Statement of intent

StuartGMC

MRN
We have three in the house so I guess extra shower/bath cost but often OH and DD can be with TV like now and I'm on the PC (which still has a CRT monitor). We do cook family meal every day but obviously no heating presently and for this very short period in the year I can get up without a light turned on (0500 alarm so only about 2 months when it is possible).

I think it may be the 2010 "activity" once MF to look at where the energy consumption is highest. We had to replace the fridge (AEG) when it failed as I noted in March, the new unit was a good rated one on energy but, I just feel it runs more often....

Gas is another story though; the boiler is nearly 20yrs old and although the Energy Review indicated 21yrs to get return on replacement cost, this might well be worth looking at again. I was however, intending to get more awareness on the reliability of the condensing boiler designs before hand.

StuartGMC

DD has received her KS2 SATS results; 5 in every aspect so she is really pleased with her progress and she got a great final report from her Junior School
Only downside is this means she moves to the Secondary School so "quickly" now and based upon comments from others, I think this is where we should anticipate major changes in her demeanor etc. Hopefully she'll still chat to me

I've just been updating my spreadsheet (will be at local community events all weekend so no pub tonight but beer through the rest of the weekend ) and I've deferred the extra OP until tomorrow (4 July OP day), so still owe £15,550 on the mortgage.

I was checking on projected mortgage payments planned and the position for later in the year (very easy when you pay virtually no interest on the mortgage :rotfl:) and glanced over at my tabulations which show me the 3-6-9 month amounts required in savings as income or outgoings basis - you knew it would be there didn't you!

It only just occurred to me that the outgoings one will drop a lot once MF :rotfl:
So it will update in spreadsheet anyway as mortgage is in the "baseline" costs summations, and whilst we then will have a lower actual requirement for monies in emergency funds the irony is that we will be committed to higher savings than now :rotfl:

Presently the mortgage and target savings amount to 46.14% of net household income or 30% as savings and investments alone. Obviously some of this is spent in the year (e.g.holiday) but I will need to do some thinking on our target once MF which goes into savings and investments. I think it should be about 40% as a minimum but, that would preclude doing things which being MF will allow us to do with the extra money....

I feel a headache coming on with that dilemma, time for a drink! :beer:

MoneyQueen

StuartGMC wrote: »

DD has received her KS2 SATS results; 5 in every aspect so she is really pleased with her progress and she got a great final report from her Junior School

Well done to DD. You two must be so proud of her!!

gallygirl

Well done to DD :j

Daft_Pegasus

StuartGMC wrote: »

I think it may be the 2010 "activity" once MF to look at where the energy consumption is highest. We had to replace the fridge (AEG) when it failed as I noted in March, the new unit was a good rated one on energy but, I just feel it runs more often....

Yesterday I bought a Plug in Mains Power and Energy Monitor to do just this. It was £18 from Amazon and you simply plug it into the electrical socket and then plug the device you want to measure into it. Leave it for some time and it will measure the kwh used and the time over which it's been used.

I've been recording our household electrical consumption for a short while and was concerned to think we're spending between £3 and £4 a day on electricity. Our average consumption for June was 16.6kwh per day (family of 4). So I bought one of these to find out what was using the most power to see where we could cut back e.g. PC switched off when not in use.

We have a beer & wine fridge which was our fridge when we bought our first house about 13 years ago. Have monitored that overnight and it's consumed 1.5kwh in 12 hours making running that a cost of 75p per day. Going to run the same test on our American style fridge over the weekend. Admittedly with the weather we're having at the moment these figures are likely to be higher than average.

StuartGMC

MQ and GG
Many thanks; yes we're very pleased that DD has attained the development and levels we anticipated and she is rightly proud of her achievements. However, we have the teenage years to face now with all that comes with the transition, hoping she can steer through it all and remain well placed academically.

I've set the extra OP to go today so mortgage will be £15, 350 on Monday.

Looking forward this month, whilst it may be a hair's breadth, I think we may just, remain 100% offset at the lowest point. So fingers crossed no interest to pay on the mortgage. However, still looking very tight to clear in October - we'll just have to see.

Enjoy the weekend folks. We're all helping as volunteers with annual events here starting with usual Parade and arena stuff today, then tomorrow duck race then music event with most people here are there through the day so several thousand people in total come to picnic with family and friends.

StuartGMC

Daft_Pegasus wrote: »

Yesterday I bought a Plug in Mains Power and Energy Monitor to do just this. It was £18 from Amazon.

Good thought, now our energy consumption numbers should be ironing out the problems we had last September / October with meter changes plus failure of the offpeak meter which was problematic in resolving offpeak data. Will be considering such a device ourselves after the summer holiday.

MoneyQueen

We also bought a Energy Monitor last year and this has helped us in finding out which appliance consumes how much and especially the enegy consumed when things are on Stand By...

Only things switched on at night are the Fridge/ Freezer and the Boiler..

StuartGMC

MQ
Thanks. We do try to minimise anything on standby. Our TVs actually switch off with a button not standby (checked before we purchased), but things which remain on:

Fridge & Freezer obviously
Hi-Fi - clock only
Cable box - updates overnight
DVD/HD drive (must check it)
Cable modem, wireless router/gateway & speakers - I used to leave mains on as we had a wireless mouse which of course needs charging. Once it started to play up I've replaced with a wired mouse so no need to leave on for charging. I should perhaps switch off but older modem needed to boot before router to get reliable connection...

So that's it for things which could consume when "off"

Other items; we've changed out all but two tungsten filament bulbs for low energy or halogen units. We try to keep lighting down to a reasonable level, but do have one switched to come on evenings etc to give impression someone is in the house. I see this as a minimal cost to deter burglary.

However I will be looking at it all.

UPDATE: NatWest has paid in the £50 for having had the £101 SO set up for 12 months into the 1st Reserve account which offsets our mortgage so the low interest rate is irrelevant. £50 for no effort - I love it!

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

DD has received her KS2 SATS results; 5 in every aspect so she is really pleased with her progress and she got a great final report from her Junior School
Only downside is this means she moves to the Secondary School so "quickly" now and based upon comments from others, I think this is where we should anticipate major changes in her demeanor etc. Hopefully she'll still chat to me

Well done to DD

My teenagers are lovely:D. I have 2 boys aged 15 and 13 and we all get on great....not all teenagers are horrible honest! Keep showing interest in her school work and hopefully she will keep doing well.

Good News about the "free" £50.