Yeah, I used to dream of building a house out of green oak. I’d have been in my element!

Too bloody expensive now and this is assuming you could get land with permission at a sensible price in the right location.

Nezbo – Member

Spongebob – Cheers for that, I cant see me making much intrest over the small amount i am puttting in there and the time it will be in there for, maybe £50 max. So it is just for me to save the money for the tour and not to make money… (but £1m on the bonds would be nice though hehe)

Yep, it’s more of a piggy bank funtion and a short term means to an end.

Good luck and I hope your tour is an experience of a lifetime. I’m sure it will be worth every single penny!

krag – Member

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com is good for this kinda stuff, they have a premium bonds vs savings account calculator too.

+1 for recommending this site!

But experts also say you should never save money while you’ve also got outstanding debt that’s bearing a higher rate of interest than you can save at.

I totally agree!

I would recommend an offset mortgage to solve this problem of needing instant credit at low rates.

All your debt could be rolled into one and the interest payable at the rate of your mortgage. Mortgage rates are usually the lowest rates for borrowing. Credit cards are often 5 times that of a typical mortgage.

If you then are able to save some of you salary each month, this money automatically and instantly comes off the outstanding debt. This saves you a fortune over and above that of a non-offset mortgage.

The equivalent rate of interest on this offset money is probably 300% better than the rate you would get in any savings account and you don’t even have to think about managing it.

The only drawback is that you are putting all your eggs in one basket, but this is why the banks offer these products.

Actually, there is another drawback; if you keep adding to your debt and don’t pay it down, you will not save any money. Bit like transferring balances on credit cards offering 6 months free interest and when you keep spending.

When you are lucky enough to eventually pay your mortgage down to zero, you’ll still have instant credit to the value of your agreed mortgage in perpetuity. Very convenient, and very cheap!

I am also lead to beilieve that the other great benefit is, if you loose you job when you have money offsetting your morgage, the IR still sees the full debt and so you can claim the interest on the full balance. To me that sounds like having your cake and eating it, but my friend is currently in this situation assures me he can legitimately claim. We’ll see if he’s got that right in due course. Perhaps I should get a mortgage! 😉

Direct debit into a deposit account with your bank? Online accounts often pay competitve rates. That’d be the easiest.

I wouldn’t worry about interest too much, the rates are rubbish at the moment. E.G. If you found an account paying 3% and put the full £5k in now, you would only get £100 odd after tax, but you are only putting in £125 a month, so you wouldn’t get anything worth mentioning relatively speaking. The banks are having it all their own way again!!

If you were saving for the long term, Tax free is worthwhile if the rate is competitive. The idea is you keep money in tax free savings and transfer it from provider to provider at the end of each year (if required) to get the best available rate at the time. The annual allowance is not great, but over time, you’ll amass a significant sum of money on which you’ll get tax free interest. A very nice, especially if you are a higher rate tax payer and the rate is decent.

I wouldn’t bother with term accounts on small sums, just look for the best rate (if you are saving long term).

Premium Bonds are hopeless as a savings vehicle. You won’t get any interest and the prizes are unlikely to come anywhere near what you would get if you stuck the money in an average savings account. Of course, you could win a million pounds and this is the benefit for the cost of seeing your invested sum depreciate year on year. In summary, if you can afford to have a flutter, but want to keep your bet, go for it. It’s much better value than the Lottery and the odds are probably far better stacked in your favour (but still very very long). I would always consider Premium Bonds as a “nice to have” in addition to the majority of your money which should be invested elsewhwere.

Of course, if you have large sums to invest, things become much more complicated. This is advice is for people with a few grand’s worth of savings to look after, not an investment portfolio. For that you need a professional advisor.

Hope you get it sorted out quickly cinnamony!!

Abysmal choice of tiling and paving, aside from other things which turned what could have been a delightful development into the resulting confused bland disappointment!

The husband seemed to contradict himself – he wanted reclaimed tiles for the roof of the guildhall, but then put new Travertine limestone tiles on the floor inside?!?! WTF! He rejected the original herringbone brick work and used it somewhere obscure in the courtyard. Muppet! How did the building conservators/council let him get away with that? The owner made refereces to the fact he was only the guardian of the building. So why did he vandalise it then??

