A frugal life is an easy life!

An urgent warning for all people insured to drive a van - check your insurance covers you to drive any other vehicle!

A friend of frugal ways came unstuck, when they discovered the fully comprehensive van insurance they had, did not cover them for driving any other vehicle, even though it had in the past.
It has happened to myself as well, though luckily I discovered it by accident during the renewal process.
In my case, my yearly van insurance went up from £380 per year - fully comprehensive/driving any vehicle - to a staggering £780 per year. More than double!
I asked several times why it had increased by more than 50% (with direct line) not a single one of their advisors could tell me, even their customer retention department knew.

I cancelled the renewal, then looked around (without using price comparison websites) individually.
AA insurance quoted just over £400 so I opted to go with them. I called them up and was going through the motions to get a years cover, when first of all they told me that a different company was insuring me (in which case why do they not state they are brokers who make a profit and don't actually do insurance themselves?) and then answered a question that I thought was obvious... With my fully comprehensive van insurance, am I insured to drive any other vehicle?

The line went quiet and the answer came back... "No you are not insured to drive any other vehicle!"

Van or car insurance is insurance on the individual, the excuse that AA insurance gave me was that I wouldn't be covered to drive any other vehicle as the policy was designed to stop parents insuring their children to drive a mini metro, so they could drive around in subarus and other expensive cars!
I pointed out that if I take out car insurance I would be able to drive any other vehicle, including a van, the advisor went silent.
They tried to get me to take out insurance with them by saying that no other van insurance policies would cover me on any other vehicle and all others would be like theirs, in that it would only insure me for the van.
The AA advisor was telling me lies!

Now back to our friend of frugal ways, who was using a family car, thinking he was insured to drive it because of his "fully comprehensive" van insurance.
After a bump in the car he rang his insurance company only to find he was not covered!!!

The result was a £60 fine and SIX penalty points on his license!

This will now increase his insurance premium in the future.

It is easy to say, "Read your policy" as most car/van insurance companies do, but when you have been with your insurer for a number of years, being previously covered on any vehicle, then without notice your yearly premium goes through the roof and the advisors there have no idea why, when it is in effect taking out two policies to cover first your van, then another policy for any other vehicle, it really is not good enough!

Major changes to insurance policies by law have to be issued to the individual, in writing, giving 28 days notice. I myself and our friend, received no notice, either verbally or written, whatsoever!
There is also a good case, I believe, for the insurance companies to be reported to trading standards.
After 4 years (in my case) of insuring my van fully comprehensive, where I have been able to drive any other vehicle as well, qualifies under "Implied terms and conditions" - changing these without notification, even at the time of renewal, could be in breach of trading standard's law.

There are some van insurance companies that do cover you on any other vehicle on the same fully comprehensive policy, I went with Churchill insurance, although wether they still do this, you would have to check.

The lesson here is clear, write down a list of things you need from your policy - Insured on any vehicle? Etc.
Then ALWAYS ASK the advisor who you take out insurance with, BEFORE you pay a penny or sign anything (Calls are almost always recorded).

Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law, as our friend found out with penalty points and a fine!

I would normally post this in our supermarket section, I decided to place it in here, as it could have gone in our gardening section also.
Supermarket domination of food sales is well documented, but what I witnessed today in our local Asda, summed up perfectly problems that British people are facing.

I nipped into Asda, to pick up some bread as our local garage (which sells our bread cheaper) had sold out.
Whilst I was waiting at a checkout, on the conveyor belt after me, was placed the traditional ingredients for a sunday roast dinner by the couple after me.

Broccoli - Wrapped in polythene to stop it from ripening (more landfill) from the chiller cabinet (more CFCs and carbon emissions)
Rooster potatoes - Wrapped in polythene again, for a longer shelf life (more landfill) out of season, so must have been chilled (more CFCs) and transported from Holland (carbon emissions)
Carrots - Washed and wrapped in polythene (more landfill) costing the customer more money, they were also chilled (more CFCs) and transported from abroad (more carbon emissions)
A small chicken - A battery farmed, "no frills" chicken, packaged in a white tray and covered in polythene (yet more landfill) transported from god knows where (carbon emissions) and out of the chiller (more CFCs)

All this was then placed in two non biodegradable carrier bags.

Without casting any aspertions on anyone, this is precisely why the country's people are facing huge bills for landfill, for waste collection, for carbon emissions and polluting the environment.

Financial pressures are coming from targets that those in charge of the country have signed up to in recent years.
It's a struggle for each household to reduce what they throw away, so pay more for local services to get rid of waste packaging.
It's expensive to buy fuel, as the country tries to meet EU emissions targets, or face billions of pounds in fines.

Everyday expenses are going up and are a burden on each and every household, I'm struggling to name another business that generates so much waste and emissions.
Everytime petrol goes up, the price of supermarket food goes up as well, as it is often imported and has to be transported to a central warehouse and then transported again to the shelf.
What if our food was grown in the UK?
Would our emissions not fall?
Would our landfill/burning waste not reduce dramatically, if "fresh" foods didnt need storing in chillers or came packaged in paper bags?

I shop locally from independants, who are disappearing fast. Someone or some official body needs to get a grip of supermarkets, in turn this has to reduce our emissions and carbon footprint thingy and reduce the need for landfill, saving all of us money in the long run?
The only progress I see from various news sources, is that the powers that be and supermarkets are continuing to pass the increasing costs on to each and every household!

I came across this problem last week, when I was fitting some kitchen units, which I picked up for a frugal fee of moving a sofa (cheers Sarah!)
The kitchen units we had in, were made up of former council fitted units that were being ripped out and replaced with new kitchens.

At Hoovertowers, we had all our kitchen stuff in tubs. Sick of going rooting for things, I got wind that the council homes on our estate were all to get new kitchens. I found out where they were working on next and visited people the day before and asked if I could remove some of their old units that were to be thrown away. I only needed to do this at three house to have enough worktops and cupboards to fully fit out our kitchen - total cost of a fully fitted kitchen was a frugal fee of £18 (this was for a replacement cooker hose).

Unfortunately, most of the houses on our estate have narrow kitchens, so the units were good, but also very narrow along with the worktops.
So when our neighbour came round and offered us the full size units of a kitchen coming out of a house, I was more than happy to take her up on her kind offer.

One thing I haven't done before was fit wall cupboards on to plasterboard partition wall. As it turned out, this was relatively easy to do (touch wood it stays up hehe).

As with all wall cupboards, there are really two types of fitting - a catch fitting or screwed into the wall - as this is going up on plasterboard, I didn't want to chance the catch fitting, so chose to screw the cupboards into the wall, using the wood behind the plasterboard.

A good tip: Whenever screwing a wall cupboard on to a wall, ALWAYS screw in a piece of wood directly under where the cupboard is going!

This allows you to rest the cupboard on the wood whilst it is drilled and screwed up to the wall.
The problem I had with my plasterboard wall, was how to find the wood behind the plasterboard?
Once the full length batton was securely in place and level, I used a thin wooden drill bit and drilled above the batton, where the cupboard would cover it.
Once the wood was located, I lifted the cupboard and sat it on the batton, sprog1 held it against the wall, whilst I was able to drill the corners and secure it to the wall.
Relatively simple the job was, just make sure that if you are putting a cupboard up on plasterboard, have your screws long enough to have an inch of it in the wood behind the wall.

As for the kitchen units, a very frugal £65 (for a new 10 foot worktop) is the total cost for three quarters of a fitted kitchen, only the doors to replace on the remaining old units and one more new worktop and it will be complete.
What's the average price for a brand new fitted kitchen? Around £1500?

Reuse, refit and recycle!

Weeks after registering a complaint in writing, via the Charity commission's own website (charitycommission.gov.uk) we finally have a response to our complaint, regarding Little Treasures Children's trust - posting collection bags and returning to collect them on our street, without having a valid license to do so.

"Thank you for your email.  Although it is some weeks since you sent this to the Charity Commission, I would like to assure you that your concerns have been brought to the attention of the Commissions Compliance team about the manner in which the charity is operating.  We have received a number of complaints about this charity and are currently in the process of looking into these matters. 
Part of the our role is to evaluate causes for concern, and if substantiated, ensure they are rectified, either through the use of statutory powers or by providing regulatory guidance and advice to the charity trustees.

At this stage, I can only advise that it is up to you to decide if you should support this charity in the future."

"We have received a number of complaints about this charity and are currently in the process of looking into these matters"
According to charity commission telephone advisors, no charity complaint is investigated unless the commission receives around 3000 similar complaints.
I was advised that if I submitted the complaint in writing it would go "on file" until such time as a sufficient number of complaints were received, then and only then would it be investigated.

Should it not be the case, that it matters not wether it is one person making the complaint or three thousand people. If the complaint can be substantiated then it should be dealt with?

