Statement of intent

setmefree2

I'm really liking version 7 (much to my surprise as I hadn't expected much) and I love firefox.

southantrim3

StuartGMC wrote: »

Many thanks for that.

Mortgage payment for December will go out on 1 December. We remain >100% offset with the savings account and current account, and extra now gets dropped into the e-Savings account to earn a fraction more interest. Currently mortgage debt outstanding is £9700, standard payment plus OP will be £450 and an additional OP of £200 will be made so we'll be down to £9050 owing :j with our present total net position being about £18k positive which is nice but it'll drop with monthly costs of course.

Some expenses upcoming with my car tax (if the new rates are in then it will be about £405 ), DD's birthday celebration at the weekend (cinema with friends for the next Twilight movie) plus the new laptop for her.

New laptop is very nice, boots quickly and runs fast! I need to get to the Acer site and order the Windows 7 upgrade and install before DD gets the PC for Christmas. I'll then play with the old laptop and try out Linux as OH only uses OpenOffice, Firefox etc which have Linux variants (just need to check on Thunderbird and Sunbird - respectively e-mail and calendar packages we use) - all being open source and hence free of course! (I recommend you try them).

Hi Stuart,

I do use Firefox which is great, have heard of Thunderbird but haven't used it. Whats it like compared with Windows Mail? Also haven't even heard of Sunbird, though I'm guessing it will have similar functions to the calendar in Outlook? (This should probably be in the Techie forum but since you bought it up......... Thanks

financialbliss

southantrim3 wrote: »

Hi Stuart,

I do use Firefox which is great, have heard of Thunderbird but haven't used it. Whats it like compared with Windows Mail? Also haven't even heard of Sunbird, though I'm guessing it will have similar functions to the calendar in Outlook? (This should probably be in the Techie forum but since you bought it up......... Thanks

Hi southantrim3,

There's a link to various Mozilla projects here:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/

The above page links to Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird and others. After browsing though this diary last night, I've downloaded and installed Sunbird, and just finding my way around it.

FB.

StuartGMC

southantrim3 wrote: »

Hi Stuart,

I do use Firefox which is great, have heard of Thunderbird but haven't used it. Whats it like compared with Windows Mail? Also haven't even heard of Sunbird, though I'm guessing it will have similar functions to the calendar in Outlook? (This should probably be in the Techie forum but since you bought it up......... Thanks

I like Sunbird as it is easy to have the diaries (one for me, OH, DD and "family") all showing in one calendar and saved to the network attached storage so any of the PCs in the house can access it. Easy to use in the current version, I do like it as a calendar package, which is quite stable.:D

Thunderbird I've used for years, love it as an e-mail application, good junk handling, built-in spell checker etc - recommended!

Firefox I use all the time, and OpenOffice for all office/document needs, although sadly it seems that we'll have to get MS Office for DD; terrible to see UK education requiring the public to buy software. If the French Gendarme can switch to OpenOffice plus many many organisations worldwide why not UK education too?

FB
Glad to see you calling by and picking up on another open source app :T

StuartGMC

Mortgage payments set for tomorrow which will leave £9k outstanding (couldn't leave the extra £50 showing so total of £700 this month to the mortgage). Our cash funds are slowly building but it seems a long process at the moment with the costs of Christmas now coming in. Let's see what the New Year will bring though before making predictions.

SmlSave

Let's see what the New Year will bring though before making predictions

Sensible as always Stuart I'm going to enjoy December and I'm looking forward to the new year as it always feels like a fresh start as I create the 2010 spreadsheet/budget

southantrim3

StuartGMC wrote: »

Mortgage payments set for tomorrow which will leave £9k outstanding (couldn't leave the extra £50 showing so total of £700 this month to the mortgage). Our cash funds are slowly building but it seems a long process at the moment with the costs of Christmas now coming in. Let's see what the New Year will bring though before making predictions.

Yea, Christmas. Not good for money. I also have a niece and nephew who both have birthdays in December. One on the 14th and the other on the 19th - HELP..............:o

StuartGMC

Well I'm in the usual state of struggling to find things to buy for people for Christmas; I guess as I don't spend on "frivolous" items for me, I find it difficult to do so for other people?

Anyway, we're with Virgin for TV, broadband and phone, which gives some services free such as photographs from Snapfish printed from those you upload. Tried them last month and they seem ok apart from format for digital camera means you get smaller prints overall than 6x4". However they also offer items like calendars made with your own photos - so I've duly trawled the best shots of DD and uploaded and created the calendar this afternoon. 4off copies on their way for my parents, inlaws and wife wanted one too when she saw it (but she did remind me of the voucher Snapfish sent for 20% off which saved £16 on the order).

So, at least some progress made... other ideas to be generated now!

Must print of the list of things I created that I'd like; all are low cost as I'm not after any "specific" thing presently.

Financially, I did a test online payment to my new credit card once Halifax/Marriott gave me the details to do so (their online page only allows payment by debit card but I want to be able to schedule payments in case I'm not here). First £10 went through so have paid balance today.

Car tax was £215 but, in 2010 that will be £435 which is a big hit; problem is that to change cars will need a sizeable cash pot to add to the limited p/x I'll get on the Jaguar. So I think I'll be stuck for some time with the running costs whilst I try to save to replace it.

Tesco_points_addict

Car tax was £215 but, in 2010 that will be £435 which is a big hit

:eek:Gulppppppppppp, thats rediculous!!!!!:eek:

TPAx

chirpchirp

Stuart, how do I check what my car tax will be in 2010?