The courtyard had horrible concrete slabs laid unimaginatively in a straight path from gate to fron door. Wrong materials, no design. It looked shxt!

The paint used on the guildhall looked a bit “Chigwell” and so was a lot of the furniture.

The use of pressed hardboard georgian panel doors was laughable! Why not Suffolf latch braced and ledged oak doors??? It is a Suffolk barn and not a Wimpey home!

The bland sand coloured tiles in the barn looked vile and that stained glass window! What a completely unsuitable piece ofcrap that was. Totally out of context with the building. What was going on inside that guy’s head when he decided he needed that?

The owner wouldn’t know a good piece of architecture if it slapped him in the face! My advice to him would be to let his wife make all the design decisions.

I’m going for Sennheiser earphones next time.

My current earphones are Etymotic Reserach Er-6i’s. They sound great, but i’e had to replace the cabling as the old ones went open circuit. They were only two years old when they faiied and I suspect this was down to the somewhat stiff cable insulation.

Etymotic were pretty useless in telling me that I would have to replace them and that they could not be repaired. As I’d paid £70 for them, I was’t going to chuck them without having a go. It was a very fine soldering job, but it worked.

This isn’t the only problem however. As this headphone brand usually caters for the professional sector, you end up with a choice of different earbuds and filters. This would be fine if Etymotic didn’t charge a small fortune for these essential items.

I bought these because the choice of in-ear headphones was extremely limited then. I just wish i’d waited!

Aside from the clunky appearance, these do a fantasitic job of shutting out ambient noise and reproducing music, but next time I would like a product from a more mainstream brand.

Sennheiser are an “old hand” in headphones and i’ve had several pairs of headphones by them, so I don’t think you could find a much better supplier od affordable units.

There are earphones which cost over £100 (some cost much more than that). I know that in most cases these will be better than the cheaper one’s, but i know the improvements are not proportionate to price and earphones don’t last and are prone to getting lost/damaged. So don’t waste your money. £40 would be my maximum budget. That way, when they fail after a couple of years or so, it won’t be a problem to chuck them away and buy a new pair.

Wow, epic response! 😆

when you’re jobless

Your not the only one!

Hairychested – Member

Spongebob, when you’re jobless and have a bike to finish, how can you spend £200 on a netbook? Especially when there are people around who’ll help you so you won’t have to.
I’d love a new Samsung netbook, or an HP or whatever is great, but unless this week’s European Lottery numbers come up as expected I won’t have it.

Fix your one with scrounged components then!

Or go lurk at your local tip until someone brings an old PC to chuck away.

Or “pike” one out of your local charity shop wheelie bin (they can’t sell non-PAC tested kit, so they throw everything).

HP COMPAQ 311C-1020SA Cheap reconditioned unit.

A high performance Netbook with larger 11.6″ screen. My mate has one and rates it highly. He’s had a few high spec laptops through work and is an IT expert, so i trust his opinion.

Have a look at some reviews.

I might get one if I can get one at the right price, but the going rate on Amazon has recently leapt up from £239 (delivered) to £299! WTF!

ALL lights now work but the dashboard thingy now thinks the RIGHT light is faulty (was left before that was actually not coming on at the light cluster). I’m leaving well alone.

I’d still try and sort out what is causing the problem.

After the GP has determined that it is nothing more than a back spasm as an ongoing problem which was caused by your initial fall, he’ll get you to rest for a few days, then start you on a course of physiotherapy (if you have insurance). If not, expect a wait.

You could pay for your sessions privately to speed things up, but then the NHS would most probably refuse to fund anymore treatment.

I had accupuncture on one physio session for a bad back and my late sister (who was an experienced physio) said this was definitely wortwhile, not some mumbo jumbo “alternative” remedy. It did seem to help in my case, although I hated the thought of having a few dozen needles shoved in my back all at once!

In my case the injury came about hoofing large bits of computer kit up and down flights of steps and through a series of awkward narrow double doors. My employer refused to buy me a folding trolley and ended up footing 2 weeks of paid sick leave. I’m sure the untrusting twunts thought I was skiving.

After my sessions, the physio gave me mobility exercise which she said I would have to do for the rest of my life. Well I don’t often bother, but resuming these a day or two after I get over the discomfort of the strain does seem to put things right again.

