So sorry about leg - I hope it soon get's better what a shame for it to happen in your work abroad. Good luck at dr's appointment tomorrow. Hurrah for your new garden and the lovely furniture for it. The weather is gorgeous here and I am planning to make the most of it.

Thanks SW!

It's been all go around here.... I've been booked in for my operation the week after next so have been running round like a blue ars3d fly trying to arrange cover at work for the three weeks I'll be off (4 weeks in total as I'm away at a conference and then a long weekend away before having the operation on the day I should have been back at work!). I also managed to turn up to a GP appointment this morning 24 hours early Though at least I was 24 hours early rather than 24 hours late!

On a different note, I was due to have my annual appraisal this week and instead it turned into a review of my job role. I have a joint job that is split between two very different organisations with very different claims on my time. I have been struggling a LOT with trying to balance the requirements from both sides, and my managers were aware of this. Similar joint positions have been successfully in place in other departments for a number of years, but the staff in the joint positions are much more senior than I am (so are very much managerial and don't have any involvement in the day-to-day running of the department workload). My managers have decided that the joint role is not working out the way they hoped and they wish to terminate the position. From an employment point of view, this isn't an issue for me as I am currently permanently employed at one of the organisations and will simply work for them full-time rather than a 50/50 split. If I had to choose between the two organisations and job roles, this is the job role I would choose to move to. Being pragmatic and honest with myself, this is almost certainly a good thing as my workload and stress levels due to trying to juggle what is effectively two full time jobs is just immense, but I still feel incredibly guilty and disappointed that I couldn't make the joint position a success My managers from the two organisations are going to discuss the various contract options whilst I am off sick, and we'll meet up when I'm back. There is a possibility of me retaining an honorary contract with the second organisation and doing work on am ad hoc basis (though pay would need to be discussed - currently they pay half my salary to the other organisation who are the ones that officially employ and pay me which they would no longer be doing).

But first, I need to get through the operation and hopefully start feeling like a semi-functional human being again!! In preparation for that, my sister, partner and puppy are coming to stay on Saturday and we're doing a wine tasting afternoon. Puppy is coming to become acquainted with the smell of cat (and possibly the sight of cat, our cat is very friendly and tries to make friends with everyone but doesn't really meet any dogs so he may well just hide in our bedroom until Puppy goes home!).

I am LOVING our new garden, the flowerbeds are still completely bare and empty but it's so nice to just be able to sit outside in the evening sunshine and chill with a cup of tea after work!

Well done on getting the operation sorted so quickly! I hope the recovery is quick too. I hope the job will be less stressful and more doable after your return and that the salary isn't affected.

This wine tasting sounds great. I hope you are enjoying the garden - it is chucking it down with rain here. lol. My garden is full of slugs, I am trying to get them! lol. SW the snail killer.

Hope things work out with the job and good luck with your op. Enjoy the puppy ! Hopefully it will not be a chewer like ours and keep it away from those flower beds !!! even without flowers ours loves to dig in soil

Thanks guy! And Skinty - the puppy belongs to my sister. Whilst I'd LOVE one, we simply don't have lifestyles that are compatible with having a dog (we both work quite long hours, five days a week) and anyway, I'm not sure the cat would ever forgive us!!

I can't remember if I've mentioned it already either, but we've FINALLY booked time off for our honeymoon The year we got married was the year my PhD stipend finished so we couldn't afford it (spent a year living on my husbands income only) and then last year we were saving to buy the house so that took priority. We're going to South Africa for safari, which is going to be priiiiiiicey but safari is what I've always dreamt of doing for honeymoon. If we're fortunate enough to be able to make any small humans in the near future then big holidays will be out for several years so we figure we should make the most of it while we can! We've booked flights and time off work (we're going in September), but I really need to get round to booking the rest of it!

And SW, fortunately my salary won't be affected at all - I have a permanent contract with the organisation I will be working for full time, and the other other organisation simply contribute half my salary directly to them. So I never see the money from the second organisation, and my contract and pay are entirely coordinated by the first organisation. It's likely that the job description will need to be adjusted, but the pay will remain the same.

Safari sounds amaaazing !


Did you survive the puppy visit ?

