Cashback card - one year in

I just got my first annual cashback from the American Express. As expected, I seem to have received 3% cashback for about the first 3 months, then 0.5% for the remaining balance up to £3500 then 1% for the remainder up to £10000.

I didn't quite reach £10000 this year so I didn't break in to the 1.5% band - mostly because I also got an Abbey card that paid 5% cashback on supermarket purchases.

Total cashback from Amex for the year = £131.05

Switching Gas and Electricity

About 3 years ago I used an online Gas and Electric switching service to move from Southern Electric and British Gas - the default local suppliers which is the generally the most expensive option - to a dual fuel scheme from Powergen (now called EON). I'm sure it saved money but I forget how much. I got £20 cashback by switching using a link from Mutual Points

So time's moved on and there's more money to be saved, and cashback to be reaped.

The best place to start is with Martin Lewis' excellent site, MoneySavingExpert.com, specifically the switching article.

I used a recent bill and today's meter reading to work out how much gas and electric I've used since December to give me an idea of my annual use (about 14600 kWh gas and 6800 kWh electric).

I then used MoneySuperMarket to get started. My current estimated annual bill is £1084.

Switching to a dual fuel option with British Gas would save me about £68.50/year (6.3%) and get me £30 cashback.

Switching just the Electric to the same British Gas option would reduce that part of my bill by £62.60 to £602.73 and get me £17.50 (or £20 according to QuidCo - UPDATE It has tracked as £20 so hopefully that will be the pay out in a few months).

Switching just the Gas to Atlantic would reduce that part of my bill by £23.50 to £395.33 but not get me any cashback (other providers had cashback but not Atlantic).

So dual fuel is an annual bill of £1,015.61 with £30 cashback

Gas and Electric sourced separately is an annual bill of £998 with £17.50 cashback.

So doing thing separately is a little cheaper, but I'd really like 2 lots of cashback. So I put my Gas details in to EnergyHelpLine.com who seem to offer £15 cashback for all providers.

So I've switched using MoneySuperMarket for my electric and EnergyHelpLine for my gas and should net an annual bill of £998 and get £35 cashback.

Helicopter downdraft

Today an air ambulance came to Hursley in case it was needed to transfer a man who was having severe heart pains (it wasn't used in the end).

We went outside to see it take off. It made a lot of noise whilst spinning up, and then when it actually started to take off there was an impressive amount of force in the downdraft. A nice bit of excitement at the end of a working day.

Deer just over the road

This morning we saw deer in a neighbour's front garden. The kids got very excited and after getting a photo and looking at them through binoculars they eventually got spooked and ran when Jenny waved at them.

The Hour, by Michael Hutchinson

Last weekend I read a great book that I heartily recommend (isn't the library great?)

It is about Michael Hutchinson's attempt to cycle further in one hour than anyone else ever has - although of course it isn't that simple.

He covers the history of "The Hour": the riders, technology, drugs, and how it has now become the anti-technology Athlete's Hour.

He talks about how he got in to cycling quite late in life, his training, racing, creating the bike for the attempt, the attempt itself and much more.

He has a writing style that is easy to read and addictive - I read the book over one weekend. There are lots of funny bits and his descriptions and opinions of the people involved are refreshingly honest - especially of himself.

I'd recommend this book if you're at all interested in cycling, record attempts or the mind of professional athletes - great stuff.

How I got this years home contents and buildings insurance for free

Now that I've been paid I'm happy to write up my home insurance story...

1) I don't live in the biggest house
2) I don't tend to make claims on my home insurance so I am happy to accept a slightly higher excess on insurance policies, eg £150 instead of the default £75/100.

Looking at the cashback on offer at Quidco it seemed that the fixed amount of cashback is comparable to what I pay for my insurance. So when it came to renewal time I got quotes from all the insurance companies that offered a decent amount of cashback.

For each site, I worked out (quote) - (cashback), and made a note of the excess. I was also slightly wary of sites with higher quotes and higher cashback amounts, in case the cashback didn't come through and I ended up with only the higher quote.

I decided on:

Contents - Co-operative - £56 quote - £70 cashback
Buildings - Prudential - £93 quote - £85 cashback

The transactions "tracked" immediately so I could tell that I should get the cashback. The funds cleared about 2 months later and I got paid via a BACS transfer on December 1st.

Overall, I got paid about £5 to have my home insured for a year. T'is a crazy old world.

PS You should also use Quidco for purchases you make online whenever possible, eg Comet, HMV, Tesco, GAME, Woolworths, Asda, Waterstones, Hilton Hotels.

PPS I also got £10 when I applied for and was accepted for an American Express Platinum credit card that gives 1% cashback on purchases. I used this card when I paid for my home insurance so it was actually even cheaper :)

Running home from Winchester

After an enjoyable night out in Winchester with some guys from work (meal at Ask pizza then beers in the Exchange and Old Gaolhouse), I went to the train station. The next train wasn't for 25 minutes and it was a bit cold.

I didn't fancy waiting around so I decided to jog home, figuring it was about 6 miles so only 60ish minutes. This is comparable to a 25 min wait, a 15 min train ride and a 15 min jog home from Eastleigh train station.

It turns out the route I took home wasn't the shortest - by about 3/4 of a mile - so it was actually more like 7 miles which is 3 miles more than I'd normally run. And it took 1 hour and 15 minutes :( The shorter route has a couple of sizeable climbs though which this route doesn't.

