Cutting Costs

Since my lovely Carol passed away in December, my financial situation has been in meltdown. You may have read in my blog posts about my situation regarding Housing Benefit and Teachers' Pensions as well as more recently Pension Credit and the fact that the D.W.P. had discovered that Carol had paid into a pension when she worked in Bournemouth. Still no response regarding all this but those people for work for these government departments work slowly. (One speed, slow and stop.) But elsewhere I have managed to reduce my outgoings, Anglian Water have cut my bill to an amazing £6 per month and I recently ditched Sky television. I now have a Panasonic Freeview box which does virtually the same as a Sky Q box, including being able to record television programmes as well as having catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, ITV Hob (is it called ITV Player? I don't know.) as well as the Channel 4 catch-up service. No real difference in picture quality or any loss or anything-quality and, frankly, I don't miss Sky in the slightest, except possibly the amount I paid per month. I am still with their broadband, nothing changed there, and it's around £28 per month, and also I have Sky Mobile, which I set up around 4 months ago, with a brand new iPhone 7 and my monthly bill for that is an amazing £19.50 and they doubled my data usage for the same price, which can't be bad. Also, at the end of each month, any data that isn't used can be saved and either added to the next month's data or can be cashed in for accessories for your mobile, which is one of the reasons I chose to move to Sky Mobile.

The last thing that needed sorting was my car insurance. I knew it was about to need renewing. Then I got a letter in the post marked Swinton Insurance, the company which I have the motor insurance with. Last year's premium was just over £1000 and this year the just under half of that, with a monthly payment of around £48. Which pleases me, as you can imagine.

Then earlier in the month I got a telephone call from SSE, and they can reduce my yearly payment for gas and electricity by around £300. Being on a pay-as-you-go meter system it means you never get behind with a bill and can see from the meters how much you are using, but I would like to have a smart meter because you can see how much power you are using and also pay via an app or on-line rather than having to top up at a shop. But, as you will know if you read my blog posts, that I've had two companies say they can install a smart meter but when they arrive at look in the meter cupboard, they say they can't go ahead because they would need to drill a hole through into the house, basically because the gas meter is on the outside, in the meter cupboard, whilst the electricity meter is on the inside of the house. Why on earth were they not put together in one place? It makes life difficult if the gas runs out in the winter, you have to go outside with the step stool and a torch, especially when it's cold and dark, and it's quite an effort to then put the card in the slot in the meter and go through the process of checking the amount left on the meter etc etc. But the work has to be done by my beloved landlord who doesn't want to spend any money on anything in this house, and that would include dealing with the smart meter.

I have now learned that my current tariff includes what is called Economy 7, which means that the cost of electricity is a good deal cheaper over night, which I never knew. Which means in the long run it would be cheaper to do my washing at night and hopefully save quite a considerable amount on my electricity bill. Goodness knows why I haven't discovered this fact until now I have no idea. 

Spring Sprung and Smart Meter No Go

(Monday)We were out earlier than usual this morning. Alfie can't wait to get out the door, he barely give me time to eat a bowl of breakfast cereal and drink a cup of tea. It was bright and sunny, but stlll chilly.

(Tuesday) I was surprised that there was ice on the car's windscreen this morning. I soon got rid of it with a spray of antifreeze. I had a good time with the drama students at Camphill. They are really good at remembering their lines. I had to stand in and speak for some of those who weren't available to rehearse.

(Thursday) Taking out Alfie for his early-morning walk (more like trot.) around Eaglestone Park, and we have been out well before 6.30. I don't know what the local residents think when they hear Alfie's barking as we leave the house. The trees are well and truly coming into leaf, intact the whole place is greening up well, so I think it's very clear to me that spring has sprung.

I'm clearing out more of Carol's stuff and have another two bags to take to Barnardo's in Oldbrook. The job is going slowly, but I'm getting there. Still not entirely sure what my situation is regarding accommodation, because I can't afford to stay in this house. I think I need to find a smaller home with one bedroom and with an enclosed garden for Alfie's safety. Infact, it needs to be dog friendly.

I've seen more birds on the feeding station. Although the lounge window is difficult to see through because the double glazing has got damp inside it and it's not possible to clean off. Whoever put in the double glazing in this house had absolutely no concept of the idea of how it works and the seal which is supposed to create a vacuum has been broken and this is what is causing the damp inside the air space between the two layers of glass. It looks really horrible, but there is very little I can do about it, and as a result it's difficult to get a clear view through the glass. It's a great shame, because it means I don't get a decent view of the bird station. It's the same with the window in my bedroom. That is really dirty and damp, meaning you don't get a clear view out.

