So I was on my way to Kings Cross to get a train to Grantham. All I had to do was: -

Go from Pinner to Baker Street & then

Baker Street to Kings Cross

The train terminated at Wembley Park. We got told there was signal failure, a line was suspended, a fire somewhere else etc. It all affected the journey I needed to make!

After that another Metropolitan Line train terminated at Wembley Park too.  I waited 14 minutes to get the Jubilee Line to Baker Street. The only choice was to get the Hammersmith and City or Circle Line to Kings Cross. After what felt like a long wait, I made it to Kings Cross. I’d missed my train so I went to the Information Desk.

The man who was at the desk asked me questions about my ticket and said he wasn’t sure what to tell me because I had a Super Saver Ticket which meant I could only use it on one specific train. He suggested I go back to the tube station and ask for a ‘delays on the underground compensation form’

I assumed it’ be a form I fill out and send off later so I was anxious when I  had to wait in line to simply get a form. I may miss another train! Anyway it was my turn and I got told I needed to go to the Supervisor’s Office. I asked someone else and he showed me where it was. A supervisor came out and he asked for my surname which I thought was strange.

Anyway, he came out with a sheet with my name on it and an explanation of why I was delayed. He said I’d just have to give it to the staff at the platform and they should let me board the next train.

It worked and it was great!

We recently got the flat we live in valued. What a learning curve!

We met our first estate agent, saw some new homes with them and then got our place valued. After their valuation, all I can say is WOW! I was SO chuffed! If I could sell for the price they quoted, I’d have made £100, 000 on my flat in 4 years. This means we’d have more of a budget in terms of buying! I was so tempted to sign on the dotted line and instruct them to sell the flat but I didn’t. Thanks goodness! I’ll explain why later.

After seeing a few places with them we fell for one place in particular. The person who valued our home said that the person selling would accept £50 000 less than the asking price because ‘he’s done it backwards’. It’s not his fault but he’s fallen for a place and is now desperate to sell to ensure he gets it! He said he didn’t want us to get in the same situation but he thinks it’d be worth our while to see it. We saw it and got in the same situation. We LOVED it! Now the thing is; we put an offer in at the amount he suggested and he said they won’t budge at anything more than £20 000 less than the asking price. Thus £30 000 more than what we expected to get it for. So we’ll have to let that go. No probs. We can live with that.

However, re our home; the estate agent said we NEED to put our home on the market so that we are classed as an ‘aggressive’ buyer. If we want to buy a place and he puts an offer in on our behalf; the seller will want to know that we’re serious about it all. By our home not being on the market, we haven’t had details published, we’ve not had viewers. Thus we’re not anywhere near selling. If us buying a new home is dependent on us selling; the seller will probably tell us to ‘get real’ & get a firm offer first. Now this can work both ways. If the estate agent’s SURE that we’ll sell quickly, we could wait, find a place and then put ours on the market. (This was suggested by a HIP surveyor). However, many estate agents don’t put all the properties on their books. If they know that they can sell it ASAP and they know who to go to i.e. there’s someone who’s chain free and ready to buy or someone who has a firm offer on their place and can buy quickly because of that; the property won’t need to be advertised. Why? Because it will sold straight away without the agent putting any effort in! If ours isn’t on the market, they won’t bother showing us all their stock.

Also, in some ways, the process of selling is longer. Each sale has to start with a HIP now. This all takes time and money. Also the HIP is valid for one year so you wouldn’t want to get that done if there’s nothing that you can afford or there aren’t many properties for sale, because you may well have to pay for another HIP if it’s not valid when you finally buy & sell.

Please take caution when deciding WHO to instruct to sell your property! Here are some things to ask: -

1. What’s the fee that they have for selling your home?
2. Is there a tie in? If so, how long are you tied in for?
3. What’s the fee if you sell your home via many agencies i.e. multiple agencies & does this affect how long you’re tied in for?
4. Do you they have someone in-house who can carry out the HIP for you? Can they suggest anyone else who can do it cheaper? (If they only ‘flog’ the company they suggest; don’t accept it!)
5. How quickly will they advertise your property and how?

