And now we go again...

PennysIntoPounds

Oh I'm so jealous of your Aldeburgh plans, I haven't been in decades. It's so gorgeous. Right, that's getting added to the lottery win/running away to sea (as far as the Scallop 😁) list! 

jackieblack

I’m very lucky, my daughter lives about 7 miles from Aldeburgh and we’re regular visitors.

I did have retirement plans to move to the area but, thanks to a massive increase in second home owners in the area since Covid, house prices have increased massively in the last couple of years - a lottery/Premium Bond win would definitely help!

foxgloves

We are also planning to visit Minsmere this Spring as it is very close to the cottage we've booked for my big birthday (& not far from the general area to which we hope to re-locate when Mr F retires, so you can see why we need to be saving!)
F

EssexHebridean

PennysIntoPounds said:

Oh I'm so jealous of your Aldeburgh plans, I haven't been in decades. It's so gorgeous. Right, that's getting added to the lottery win/running away to sea (as far as the Scallop 😁) list! 

I can honestly say that beautiful sculpture is probably my favourite piece of artwork anywhere - and I seem to see something new in it every time I'm up there!  (And the fish & chip shop is always worth the queue, too!) A favourite walk is to park at Thorpeness and walk along - that was you get to see the House in the Clouds too! jackie you are indeed lucky to be able to visit so frequently - it's not too far for us - usually a couple of hours drive - but always well worth the trip! Foxgloves I had a feeling that was the area you were headed to for your holiday! I love Minsmere - such a nice "bit of everything" reserve. If you ever find yourself further up on the Norfolk coast then Titchwell is very similar in a lot of ways - again a mix of Marsh and seaside. 

MAB - I've done two Bank switches - we moved out current account to Sant via the switching service and got paid for that - that was one which required DDs but as it was all being done automatically that was fine. Then I shifted a burner account to FD - that was also done automatically but there was no DD requirement. Both went well, and it IS easy money, but I have no wish to switch my main current account, and there are no DDs on the spends account so the straightforward "no DD requirements" ones are the way forwards for me.  SA I think I've said before we've been with N@t1onw1de for years - although that was the joint account we switched away we both still have sole and savings accounts with them. while I don't think they are as good as they used to be, they are still a nice company to deal with. 

MSE Stuff:
- I have an inadvertent small saving today as my Gr@ze box has been cancelled due to insufficent snack availability. I suspect I may well have had the last of them now as I can only imagine they are running down stocks ahead of moving to their new subscription style next month. They've already cancelled the debit from my bank account. 
- Need to keep an eye on the Prem Inn refund as that's not showing pending yet - I know it can take a few days though. The plan is that I will leave the slightly lower amount for the new booking sitting on the CC until the refund lands, and will then divert £7 from the grocery fund to offset the money that needs to go back to the holiday fund but will otherwise be left as credit on the CC. 
- Tea tonight has been sorted by means of some cooked sausages from the freezer, a pack of the bargain Gnocchi from the Lil's Italian fortnight, and various bits of veg. Will chuck the lot onto a baking tray with a drizzle of oil and stick it in the oven for a while I think. Still got no idea what tomorrow night will be but I've got time to think about that. 
- WM ran overnight and I stuck the whole load out on the line this morning as the temperatures are pretty decent through the day and we don't have any rain forecast...I am fully expecting it to now TIP it down all afternoon mind you (and looking at the forecast, there is now heavy rain forecast for 1900, which makes it touch and go whether we get it in in time, or not. Sigh. 
- Looking at the energy use I suspect the DW may also have run overnight so that will need emptying this evening.
- Sant-And-Er still haven't fixed the issue with that savings account so I will probably have to call them again at some stage.  

Plans for tomorrow currently involve shopping (and collecting free loaf from Lil's) and hopefully getting out for a walk first thing before the rain sets in. I will try to get out to the garden between showers to see if anything is showing signs of life in the mini greenhouse too. It's definitely feeling more spring-like here now - temperatures are well up on where they were a week ago although we definitely seem to be getting the "April" showers early! The higher temperatures are reflected in the energy use too - the heating only ran for an hour last night. If it keeps on I'd guess MrEH will have to use the heater for only a short time in the office tomorrow as well. 

enthusiasticsaver

Makingabobor2 said:

that's why I've never bothered with bank switches, all the DDs having to change etc. But if there is one around that doesn't need that, then its worth having. 

Lots of people seem to make money by switching bank accounts.  I have done it once when we moved from Santander to FD but in the main swapping DDs over and pensions etc is too much of a faff.  If it was an  account without all the strings attached like 2 DDs and a prescribed minimum  limit I would do it more. Having a dummy account ready to switch sounds like a good idea though. 

Cheery_Daff

I'm late to bank switching, but have been on a bit of a merry-go-round since November, and if the latest ones come off we'll have got £1500 between Mr Cheery and I 😱 Not switched main account, just dummy ones. I missed a couple through busy-ness, but have done all the rest, including ones with a dance of stupid conditions. Feels like an extra admin job, but with decent pay 😂 Worth it for us - but it's only very recently I came round to the idea, for years I thought it seemed like too much faff. It's still a bit of faff, but it now feels more worth it, can't say what changed in my head/life but there we are!

beanielou

I dident think my switch to FD was a faff at all. I do really like them so I am loathe to switch again. I do have an empty Nationwide account though so I am thinking of switching to Lloyds as I don’t think it needs DD’s. 

jwil

I've switched a few times as well and it hasn't been a faff.  I've done our joint bills account as well.  I've got a throwaway account as I don't want to switch my account I've had for years.  I've just got a couple of DDs on there that aren't monthly bills, but annual subscriptions that only come out once a year. You could always set up a small charity donation by DD as well, to get around it.

milann

We switched a couple of years ago now so could probably look to doing it again. To get our dds to the required number at the time. Dh sent one to my account and a couple of days later I sent it back to him. Worked well for us 👍

redofromstart

It used to be standing order or direct debit, so a donor account with SO payments to saving account met the criteria a few years back.  I got more in compensation when they messed up the switch actually but have never been brave enough to shift my real current account/