the faff of something going wrong if we switched wasn't worth it. Like you say, providers do go pop and it can be a nuisance. I remember one of my younger siblings switching to a broadband provider that went that way, took years to fix. For me, I think the question was "is saving £15/mth over 2 years worth it if the company goes pop?" The answer was no, but I'll admit it was a decision at the risk averse side of the scale. 

debtfreewannabe321

I used to swap energy companies every year until we weren't allowed. I had a bigger name when lots of small ones went out of business which was a bit of a relief. And I've not swapped very much since then only once with this house move because we just stuck with the company being used here already (well for electric he had his gas with someone else which we moved so they were both with same company).

A few years ago I cut off a friend, she was a counsellor, and she used to see clients all week long with problems then on a weekend she'd go out and do stupid things and come crying to me on a Sunday evening. Threatening to unalive herself several times and me dropping everything to run and make sure she was ok (when I had kids at home to look after). I'd see her repeat this weekly...I was never her 'going out ' buddy I was always the therapist's therapist and she would literally turn up unannounced and lay on my sofa sobbing on a come down. 🤦🏻‍♀️ She was so draining and I couldn't cope with it after she once sent me a pic which heavily suggested she was about to do something stupid and then switched her phone off. A year or two after I sent her a letter (well it was sent on messenger where we used to chat and I did it after I knew she was okay after that last message) she sent me a message replying 🤣 I was like, nope, sorry, too little too late, door is closed on that one. 🙃🙂 I still see her around sometimes but I don't want her in my life any more. 

SandyShores

I'm another who used to switch energy companies every year.  Last time was ages ago when I switched from a really good supplier to another just because it was time to switch.  Of course then they went bust and there was about two years of trying to get a straight bill from them.  I knew I was owed money but it was only when we moved house and changed suppliers completely that they finally sorted it out and we got a refund of about £300.  We've been with BG ever since and I know that we could get cheaper but I can't go through all that stress again.  Although I have been thinking about Fuse Energy lately as I think they do flexible off-peak and seem environmentally friendly.  If you use The Rest is Politics referral code above you get £20 credit and a free subscription - not sure if that's enough to persuade me though. 

The friendship chat is interesting.  I hold a fondness for the days when there was so much to do and too many people to see.  I'm open to friendships, but these days I value my personal time and peace of mind so much more - completely agree with you @debtfreewannabe321.  I think there is so much to do in this world that its best not to hang onto people that take up good space.