Hi All,

I had FTTP installed by Open reach, as part of my switch to BT. I'm starting to look around for deals from any of the other ISPs.

When I compare the deals by my postcode, I have a full list (Sky, Vodafone, NOW etc). My problem is, when I actually go to the providers website, my address isn't listed as an available connection, although some of my neighbours addresses are on the list. BT (my current provider) seems to be the only one available to me, so I'm missing out on switch offers.

Any advice on how I can go about resolving this?

Thanks

Any good online ideas that are cheap

Hi, I'm at my parents and they're currently paying around £70p/m for their phone and broadband - they get 15mb down but only 1mb up, the problem then is if you try to upload anything (eg Google Photos starts backing up) it completely cripples their download you

You can get unlimited data for around £15 on some providers, I've just checked my mobile data here and via 4G I'm getting 16mb down but also 15mb up which is a huge improvement

Can I just buy a 4G router like this and put a SIM in? https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-300Mbps-cutting-edge-streaming-TL-MR105/dp/B0CTCZLFX7/

Thank you

Lidl sells a KG of chicken legs for 2 pounds

Boneless Thighs though are priced at 5 pounds

I’m in London (forgot to mention that earlier)

Do local butchers sell it for cheaper?

Torn between the two, for the price of the Meaco I can get a bigger probreeze on sale on Amazon for Black Friday.

However, Meaco does have the edge in running cost, but any experience with Probreeze themselves?. Never heard of them, everyone I spoken to which is a limited pool has said Meaco.

Bought an 800ml spray bottle of Zoflora anti bac spray on Monday and 5 days later it's nearly all gone. We clean a lot as we live rural, surrounded by mud, with two dogs. We have also had mice recently (think we’ve sorted it now) so even more conscious of keeping the place clean. So cleaning products get used up fast.

Can someone recommend something more cost effective maybe, that you might mix yourself, that smells good, and does a good job? Thanks

We have been receiving mail from electrical bills that were unpaid by the previous occupiers of our flat amounting to £1k. I have tried to call them to say that they have left the property and I have switched providers and they acknowledged it but still send mail regarding this and has sent another saying that someone will come by to sort it out. How can I not end up paying for this mess the previous occupiers made? Thanks!

I don’t want the hassle of selling on eBay, Marketplace or a second hand site. I know that Cex and Music Magpie might offer me less money but it’s worth saving the faff. But which out of those sort of places are more likely to give me a better valuation? My family have a few old laptops (2-5 years old) that I want to sell off.

These aren’t often in stock. The originals are £200, the reviews say they’re good, so they’re a bargain. Available in trad orange or snot green. Got the last orange one…

I bought a laptop for £1,059 from John Lewis last month, now with black friday which i forgot about, the same laptop is £400 cheaper at £600.

I'm thinking of returning the laptop and buying a similar one from a different retailer. Has anyone else done this before? John Lewis states it needs to be under 30 days an unused, although I have used it, it's still in perfect condition with everything included. Could I get away with sending it back?

Hi,

Looking to pick up a phone (refurbished is fine) and SIM for my son. Moneysavingexpert have a great tool for both, but I wondered if there are any other sites our resources good for finding deals?

He doesn't need anything fancy, just reliable.

Thanks.

I have been with Three for years, my 24 month contract ran out yesterday, I had 12GB of data + Three rewards + hotspot + unlimited text/calls for 12.50£.

I was looking to switch and look for better deals with more data and stuff on the 29th because of black Friday but I got a call from Three last night to offer me a deal.

The first offer was 25GB 5G data, unlimited text/calls, 70 days free roaming pass for the period of the 24 month contract, Three rewards, hotspot for 7£. I decided to not take this deal because I mentioned to them that black friday is coming up and I am looking for better deals.

They came back again with another offer everything the same as a above plus this time the data was 60gb of 5G and the total is now 6£ a month. I thought it was a really good deal and I took it.

I was just wondering if you guys think it was a good choice? Thx

TYPO IN TITLE - DEHUMIDIFIER

Moved into a midterrace 3 bed in September (relatively open plan downstairs although I added curtains to separate the kitchen). No central heating till the summer so we have a combination of oil filled radiators, calor gas fire, electric blanket and spite. Got a heated clothes drier too.

Just noticed that our plant pots are mouldy. I've been using damp traps but they are obviously not cutting it so looking at dehumidifiers.