But you know what? I would take the advice of health professionals only and take what you read here with a pinch of salt (including my post).

Stay off the bike though!

Hope you get better soon!

I cant imagine the petrol is without faults, but they dont seem as problematic as the diesel models with regards to DMF’s, injectors, & they’ve a turbo that could go pop. As much as I like our old Mondeo, I fear the fear of some big bills will force its replacement.

Which is why, after having tried out all the main brands over many years as a company car driver, I bought VAG car. Sorry, but aside from having worn out several Fords cars, i’ve worked in their Dunton research centre, the Dagenham factory when it made cars and Warley HQ. I also know personally a couple of the engineers.

I’m sure things are better than they used to be, but I wouldn’t chance buying a Ford, even if it was engineered in Germany. They are good to start with, but then things do break. Reliability is not as bad as it used to be, but some brands just don’t seem to suffer from this in the same way. I think the root of the problem with Ford stems from the American influence; perhaps they were a little too cost conscious.

Personally i would take the connectors off and (preferably) solder and heatshrink them

+1

And dab on some varnish to seal the heatshrink if you are feeling particulaly fastidious (’tis what we used to do when i was in the factory assembling military grade electronics).

I suspect the fault lies somewhere between the lamp and the junction where the cables supplying it meet the connectors for the wires that latch on to the loom for the towbar light socket.

First meter out the earth between the lamp and the chassis for cintinuity. If this is OK inspect the sockets and lamps and meter the lamps for continuity.

Then find the switched line for the brake light. Chase it back using a multi-meter. Check continuity and for voltage on this line with the brake applied. Test for voltage at all identified points including the pin out on the socket which drives the light board lamps.

Make sure the socket is actually wired correctly.

Check for any inline connections in the loom and ensure the terminals are free of corrosion and put them back so they are seated properly.

My car which is probably slightly bigger than a Mondeo returns a combined mileage of 55-60mpg, but i avoid town driving as much as possible and make my longer journeys at quiet times (65mpg easily achieved on a run).

I could put my wife behind the wheel and she’d shave 20% off that. My mum would do the same, but they aren’t fast drivers.

I’d say the problem is a combination of driving style and the nature of short stop start journeys in town. Town driving fuel performance is affected much more greatly by the driving style as driving efficiently becomes very much more challenging in this environment, but even the best drivers will still use up a lot more fuel per mile.

My running costs are not high. In fact for the same car in oil burner format I’m not too far away from them mpg wise and my servicing costs less.

Wow, that’s sounds like an amazing car! A family sized V6 petrol car that can do anything close to 65mpg on out of town journeys and over 50mpg combined?

Can you tell me the model so I can get one and convert it to LPG?

My 4cyl. diesel powered large family estate has comparable torque to a V6, but I always thought mine was vastly better on fuel.

As my particular brand has variable service intervals based on various factors, including drivng style, I get about 20-22 months between services. I’ve had 3 standard serives costing around £225 and one of £600 (cambelt and water pump (switched as a precaution it is easy to get to when the cambelt is accessible). My recent last service was through an independant garage, which will last until Christmas 2011 cost £150. This works out at about £135 per annum. Not bad for a large family saloon!

With my own car I can stick it in 5th and go from 15mph to the wrong side of 150mph, it’s petrol powered.

Oh dear!

True dat. I had a lift with a bloke at work, and he was simply stamping on (and off) all three pedals. I felt sick within a mile.

Jerky driving stresses everyone out, even the driver! If you took his blood pressure before and after driving, even when he thought he felt calm, you would see some shocking results.

The trick is to be gentle with the controls and have a smooth action. A lot of racing drivers will tell you this and it doesn’t slow them down does it?

Rough treatment of the controls will wear everything out prematurely and be likely to break something.

I have always been kind on the controls, but have slowed down a lot in recent years. Diesels brought this about and when I switched from a company car. I’m almost on the 1 Million mile mark, so I think I know what i’m talking about.

Diesels take ages to warm up

Simply not true! It takes a few minutes.

Modern Diesels in cars like this aren’t noisy. Infact you would be hard pressed to hear much difference once you get moving. It’s been like this for the good brands for twenty years nearly.

