PinknSparkly's Mortgage Wannabe savings dairy

Hi all,

So I've been back at work for just over a week (went back Thursday and Friday, and then did Monday - Friday this week) and I definitely underestimated how exhausted it would make me!!

I spent today opening for various current accounts (Nationwide FlexDirect, HSBC Advance, First Direct and TSB) for the high interest rate (Nationwide and TSB) and access to regular savers (First Direct and HSBC). I did them all in one go as (apparently) it takes a few days/weeks for applications to show on your credit history so fingers crossed, most of them will get opened :rotfl: The First Direct account also comes with a nice £100 cashback (HSBC also offers a £175 cashback, but only if you do an account switch with at least 2 active direct debits, which is just too much hassle!).

The plan for tomorrow is to sort car insurance (it's due for renewal 5th August and I FINALLY got myself organised enough last year to set a reminder in my calendar to do it a few weeks in advance this time - according to MSE 3 weeks is the "sweet spot" for getting the cheapest insurance deals). However, I've had an email from my current insurer saying that they'll automatically renew my insurance unless I tell them not to, for £50 LESS than last year which really really confused me! So I need to check whether I can get it even cheaper (even better if I can do it via a cashback website!) or if this is the best deal on offer... I certainly cannot complain if it is the best deal on offer though!! I also need to do a freezer audit, make a weekly meal plan and go food shopping.

I have also FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY got my electricity meter details updated :T:T:T:T This has been an ongoing saga since October 2017 when my broken meter (economy 7, dual rate meter, recording all our electricity usage on the day rate :eek:) was replaced by British Gas with a single rate meter, but recorded on the national database as a dual rate meter. A few days after the installation, I switched to Together Energy on a one year fix, and then to EON on another one year fix. It took me the best part of a year, two complaints to the Ombudsman, two late payment markers on my file and a £30 fine to get British Gas to agree to a reasonable final bill rather than making me pay for six months of electricity usage all at day rate. The entire year I was with Together Energy, they claimed to be "in the process" of updating my meter details, only for me to have to fight with them for six months after leaving to get them to manually produce a bill based on actual single rate readings, rather than their widely overestimated dual rate estimated meter readings. I then had to fight with their collections team who thought I owed them £50, when in fact their complaints team had already refunded me £150 and claimed my account was closed. And then for the 9 months I've been with EON, chasing them on a monthly basis about getting them to update my meter details. However, despite sending them photographs of electricity meter readings throughout the year, and them supposedly being recorded on my account, I cannot supply meter readings via my online account as there is no initial meter reading to compare the submitted meter reading to So I submitted an initial meter reading for October 2018 on Friday and hopefully it'll show up some time next week so I can give them an actual meter reading. Every two months they keep telling me they're going to increase my direct debit as I'm not paying enough to cover my usage and every time I tell them to take a long walk off a short pier and that my direct debit is staying exactly as it is until they produce a bill based on actual readings rather than estimated ones! They reckon my account is in the red by a little under £300 on estimated readings, I reckon they owe me money based on actual readings....

Wow, I knew I'd been MIA for a while as I've had a lot on my plate, but pushing two months is a bit bonkers!!

We've been ticking along steadily, and have shaved another two months off our mortgage free date since I last updated my signature at the end of June.

On Friday, we're off on our South Africa holiday for two (and a tiny bit) weeks. I'm still booking last minute bits (such as hotels for our road trip, and car hire which is fairly essential for a road trip!) but the majority of the important bits that were likely to get booked up well advance have been booked for months. I had fun trying to find an insurance company who would provide travel insurance that covered both shark cage diving AND hot air ballooning - it took me about 2 hours in total and by the end my brain had turned to mush! Almost no one covers shark cage diving (even if you pay an extra premium, which I ended up doing) and most of the limited number of insurance providers who covered hot air balloon rides wouldn't cover it for personal accident or liability (basically they would cover for cancellation only, which isn't what I take out insurance for. I take it out so I can certain that I'll be airlifted back to the UK if required!).

My change of job role is going well, due to going full-time at the hospital, I've obviously got some additional work responsibilities that I didn't have before so I've been here, there and everywhere getting to grips with it all but I'm getting there slowly! I'm certainly a lot less stressed than I was when doing the joint position which is fab (I'm not sleeping well at the moment, but that's due to having got out of good sleeping habits rather than stress-induced!)