Things to look out for: -

1. Do they try and get you to sign them up straight away and push that you sign their T’s & C’s (terms and conditions)?
2. Did they look at your home properly? Did they seem attentive? Did they ask questions about how long your lease is if you’re a leaseholder? Did they ask about the service charge if that applies? These are things that will be important to the people viewing your property.
3. Do they justify what they’re basing the value of your property on? Do they show you ‘comparables’? These are properties similar to yours that are in the same location which sold recently. Thus if a property similar to yours sold for £200 000 last month, it won’t be worth £250 000 now, for example.
4. If they tell you they CAN get £50 000 extra for your property because they have people on their books looking for a place ‘just like yours’ don’t believe them! Even if they find a mug who’ll spend over the odds for your property; when it comes to being surveyed by the lender; it’ll be compared to those near you (as mentioned above) and it’ll be devalued. Thus you’ll have wasted time, money, got your hopes up and you may even be tied in to firm with incompetent employees who overvalued your property.
5. Try and keep your cards close to your chest. The more you can tell an agent the better. They’ll get a feel for what you like and dislike and show you appropriate properties. Contradiction to keep your cards close to your chest right? Well…if you fall for a place, try not to let on. Some estate agents play on your emotions to ensure they get you to spend more so they get a fatter pocket through commission. Thus keep calm & try not to show how interested you are.
6. Some agents don’t share your offer with the person you want to buy from. They come back to you after a week and say that someone’s offered more than you and then encourage you to outbid them. You get into a bidding war with an ‘invisible buyer’. The seller benefits as does the agent. However, you are then out of pocket.
7. If you instruct an agent to sell your home, beware of agents who get their ‘friends’ to come and view your property within a few days/a week. These potential buyers relay lots of positive feedback but then you hear no more. Thus you chase the agent and are ‘drawn in’. This is when they may suggest you drop your price because the buyer said ‘they’re still looking’ because the price isn’t right for example.

Something you can do yourself: -

• Use a site called Zoopla to find out how much your property is worth. This site does the whole comparable thing for you. You’ll see how much it was last sold for and that should be how much you paid for it! It will also show you how much it’s worth now.
• Another site that does the same is called NetHousePrices
• Look online for cheaper HIPs
• Keep CALM. Also try and keep your cards close to your chest. I’ve explained why this is important above.

Some must knows: –

Any contract that’s signed in your home comes with a 14 day cool off period regardless of work done because of it e.g. viewings etc.

If you have any other advice or tips please leave a comment below this post.

You may know that I am a teacher. I am not a parent but I obviously know and meet many parents in my profession. Beyond the working day, I meet parents and parents to be, in the same way most of you probably do. So what’s all this got to do with tuition?

Well, I went to the park a couple of days ago and as I sat on the swing, soaking up the sun, I got talking to a father about his daughter who was 3 years old. She has been attending a Montessori nursery and she will be attending a state school in September.

He and his wife are concerned. They feel that she has been stimulated at the nursery and by her mum but this may change once she starts school. In order to make sure she remains stimulated, they’re looking into having her tutored.

Now I can imagine some of you nodding and some of you thinking ‘but she’s only three years old!’ Either way, regardless of our personal opinion, will it be good for the child?

Most teachers I know will say that the child will do enough at school. Thus they should be allowed to enjoy their evenings reading, socialising, doing practical things, going for walks, learning about the world around them and playing games, for example. Now that’s quite a lot to do without adding tuition to the list. These things that I’ve mentioned are not flimsy things. They are really important. Children learn a lot through these things and many of us know that it’s difficult to get by on academic skills alone.

Some children are worked so hard in tuition that they switch off at school. Just like adults who come home from work and can’t face doing more work; children also need a release, a time to play. If this is not given to them, they might find it very difficult to fulfil expectations at school.

So when is tuition OK?

If your child is having difficulties with something that’s fundamental to their learning, then ask his/her class teacher if tuition would help. There may be a better way. A less costly way. A more interactive way and a way that will be less intimidating for the child.

If tuition is a good idea, make sure you know when to stop. It won’t support your child if you keep finding new things to have them tutored for.