Saw another couple of misguided comments about premature tyre wear.

The benefit of a diesel over a petrol is the tons of torque you have on tap if you should need it. So you can drive without lots of gear changes and pistons popping out of the bonnet when you need to get a move on, but you don’t have to do this all the time. If you learn to use this power sensitively, you will get extended tyre life (I got 39k out of my first set of tyres on my 1.9Tdi 130Bhp).

Extended high speed driving eats rubber too, so keep you speed down and stay off motorways – can only be good for road safety, the environment, your wallet and your health!

Some people simply aren’t at one with their machine. I know two people who drive at what people would regard as a pretty normal pace. One has a diesel the other has a petrol. They get through tyres, brakes and fuel like there’s no tomorrow, but for no tangible benefit whatsoever! In either one of these cars, when I reset the fuel computer, I can drive over similar terrain, but getting at least 30% more miles to the gallon. I’m certainly not a slow driver, infact i find people generally dither and faff for no apparent reason. Most frustrating, so where ever possible, I opt to drive when others aren’t.

An automatic gearbox for these people would mitigate this, assuming it was a variomatic. I’d hazard a guess that at least 80% of drivers are wasting 25% of the fuel they buy. Imagine how much cheaper fuel would be if these drivers learned to drive efficiently, but i digress.

I find myself thinking about paying out for fuel for any given significant individual journey and when the prospect of going off anywhere arises, it’s always a big plus knowing you aren’t going to be pumping uneccessary additional CO, CO2 into the atmosphere, but for me it’s principally about hanging on to my cash. I have a friend who has a gas guzzler and he never goes anywhere in it and always complains about the cost (e.g. £280 v my £75 for a return trip to the Lake District).

Buy the diesel, it is more expensive to buy, but you’ll get a large proportion of that back (maybe more). The residual of a petrol could spectacularly fall out of bed, thus costing you a lot more than you bargained for. Conversely, diesels hold their value because of the obvious benefits, one of which would be the lower road fund licence.

Mountain goats do that!

I watched them hoping about precariously when in Austria. They look like they are going to fall but never do.

And the point of this thread is?

Don’t rely on the Freeview checker website!

It says I can’t yet get a full Freeview service until 2011, despite having enjoyed recieving all available broadcast Freeview channels for at least the past 8 years! Not had any interuptions to any channel.

My box has also worked with all of the multiplex re-assignments to date.

Pie’n’chipspersonals.com 😆

I think the behaviour of these predatory women is shocking! 😆

I completed a substantial number of these between the ages of 6 and 13. Then I moved on to balsa aeroplane kits. I built several planes and a lovely Kielcraft boat kit. It’s a 34″ scale model of a navy fire tender and after 34 years is still nestling in a box in my loft. I keep meaning to get it out and refurb it, but have enough stuff to think about (like posting on here). 😆

You are their means to an end (if they have the nouse to understand what you have to offer, or exactly what their clinet wants).

Don’t expect anything from them, they’re only interested in the relationship they have with their client!

Sad sad news!

I was watching the news story and whilst it was a sombre affair, I found myself smiling at the video clips.

He was a proper proper funny man!

What’s the complaint actually about?

Get her a card and take her out to dinner. Simples!

Having children is a lifestyle choice – why should those who earn decent money get benefits because they’ve chosen to have offspring?

I would dispute the idea that having children is a lifestyle choice. Isn’t it more about the innate human desire to reproduce? Having children is not exclusive to those who earn decent money either!

If you look at the facts, middle earners defer having children until much later on, until they feel they can afford to give that child a good start. They carefully weigh up the costs and make sure they can support their actions responsibly.

Conversely, people at the on low incomes/no incomes frequently don’t even consider the impact having a child has on houshold income. Money concerns are not on the radar as they know they can get benefits and support if needed. Or perhaps they were too stupid to realise that they weren’t going to be able to afford a child. Whatever the reasons, they start families much earlier and are more likely to have more children.

Then there are those who make a career out of pressing out babies and this “lifestyle choice” costs society a fortune! The majority of these kids dont get a good start as they live on the borderline of poverty. Their uneducated parents have no clue how to give their children a good start either. You won’t stop this minority behaving so totally irresponsibly, but there should be firm moves to encourage good parenting!

