The "Grand Plan" - Phase One well underway!

EssexHebridean

SingleSue wrote: »

He tried to EH.....so I stared at him. He then switched tack and said that as I was getting old and my reactions slower, it was better to leave it to a young un! :mad: :rotfl:

ROFPMSL - you should have accepted the Man of the House line when you had the chance!!!! :T

EssexHebridean

Daily energy tracking is going ahead as planned - well, it is when I remember to nudge OH to take the readings when he gets up anyway! It looks pretty certain that Click energy 5 will be the way to go for us. Presumably the saving is as a result of having to provide your meter readings online? Discovered today that our dehumidifier uses relatively little power anyway which is a good thing as it runs most of the time in the winter.

Just over £40 paid by Quidco yesterday - this is my first payment from them so I was fairly chuffed with that. Once racecaller points get credited I will be just 92 PiggyPoints away from my next £10 voucher on Pigsback - this one will probably be another Boots one to put aside for Christmas present buying. At least with those if I don't use them on presents I can buy toiletries etc with them. With the £40 from quidco, expenses due from work and the regular monthly savings amount, I should be on target to pay across another £400 or so into the ISA this month - which IIRC takes the total to £3100 :T This is allowing for the fact that I've just paid for an upcoming weekend in Germany for the Speedway Grand Prix......

I must remember to ring NR for that settlement figure......

StuartGMC

EH - take care - Click 5 has not yet been increased.... it is likely to go up 20-25% like e-On online. See switching lead on home page, Martin notes no uplift yet - they're hoping you'll switch then they'll increase.

However, is fixed to Sept 2011 an option on BG for you - (house move portable, and no fees if cancel due to house move). For me it will be about 13.8% on top of new rates, but looks like gas futures means an increase in Jan/Feb anyway. Only need 14% by March 2010 to be breakeven...

You can get £60 cashback from Quidco on this.... I missed out as I didn't check! :o:o

HTH
Stuart

EssexHebridean

Thanks for that bit of info Stuart - I shall hold off for a while and see what happens. We have talked about doing the BGas fix until 2011 - I shall have to take a look at the comparitive prices and see how it would compare against what we're paying now.

*edit* just done the comparison of the prices for Fix 2011 online - it is definately the way to go for us as the rates are the same as we're paying on the standard tariff at the moment! The application they so kindly sent us recently is going back in the post tomorrow once MrEH has photocopied it! At least it means that we know precisely how much our bills are going to be for the next three years - all we have to do is remember to make an accrual against the likely increase at that time!

Thanks for your input Stuart!

StuartGMC

EH - pleased to have flagged that!
Waiting on paperwork to arrive here to sign up

EssexHebridean

Well, time for an update then.

Have just transferred £300 into the ISA - this is made up in part of expenses from work, and the balance is a portion of my regular monthly savings amount. I've got a weekend trip to Germany on October and have just paid that so want to see how the finances balance out through the month before I commit to transferring any more of the savings. I also have to think about buying a dress for our speedway end of season Dinner & Dance - and before anyone says it yes I DO have to buy something - the only thing in the wardrobe even vaguely suitable is the dress I wore to last years so I can't really get away with that! (Well I can't considering that Singlesue will read this and she'll be going as well! :rotfl: ) Balance on the ISA is now £3070.

We're continuing with monitoring our energy use and I have borrowed one of those electricity use meters from my Mum and am busily metering everything to get an idea of power usage. The dishwasher has to go on in the morning so that's next for the metering treatment! I've also cut back to only using one table lamp in the front room of an evening, if we need any more light we've been lighting candles (I have a massive bag of tealights which has been sitting in the cupboard for ages!). No speedway this week so car use will be kept to work related (including a trip out on sites yesterday which will pay £64 in expenses) and shopping etc.

I've written to Northern Rock to request a settlement figure on the loan as at November, December and (just in case) January.

I've also been starting to think about Christmas - presents are going to be asked for on the basis of things I need and would otherwise have to buy for myself. My friends are always most relieved when I give them specific ideas so saying "Hair conditioner - intensive type, dry hair, in tubs" and similar will help them no end and I'll also get to try some different products from what I'd buy myself which will be useful. Having just redecorated the bathroom we're in need of new towels (the ones we bought ourselves when we first moved in together are starting to spring holes!) and bathmat etc - previously I would have gone straight out and bought them but now they will be added to a christmas present list for our families.

Mr EH has been pausing on his way home each evening this week to gather Haws from the Hawthorn trees he passes - we're going to make Haw Jelly (delicious!) for just the cost of the sugar, lemon juice and power for cooking, some of that will go into pretty jars as part of his parents, and brothers/sister in law's presents. "Makes" are a fairly regular part of presents on that side of the family so nobody will think that strange. MIL wants the new River Cottage Preserves book - Mr EH has a voucher sent to him by Waterstones for money off purchases so will buy the book before that expires. I won't put up on here any ideas for pressies for my folks as Mum reads the forums from time to time!

Still going to plan I think - hopefully it won't all go horribly to pot when I get the settlement figures through....!

SingleSue

Hehe......I am doing the dinner dance in true MSE style and hitting the charity shops for my outfit!

Or I could always wear the trousers I wore 2 years ago....but I think people would recognise them. I certainly will not be wearing a skirt again this year...I put it on inside out last year and it was only by another good friend of ours noticing just before going into the hotel that saved me!

StuartGMC

SingleSue wrote: »

. I certainly will not be wearing a skirt again this year...I put it on inside out last year and it was only by another good friend of ours noticing just before going into the hotel that saved me!

LOL a great picture that creates; the question is did you change it round just in front the hotel

EssexHebridean

SingleSue wrote: »

Hehe......I am doing the dinner dance in true MSE style and hitting the charity shops for my outfit!

Or I could always wear the trousers I wore 2 years ago....but I think people would recognise them. I certainly will not be wearing a skirt again this year...I put it on inside out last year and it was only by another good friend of ours noticing just before going into the hotel that saved me!

ROFL! Loving that image! Are the trousers the ones with the lace panels at the hemline? If so then yes they were quite distinctive....give it another couple of years before giving 'em another outing I reckon! I'd thought about charity shops too so might join you in that venture. Let's see what fabulous glad-rags we can get ourselves that way and for how little cash, then!


Confirmation from British Gas today that our prices are now fixed until September 2011 so that's good news. Power monitering established that the dishwasher costs 30p to run at tier 1 rates, but only 6p at the night rate, which is when we usually use it, so that's not going to break the bank either!

StuartGMC

EH
Let's both hope we're right on the expectation that gas & electric will rise by at least 14% then by 9/2011