What are you all up to

Pleased that you made it home without any problems, Richard. You were fortunate not having any ho!dups, as we had 3 coming from Huby to Settle, but glad we were going from East to West as, in the opposite direction, there was a 2 ml queue heading into Ilkley! It has been a fine day, and even warm at times, and had we been stopping at Lower Banks Farm OH would have done a final round of washing. Maybe it will be the same tomorrow and she can get it done then.

Enjoy your weekend away Francis, and everyone else too, be you out in your units or at home.

Ouch!   That is quite a bit, but radiators do seem to have got much more expensive recently.

I have only had to  change one in our house, and that because it was getting a bit rusty.  However I managed to order the wrong size, 10 cm longer, so had to alter the pipework.  Did it while the new boiler was being fitted.  To avoid taking up the floor I just extended the pipe beneath the radiator, it  is not too obvious.

DD has had me double up on several of her radiators, 5 I think, they just were not putting out sufficient heat for her liking, so went from single panel type to double panel double convector type.  I also installed a slim  vertical one in her utility room where there had not been one before, it was very cold in there.  And she has had me fit much larger towel warmer ones in all 3  bathrooms, with electric elements for summer use.

The house is almost 100 years old, so not the warmest of houses,  but even the newish extension added by the previous owners has smaller radiators than ideal.  Can only think they were hardier than we are!

I think we do feel the cold more as we get older, and probably also as we are more sedentary these days.  We like 21/22 degrees in the lounge for sitting, so feel it is cold in her house as they were using only  18/19.   That is fine when moving around cooking, cleaning  etc, but they do use heated throws when watching TV.  When we are looking after the boys, she does relent and turn the living room up to 21.

We are only heating the rooms we use when we use them, so very pleased with how our "smart" TRVs are performing 

Thank you- and thanks to WN. I’m not sure what we will do and will probably decide after Christmas. I rushed to book tickets (front row both nights) knowing that I can sort out travel (or not) later. We go to a lot of gigs there as it’s only 40/45 minutes from home. It’s a wonderful old theatre with amazing friendly staff and volunteers.

Car insurance - we’re with NFU and when I rang to change to our new car I was amazed as it is £87 cheaper for a newer, higher spec model. I didn’t argue!

Kj

A few years ago I would have changed the pipework myself but I am now of an age where crawling around on the floor is quite painful with my knees even if I use a pad to kneel on. The plumbers I used charge £70 an hour plus VAT which I suspect is par for the course here. All trades are in high demand because of all the house building going on around us. There is a YouTube channel you might be interested in called the Gosforth Handyman (not sure if I have mentioned it before?) He does some analysis of building costs and how much trades people charge. His view was that it needs to be a very minimum of £40 hour/£200 a day for it to be worthwhile. This was probably for just general building with more skilled trades charging more. Whilst the man on the ground doesn't get that, but by the time you take in other expenses and overheads of running the business like vehicles and office staff etc you can start to understand what seem like sky high prices?

We are still running on last years temperatures of 17 overnight and then gradual rise from 18.5 in the morning to 19 mid afternoon and 19.5 during the evening. I suspect the evening temperature might need adjusting when it gets colder? Strangely in cold weather the boiler works more so a rise in temperature might not need to be more than half a degree? Energy costs are still high and with less support this year so it will be interesting to see how the winter pans out viz a viz costs?

David

Goldie

That seems quite a result given all the reports we are hearing about massive rises in insurance costs. When I swapped cars earlier in the year I had to pay a one off fee because it was a larger and more expensive car than the one it replaced. Not sure I am looking forward to January when its up for renewal. All our insurances, car, motorhome, house follow on an almost monthly basis so it could be an expensive start to the year?

David

We rang NFU this morning for a quote - they were £250 more expensive than the quote from our existing insurer, and that was 82% more than last year! 

Just shows that insurance varies wildly and all depends on each individual's details. 

So, we'll carry on getting quotes, something to occupy us on a rainy day

I found the same, mine was £21 cheaper with LV but the road tax was £35 more so overall it worked out a tad more expensive.

peedee

To be honest it’s hard to see what controls the cost of car insurance currently, other than existing insurers trying it on, in the hope you won’t notice and it will automatically renew. Mine and the OH’s car insurance come up for renewal in October and November.  They were both with Churchill and have been for quite a few years. So far we have been happy to let the renewal go through. This year  although we haven't claimed and nothing else has changed, apart from we are now 71 instead of 70, both increased by 35%. As a result I switched both to Tesco and we are paying substantially less than we did last year. It could be just to get our business and it will leap up next year, or might be that since I put the club card in to get a discount, they know how much we spend with them and hope for that to continue. Either way I was very pleased and if it leaps up next year, perhaps Churchill will offer a good deal to get us back.

"Energy costs are still high and with less support this year so it will be interesting to see how the winter pans out viz a viz costs?"

we are fortunate to be still on our 3 year fixed deal taken out before all the very large increases and it does not expire until November 2024, however, it is confusing now as to what payments we will get for winter fuel payments etc. If you ever watch Martin Lewis there seem to be a raft of payments out there but for most you are only entitiled if you are receiving a payment such as pension credit etc. We have just had a letter from DWP to say we will be receiving £250 each as winter fuel payment and cost of living payment. the criteria for payment is to be born before 24 Sept 1957 and living with someone else who qualifies.