Merry Christmas

Yep, as I start this blog it is 3am on 26/12/2010. Merry Christmas. Good bye 2010 you wont be missed but you should be.

In 2010 I stopped smoking. I have slipped up from time to time but have been pretty consistently smoke free since February. My last slip up was a cigar back in November and I'm pleased to say that, whilst I enjoyed it at the time, I have had no sudden urges to take up smoking again. It does feel good and it does make a difference to smell, taste and so much more. Where I really notice it is in my ability to get started in the morning. I can leave the house within 15 minutes of getting up in the morning.

2010 also saw my drinking cut to the level that I now drink per week less than what I used to drink per night. This was not an intentional cutback but a cutback as a result of money (or lack of it). I don't count it as the triumph it is because I'm not at the stage where I maintain this reduced level of alcohol through choice. When there is beer or wine available I cannot rest till it's drunk. Hence I sit at 3am in the morning blogging because I have a case of beer available.

The reason I'm glad to see out 2010 is because I have had to adapt my lifestyle so many times. So many things have stolen every penny I have that it scares me. I know people less well off and am fascinated by how they manage to cope because I am struggling. It's that struggle that I intend to blog about in 2011.

I'm frankly shocked at the cutbacks that I have been able to make. Whats more I am finding further new ways to cut back. I'm not going to get evangelical on you but I am getting obsessed with maintaining my lifestyle on less than half my original budget. I doubt very much that I'll get through 2011 without sacrifices but I'm hoping that I can pit my wit and guile against everything life throws and offer advice on how it's done. If this is something that interests you, then bookmark this blog.

Savings update
My latest savings are small but worth mentioning none the less. One of the big expenses in life is having a car. Tyres, breaks and servicing will always be there as will insurance and tax. So when you can make any saving against your car it's got to be good news. Already I saved £79 on tyres against the next cheapest option which in itself was saving me about £40 per tyre against the average price.

Car Share
During the heavy snow and ice my wife and I have been sharing the journey to work in one car rather than going our separate ways. This has meant that I have had to learn to be a bit nicer in the mornings whilst she has had to learn to SHUT UP (I mean constrain her 'Oh what a beautiful morning' type exuberance')till she gets to work. Life's all about give and take after all.

Car sharing has made sense in the bad weather as my car is much safer in the snow. We do however work relatively close to each other most of the time. Given that we are trying to save some money I think that the car sharing may have to become a slightly more permanent solution, although it cant be completely permanent as my base location does change from time to time. The saving on fuel from car sharing should work out to about £10 per week. That's £40 per month or £480 per year. Now we're talking. You're also looking at less costs for breaks etc on the wife's car so I'm going to round the car share saving to £500 although I may tinker with that figure throughout the year.

Total saving on car share: £500
Time taken: N/A
Delay versus using two cars: around 5 minutes per day.


Light bulb moment
So I drive up to the wife's work to pick her up. When she gets in she says that 'there is some bad news'. She's at the wind up (having fun with me for those who aren't familiar with Glaswegian). The bad news she referred to is that, as I drove up the drive to her work, she noticed that one headlight was duller than the other. Hardly the end of the world then. Or is it?

My car is as American as cars get. It celebrates Independence day and thanksgiving and doesn't take a day off for the queens birthday. Now an American car in Europe has certain advantages but also certain disadvantages. For those who have never been to the UK please now do a google search for roundabout (all one word). It's a European (but us Brits love it more than any other country) approach to junctions. I believe that there may be incidences of roundabouts in every country in the world however, there are incidences of roundabouts on almost every street in Britain. At times they have been known to widen a junction just to fit the roundabout in (wouldn't the wider junction have been the solution in the first place?)

Anyway the reason I mention roundabouts is that they demonstrate both the advantages and disadvantages of an American car on British roads. I'm sure that the driving standards agency here in the UK will give you the theory behind roundabouts but I'll give you the practical and they can argue later. A large car driven confidently onto a roundabout has right of way over all other cars at all times. (America 1, Europe 0). Large American cars have the turning circle of Ocean going liners. Roundabouts are circular (America 1, Europe 1).

Yep American cars grew up with the American road network. This meant that European and American cars began to develop very slightly differently. This is why having an American in Europe can be a disadvantage. You basically have to plan for any breakdown in advance because, the part you need is made in America and needs to be ordered. Or does it?

Turns out that the Japanese have saved my bacon by fitting my non standard tyres to one of their production cars. They still aren't exactly common but at least I can now get tyres on this continent without having to buy the premium brand.

The engine actually comes from a Volkswagen but has been re-configured for a 4x4. Why? Well here in Europe we can't afford the 4 litre gas guzzlers they make in America so insist on diesel engines. The only resulting issue is that these specially adapted diesel engines are almost unique. The engine manufacturer didn't create them for the car they now live in nor does the car manufacturer know anything of their performance or faults. The result? Expensive repairs.

