My blog - January 2007
Working, Working, Working
January 25th 2007, 12:38pm
So our plan for this year is to pay off all our debts and then save up enough to be able to build ourselves a house next year. It's quite an ambitious plan, but it's worth setting our sights high. And it's looking more likely now, as I've just myself a new job, which I start in a couple of weeks, and Naomi got her NI number this morning, so she'll be able to work as well.
I've been reading various website about saving money, and realised that there are loads of things we can do to reduce how much we're spending so that more money can go to paying off debts. Like eating vegetarian food two or three times a week, making sandwiches at home and taking them to work instead of going to Morrisons in my lunch break, eating smaller portions, getting rid of my RAC subscription, remembering to invoice people for their webhosting, walking to places instead of driving, buying things in the market instead of the supermarket, changing my bank, my credit cards, our gas and electricity suppliers - and the list goes on. And it's worth doing - since if we only save a tenner a week, that adds up to £520 a year. Not to be sniffed at. I'm not sure why you'd want to sniff it anyway.
We're also having fun designing our house. It's way bigger than we'll probably be able to build, but you never know, we might manage it. We've been getting samples of various flooring materials and lots of brochures and catalogues, and trying to find out just how much various things cost and what would be viable and what would be a pipe dream. Bamboo flooring looks like it's the best way to floor a house, as it's cheap but looks nice (it looks like wood). Amtico vinyl flooring looks nice too and is extremely strong (I whacked it with the edge of a cast iron frying pan to test it and it only left a little scratch) but it costs a fortune. Real slate tiles can be pretty cheap too.
If anyone has any good ideas about how to build a good quality house cheaply, let us know!
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You Got A Fast Car
January 13th 2007, 9:33pm
Yesterday I got the exhaust fixed on my car - finally, after five visits to the exhaust place. The first time they didn't have the part, so they ordered it. The second time they fitted the part. Later that day it broke. The next day I went back and they said it was a dodgy part, and ordered another one. The next time I went, after fitting the replacement they realised it was also dodgy, so they ordered one from somewhere else. And yesterday I drove to the place, stalled the car and was unable to start it again. They pushed the car onto the ramp, fitted the exhaust, and then I called to RAC, who told me the ignition coil had broken. So this morning I bought a new coil and installed it (it took about five minutes to fit), and I had a properly working car for the first time since before Christmas (when I had the car serviced and discovered the exhaust was breaking).
Unfortunately, there still seems to be some kind of problem with the car - it still runs badly sometimes. I tried disconnecting the MAF sensor to see if the car would work better without it (apparently that's a good way to see if it's faulty), but it didn't help.
After fitting the ignition coil, Naomi and I drove to Towcester (pronounced Toaster) to meet a couple whose wedding we're going to be photographing. They're (probably) having their reception at Silverstone, so I got some photos of cars racing while we were there. It was pretty cool being in the British Racing Drivers' Club - with a Gold Star Award board which included names like Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill.
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Comment posted by Maret at 12:38pm on January 25th 2007
Wow,very ambitious,building your own house!and no I wouldn`t sniff at £520-that`s probably 2 months salary for me!!!Good luck!
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