No-One Expects The Spanish Inquisition.

A couple of reader picked up on a point I tried to hide in the text yesterday.

Yes, The Chap received a gas bill of £700 for the quarter. We live in a 3 bedroom house.

I am not worried about the Cats getting up the duff anymore as The Chap's had kittens!

I write a blog on how to reduce your outgoings and pay off your debt then go and then receive a quarterly gas bill for £700.... something is wrong somewhere.

Of course no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition which is exactly what I got when I returned home from work. Actually I got a text about it whilst still at work he was that upset.

But, not with me...

For you see I do not even know where the central heating control panel is. I think he suspects the cats..

Ofcourse the upshot is that gas usage is being reviewed. The Results

• We are changing supplier
• We have reviewed the when it will now be programmed. Not at all in the morning, and 4 hours from 6.30 - 10.30pm
• The thermostat has been turned down
• The Chap is looking into cavity wall insultation.
• We are also going to purchase draft excluders for the lounge.

I did point out that my combined bill at my 2 bed flat was considerably less than this, and so perhaps he should allow me to me to control the heating.

Watch this space!

Frugally yours
Abigail
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Modern Life

Modern technology is designed to make life easier.

Use email to save you time on posting. Call a person to save you time writing a letter. Use the dishwasher to save you time on washing up (God, I pray for a dishwasher).

So with all these "time savers" why do i feel like this?

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The holiday season is upon us now and colleagues are going away for a spell of summer sun sadly lacking in the UK. Since Friday I have been taking responsibility for my own workload plus the Director's. Friday evening I was on the phone at 10pm to a client and back on the damn thing at 9am Saturday.

I had to work late yesterday to get everything done, plus I was the recipient of a client's sharp tongued diatribe for a piece work I was only covering for.

I spend my work life emailing, faxing, texting and calling in an effort to meet an "immediate" client need that 15 years ago would have taken anyone in my industry a week to fulfill with no negative client effects.

But now humanity rushes around like busy bees, buzzing from one meeting to the next, trying to achieve deadlines of "yesterday" without the time to smell the flowers and breathe.

I need time to smell the flowers this week. I was lying in bed last night planning emails, work call and meetings that needed to be set up. I also thought about some documents I need to email today and alternations to our terms that needed to reviewed before the end of day. Not to mention where to locate a block paver for TC.

These are not restful thoughts. Modern technology is my biggest bugbear. Everyone feels they need a flat screen TV, ipad, internet enabled phone, or a hoover with a ball attached. Technology has become a consumable purchase and a status symbol needed to be regularly updated to keep up with society.

I am no hermit trying to live without the modern world. I do own an iphone, a digital camera and an mp3 player, and I love them all. But, they are all old models that I was bought (some of which were bought second hand) for me by family members. They all work perfectly well and make my life easier. But they are obviously old styles and those around me keep advising me to update the technology.

I will not replace these items unless items break and cannot be repaired and even then I know currently I could not afford replacements. Whilst I too am a fan of technology, I can and do predominantly live without it suffering no complaints.

So if someone gave me some money, what would I spend it on? Well the list is short 1) a haircut as it has not been cut since early January 2) resoling my boots 3) save the rest towards a new garage door.

Technology does not make my life easier. I make my life easier, and this evening in an effort to relax, I have decided to bake again as after a day spent looking at a computer screen. Doing something with my hands allows me to calm down and turn my attention away from the office.

But it could be interesting.... as yesterday evening in an effort to cut my gas bill I switched off the hot water timer and am going to try until the end of the month only heating water for a bath as and when I need it and boiling a kettle for daily washing. I have an electric shower so I can still access hot water as and when I need it.

I forgot to mention the last quarterly combined gas and electricity bill arrived a week ago - £249.00. B*ll*cks!

This could be a very interesting 16 days.

Frugally yours
Abigail
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Damn it, Damn it, Damn it! or A Failure To Report.

I am not having a good day today, I walked into work this morning and there was only half a pint of milk left, which would not do all of us all day for tea. As it is my responsibility to grab the milk (otherwise no-one buys it and I am evil without tea) I knew straight away I would have to grab some more cash at lunchtime. Bugger!

I had also checked my emails that morning and the utilities bill had arrived, I am on a dual fuel standard tariff and gave them my readings yesterday – so I knew it was on it’s way. But I was not particularly pleased to see it in black and white……£316.35 for the quarter.

I am naturally a very cold person and am rarely to be found in short sleeves, so I always know one of my biggest expenses is going to be gas and electricity. But at £105.45 per month, I am going to have to work something out for future. My aim is to get the next quarterly bill down to say £250.00. I think that is achievable. And I start tonight.

As I am away down south this weekend, off after work on Friday and back Sunday lunch time, I am going to turn everything off tomorrow as I leave W Towers to try and stop all expenditure on gas and electricity. I have changed most of my bulbs now to energy efficiency ones and I now switch anything I can off at the plug – Toaster, kettle, spare room lamps etc. But I am going to try a halogen heater I have been given one and see if I can make do with just that on in the living room of an evening even if only for a couple of nights per week. I think I am also going to stop the heating from coming on for an hour in the morning.

The negative side to this heater is every time I change channel on the tv etc it either starts rotating again or adds / removes another bar on the heater. Very eerie the first time it happened.

Organisation is proving to be invaluable again in saving money too. E.g. I changed my bed this evening rather than Sunday, so I am leaving the washed items on the line in the garage thus save on the tumble-drying costs.

I went to the cashpoint and picked up £50, much more than I ideally wanted to withdraw, but since I have such a journey ahead of me tomorrow I need to put more petrol in perhaps as much as £30 in to cover it and into next week. I will go to my local supermarket petrol station to do this where petrol is cheapest and I can pick up the reward points. Then hopefully the money I have left will get me through the weekend and perhaps into next week as well.

I am definitely going to try the £5 challenge again next week and see if I can last for 3-4 days on this during the week – really I should be able to this. I think I can get away with only a minimum amount of food shopping next week, but I need to look at the freezer and cupboards to check. I know I am very low on greens, and some basics are running out – milk, bread. But I will assess that on Sunday and let you know with my meal plan for the week.

So an expensive day – utilities bill and £50 out in cash. Gosh, do not want a day like that again for a while please!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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