But the selection is so confusing! I know that I need something more active than the damp traps, but how much should I really spend? Seen a dinky one in B&M for £30, but is that good enough? Do I really need one of the big ones that cost £100++?

Anyone got any insight or experience?

Not sure if this is the right sub but my OVO app shows a spike of 2.23kw every single night at midnight. I’m in bed by 9 lol, fully electric house but nothing is on but fridge / freezer and immersion but the immersion timer isn’t on for that time, so ruled that out. I don’t use the electric heaters as I refuse to shell out for night storage - they’re off at the wall. And no heaters or dehumidifiers are on. Tv is off at the wall.

Pulling my hair out wondering what it could be. Any ideas? 🤔

Just wondering if it’s worth going to Carlisle from Glasgow to get about 12-18 bottles of wine and some spirits for Christmas. I don’t drink most of the year and can’t stand being ripped off with the minimum unit price for alcohol in Scotland. Can’t seem to find average prices for wine on supermarket websites.

I keep finding myself coming home, cooking something, eating while watching tv then either playing games on my computer or reading then going to bed. What kind of activities do you do in the evenings to make things feel a little less dreary when it’s dark at 4pm? Whenever I try to search online for things to do it’s always “Go ice skating” or “Visit a Christmas market” which is all great but I’d rather find some cheaper activities.

Looking at buying a coffee machine. It needs a small foot print as kitchen not big. Would like something that maybe takes pod. I know these can work out expensive but a friend uses reusable ones. Currently reusable bags to but grinder coffee into. Budget max about £125 uk

Thanks for all the replies. I've been looking at options and decided not to get a machine but either make my own coffee bags with cotton bags and ground coffee but also have some ready-made one in

Wanna get some disposable cameras for a birthday party and was looking for cheap options and found Tesco offers a brand called Wow disposable cameras that come with free photo processing for only £24, but just wondering if anyone’s used this camera before and is it any good? Do the pictures come out good quality?

I’ve previously used Fujifilm cameras but those are around £20 alone and the cost to process is another £15 where I live, so that’s why I’m trying to find cheaper options now

I’ve always used a traditional Iron, but I have seen those steam irons that pop up now and again. They look a lot more efficient! Any evidence otherwise?

Thanks!

EDIT. Thanks for all your answers I’ve now ordered a dehumidifier (Meaco) thanks everyone 🙏

I’m now living in a well ventilated 3 bed home but with electric storage heaters which I refuse to use.

I work from home and have a convection heater I have in my office and a bio ethanol heater with some ceramic wool in the lounge (still learning with this as it doesn’t seem to burn for long even with the wool)

But one issue is clothes drying, I mostly use the ethanol heater to burn and warm the clothes which is a bit of effort but doable - I was wondering tho if I get a dehumidifier or a heated clothes dryer which would be more efficient?

Any links to ones you’ve used and can confirm they’re efficient money wise would be awesome 🙏

We rent a property in Northern Ireland, a red brick terrace with a single story extension which has the kitchen and bathroom. The extension has always been colder than the rest of the house, and is north facing so gets very little sun!

I’ve got a hold of some thermometers and our bathroom is going as low as 6.7C (outside temp is 2C). Even with 3 hours of central heating on it’s only gone up to 14.5C. The rest of the house goes down to around 13-15C with no heating on during the day, and gets to just over 18C after 3 hours of heating.

We have an outside oil boiler, no thermostat and 2 small radiators in the extension. It feels like we’re having to have the heating on for an excessive amount of time to even feel remotely comfortable- what’s the best course of action?

What are the pros/cons of each? Obviously the wearable offers more full body protection, but the heated throw is probably more powerful and doesn't seem to cost much money per hour. With both being on sale at the moment, I'm trying to figure out if people here have a preference and why.

Would also love to hear if anyone had any thoughts on the Silentnight Comfort Control Cosy Foot Warmer. As someone with cold toes, I've been placing a hot water bottle beneath my work desk so far, but wondering if this is worth it for approx £30?

I've just moved into a new place as a tenant with my family, not sure how long I will stay there but may possibly be less than 12 months

Most broadband internet contracts are 12 months or more and the lowest seem to be in the range of £20-£25 per month

I've seen some sim only deals at £15 per month with unlimited internet on a rolling one month contract

My question is, has anyone considered using such a SIM to provide internet at home? Where I would leave the SIM in a spare phone on a hotspot settings and with our devices using it as WiFi hotspot?

