Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@ziggy2407 - I knitted one for me too last year, for which I used a pattern - that one was a cable pattern. It's been quite useful this autumn & winter as I can just wear it around my shoulders, or because it is quite wide, I can pin it at the front like more of a wrap. The one I'm knitting for my friend will be the same length, but is a much easier as I'm not following a pattern. I'm cracking on with it, so yes, I'm happy to post a photo on here when it's finished. I had the yarn in my stash (chunky, which is why it's growing quickly - 6mm needles) so it's a free present, only my time & tbf, I mostly knitting it while I'm watching TV in the evenings.
F x

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean - Yes, there has been a lot of fear & suspicion spread by the lower tiers of the MSM & the usual conspiracy theorists about smart meters. I am happy to have one & we actually requested it to be fitted. I find the usage figures from the monitor useful & I no longer have to get my stepladder out to take the electricity readings manually. If, having read a balanced account of the pros & cons, people prefer not to have them, then fair enough. It's personal choice & they are not entirely without problems. Ours stopped communicating with the Cephlapods last year, which meant I had to phone them to get it sorted out, as well as take manual readings to raise a bill manually, but it was dealt with efficiently & resolved within 3 weeks. I'm thinking the fear that has developed around them stems from stories of suppliers 'taking control' of them when the customer has fallen into arrears? I am fortunate not ever to have been in that position, but if I was, I would follow the links on my supplier website to explain asap that I was in difficulty. I guess for people who are struggling terribly with the current economic crisis, a worried state of mind can easily result in these things being blown out of proportion. There is structural inequality around the poorest people often being on pre-payment meters & being charged the most. That's the issue I would like to see tackled as a priority.
F

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

@EssexHebridean - Yes, there has been a lot of fear & suspicion spread by the lower tiers of the MSM & the usual conspiracy theorists about smart meters. I am happy to have one & we actually requested it to be fitted. I find the usage figures from the monitor useful & I no longer have to get my stepladder out to take the electricity readings manually. If, having read a balanced account of the pros & cons, people prefer not to have them, then fair enough. It's personal choice & they are not entirely without problems. Ours stopped communicating with the Cephlapods last year, which meant I had to phone them to get it sorted out, as well as take manual readings to raise a bill manually, but it was dealt with efficiently & resolved within 3 weeks. I'm thinking the fear that has developed around them stems from stories of suppliers 'taking control' of them when the customer has fallen into arrears? I am fortunate not ever to have been in that position, but if I was, I would follow the links on my supplier website to explain asap that I was in difficulty. I guess for people who are struggling terribly with the current economic crisis, a worried state of mind can easily result in these things being blown out of proportion. There is structural inequality around the poorest people often being on pre-payment meters & being charged the most. That's the issue I would like to see tackled as a priority.
F

Well said. It is so wrong isn't it. You have no money but you are being charged more??  Mad. Did you hear the article on Jeremy Vine on R2 earlier, about the  story of them breaking in to change the meters....can't believe it was actually true. I really thought the media had got it out of proportion. 

Sayschezza

I have the same supplier Foxglove and I tried to up the DD to £100 when prices when up but they deducted the £67 from that and only took £33. I tried to change it but the web site wouldn't let me. Last week I cancelled the DD, read the meter and paid the £221.21 I owed. I then set up a new DD for £167 of which they should take £100 from me. I was a bit too quick to set it up though as although the new DD starts on the 11th the old DD reinstated itself and is coming out on the 5th. At this point I gave up. 

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Not a bad day on the domestic front, at least. We'll start with the money saving positives:
*Baked bread
*Turkey bhuna defrosting for dinner (from my post-Christmas batch cook)
*Did a couple of surveys - one for £7.50, which was a nice little boost (all Feb's earnings are going to the savings pots)
*Cleared out an annoying kitchen cupboard & found that we definitely don't need any freezer bags. All sorted into size for shopping from home.
*Free fitness as I spent an hour weeding/clearing part of one of the big flower beds.
*Turned the heel on the socks I'm knitting for the presents stash (gifted yarn from friend who didn't want it - it's knitting up nicely, like fair isle)
*Will knit more of my friend's wrap tonight - need to measure it against a similar one I made for myself last year. Don't want it too long as friend is tiny.
*Was able to use the £5 survey voucher I cashed out yesterday against our online grocery order so I have today sent £5 from the grocery budget to our Tech Replacement Pot.
*Did 3 annoying jobs - not particularly money-saving, but all involved shifting clutter, so tidy home/tidy mind & all that!
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch for Hungry Horace.
NOT money-saving:
*Being reminded today that energy bills are rising again in April - the figure I read was 40%, which is outrageous when I also keep reading that global gas wholesale prices are now falling.
*Discovering that water bills are set to rise an average of 10% this year.
*Mr F receiving notification from our internet provider that our monthly dd will be increasing by £7 per month, taking the cost to an eye-watering £50 a month JUST FOR BROADBAND!! He's apparently getting onto this at the weekend. The problem with these things, as we all know, is that one secures the 'new customer' price for the first year of sign-up, then it shoots up. We have no interest in a TV package from our provider & don't even have a landline. This is why below inflation pay-rises - certainly that will be all of them in the public sector - are such a disappointing cop-out.
And to add fuel to the fire......the story about a certain gas/oil companies record profits ......well, I am so angry about that. I don't understand why, when we are paying such big increases to cover their increased wholesale -buying costs, they are making such an outrageous amount of profit. Of course every war, every crisis has its carpet-baggers, but why there can't be a bit of balance provided by socking them with a realistic windfall tax, I don't know. Well, I do........You know it is often said that people become more right-wing as they get older? Well, it absolutely definitely isn't happening in this house! 
Outraged!
But still your frugal diary friend,
F x

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Yes, I did hear that! It was on the news this morning. I think whoever was contracted to do this has gone way above & beyond a reasonable remit. How on earth could anyone think breaking into people's houses while they're out is in any way acceptable? It wouldn't surprise me at all if companies are starting to get seriously worried about the huge increase in non-payment they are likely to be seeing. People can't pay what they haven't got. 

@Sayschezza - That sounds as though it got very complicated. I have altered our DD to the amount they recommended but I will freely admit that I shall be looking at our bank account on the 6th March to see if they have taken it all, or knocked the £67 off. I think my instructions were very clear, but your experience on top of my natural suspicion does make me wonder.
F 

DawnW

foxgloves said:

........You know it is often said that people become more right-wing as they get older? Well, it absolutely definitely isn't happening in this house! 
Outraged!
But still your frugal diary friend,
F x

Not happening here either Foxgloves!!

badmemory

I too have heard that people become more right wing as they get older - not happening in this house.  What I have worried about quite a bit is the bit about over 50s voting for Brexit as I only know 1 over 50 that did.  I still woonder how they know.  Surely it can only be from exit polls & I wonder how aggressive the people asking were & whether people actually told the truth or lied to get them off their backs.

marionmgcars

Made from left over wool from two previous pairs of socks,  not twins, just sisters as they say 🤣🤣

Onebrokelady

I read somewhere the other day that we should not expect to see a reduction in energy bills until next Autumn as that will be when the prices catch up 😟