Safari!!!! How utterly fantastic, what an amazing thing to look forward to!!!!!!!
OMG I have always wanted to go to Botswana's Okavango Delta - OMG OMG.

One day...……….

Hi guys, sorry for going AWOL for a while. I had my operation last week and haven't been up to doing much beyond sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself!! I had vague intentions of doing lots of work while I was off sick but so far haven't checked a single email (I've seen them coming in as I get alerts on my phone). I'm signed off until the middle of next week so might do some work next week but in the meantime it's actually been really good for my mental health as well as my physical health to have had this time doing nothing. I was on St John's Wort before the operation (as an alternative to antidepressants) but had to come off them for the operation and the GP recommended I stay off them if we're going to try for a baby so I was rather worried I'd struggle mentally this week but so far (touch wood!) I've been absolutely A-OK

Skinty - yes, we survived the puppy visit but the cat REALLY wasn't impressed I think he's forgiven us now though (that, or he need to boss us around is stronger than his desire to sulk at us!)

And I'm soooooo excited about safari! Today is the first day I've felt up to much so I've been researching it - we're constrained to South Africa as we need a malaria-free area (on the rather slim, but ever hopeful chance that I may be pregnant by then and have to avoid malaria areas). Sadly, that means Kruger (north east) is not an option. I think I've settled on spending up to a week doing two parks in the north west region of South Africa (as we fly into and out of Johannesburg). The first one will be for a couple of days in a private reserve that you can't drive in so you need to have tour guides, with the idea that this will "get our eyes" in at spotting wildlife and then a second one that you can self drive, but also still have the option of joining organised tours if you want to. Then we'll head back to the airport, drop the car off and fly down to Cape Town for the second week. There we'll hire a car to do Table Mountain and a bunch more animal seeing (a beach full of penguins, cage diving with sharks, whale watching, an elephant national park and a zebra national park) and some outdoor activities mixed in along the Garden Route drive to Port Elizabeth. Fly back to Johannesburg from there for our connecting flight back to the UK Neither of us are particularly beachy or nightlifey people so we're intending to skip out the cities to spend more time in the great outdoors! Now to actually start booking stuff!!!

And I didn't mention a word about finances or money - MSE fail!

This month I finally added some money to my husband's S&S ISA - this was from two regular savers that matured. I sent the interest earned over as a mortgage overpayment and the rest went into his ISA. Nominally, this is our "early retirement" pot whilst my S&S ISA pot is our mortgage "offset" pot. At it's current size and our current expenses, it would allow us to retire maybe 2 months early but we have to start somewhere, right??

I have continued with sending all Tilly Tidies, interest and TopCashBack payouts to the mortgage as OPs, plus the fixed £12 overpayment each month (from rounding up our monthly payment) and we've managed to knock another month off the mortgage term! That's 16 months off 6.5 months! This is definitely not something we'll be able to keep up long term but I'm determined to make hay while the sun shines as the saying goes

Pinky I can't get my head round how switched on you are. Overpaying is great. Well done on your husbands accounts. I didn't know anything when I was younger other than never to be overdrawn. Good on you!

South Africa on safari. OMG. OMG...… off to dream about giraffes, zebras and hippos. You might see lions. OMG OMG …...Life on MSE is so much better than real life.....

Thanks SW - I'm trying to be switched on, but am definitely still learning as I go!!

Today is my last day of sick leave so I'm planning on getting as much of our holiday booked as possible! I've finally managed to decide where abouts to go and an approximate itinary which is a good start

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 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 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 ) 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....

My renewal quote from Admiral was already £50 less than I paid last year, but I've managed to knock another £100 off that by switching provider I emailed Admiral to let them know I was leaving and not to renew my quote, and they (several days later) emailed me a much cheaper quote. It still wasn't as cheap as the one I've gone for though!

I've been getting various emails and letters through about the accounts I opened over the weekend and it looks like all the applications were accepted. Now I'm just playing the waiting game for cards, PINs and internet banking details to arrive in the snail mail so I can set them all up and pay money into them.

I'm feeling much better this week. I have, unusually, been desk-based all week which has probably helped and I'm still avoiding anything too strenuous and bending/stretching/twisting. I am SO much less tired, even though I've had a lot of early starts (so less sleep than normal)

And I am 78p away from shaving another month off our mortgage term!! That will be 17 months shaved off in total

Well done on house insurance bargains!!!! I must look when mine is due to end. Congratulations on paying off another month early on the mortgage - Im sure you have found the 78p by now! lol.