Has anyone tried this or considered this? Is it even doable or allowed?

Thanks

Hi all. I am a clueless 23 year old living with my girlfriend for the first time! We are trying to work out the most cost effective way to heat our small apartment with winter approaching.

She says it is best to have it on every day for hour or two to put off mould etc. maybe in the morning but is it not best to put the heating on when it is actually cold? During the day its quite cold in our flat and we are trying to find a balance between heating the flat all day or just at times when we most need it. Is it best to have a daily schedule set or just turn it on when needed?

Sorry for the stupid question - we have never done this before!

Apologies as I am not originally from the UK, so have very little experience with radiators and how best to heat homes with them.

I live in a 3 story terraced house and feels like it takes quite awhile to heat up. The radiators in all the rooms we use are wide open and then I try and tweak the one by the thermostat so it reaches the set temperature at a pace that lets the other rooms get warm before shutting off.

We have a combination boiler with radiator flow temp at 70 C and hot water flow temp at 50 C.

I have the following thermostat programs:

• 6am, 19 C
• 9am, 18 C
• 5pm, 18 C
• 9pm, 16 C

It feels like my energy bills reach £9-10 daily on the smart meter which feels like a lot. Any tips to heat the space more efficiently?

I’ve recently switched to octopus energy, we only have electric no gas.

I’m new to having our own house and wanted to see the best way for heating it. Whether it is to turn on the heating when we need it or have it on at a steady temperature the whole time.

I got the octopus mini so I can look at our usage live.

We have dimplex heaters. it’s 1 bed semi detached house. Hallway, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and utility room. All having a heater expect the bathroom. I have just put the setting on all heaters to 0700-0830 at 23 degrees. (It’s snowing at the moment so higher than I’d normally have it) Then 1700-2200 at 23 aswell. Only done this tonight so will see how much usage it is tomorrow. But currently is says it’s is using 5745w that’s £0.96 which seems mental to me.

Is it because the temperature is so high? I’ve been keeping doors to each room closed to try help the heaters not have to work so hard.

Normally I have all the heaters off at the wall and only use the bedroom and sitting room ones. They come on at 1900- 2130 and they were set to 19. Then it would get to £0.11 when they come on.

I’m trying to be very self aware of our usage as we had a horrible experience with a previous provider. That didn’t bill us for over a year when we first moved in despite me constantly being in contact and an ombudsman case. Then got stuck with a bill over £2000+ because of their incorrect billing and charging us for another persons usage.

I’m open to sitting in my warm clothes but don’t want the house to be freezing at the same time. I don’t care if it’s cold when I’m asleep or at work during the day.

Do you have any tips on how to help cut costs or how I can keep costs to a minimum?

I’m having an Issue with threepay. There is a subscription on it that Microsoft cannot cancel, I cannot cancel, and Three cannot block. If I change my phone number and/or contract, will that get rid of it?

Hi, just in case it's of use to anyone (I shop with Asda regularly and was paying £7.24 a month to O2 for 10gb so works for me).

Asda mobile currently doing a 24 month contract, £5.99 / month which gives 25gb data, Unlimited Calls & Texts and 20% of your monthly bill (if paid on time) goes into your Asda cashpot.

https://mobile.asda.com/pay-monthly-sim-only/25gb-promo-plan-24-month

https://mobile.asda.com/rewards-boost

Note: £13 after 24 months, but you can switch, renegotiate as you are then out of contract. Your Cashpot reward of 20% is for duration of contract and I believe there is an option for 12 months or 24 months.

It's just for one room with consistent damp issues. Electricity is getting too expensive so I'm going to turn down the heat and try a dehumidifer if I can get something reliable.

Amazon reviews are becoming kind of a minefield with fake reviews and ai, so anyone have a dehumidifier that they like?

I am very clumsy and drop every phone I have constantly. I don't see this ever changing. Unsurprisingly, my phones always start showing performance issues within months (battery etc). For this reason I'm incredibly reluctant to buy an expensive phone. But because the cheap phones I buy tend to be old, they end up being out of date in terms of security updates etc. Can anyone recommend a phone that is resilient but isn't super old and lacking basic features? I currently have a Doogee S35 which was released 2021. I believe I bought it in early 2022 so it's lasted awhile but ideally I'd like one that lasts longer than that (at the moment it won't survive a few hours out of the house if I'm using Bluetooth).