And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

BB I'm glad you've found it useful! Vix makes a really good point on the "risk" of ending up feeling constrained by the half hourly prices on Agile - it's apparent from the main Agile thread on here that there certainly are some folk who refuse to do things at those times because "I'm not paying THAT!" whereas to me it needs to be more about the average. Yes, it worked well for us yesterday to have a cold tea for example, but if it hadn't, then the cost of zapping a HM "ready meal" in the microwave would absolutely have been worth it on a night when we needed to get food sorted, eaten and get back out again!

Looking at our costs after what is apparently a rare day yesterday of Agile prices being moderately high all day, we were probably a little out of pocket. I am comparing with our fix which was:

• Electricity: Octopus 15M Fixed (E-1R-OE-FIX-15M-24-09-06-A)
  Unit rate: 24.84p/kWh
  Standing charge: 47.85p/day

Our S/C is now 48.79p/day so we are down a fraction under a penny a day there, but today the unit rate is under 21p average, with a fair amount of time below 18p/ MrEH mentioned that if he remembers he will run the laptop off the battery from 4pm, and we will then flip the switch on it to let it charge again overnight tonight. The DW will run overnight too - and it's looking likely that prices are going to drop pretty low overnight so I may get those towels through then as well... 

Blood test sorted this morning - I suspect I'm going to have a monster of a bruise as I have a fair amount of "pooling" behind the site on my hand, and it feels quite sore. She went in to a slightly smaller vein than the usual one because naturally as I was needing blood taken, the normal one went into hiding from first thing this morning in spite of a cuppa AND a big glass of water before I left home. (Needless to say the "regular" vein on both hands is now back firmly in evidence and looking smug...sigh!) Anyway, no complaints - I saw the lovely Spanish lady who has been there seemingly forever and is a positive whizz at hopping straight into a vein, and it was mostly painless and very quick. I'll need to check at the end of the week to see whether the results have appeared. 

I managed to pick up a few Prolific surveys through the day yesterday and am now at just over £12 payable for the month so far - I'll be aiming to get that substantially higher yet, as I want to really start building up my tech pot now. My phone will hit 4 years old in a month or so, and while it's still working well currently, I am conscious that it must be heading towards no longer being supported within a few years, and I am also really struggling with storage now too, so I will need to plan for a replacement. If I decide to replace with a 13 mini then I can get a refurbished option for £330 ish currently - if I go with a larger 15 then that would a bit-under double the cost, but of course gets me a far newer phone...(But also a larger one, which I don't particularly want!) 

Mid month DDs have left the account - and currently the balance is looking pretty solid for a nice end of month surplus too. I'll be knocking the "odd amount" off the mortgage, topping the PBs up a bit more, and then any balance will be heading towards having that office door replaced. 

themadvix

I think taking the average is a good way to look at it EH. It's going to be windy tonight, hence the low prices (apparently we now get told which night is best to charge too - and get Octopoints for only charging on those nights!)

I'm totally with you on a smaller phone - not looking forward to the day when I have to replace my 12 mini... maybe smaller phones will be back in fashion by then?!

EssexHebridean

The massive phone thing is infuriating isn't it - I have to handle a larger one at work from time to time and each time I do it reminds me why I really don't want anything that size! I think my initial plan going forwards will be to just gain a relatively short amount of age on the replacement with a 13 mini, but hope that they do introduce a new "mini" option along the way as well. 

I forgot to mention earlier that £50 has hit my Octopods account for a referral bonus, which is useful - there is another one on the way too as another pal used my code the other week. It all helps! 

jwil

I dislike the big phones too.  I've got the 13 mini and it's great.  

milann

All sounding good. Energy comparisons are interesting.

EssexHebridean

Hey all - good to see you jwil & milann! 

Still pleased with the results from the switch to Agile. Woke up yesterday morning having done various bits overnight and found that our 3.5kWh energy use to that point had cost us a grand total of 6p! Obviously that balanced out a bit over the day, but we still ended up with an average kWh cost across the day of just over 10p which is impressive.  So far today we are hovering around a 19p average - but I'm not expecting anything other than baseload on the peak rates later so that should stay around there. 