Strengths and weaknesses

We spend a lot of time fixing things, rather than, supporting our strengths and skills. If your child is, for example, really strong in maths (also known as numeracy) but not in english (also known as literacy) then why not support their learning in maths? This doesn’t have to be through tuition. It could be through playing games, looking things up on the internet, joining a club of some sort and so on.

Who should the tutor be?

Now here’s where your choice can make all the difference.

Anyone who’s 25 or over may not know but schooling, the content and methods used are different to when we were at school. Some things that I learned later in secondary school are taught much earlier. Other things are taught in a very different way.

Teachers who have qualified recently will have been trained with tools, such as, the National Curriculum, the National Literacy Strategy and the National Numeracy Strategy. They will have been taught that we no longer teach children to add a zero when multiplying by ten because the child learns the trick but they won’t necessarily understand how it works. Also research has led decisions making about when we should teach certain topics and in which order they should be taught. Thus things are quite different to how they used to be.

Teachers who qualified before these strategies were introduced will have had INSET on them, so they will be up to date with this information too.

Tutors are not in either of these groups. Thus when your child is learning, especially early on in his/her life, it’s imperative that they are taught in a way that will support their learning at school, rather than, hinder it. If the tutor is unaware of current methods and those that have been discarded, it could confuse your child and affect their confidence. If the current strategy supports teaching multiplication before division but the child learns division first they may not be able follow what they are taught in school.

Hopefully, schools and staff will encourage your child learning in lots of different ways, whilst being exposed to different methods so that they can choose and use what works for them. However, this is usually beneficial with older children. They can choose a method that works for them once they understand the theory and how to apply their knowledge.

None of this is supposed to be prescriptive. However, if you are going to spend money tutoring your child, I’m assuming that your goal would be to support them. In this case, it would help to find a tutor who is familiar with these strategies so that they can assist your child better.

As you can from my post on 15th March, I have been thinking about electricity and the tariff I’m on a lot. So I wrote this letter to Green Homes Concierge in order to check that what I was doing was ‘right’. Here’s what I asked: -

Hi ya

I am writing to ask you about using electricity.

I have economy 7 at the flat I live in.

Thus to charge mobiles, do a load of washing etc. I plug a timer into the relevant socket and set it to be on during economy 7 hours.

In my mind, this means that the timer is on during non eco 7 hours for the timer to operate but the item plugged into the charger does not work until it is set to i.e. during eco 7 hours.

Am I right in thinking that the cost of the timer being on is minimal compared to doing a load of washing or charging a phone, for example?

Thanks

Heena

Hi Heena,

Thanks for your query.

Exactly – you are correct to assume that the timer only uses a minimal amount of electricity, and is therefore a cost-effective way of charging your equipment and doing the washing. Such activities use a comparatively high amount of energy, whereas the timer will use a much smaller amount during the daytime tariff.

An inventive way to make the most of the economy 7 tariff without having to be awake in the middle of the night!

Hope this makes sense and answers your question.

Thanks and regards,

Natalie

Recently, my desktop had a virus so I purchased an external hard drive to back up all my files so that Suraj could then delete everything and reinstall Windows etc.

Suraj asked me if it was worth going ahead with this or whether I should buy a laptop. We talked it through and could not find a reason to buy a laptop. I don’t and won’t take it anywhere. Thus it’s only for home. The desktop I have is great so why change it? Also, the laptops that I’ve come across, through work and those that my friends own, have been awful! They needed to be charged constantly because the battery had diminished so much. The keyboard was fiddly. The mouse was very sensitive and you’d end up doing something without realising etc. Thus it was not an option for me!

Anyway a short while after I was discussing a similar topic with a friend. She said that a desktop is less green and more costly for me to run because the electricity tariff I have runs on economy 7. With a laptop which is on charge, you are only charging one thing. With a desktop; the tower, monitor, speakers etc. are all being charged. Thus which is really better?

