Category: Thoughts

Online shopping hack: hotukdeals app & site

I previously ignored sites with such ridiculous names, but last year I was introduced to the site/app called HotUKDeals by a good friend of mine from school.

It’s a site classified as a ‘deal community’, where users submit their own shopping deals they have found on/offline. Once submitted, the deals can be upvoted/downvoted by the public according to how good-a-deal they actually are.

This means that (for the most part) the deals are actually unbiased real deals, rather than ‘deals’ per a particular company. It’s a winning hack. However sometimes browsing the endless deals can become a little addictive, so watch out!

26/02/2020
Goodbye TSB Plus bank account (interest rate halved)

It’s time to say goodbye to my TSB Plus bank account. The interest rate has halved from 3% to 1.5%, so it’s time to switch! I guess they’re hoping that most customers will just carry on with what they’ve got, but with such a decrease it’s really not worth having the account any more.

It’s time to switch!… I’m thinking the RBS/Natwest option with a massive £175 welcome bonus is the way to go for the time being.

25/02/2020
What happens to my home insurance when I get an extension built?

If you’re planning of having an extension built, you might be wondering what happens to your current house insurance. We hadn’t really thought about it at all, and assumed our current house insurance would still be valid. Big no-no! As soon as you know you’re going to have an extension or building work done in or around your house you’ve got to check with your home insurance company.

We told ours and found out the works would make our current insurance invalid… so we had to shop around for an insurance company that covered the works (as well as providing a standard home insurance cover).

After what seemed like endless calls we finally found the ultimate solution which would cover everything (including our Airbnb section of the house). Homeprotect came up trumps, even though the excess is super-inflated during the building works (£1,000!) The year-long policy which covered the building over 3 months came out at around £600 (approx double our usual insurance cost – but worth it).

* As an added heads up, make sure your builders contract (if you have one) does not include anything stating that you should be responsible for material theft or any form of liability waiver.

19/02/2020
Does it froth? Alpro ‘Fresh’ coconut milk.

Does Alpro ‘fresh’ coconut milk froth in our Nespresso frother? No! (video below)

Perhaps it’s because it’s not the ‘professional’ version of the actual milk?

More tests soon.

11/02/2020
My No.1 Baby & Toddler Hack: screen-lock for iPhone & iPad

It’s been something that has become a standard part of our life over the last 2 years, but it is a serious hack for any babies and toddlers you hand an iPad or iPhone.

The screen lock functionality is built in to all IOS hardware, so it’s a genuine free hack to make sure the little ones stay in a specific app or game, and don’t accidentally press the (only) button close it!

Activate ‘guided access’ to enable an on-demand screen lock by going to Settings / Accessibility / Guided Access. There’s a whole bunch of options, but at its most basic you will just have to triple-click the home button to switch it on or off when you’re inside any app.

Below I do a quick screencast showing how to activate ‘guided access’, and another showing what it looks like when you turn it on and then off again (while Peppa pig is on). Simple, but effective.

Oh, and don’t forget a nice protective cover for any iPad you hand over. This is the version that has served us well!

10/02/2020
Martin Lewis: what a hero!

Another person that I’m truly thankful for, and thankful to, is Martin Lewis. A true hero who helps millions of UK residents every day in ‘lifemin’ (life-admin), and in helping to manage their money through his amazing site moneysavingexpert.com (founded 2003). He can also been seen on various TV shows and media publications.

Whether you want completely unbiased help finding the best way to find car insurance; the best banks to use; the best retail deals, savings, and more (the list covers everything you can think of), Martin Lewis’ money-saving empire covers it all. Personally, I seem to always find myself on the site finding the latest airport parking guidance, and home insurance deals.

Do all countries have such a great and unbiased service from similar amazing people? Or is this just a UK thing?

06/02/2020
My new smart-home addition: connected fire alarms

Today I installed a fantastic addition to my smart home- it basically sends an alert to my phone if any of the home fire alarms are triggered. The system is made up of the SONOFF RF Bridge, together with 3 smoke alarms. The RF Bridge picks up unique signals and then sends them through the home WiFi connection (it bridges the signal). In terms of safety alarms this is a great step forward for when you’re away from home.

The Bridge is connected to my three smoke alarms, but you can connect it to all sorts of other radio-controlled items around the house such as door or movement sensors.

Price? In the region of £30. A winning addition to the smart home.

05/02/2020
The environmental effect of ‘upgrading’ your car to electric…

A great TedX talk (en francais) I found is below – underlining the reasons why your ‘upgrade’ to an electric car (or any new car for that matter) might not be immensely good for the environment.

Non-French peeps will need to switch on the subtitles…

04/02/2020
Kettle upgrade & electricity hack: Qettle boiling tap

We’ve had our Qettle instant boiling tap for about a year now. It has not only reduced our electricity bill, but has added a whole new level of kitchen-convenience!

It is the most reasonably-priced boiling water tap that has fully-filtered cold and 100C boiling water on one side, as well as regular hot/cold water on the other side. No more kettle electricity surges, no more water filter jugs, and no more waiting for water to boil for cooking on the hob.

We use it a lot as we work from home, but we have only had to change the filter once during our one year of use.

Very impressed: another recommended hack for your life (assuming you use a kettle regularly).

03/02/2020
Brexit: the benefits
Now that we are well and truly on our way to Brexit (having ‘got it done’), I have looked at it very positively and I have summarised a list of key benefits (there’s been too much negativity). It’s taken a while but I think I’ve included everything that is going to be beneficial for the country and people:
02/02/2020