Planning to get a load of MrEH's rugby kit through tonight once rates drop a bit - then probably a regular load later on/overnight with a view to line-drying both tomorrow. Anything else will wait until Sunday now I think as currently that is forecast to be a very cheap day - albeit not a particularly good one for drying. My masterplan though is if it is cheap enough on the electricity we'll just run the dehumidifer to deal with the moisture from drying indoors, and if it's cheap but not THAT cheap, then a couple of loads dried indoors will make precious little impact on humidity anyway.  It's all taking a fair bit of getting our heads around - but definitely worthwhile.

MSE Stuff:
- Cheaper electricity, obviously!
- warmer temperatures have meant that the heating hasn't gone on at all yesterday or so far today which is a win! 
- Prolific earnings now sitting at £12.xx payable, and £3.91 pending - at just over half way through the month. I'd love to be able to get to £30 for end of month but we'll see how that goes. 
- All DDs have now gone out for the month.
- MrEH is feeding his oyster today - there will be one more top-up there before month end
- I am expecting another fill up of his car yet - but because of our planned trip to Devon at the end of the month I'm accounting for an additional one too. Mine will cheerfully sail through to the end of the month and beyond. 
- Meal plan this week has been more like a picking list of "meals we will eat one day or another" - but has actually worked well, and I'm quite happy with that as a way of working. 
- I have finally got the letter from the DCA who had wrongly contacted me about the energy account at the flat - and will be going back to the Octopods shortly to accept their offer of £45 credit as an apology, and allow them to close the complaint. 
- Travel insurance renewed - roughly £5 more than last year, but as we are both a year older and all know about the increasing costs of insurance I think that's decent. On that basis I opted to let it autorenew. As next year's Hebrides stay is already booked, it felt sensible to ensure that the cover was continuous.
- Useful Lil's coupons in the app this week - 15% off the frozen fish I buy, and 15% off their delicious root vegetable crisps which I will treat myself to! I will also go over the £50 spend threshold so will make sure that I choose a suitable fruit option to make the most of that. 
- £11 spent yesterday on tickets for a local beer festival next month - will come from personal spends of course. 

Plans:
- Pub tonight after work - our previous favourite has now closed (boo) but the one across from work appears to have raised its game accordingly, so that's good! CAMRA vouchers still apply, and the per pint price is even more ludicrously low.
- Also heading to a different pub tomorrow evening local to home as we need to talk to them about hosting a CAMRA Branch meeting in a few months - nice excuse for a quick pint anyway!
- we have the farmer's market on Saturday morning, and then straight back for an online meeting
- MrEH is intended to be playing rugby on Saturday afternoon, although whether it will actually happen remains to be seen as his team are having some issues this season. For his sake I hope it does!
- I have to get the replacement lenses fitted in my glasses tomorrow morning - sadly our local branch of the "Should'veGoneTo" to are still making me think that I REALLY Shouldn't have...if I get there tomorrow and they tell me that they won't be ready until sometime later in the afternoon I will be fuming! I currently have my day all nicely planned out to ensure I can get everything I need to deal with in the day sorted. We'll see. 

Other than that, standard pottering, houseworky bits etc will get dealt with, and I want to get over and see Mum at some stage too. 

themadvix

I've never used Shouldhavegoneto.... but there's a reason for that - I've never heard a good thing said about them! Which isn't great, really, is it?

Thanks for the Agile reminder - we now get emails with a forecast for when's best to charge the car overnight - just checked and tomorrow will be greener than tonight (it makes no difference to our costs, although if you manage to use the greenest nights, there are Octopoints to be had).

PennysIntoPounds

Relieved for you the DCA Octopods thing has been resolved. Definitely treat yourself to a voucher pint 😁

Cheery_Daff

Also glad the DCA are going to stop pestering you! 

Interesting to hear about agile.  That was coming up cheapest for us when I checked without us doing any load shifting at all.  I don't think I've got the headspace to be doing too much messing, but we naturally don't tend to use at peak times that much anyway.  One or both of us is usually home in the day so washing etc gets done in the morning ready to hang out,  and if I use the oven it's usually batch cooking at the weekend rather than making tea of an evening. 

No dishwasher,  no tumble dryer,  no electric shower (well,  technically there is one in the downstairs loo,  but I've only ever used it once).

Won't be swapping use of kettle, microwave,  TV etc,  and I'll likely keep using the induction hob whenever (although again that's usually batch cooking,  or a quick stir fry in the evening).

Going to make a decision this weekend,  definitely need to swap away from the one we're on anyway!

jwil

Great news that the complaint is resolved.