I was expecting to have a smart meter installed tomorrow. This was after I got a telephone call from the company called Boost, who are part of OVO, around six weeks ago. We have been with Utility Warehouse in all the time we've lived at this house, but Carol was reluctant to change to a different supplier for our electricity and gas. We had a supplier come out around 2 years ago to install a smart meter, but when they inspected the cupboard (which is on the front outside wall of the house, facing the road.) they decided that it wouldn't be possible, basically because the gas meter is in the bin cupboard (outside) whilst the electricity meter is on the inside. If the new smart meter was to be installed they would need to drill a hole in the wall because they would need the cable to be installed in the smart meter. When Boost originally rang me, I told them there would be a problem, but they wouldn't have it. But the installers came TODAY! I had only just got in from doing some shopping. It was well I came back when I did otherwise they wouldn't have been able to inspect the cupboard. I never got any sort of communication from Boost to remind me which day they were supposed to visit, either a letter, an email or even a text message. I had to find their telephone number on line and then ring to confirm the day and time. It seems crazy that they couldn't communicate and then come a day too early! So, I will have to continue topping up the gas and electricity with the keys and card although it won't be in  smart meter which would make it easier as you can pay in a variety of way, via an app, or on line as well as with key and card, which you top up at a local shop.

Later. 3.25 p.m. It's really warm and sunny a few more birds flitting on and off the bird feeding station. I will have to fill the peanut feeder up. It's very low on food. I think the blue tits like this particular food. The other newer feeders don't seem to be so busy, or busy at all as I don't think any birds have visited them.

Later still. I was watching 'Money For Nothing' on BBC1. I had made a lovely cup of tea (actually a mug, but never mind) and had one of my own chocolate chip cookies to munch on. I was around five minutes into the programme (one of my favourite daytime shows.) when there was a knock on the front door. I was not best pleased that I had to get up to answer the door, but when I got there I discovered a man trying to encourage me to have a smart meter installed. What is going on here? He knew that I am on a pay-as-you-go tariff. I explained that I'd had engineers here this morning inspecting things with the idea of installing a smart meter and that they said it couldn't be done (see the above.)  He told me that I should get a lower tarriff because I couldn't have a smart meter installed. Whether this is going to happen I don't know, but this is beginning to get about as annoying as the constant phone calls telling me I can claim PPI. Which is crazy, because I have never had a loan on which PPI would have been paid.

(Friday) I've been attempting to get up in the morning a good deal later. I think it was habit to be up and about before 6 a.m. because that's what time I got up when Carol was going to work as a science teacher at Milton Keynes Academy. We would always start our day at around 5.45 with a cup of tea and watch BBC Breakfast. We'd then have a bowl of breakfast cereal and then Carol would go off to the Academy by around 7.15 a.m. She was always there about an hour before everyone else. Typical of Carol, working hard and usually sorting out other people's problems for them and not really getting any sort of reward or acknowledgement. So, this morning, I was more than keen to not get up quite so early, even though Alfie wasn't too pleased. So we went out at around 7.45. A lovely bright and sunny spring morning. It's certainly a good deal warmer than it has of late. The clocks move forward an hour on Sunday, so it will be light even earlier by this time next week.

Stupendous September

It's turning out to be an exceptionally warm September- so far. As I write this, the sun is out. The last few days it's been unseasonably warm, particularly at night. Clammy, rather than merely warm. I think this is what's termed an 'Indian Summer.' But I don't understand where the term comes from. Having now 'Googled' the term, it appears that a so-called Indian Summer should be in October or November. Usually, after we've had a frost. We certainly haven't had any frost.  It's thought to have come from American Indians rather than from the continent of India. But there appears to be no actual known history of the term. 

As a result of the exceptional weather we've had, it would look as if we're in for a bumper harvest of blackberries all along the Redway behind Eaglestone, where I always manage to harvest these berries (see later blog posts.) In a couple of days no doubt I've been out there collecting them.

We were due to have smart meters installed yesterday. We had a letter from our gas and electricity suppliers, Utility Warehouse. I rang as soon as I received the letter. It was going to be free, but when the workmen came yesterday morning it turned out that they wouldn't be able to install the meters because whoever put in the old meters didn't allow enough space in the hole which was drilled between the outside cupboard where the gas meter is and the electric meter which is on the wall just inside and opposite the meter cupboard, so this can't be done safely. We could let our landlord know about this and get him to sort it out (no way am I ringing him. I'd rather not let him get involved as he will use 'a friend' to do the work and no doubt cause more problems in an attempt to cut costs. I think it's best left alone, thinking about it now.)

Being so warm, particularly at night, we have to have to have the windows open. As a result, you can hear all sorts of noises. If a dog barks outside, this often sets our two dogs off barking. Late last night we kept hearing a really odd sound, not unlike a sort of siren. But was it? And where was it? Was it at the prison? Had a prisoner escaped? Or had someone absconded from the Campbell Centre, which is within the hospital grounds, which is just behind us in Eaglestone? It's a so-called 'secure unit' for mental patients. If you walk past, as we often do if we go to the hospital (it's easier to walk through along the Redway, rather than drive there and pay to use the carpark.) you walk quickly past. There's a high fence, chain-link, or what you call it, with lots of closed-circuit television cameras. Anyway, this odd sound was somewhat eerie. Or was it some factory somewhere? Who knows. We certainly couldn't think of anything else during the night. Also, people riding motorbikes along the Redway. They should be doing that as it's for bicycles without engines. I have rung the police about this on several occasions, but by the time they got here the cyclists would be gone. I have seen these people, riding those mini motorbikes. Could be nasty if they ran into a person walking along minding their own business. Probably got no insurance either