It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

euronorris

Fingers crossed for you Longwalker!

And yes, it's very irritating. I understand that the repairmen need to make a living too, so I don't begrudge them that, but a replacement can be bought for £200! Granted, we've chosen one a bit more expensive than that, but if we had to, we could've sourced one very cheaply. Repairing a dishwasher seems only viable now, if you've shelled out over a grand in the first place (and yes, there are dishwashers that cost more than that on Currys! I was shocked!).

Oddly, a lot of them seem to come 'wifi enabled' now. Which, I don't really see the point of. I can just turn it on when I'm finished loading, and most of us don't have cheaper times for electric now, so middle of the night usage isn't needed (at least not for us).

We have opted for as energy efficient as we could afford. It's rated C on the new energy scale, so should at least reduce the energy and water consumption (not least because it will no longer be leaking water slowly, but constantly).

Our washing machine was bought in Holland in 2009/2010 (I can't remember exactly when). So it is going on 13/14 years old now. Though it did have a period of 2/3 years sat in storage when we first moved back to the UK. The fridge is even older. DH bought it in Belgium before we started dating…..I would hazard a guess at around 2005 and it has survived being moved to Holland, then to the UK, then sat in storage a couple of years, before being moved to here. All fingers and toes crossed on that one. It's probably quite a high energy consumer compared to current models, but still going strong so…..I don't wanna jinx myself.

Auntycaz

I can't get genuine parts for my dyson vacuum as they don't make them any more but it still works ok so I get non genuine parts instead.

joedenise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80028966#Comment_80028966

I do YLive as well. Was doing it for quite a long time before they changed the name. I also got the £50 payout last month. Not doing as well since as only up to 6 points so far but that's possibly because I've been on holiday for a couple of weeks and can't do the surveys when out of the country.

London_1

Afternoon chums ,not a bad day so far .Someone who has owed me cash for over a year finally coughed up £50.00 this morning with the promise of more at the end of the month really great as I had virtually written it off.Then I was going through various pairs and bills to see where I could find a few bob more and realised that for some reason my council tax had actually been over paid !!! and my local council owed me £23.30.
So I phoned them up ( Ok I was in the queue for about ten minutes listening to music ) but well worth it as the lovely lady looked at my account, and said your right would you like it refunded ? to which I said 'yes please' so 7 working days it should drop into my bank account as she has 'actioned it ' for payment. So I'm £73.30 better off than I was this morning when I got up I went to Dobbies to get youngest DD some rooting powder for her garden (Wilko's were out of stock ) and spotted in the food hall there a nice bunch of fair trade bananas reduced  for 70p for half a dozen As their food hall is a Waitrose outlet they will do me easily this week as some were still a little underripe .So i'm a happy bunny at the moment daft how some days just the fact a bunch of bananas can cheer you up.

Plus when I went to water DGS Ben's  onion patch, the first tiny little shoot is poking through,I have taken a photo and will send it to him in north London where he lives. He will be home to Kent for half term when his school breaks up.He will be so pleased as he's never grown anything apart from taller and older and 'borrowing' a bit of my garden to grow some food its his first attempt
He has a 20 seed potato patch ,and 16 onions planted He is teaching the children in his year five class about growing food stuff them selves, so I think last weekend a few parents may have been dragged around the garden centres in Hendon as "Sir said we can grow food" He's been telling them all about his venture into growing your own hence the reason he's borrowed a bit of my garden .

DGS Jack is coming home for the weekend from his boarding school where he teaches, so he will want to inspect them as well as both he and Ben did all the digging. 
Right time for a cuppa I think

Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

Slinky

Talking about the cost of getting someone in, our cat vomited on the 4 month old pale grey carpet............... I phoned the carpet company to ask if they could recommend somebody to clean it as it wasn't coming out with 1001 and I know not to scrub at it as it damages the pile. They suggested a company who I was all set to use, I asked them just before putting the phone down how much it would be. Minimum call charge £96+VAT......  Since all the carpets are new, it wasn't even as though I could get them to clean something else while they were here.  So I bought a VAX spot washer for £99 and did it myself. Not quite all come out, but fortunately it's under a bedroom chair so not visible most of the time.

Longwalker

Slinky said:

Talking about the cost of getting someone in, our cat vomited on the 4 month old pale grey carpet............... I phoned the carpet company to ask if they could recommend somebody to clean it as it wasn't coming out with 1001 and I know not to scrub at it as it damages the pile. They suggested a company who I was all set to use, I asked them just before putting the phone down how much it would be. Minimum call charge £96+VAT......  Since all the carpets are new, it wasn't even as though I could get them to clean something else while they were here.  So I bought a VAX spot washer for £99 and did it myself. Not quite all come out, but fortunately it's under a bedroom chair so not visible most of the time.

A carpet cleaner is one of those luxury items that you tend to need with pets and cream coloured carpets. I thought long and hard about getting one ( 10 years or more ago ) and its paid for itself over and over again. Most of the year its sat covered in. dust but it does get used. Just waiting for the weather to settle a bit more and the whole house and furniture will be done  - its £50 just to get the suite done if I were to get someone in. Plus doing it yourself, I dont have to remove all the furniture , I can do one half, let that dry and move the furniture over

Nelliegrace

Match new carpets to pets.

Floss

Nelliegrace said:

Match new carpets to pets.

No good if they are sick on said carpet...

otb666

@euronorris in repect of "We have opted for as energy efficient as we could afford. It's rated C on the new energy scale, so should at least reduce the energy and water consumption (not least because it will no longer be leaking water slowly, but constantly)."  I thought the rating refers to how little energy the appliance losses  against loosing a lot of unused energy when in use. So an A rate appliance can use more energy than a C rated but uses all the energy and does not loose any. For this reason I tend not to look at the energy rating and go on the wattage 

euronorris

@otb666 Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean?

The energy label apparently tells you how much energy that appliance uses, comparing it to similar appliances. Size is also a factor. Taken from here: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/home-appliances/ It says 'This means that two different sized appliances with the same energy rating might use different amounts of electricity. For instance, a G-rated 265-litre fridge freezer could cost around £100 a year to run (60kgCO2e), whereas a larger 424-litre fridge freezer with a better F rating could cost around £105 (65kgCO2e) a year to run.'

But all of the dishwashers I was considering were the same standard size, so I don't think that was a factor. I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to consider? I'm missing something in my understanding here.