And now we go again...

joedenise

Only got the results of my SS yesterday @EssexHebridean!  I was getting a bit fed up with people saying how much they'd saved!  It's not much but every little helps as the saying goes!

Staffordia

With regards to the RS, there doesn't appear to be any way to transfer the money out, and if you try to apply for a new RS, a message tells you that you already have one. 

EssexHebridean

Staffordia said:

With regards to the RS, there doesn't appear to be any way to transfer the money out, and if you try to apply for a new RS, a message tells you that you already have one. 

Yes - I tried to see if I could open the new one but I too got the "ticking off" message essentially saying "don't be greedy!" 

Joedenise I STILL haven't got my plipping results! other people will have last Friday's before I get the Wednesday results back at this rate!

Just tried again to open a Chase account but it still won't go - 4 attempts at faffing with the ID this time but that's that - I'll give up now. Too much hassle at the end of the day - I've no idea why on earth after so many issues it can't just get picked up by a human to look at! 

PennysIntoPounds

I've been astounded at how bad Octopus are, especially when they rate so highly- certainly not been my experience! They were so long in getting back to me when I was literally asking to give them money and had no idea when the gas and electric would cease in the last flat and were of no help when they did respond after several follow ups, and they're still constantly sending letters with personal and financial info on to 'the estate' despite being told multiple times that's not their address, and they've tried to close the account. How they have a good reputation for customer service beggars belief here!

beanielou

PennysIntoPounds said:

I've been astounded at how bad Octopus are, especially when they rate so highly- certainly not been my experience! They were so long in getting back to me when I was literally asking to give them money and had no idea when the gas and electric would cease in the last flat and were of no help when they did respond after several follow ups, and they're still constantly sending letters with personal and financial info on to 'the estate' despite being told multiple times that's not their address, and they've tried to close the account. How they have a good reputation for customer service beggars belief here!

I think they are amazing.

beanielou

So basically I have no access to my FD £££'s for most likely 5 days.  Bah. 

Staffordia

beanielou said:

So basically I have no access to my FD £££'s for most likely 5 days.  Bah. 

5 working days Beanie. Mine matured on Tuesday and I have just checked and still can't do anything with it. So I will have to wait until next week now. There is a post over on the Regular Saver thread about sending a message to them and the money will be transferred but you still can't open a new RS. 

joedenise

joedenise said:

Only got the results of my SS yesterday @EssexHebridean!  I was getting a bit fed up with people saying how much they'd saved!  It's not much but every little helps as the saying goes!

Just looked at the email again and the results are for 29 Nov and 1 Dec and not for the session this week!  So I've still got another lot of savings to come.  It doesn't save much but every bit helps at the moment!

Blackcats

I think that the FD regular saver rules cause you to slip a month each year.  My last payment was made in September and it matured in October (I'm glad I re-read that as it autocorrected to say that it matured in O Tibet 🤷‍♀️)
So the 22/23 saver started in September and the 23/24 saver started in October.

the baubles look lovely.  I might have a try at making one this weekend now that the epic knitting sewing up project is complete.  I think I've set a new world record on how long it can take to finish a jumper for a 2 year old! 

Did you see the candy cane and Christmas wreath patterns on @CRANKY40 diary?
they are fun, quick and easy.

EssexHebridean

Completely agree that it all adds up Joedenise -we did finally get our 29th/1st results through, and it totalled to £2.72 earned so I’m fairly delighted with that! 

PiP - I have to say we have been generally pleased with 🐙 - particularly their home move service which saved us all the usual hassle of needing to provide incoming readings, having to register with the incumbent supplier etc… I confess I couldn’t imagine how it could work, and was most impressed to walk in here and find the IHD welcoming us to Octopus! 

Beanie, sorry to be the bearer of bad news on the FD front, although it is handy to know that it may be possible to get them to transfer out the money earlier than the 5 days Staffordia, I will try to remember that for next year! 

Well today has been a nice mix of productive and chilled. 

MSE Stuff:
- went for a walk this morning so free exercise.  - called in to the c0-0p while we were out and paid a bargainous £2.55 for a jar of Marmite once coupons were taken into account. Now safely stashed in the storecupboard 

- meal plan done for next week and most of the one after. This should only need veg and the usual basics bought for it as the main components are from what we have in. 
- MrEH did a dried fruit audit ahead of making the Christmas cake over the weekend, and concluded that by switching amounts of various things around we had plenty of fruit for it with the exception of mixed peel which we were completely out of, so that was added to the shopping list. 

- MrEH’s rugby kit went out in the line for a few hours, came in not dry, but less wet than it was at least. 

- chimney sweeping done - lovely chap and not a spot of mess. £60 well spent, and I have a reminder set to book him again for next year. 

- most of the week’s shopping got from Lil’s - £22.50 on food plus I got a bottle of their winter berries gin for a pal’s Christmas present, and used coupons to get money off a bottle of Prosecco and a bottle of wine to stash away for Christmas. Also nabbed a YS’d pizza which I will have for my tea tomorrow night.
- headed out this afternoon to stock ourselves up on fuel for the fire -  we’re not currently in a position to buy bulk logs as the log store needs sorting, so we got 3 big bags instead, plus 2 25kg bags of the smokeless fuel the sweep recommended this morning (he reckoned it should burn hotter than what we’ve been using, and create less ash). Not money saving on the basis that it cost just under  £100, but that is substantially cheaper than it would have been delivered, and even more so than had we used the other local fuel merchant. Should keep us going for a while anyway, and we now know that we can just go and buy rather than needing to order in advance. 

- tea was burgers and chips as planned, with bacon and cheese on the burgers. All from stores, and a little space made in the freezer. Also used up another big dollop each of the garlic dip from last weekend - the remainder will be used with my pizza tomorrow.

Christmas tree is now up, decorated and looking lovely! Particularly nice as it is Mum and Dad’s old one - and it’s a beauty. Technically pre-lit, but it also dates back to the times when if one bulb blew, that whole section failed, and judging by the number of sections unlit when we tried it out, we would have been there until Christmas trying to find all the failed ones! As we had a new set of lights for it, we took the sensible decision to simply add lights - I suspect ours will be far less power hungry too, being modern LED ones. Fabulous to have all our lovely decorations out again, and I completely adhere to the theory that you can’t have too many decorations on your tree, so we found space for almost everything! I’ve also got my Christmas tealight holders out now - it’s all starting to look quite festive!