At least lights must be simple. I don't want to sit on this one. It's an inexpensive repair, an important repair and, I hope, an easy repair. I drive to a very good parts shop that very night. Because I know nothing of cars I carry the book around in the 'glove compartment' (I believe this is just the dashboard stowage compartment outside the UK. I like glove compartment better. Wonder if it has room for my leather helmet, goggles, silk scarf plus a good flask of tea?) I request a headlamp and hand over the book to be certain that I get the right one. An H13. None in stock but it can be got on order. It's Friday night and the order will be here by Monday. That seems OK. To be honest, for my car, it seems simple. I was expecting that it would have to come from a mythical land and that obtaining it would involve a surcharge for wrestling it from the teeth of a dragon. Not so. Or so it seemed.

On the Saturday I decide that, rather than wait till Monday, I would just try another shop for the part. This is where I started to get suspicious. This other shop didn't have any either. The bulb was listed but couldn't be sourced locally except...........AT THE DEALER. I HATE THE DEALER. Guess I'll wait till Monday then. At least I don't have to deal with THE DEALER.

I phoned ahead on Monday. Guess what? Turns out that, unless I pay for it to be couriered separately, it will take over a week to source an H13. I'm not driving illegally for a week in this weather. There is a chain of auto shops in the UK that seem to sell everything. I try their website. Why haven't I tried them before? I don't trust them very much. So when I try their website and get recommended something completely different from what I want I'm not too surprised. Yep they wouldn't let me search for something as simple as the bulb that I wanted. Nope they wanted my registration plate and then made their own recommendation. An H4. Thank god I had read my book and didn't just go in to the largest car store in the UK relying on them to know what they were talking about.

I needed a bulb. I searched further online. The H13 does exist but it would seem that almost no-one stocks it and, if they do, they want about £15 for it. At that price I could use THE DEALER. I HATE THE DEALER. I phoned. The poor girl on the phone probably wondered why I sounded so tense as I asked for the service department through gritted teeth. My jaw was so tight I must have sounded Australian. The service department (my nemesis) passed me to the parts department. I explained that I wanted an H13 bulb. The guy asked, why? I gave him the make model and year. No problem. It's an H4 you're after. You can pick one up anywhere. But the book says H13???? Nope, H4.

Now here's where my own OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) kicks in. I haven't ever and will never trust a word that that garage says. I hate to name names but I do have a Barry doll that I stick voodoo pins in to. (Problem is Barry has a 'my car' doll that he sticks very expensive pins in to every time he sees it). Anyway this is the second time that H4 has been mentioned with my car. Could it be true? Could my car actually take one of the least expensive and most widely available car bulbs in Europe?

Wikipedia turned out to have the answer. Apparently bulb tech developed differently on the different continents. Since the 80s however there has been some kind of agreement about standardising these technologies. Essentially an H4 bulb is an H13 in America. So I bought an H4 but not from the dealer.

How many IT Trainers does it take to fit a light bulb?
So garages want between £5-£10 for changing a light bulb. How difficult can it be? Well, if the book is to be believed, it's one of those things that will be easy once you've had a go. Not simple by any means but, provided you can grow a second set of opposable elbows and have an eye on an adjustable stalk, you should be OK.

Why would the European light fitting be any different? Why would the book neglect to at least mention that European vehicles are different?

Yep it turns out that once again my European car is an issue. It turns out that, once you figure it out, it's not such a big issue but, the book has no instructions for a European light bulb. Fortunately I had some warning as I use a forum and some other poor sod had had my problem first.

I don't like opening the bonnet(Hood) of my car. Releasing that catch is like opening the door on Narnia. Nothing under there means anything to me. Everything looks expensive (£200 per item I imagine). Nothing under there looks even remotely mechanical despite the fact that it is, by definition, an engine and therefor a mechanical thing. I'm a logical sort of a guy. The theory behind the combustion engine makes sense. Gas, spark, energy to turn a wheel, wheels that turn wheels, belts etc. Then there's a battery that's powered by the engine. I get that. Open my bonnet however and you'll get four buckets of fluid (screen wash, breaks etc) and a big black box with some wires and pipes attached. It is no more mechanical than a digital clock.

Anyway, I at least know where the headlights are. They appear to be sealed from behind with a rubber housing which makes sense. The housing comes off relatively easily and the cable to the light is stiff but easy to detach. The bulb itself however was held in by a clip that could not be defeated. I'm glad I parked up somewhere quiet and tried this in daylight because in twilight or darkness it would have been impossible. All in it took about twenty minutes to do job that would take a mechanic less than five however the thing is I did it. I didn't waste £15.99 having an H13 bulb delivered from down south. I didn't waste £5.99 having someone fit the bulb.

Nope I spent £4.99 on a bulb, twenty minutes fitting it and endless hours gazing lovingly at it's fresh glow and thinking....I did that. Oh and the bulb I took out was an H4

Total saving on headlamp and fitting £17 approx
Time spent sourcing deal: About 4 hours thanks to confusion over the bulb required
Delay as opposed to getting a shop to fit: Saved days as the shop wanted to order the part mentioned in the book.

Update
I've had a letter from my new electricity and gas supplier confirming when they will take over my billing. This should mean that quidco will soon be paying £80 in to my account (February I believe). My new supplier will also reward me with £100 off my first bill which should be due in March. Keep your eyes on this page to see if everything pans out. Because the transfer completes in January I shouldn't have to pay a direct debit to my previous supplier so that might be a nice little £100 saving during the skintest month of the year. Anyway this may be the last blog of the year so, if it is, Have a great New Year and I'll see you all in 2011.
T