So I asked Green Homes Concierge and their reply is below: -

Heena,

I have been looking into your query about Desktop vs. Laptop and have come up with the following.  There is no definitive answer, as it all depends on how you use your computer and what works best for you.  I include, however, some key points to consider:

- What will you be using the computer for? Obviously if you will need to travel then it’s best to get a laptop which can then also be used in the home. If you can work on either, then in terms of energy efficiency a laptop is better.

- Charging a laptop can be done overnight on your economy 7 tariff with the timer, whereas a desktop has to be constantly connected to the mains whilst you’re using it.

- Laptops that run on Centrino or Atom processors, are especially highly efficient in terms of energy usage. The newer, smaller “netbook” style laptops are specifically designed to be extremely energy efficient as they are made for portability and use ‘on the move’.

- The problem with a laptop, though, is that you can’t really build upon it. A desktop can last for years, and you can continually build upon it, adding a new graphics card, hard drive etc. when necessary. In this way you can continue to keep it up to date, whereas a laptop is wholly more disposable and you are more likely to invest in a new one because they are not generally made for being upgraded.

- Old laptops, however, can be recycled responsibly – you can donate them to a charity shop, or even to a scheme that sends them to schools in developing countries such as Computer Aid.

- Which? Also provide an online, unbiased overview on how to recycle your old computer.

I hope this answers your question.  Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any further questions on this or any other aspect of energy efficiency.

Regards,

Natalie

Recently, I was talking to some colleagues about the fact that I really dislike the light in my hallway being on because it makes a buzzing sound. Someone asked me which bulbs were being used so we got talking about energy saving bulbs. Another person then explained that a lot of energy is used to simply turn ‘energy saving light bulbs’ on! Thus for me to turn it on and off results in the opposite of saving energy! He explained that tube lights operate on the same basis. 

I was really concerned about this, especially because I recently had a ‘how green is your home’ survey done and nothing like this was mentioned when we talked about how conscientious I am about lights etc. 

So I wrote to the company that carried out the survey and here’s what I found out. 

I have been looking into your question regarding the power use of CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamp) in short time frames.

In the past, low quality CFL’s had a “warm up” period where the bulb would use greater power to reach optimum light output before dropping to low energy usage. Modern, high quality bulbs do this in the first few seconds and reach optimum efficiency very quickly.

There is no reason to keep a CFL switched on for longer than a normal GLS bulb as they do not consume any greater energy during start up and run very efficiently immediately after the first 2 or 3 seconds.

A CFL’s life is no longer affected by switching. The current standards for ‘Energy Recommended’ accreditation requires over 3,000 switching cycles per 8,000 hours of tested life which is many more than would be necessary for normal domestic use. For special applications such as hallways in flats and lights in corridors activated by motion sensors, some manufacturers produce ‘heavy duty’ CFLs with up to 500,000 switching cycles capability and 15,000 hours life.

If you have any questions or would like any further information please do not hesitate to call and I will be happy to help.

 

Best Regards

Phil Koziol

Enquiry Manager

Green Homes Concierge Service

Tel: 0800 089 0098 

 

What? – Pizza Express will pay for the most EXPENSIVE main.

How? Fill out a form and Pizza Express

Where? Any Pizza Express

When? Any time from 5th January – 29th January 2009

More details avaible at http://www.pizzaexpressoffers.co.uk/

I recently had a free home assessment to see how ‘green’ my home is. I was really pleased with the results but you too can get a free assessment! How does that happen? What’s the catch? No catch! No forms! It’s really easy.

So here’s how it all happened. I went to the Climate Change Fair in Pinner and found out about these free assessments. So I signed up, I was called, we arranged a suitable time for the assessment, the assessor came over and I had the results within a week.

Here’s the blurb from the Green Homes Concierge: -

Harrow Council have generously made funds available to provide a number of free home assessments to leading green residents within the Borough – in recognition of the important contribution that you are making towards environmental issues in the borough.

Green Homes Concierge is a service for London homeowners to help them improve the energy efficiency of their homes and reduce their carbon footprints, and fuel bills. The service is subsidised by the London Development Agency, and usually costs £199.

