Statement of intent

StuartGMC

One service I haven't mentioned before is the online TV guide we use; it helps to plan time to only watch things of "value" and also pops up reminders when here on the PC. You can get a free trial period of 30 days, and if you like it enough to sign up then I'll get 60 days added to my subscription , if not just uninstall.

Click here if you are interested http://getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=52038
(I hope this is allowed on the forum, if not, I'll remove the link)

My renewal for 2 years is £15.80, and we have found the links on film reviews, programmes etc to be useful as we don't take a newspaper and this is cheaper than printed guides. It is very good for the autumn-winter period when we do watch a bit more due to the dark nights and inclement weather.

StuartGMC

SuiDreams wrote: »

Wow just read your updated post, congrats, on the savings and improved MF date. You've done so well with the offsetting and overpayments.

Thanks for that. It certainly does help to have a thread and to see the changes made over the time it is running, even though it's only been about 4 1/2 months!

StuartGMC

Called British Gas earlier today having now received a customer number and their planned direct debit amount. For electricity they were intending to only take £27 per month and for gas £37; I called and noted concern to ensure budgeting aligned with consumption and this was well received.

I provided our consumption for both in kWh and as I expected, it requires £50 each to cover our consumption, so that's the amount they should debit from 16 Oct.

I completed the registration for online billing and I've set reminders in our calendar software (Sunbird) to read meters on 1 and 15 of each month. I have always read on a monthly basis but this should allow us to capture consumption better; assuming BG will allow readings this frequently.

I tried to see our position on ScottishPower, but as they are finalising the account it isn't available.... I hope to receive some £150 back from them.

frazzmunch

hi stuart...just wanted to say thanks for the spreadsheet...only managed to open it for the first time today...been a nightmare couple of weeks and haven't been around because of it..however, back on the mfw wagon now so will get my head around it all from today!!

StuartGMC

Frazzmunch, no problem, hope it helps a bit. If you are using Excel version let me know if you are using the car costs sheet as WelshLassie is having problems and it would be useful to know if it is a problem in transfer from OpenOffice to Excel (although I think this would also affect the Grocery and Clothing & Shoes sheets).

Have just had to slide £200 back from savings account to the current account just ahead of OH pay arriving in our account; it doesn't affect offset as both accounts are in the offset arrangement, but it is psychologically not good as it means reducing the savings total on my spreadsheet! (Only reason is a business trip this week and company refuse to give sterling cash advances)

Hope to see some significant funds remaining end of this month and November, although presents will be needed of course, just want to get the cash levels up. Have not yet trimmed back on the monthly S&S ISA savings which we could do but hanging in with hope of getting a lot of units cheap in the funds.... but it is getting more difficult by the day to stick to this plan rather than "give in" to the instinct to stop these and hold all in the offset savings.

StuartGMC

As you know we switched to a fixed gas & electricity deal which is the first time we've done so (bound to go wrong then!).

So I thought I should monitor the online deals in comparison, especially in consideration of the drop in oil to some US$74 bbl (which also influences gas), although OPEC may cut back production...

Anyway, the present situation (using U-Switch) is thus for us on BG Fixed to Sept 2011, with £1210.40 annual spend:
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]EDF Energy – Dual Fuel - £1109 i.e. £101 saving per year (£8.42per month)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Scottish Power Discounted Online 2009 Dual Fuel - £1112 i.e. £98.22 saving per year (£8.19 per month)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]British Gas Standard Dual Fuel £0.00 cheaper
[/FONT]

So at the moment, £100 per year is the premium to cover the fix, which is 8.3% of our bill; remember I was working on a 13.8% premium to fix, and this is actually a premium of 9% over £1110.40

So I'll keep an eye on this as it will allow us to decide if we need to cancel the fix and pay the £100 fee to do so.

frazzmunch

i will watch your fuel supplier choices carefully ....am about to switch (within the next month) so am really not sure what are my best options yet...i only have electricity here so miss out on the duel fuel deals but hope to save around £30 per month when i switch...i am currently with a 100% green electricity supplier and pay a fortune for it so perhaps i will be able to save more...:D

will let you know with the spreadsheet...so far no problems encountered!!

StuartGMC

Frazzmunch
The cost comparisons should still be good for single fuel; unfortunately going green is still a cost in the UK..... good luck!

Thanks for the feedback on the spreadsheet

StuartGMC

In FB's thread I have posted details on the calcs I use to derive effective interest rate. Posting a link here so I may stand a small chance of finding it again in future!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=15080333&postcount=553

StuartGMC

I've had a few ESDs (extra spend days:o ) which I should own up to; firstly was in Aberdeen on business and bought two bottles of malt before flying south, Ardbeg and Isle of Jura (these were discounted) and with the Bowmore I had in stock hopefully will see me through to Christmas....

The other extra spend was that OH had her car serviced and MOT'd; it needed a new wheel (alloy buckled) plus front discs & pads. So this was some £475 in total, whereas I have an annual budget allowance of £340 pa for her car to account for all running costs other than petrol. I've increased this to £400 for now. I can't really complain though, the car is 9 1/2 yrs old and we've had it since 2005 without any costs apart from tyres and routine servicing.

So far we still have not opted to book next year's holiday; it is reduced by about £1000 at the moment, but, do we risk it or see if the prices remain low/drop if the economy keeps heading south? I know we'll need a holiday but if I allow my pessemistic side to win through then I'd say we should consider the worst case situation and minimise future costs. However, I am also thinking with my MSE head that the price is about as good as it is likely to get....

One "good" point is that I did get the £60 tax rebate. I was not sure whether I was at the 40% tax threshold, but as I pay 10% of gross salary to company pension this effectively "increases" the tax free portion so I just slipped under the new limit. However, it highlights to me the issue of the salary I'm paid in consideration of the job; company is still intending to review whether it can afford to offer a pay rise from 1 Jan which will be the first since July 2007 :mad:

More incentive to get MF, although the monies not required for mortgage will need to then be put aside for DD ready for when she turns 18, so it doesn't look like I'll be able to "down-shift" at 45, or even at 50... but who knows at 55 it may be possible and I have a small annuity from previous pension at a company that went bust which pays from 60. I foresee my participation here on MSE remaining for quite some time :rolleyes: