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

Florenceem

Longwalker - I bought this one recently - love it.

Longwalker

Florenceem said:

Longwalker - I bought this one recently - love it.

I am amazed at the power of it. 

My old Meile was 2000 w - which of course you cant get now, and after my experiences of the Henry I thought I would be living forever in a hairy house. Looking forward to a cooler day so I can get into all the nooks and crannies and really get the house clean. So simple a machine to use as well, I never even looked at the booklet, just opened the box, looked at the bits and bobs and was vacuuming 5 mins later And so easy on the stairs, I haven't been able to do the stairs for years , Mr L has had to, I did them yesterday

YorksLass

Another warm and sunny day here with a light breeze - very pleasant indeed.

I had my eye test this morning with mixed results.  Apparently I no longer need reading glasses  but I do need some for distance vision.  I'm being referred for glaucoma testing which, to be honest, I was expecting as I've had this done before.  What I didn't expect was to be told I have cataracts in both eyes.  I knew my eyesight isn't what it was, but I didn't think it was that bad.    And I have an appointment next week for diabetic retinal screening.  Old age certainly has a lot to answer for.     Not looking forward to any of this but hey ho, one step at a time.

After that, I had a mooch in the M&S food hall and came out with a swede, tomatoes and runner beans.  I also had a quick look in the CSs on the parade but didn't see anything I wanted.

Chicken stir fry and noodles for dinner tonight, strawberries for afters.

Auntycaz

My local bank is closing next month but I was told a while back that a banking bus would be available in the library car park 1 day per week so not to worry. I went into the bank today and was disappointed to find that the only thing you can do on the banking bus is pay into your account or draw out, for anything else we will need to go into the city branch which is an hours bus ride away and quite walk from the bus stop. Progress.

London_1

Isn't it aggravating when this happens with banks.In my very small town in north Kent ,there used to be four banks now only one left.
Luckily I can bank online and rarely need to use one, but had to go into NatWest today to draw some cash out for my DD as she was at work and wanted to pay a chap who was clearing her garage out for her. Last night she sent me the cash to my HBSC savings account which I then transferred to my own current bank account in a different bank, and used my bank card to draw it from the ATM in her  NatWest bank so its gone round in a circle

Last time I went into the nearest branch that holds my current account was in 2020 before lockdown. thats in a different town to where I live  

It seems the banks decided that customer service is not a requirement anymore  

DD rang me to say she will be doing a long day today because of the BoE rates going up. I'm glad I no longer have a mortgage as my late husband and I downsized when we retired in 1995. How folk manage to pay it at the moment goodness knows.
The best advice I gave both my two DDs was over pay as much as you can on your mortgage if possible and get rid of it. One's almost finished hers and the other is well on the way to finishing hers as well.

I'm over paying slightly on my energy company at the moment as my fixed rate finishes in August and it will probably double after that .Luckily I'm pretty good with energy and switching things off when ever possible. Last months duel energy bill was under £35 so I was quite happy with that and I have a good amount of surplus in there towards this coming winter

I do think folk are becoming far more money savvy than they used to be, I heard one of the supermarket bosses on tv the other day complaining because folk aren't piling up their trolleys anymore, and are just buying the necessities .

I wonder what planet he is living on People are doing it because they just don't have the spare cash around anymore, especially if they have young children to feed and clothe.

Thankfully this site helps folk to focus on essentials and money saving things, I wish Martin had got a 'gong' in the honours list  as he is definitely well worth a knighthood for all the help he gives us.

JackieO xx

Floss

Just to say that I've had an email from Octopus offering a 12m fix, for those looking for one.

CKhalvashi

Auntycaz said:

My local bank is closing next month but I was told a while back that a banking bus would be available in the library car park 1 day per week so not to worry. I went into the bank today and was disappointed to find that the only thing you can do on the banking bus is pay into your account or draw out, for anything else we will need to go into the city branch which is an hours bus ride away and quite walk from the bus stop. Progress.

Do you have access to a Post Office Caz? Alternatively (and I appreciate this isn't ideal), do you have access to online banking?

The only recent time I've needed a branch was to add mom to an account, but previously to this was to pay in a cheque, which I tried to do at a Post Office only to be told they can't process this 'to protect the branch in the town', which presumably was the same branch only open 2 days a week (and not on the day I'd attempted to pay it in)..... I simply paid it into another bank, but appreciate this may not be viable for everyone.

Just in general for savings, mom wants to stay with Nationwide as it'll likely make AML a lot easier in the coming months with her own goals, they're trying to push instant access with her yesterday when we were there to do something else. She needed to visit a (different) branch today for something else and I advised in front of 2 employees to open the account you can access 3 times, if you need the third, close the account (gaining the interest immediately) and open a new 3 time access account for the higher rate. There's no reason in theory (or practice it seems) that anyone could find to suggest this wouldn't work, bar the risk that rates may fall.

Floss said:

Just to say that I've had an email from Octopus offering a 12m fix, for those looking for one.

Hi Floss, do you have a rough idea of unit rates? I've had an e-mail today advising of the new ones, so if fixes appear reasonable (in line with my general expectations of the markets over the next 12 months in this case) it may be worth it.

Floss

CKhalvashi said:

Floss said:

Just to say that I've had an email from Octopus offering a 12m fix, for those looking for one.

Hi Floss, do you have a rough idea of unit rates? I've had an e-mail today advising of the new ones, so if fixes appear reasonable (in line with my general expectations of the markets over the next 12 months in this case) it may be worth it.

I believe it's being offered to existing customers only:

CKhalvashi

Floss said:

CKhalvashi said:

Floss said:

Just to say that I've had an email from Octopus offering a 12m fix, for those looking for one.

Hi Floss, do you have a rough idea of unit rates? I've had an e-mail today advising of the new ones, so if fixes appear reasonable (in line with my general expectations of the markets over the next 12 months in this case) it may be worth it.

I believe it's being offered to existing customers only:

Thanks!

That would (at a rough guess) be higher than the offered rates as we use E7 for EV charging, but encouraging to see in any event.

Hopefully more fixes will open up soon!

otb666

Another Shark hoover lover here Very easy to empty and good suction