For more information see www.greenhomesconcierge.co.uk

The first step is a visit from an expert Home Energy Advisor (HEA), who conducts a thorough assessment of your property.  Next, you will receive a report recommending improvements that are tailored to match your home and personal priorities, such as:

·       Insulation for lofts, walls, cavity walls
·       Draughtproofing
·       Windows
·       Heating Systems
·       Renewables

For the next twelve months, you can then call or email us for guidance on the best suppliers, prices and products, and the practicalities of obtaining grants.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer please send:

-          Your name
-          Address
-          Contact telephone number (and best time to call, Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm)
-          Where you found us – please quote heenamodi.com

To William@greenhomesconcierge.co.uk or call me direct on 0207 479 2762

The free assessments are being offered on a first come first served basis. Recipients must be homeowners living in the borough of Harrow.

Martina McSwiggan
Account Manager
Green Homes Concierge Service
Tel:  0207 479 2727
Fax: 0845 020 0410
www.greenhomesconcierge.co.uk

Green Homes Concierge

Harrow Council

I asked Julie Cook to send us something about fly tipping for our Grove Estate Residents Association (GERA) newsletter. We see lots of people coming over, throwing their rubbish in our bins and then driving off. Seeing that it is collected by the council doesn’t really give us residents any incentive to do anything different with our own rubbish! Of course, it’s not the way forward so we all need to play our part right?

For those of you who think the council just sort it, it’s not true. We have increased service and rent for them to get something towards the costs of hiring staff and vehicles to collect all this dumped rubbish. Please think about us if you think ‘it wont hurt if I dump it there’ because it does! However, you can get rid of it for free by taking it to the Civic Amenity Site.

So here’s what Julie Cook wrote: -

Bulk Rubbish – i.e. Washing Machines, Beds,

There is a continuing trend for residents and non – residents to dump their bulk items outside in the communal areas, not only is this unsightly it causes inconvenience to other residents. The Caretakers have to remove such items on a daily basis.

The cost of providing this service is coming from your rent and service charges and unless residents start to take responsibility themselves then theses charges will continue to be increased, to reflect this increased cost.

If you see someone fly tipping, make a note of their number plate and let us know by ringing 0208 420 9409 or email housingestatesservices@harrow.gov.uk. Help us help you reduce these charges.

Did you know that you can take your items free of charge to the Civic Amenity Site, Forward Drive, Wealdstone they are open from 7.30am until 4.30pm seven days a week apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Julie Cook
Housing Operations Manager
Tel: 0208 424 1747
Fax: 0208 424 1003
Email: julie.cook@harrow.gov.uk

This post is all about a website. SAY NO TO 0870!

What saynoto0870 have to say about what they’re about and why the site was created.

The site lists many well known companies, and their equivalent geographical numbers.

Alternatives are listed for 0800, 0808, 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers.

Many people don’t realise that there are many phone providers offering cheaper calls to standard telephone numbers (those beginning with 01 or 02), which don’t apply to 0844, 0845, 0870 or 0871 telephone numbers.

Please see the links page and click on Cheapest Call Provider for price details. This shows that by using multiple providers, you can reduce your call cost on standard telephone numbers to as little as 3p fixed cost (regardless of duration), whereas the cheapest provider to 0870 numbers during the day that I am aware of charges 4p/min (+ 3p connection fee) to call. Worst still some companies that use these numbers are actually receiving a cut of the phone call costs.

If you have an ‘inclusive landline calls’ phone package, then it is very rare that 0844, 0845, 0870, or 0871 numbers are are included in your ‘free minutes’ allocation, unlike normal numbers.

Many mobile phone packages also exclude freephone 0800 and 0808 numbers for your bundled minutes.

Many companies advertise a separate number that can be used when calling from abroad – This usually begins in the format +44 – There is nothing to stop you using this number from the UK (as it is a normal rate telephone call), and will be included in any inclusive minutes provided by your landline or mobile phone provider.

Many others will give you a standard number if you ask.

This site is all about listing these numbers, saving you money, without having to pay additional charges. To get started and find a particular number, please click on the ‘Search to find an alternative number’ link at the top of the page.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the site.

Please continue to add any new numbers as and when you find them.