Was it worth it? Yeees. I guess. I must have burned 700 calories, improved my cardio vascular fitness, avoided spending £2.70 and listened to some interesting Logically Critical podcasts.

Crash update

I cycled in to work today so I'm clearly not that injured. My grazes are healing nicely but the thing that's most impressive is the blackness of my hip bruise. It scares the children nicely :)

Free beer from Threshers

I just picked up my free beer from Threshers. Looks like I'm going to have a nice evening.

Find your local Threshers here

Bike crash

I had a bit of an incident on Tuesday lunchtime's trip to Otterbourne Jumps. I came down a little bit sideways and parted company with my steed. I then used my back to slow myself down. Nothing's broken but I'm a bit stiff and sore. The bike's fine though.

Minehead birthday cycle ride

I got to tackle some stupidly steep hills around Minehead on my birthday this year. The photo is taken from the high point (I didn't go all the way to the Dunkerry beacon as I had to be back in time for tea). Excepting a possible flight from somewhere like Taiwan, this is the highest that my bike has been.

Goodwood 2007

On Friday I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed with Mark Perry, Ed Altenburger and Rich Cumbers.

We all had free tickets from The Times. We arrived at about 10:45 and despite having driven through some heavy showers to get there, and we could see big black clouds in the distance, the ground was dry. That's important as the F1 cars don't like the rain.

After a quick look at some cars doing a run up the track (there isn't a circuit, it's a hill climb) we started our tour of the major manufacturers' stands. The Ford stand had 5 different versions of the new Mondeo. It has a suprisingly nice interior (for a Mondeo).

The Mercedes stand had more impressive, and expensive, cars. Nice...



Whenever there were cars on the track we'd go and watch. The Wacky Races cars were mildly amusing



After lunch - a tasty Indian kebab - we watched the modern supercars leave from the starting line. Some did massive wheelspins, some were a bit skittish under heavy acceleration, some just went very fast with no fuss (Bugatti Veyron) and one looked like the driver couldn't find 2nd gear.

Then we checked out the environmentally friendly concept cars...


and the trials bikes.



Then we went half way up the hill and watched the cars and bikes screaming up the track. As always the Formula 1 cars sounded just awesome. The modern superbikes were impressive too, with them being wheelied for at least 100 metres. When the Red Bull F1 car came back down it stopped about 10 metres away from our position and then did a massive burnout down the hill. Just superb :) Ed's got it on video, I'll add a link soon.

At one point it started to rain at the bottom of the circuit but was still sunny where we were (which partly explains my sunburn).


Then we went up to the rally stage and saw Peter Solberg in this year's Subura WRC car flying over the newly constructed jump. We also saw Colin McRae's car doing the rally stage and then later up close


On the way back down the hill we saw this year's Ford Focus WRC car do a double doughnut at the hairpin bend that is furthest down the hill. Very cool.

Finally we went past this year's main showpiece



to the back of the house to see the Ferrari exhibition and the Supercars.


I've normally got no interest in old cars but there was one that really caught my eye. It has a striking modern metallic light blue paint job that doesn't come through in the photo.

I'm sure I've missed out several other cool things, and I don't have that many photos as I decided that in general it's better to get the full experience rather than be half focussed on the camera and half on the action. Thankfully it seems that Ed disagrees as he's got some great stills and videos.

There's far too much to do in one day at Goodwood. If we can go again next year I'd like to get there much earlier to try and see a lot more of it.

Father's Day

This year's father's day was good. I got lots of well thought out presents:- I did choose some myself (Lindt balls, cafetiere, ball) but the surprise presents were great too.

After a lie-in until 9:30, I had a breakfast of pancakes with golden syrup. Mmmmm.

We went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
at the Southampton Odeon which was quite good. It's a simple comic book action film that kept the kids (inc. me) happy. 7/10.

New cash back credit card

Following Natwest's decision to stop providing cashback Airmiles on their VISA card I used MoneySavingExpert.com to look for an alternative.

I must have previously tried applying for an Egg card as when I tried to apply this time it insisted on making me log in rather than creating a new account. Since I had no idea what the password is and I couldn't see how to get it mailed to me, I instead applied for the American Express Platinum card.

Amex Platinum offers 3% cashback for purchases made within the first 3 months, then tiered rates which will average out at about 1% for me, but it offers 1.5% for all purchases each year past £13,500.

It's also a good idea to have more than one supplier:- I recall VISA had some network problems earlier this year so having more than one card provider seems prudent.

I had heard that AMEX is less widely accepted than VISA but I used it today in Tesco, Frankie and Bennys and B&Q so it seems like it'll be OK.

Oh, and I got £10 cashback from QuidCo as I used their link to apply.

Jump Fest

We chanced the weather and won today with a sunny ride taking in the local jump sites. Not much hill climbing but we took in several woods and found jumps in 4 locations : mile markers 3, 7, 8 and 13 here. Total distance covered was about 16.9 miles.

We also went to the Otterbourne Hill woods on Tuesday where we conquered 2 new jumps, each about about 7 feet from the take off ramp to the landing slope. Scary but exhilarating.

I also cycled to and from work on Tues and Fri, adding 9.5 miles to the mileage total for each day.