I hope you are able to get over your tiredness soon. I am sure its the op and also the heat. Fingers crossed that will soon go. Yuk to British Gas and the meter saga - I thought they were supposed to have good customer service. I hope that is resolved soon.

Your bank accounts sound v smart and a bit complex and I do applaud you for this. I hope you continue to have a good month and you can rest a bit more hugs, swx

Thanks SW, I was quite astonished at how much cheaper it was this year compared to last. It's actually for car insurance rather than house insurance, and wonder if it's because I've cracked the magical 15 years NCB? Because that is the only thing that has changed (and, I guess, the car being a year older and less valuable!).

None of the energy companies have come out of this well in terms of customer service to be honest! In this day and age of computers and electronic records, you'd think they'd at least consistently tell me the same lie rather than making a new and different one each time My account is still not showing the opening meter readings, and I spoke to someone on their online chat who said that the meter details update isn't due to be completed until the end of this month and at that point they'll contact me asking for opening meter readings. Still, it's a step in the right direction at least!!

I've always had a couple of different savings accounts running, but decided to take the plunge and really go for it this year to try and maximise our pennies. We're using a 0% purchases credit card, so are saving the money for that to pay off at the end to earn some interest to go towards extra mortgage overpayments I've got a rather large spreadsheet of all our finances that I very sadly get quite a lot of enjoyment out of updating!

We're all booked in to see the travel nurse to discuss vaccinations prior to our holiday and the form we had to fill in when booking the appointment included a tickbox asking if we'd booked travel insurance which reminds me, I really need to get on that! I'm terrible for only booking it days before we travel and I'm sure we pay a premium for that!!

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!)

Wowee! Have a great time!

Well done on the new job and enjoy the hols. It sounds brilliant even if you are going to meet Jaws. lol.

Thanks Jenny and SW.

We got back this weekend and had an amaaaaazing time! I discovered a love of giraffes and brought back four giraffe household items (two were at least pre-planned and something I've wanted for YEARS: a pair of wooden giraffes)..... We also got given two bottles of South African sparkling wine for being on honeymoon that made it back safely with us plus a bottle of bright blue gin that I distilled myself in a surprise treat that my husband booked for me behind my back! The gin didn't have to be colourful, but it could be and it would have been rude to refuse, right???

It was an overnight flight on Saturday night and I didn't sleep a wink (quite normal for me, but a bit annoying when what feels like the entirety of the plane are snoring around you!). So I'm struggling a little with life today

In terms of moneysavingness.... My husband managed to leave his Revolut card in a cash machine a few days into the holiday (the card we usually use for card purchases and to get fee-free cash out of ATMs) so we ended up using my Halifax credit card instead (taken as our backup option for fee-free purchases). However, everywhere we went was so geared up for paying by card that we actually ended up with about £20 of cash left to waste at the airport (hence, the fourth giraffe item....!!). So what could have cost us a bomb turned out to be fine! Annnnnnd, WE FINALLY HAVE A RESOLUTION WITH EON. Our meter details have finally, after two years, been updated on the national database to be a single rate electricity meter rather than a dual rate, and they've given us a £150 "apology" which I sent straight over to the mortgage as an OP. Our fixed rate with EON expires on 4th October, so yesterday I arranged to switch to a 2 year fix with EDF (via MSE's Cheap Energy Club so we will get £25 cashback). I can't get over how much more expensive gas and electricity are now though, in comparison to our previous fix. The new one is about 15% more expensive than our last one so I've fixed for as long as we could!

In antimoneysaving news, our lodger will be moving out at some point in the next few months and we're not planning on getting anyone else in. This was always the plan - once we had two full incomes again, we'd not replace lodgers if they left. We're already down to one lodger from the two we had whilst I was doing my PhD. We intend to do a lot of stuff to the house (carpets, redecorating, insulating a very cold bedroom and potentially rewiring the house) that I can now finally start making plans for! It means we won't have as much spare cash around but I am so so so ready to finally live with just my husband (we had a rented flat just to ourselves for 11 months in 2013 but since then have always lived with other housemates).