"Part of the our role is to evaluate causes for concern, and if substantiated, ensure they are rectified, either through the use of statutory powers or by providing regulatory guidance and advice to the charity trustees."
"Evaluate causes for concern?"
This charity are making collections for clothing illegally. Is this not cause for concern enough?
"If substantiated?"
One simple phone call to the chief licensing officer of my local council - which I provided with the complaint - would substantiate my complaint instantly. The licensing officer at my local council would confirm that both Little treasures children's trust and East London Textiles (ELT) that collect on their behalf, have never applied for, or been granted a license to post bags or make street collections in our licensed area.
On the collection I registered a complaint for, I even gave the name of one of the five staff working at Little treasures children's trust, who told me a catalogue of lies about what was going on and the same person who ADMITTED that it was one of little treasures children's trust's own vans that carried out the collection, without a license!
"Ensure they [charity complaints] are rectified, either through the use of statutory powers or by providing regulatory guidance and advice to the charity trustees?"
In this case, we have a complaint substatiated by a chief licensing officer for a local council, the neighbourhood police officers, a member of the charity staff themselves.
Other cases up and down the country, even have trading standards in other areas advising not to give to this charity's collections and local councillors in other areas refusing license applications on the grounds that the company making collections on behalf of the charity are making excessive profits for the collection to be deemed charitable.
Which begs the question:
If the charity commission have statutory powers, why are they not being used to stop this practice?

"At this stage, I can only advise that it is up to you to decide if you should support this charity in the future."
Is that it?
That's the best the charity commission can do?

After the stringent cuts in funding for public bodies/quangos that has just come into force, it might reassure you to know that this year's funding for the charity commission, that comes from taxpayer's money, is £29 MILLION. This falls gradually to £21 MILLION by 2015.
I don't believe that the charity commission are doing what they were put in place to do.
Yet another "talking shop" who discuss and market their own importance, yet don't actually DO anything.

The law clearly states that advertising for doorstep collections (leaflets/collection bags) and visiting areas with a van making collections, without a license, in a licensing area, is illegal.

It is worth reiterating, that charities that collect in this way without a license, are taking away vital funding opportunities from legitimate charities and misleading the public, making people less inclined to donate to charities in the future. Harming charitable causes as a whole, is supposed to be one of the charity commission's priorities?

This complaint is a perfect example of there being in place a simple piece of law, designed to stop pushing leaflets/collection bags through our front doors and visiting our areas without a license, stopping companies collecting on behalf of a charity, whilst making excessive profit using a charity's name, which is not being enforced by the police, local councils, trading standards and quangos set in place to protect the general public.

Related posts:

Little treasures children's trust - clothing collection scam

Little treasures children's trust threaten frugal ways with court action

Sprog2 has turned 16 months old today, developing all the time, something happened just now, that made me wonder if I should change direction in her development.

We have a "pen" for her, other names include "baby prison" "baby play area" etc, you get the idea.
It is now the only place in the house where she can be left whilst something is done, wether it's the hoovering, washing up, or just for a well earned cuppa.
All attempts at opening the gate to the baby hexagon, have failed, from brute force and smashing it with a pan (I let her have it to pretend to cook her farm animals) to the more subtle attempts, such as swinging off it like a monkey.
It's the last real barrier to her being 100% free to roam the house.

Today she picked up my van keys, just one big key with a little key for the fuel cap attached to it.
In an instant, she walked over to her baby pen gate, inserting the small shiney key into the join of the gate fastening!
Wedging it in the join she attempted to turn the key to release the gate!

Combine this, with her ability to hold a pen properly and scribble only only on paper for the past month, her success at recognising most of the basic colours and open zips, clasps, bags and press studs.
Recognising the english flag then mimicking a barmy army song (from the cricket) is another favourite, as well as shouting "Goal!" whenever football scores are on the television, or watching a game is not bad for a baby of her age I think.

I am wondering if I should change direction as regards her development?
We practise words every week, she can say keys, tree, fish, etc and recognises them on the television and pictures. She knows where to find a starfish in her books and can place all the shapes in her shape ball, of varying colours and sizes from square to hexagon.
Customary greetings and saying goodbye have been mastered for a few months now, she can shout sprog1's name when he's upstairs. Recognising people isn't a problem either.

We don't have a "routine" as such, we eat when we are hungry, we sleep when we rub eyes, we play in between. We dance to music often and recognising songs from disney films is helping with general words, like doing the actions to "let's go fly a kite" from mary poppins.
I've introduced a couple of basic books so far, but using these whilst she's free to roam is proving hazardous, as the temptation to turn pages is far more attractive than listening to me droning on.
Still, that said, pictures are proving popular, thanks to pingu on BBC2 every morning and a picture of a penguin drawn for me by a good friend being blue tacked up on my desk, for example.

My dilemma is, where to go from here?
Do I continue with the hands on approach, or go towards books?
The problem is with books, these cannot be left with sprog2, turning pages in excitement means ripping. I am tempted to go with a bit of both, but any things you can suggest would be helpful.