I think you will find that far more people earn less than 45k than above that amount, and pay far more in tax and ni contributions as a group.

NO! You haven’t been listening! Child benefit is going to be cut for joint incomes exceeding £45K. Most housholds have two people working and the average UK income is £26k. I would hazard a guess that most housholds in the the South have incomes exceeding £45k and a great deal else where. £45k is a pretty poor houshold income for the SE region, bordering on inadequate.

It doesn’t matter who you vote for, if you are on an average, or slightly above average salary, expect to bear the brunt of tax rises – ALWAYS!

This is because people like you form the overwhelming majority of people who pay into the revenue’s coffers.

People with high incomes don’t feel any significant pain, but policy usually favours them and they can afford accountants to help mitigate their liabilities. As wealthy people are usually high acheivers, they are well equiped to swerve paying and as they are a minority, the revenue generally leave them alone. E.G. Loosing child benefit when you earn £100k is an irrelevance!

This issue is all about how much you have left each month for discretionary spend. A poor person has pretty much none, a middle earner has a little and a top earner has masses. As percentage, the loss of a benfit for a middle earner has a big impact. Neither of the other two groups sees any difference. The low earner sees no change and the high earner sees no change worth considering.

It’s those at the bottom of the scale who won’t ever have to stump up. They will qualify for everything. There’s no incentive for these people to save money or even to keep working. Take a family on a low income in a small dwelling. If they are working, they won’t have much spare cash, they won’t be able to pay much in tax, but they have kids to educate, need medical care etc just like any other family do. Then imagine the breadwinner loosing his job. They’ll get their rent/mortgage interest paid, council tax paid and umpteen benefits bringing their income up to the same (or more) than when the household was economically productive.

A third of your taxes goes on this!

Tax is never fair and middle earners will always have to pay more than their fair share. What I vote for is a party that avoids piling on debt for wasteful non-commercial causes and therefore higher taxes – simple!

Why can’t religous people respect aetheists’ views?

To select the ideal tube line, look at the TFL website and download the tube map. As for stations, any at the extremities of the network, but it depends on which motorway you are using to drive down. You might be better off getting the train from your region, but this will undoubtedly cost a lot more than driving (stupid given that trains are supposed to be green due to economies of scale etc).

CHECK TFL’s SITE FOR SCHEDULED ENGINEERING WORKS FOR YOUR CHOSEN DATE. AVOID LINES WITH REDUCED SERVICES. REPLACEMENT BUS SERVICES ARE PAINFULLY SLOW!

Oxford street around Marble Arch Tube and going due east towards Tottenham Court Road has a lot of shops catering for young fashion conscious people. There are quite a few large flagship stores. This is a very short walk from Carnaby Street. Covent Garden also has a good few young fashion clothes shops including a 4 storey Jack Wills branch. This is walkable within 20-30 mins from Carnaby Street, or you can catch a bus or get back on the Tube. The Piazza Covent Garden has a great buzz with an open market and street entertainers. There are various places you could eat there.

Why not look at Google Maps Street View!?

Harrods is a very interesting place to visit, a tube ride west, but is usually pretty expensive. I don’t think youngsters are too well catered for, but I might be wrong. For fashion, Harvey Nichols a few doors up from Harrods would probably be more appropriate, but that isn’t a cheap shop either.

Have fun and brace yourself for a wallet bashing! 😆

I haven’t done this. I expect it would make a difference.

The 3ft void should be ventilated and so insulating could create issues.

Perhaps you could cut foam/ploystyrene sheeting to fit between the joists, close up to the underside of the floorboarding, but I would speak to an expert.

The Audi because it’s the cheapest on tax!

It’s only a company car and these are all great vehicles.

Spend the tax you save on something nice for the kiddy on their birthday and Christmas!

Alternatively, is there car a allowance option to consider? You could buy a car 18 months old and switch it when you get bored with it, or if your needs change etc. You would save a pile of money in tax and have something of your own. Depends on if the monthly allowance and mileage rate are good enough, you won’t have to do starship mileage and you can fund a loan/afford to buy the vehicle outright.

I never regretted the switch to a private car after first carefully doing the numbers.

you can get free unlock codes if you google it. Worked for me.