Lately I’ve been changing things around at home.
No, before you even think it, I’m still happily married and no, it’s got nothing to do with a new kitchen. This is all about saving some cash… although, at the same time, it’s also about me fixing my laziness.
The garage is a good place to start, and there’s a stack of items that I just don’t want to throw away “just in case” I need them. Now sure, when I do throw something away I do generally find that I’ll be needing it within the next few weeks, but at the same time I have stuff in there that is collecting more than just dust.
The garage was too much for me, so I sat down on a chair (that I was meant to be throwing away) and took a look at the bank account using the LloydsTSB app. Sadly, this nearly tipped me over the edge. I’m paying for things that I really don’t need and – for the things I do need – I’m paying too much. So, I began with the broadband. I’m at the end of my contract so I emailed them to request a MAC code, then I used the Three smartphone app to cancel an un-used plan and then sent my electricity provider a meter reading via their smartphone app. I even used that QuidCo thing-e-mee to get some substantial cash-back on my new broadband after spotting a good deal on the HotUKDeals app.
All this whilst sitting on a broken chair in the garage.
This felt good. I was “virtually” cleaning things out on my phone.. that has to count, surely?
Sadly, me being me, I instantly looked at ways to spend the money I’d just saved, and a couple of online ads pointed me to the 1&1 website. I was interested because this whole thing you’re reading now runs off a couple of servers, and I’m always looking for the best deal so that we don’t need to stick more adverts on the site or ask you guys for donations.
What caught my eye in particular is their range of smartphone apps, which will let you monitor your server from your phone. They’ll alert you when something is wrong and, if you have a cloud server, they’ll let you tweak the configuration of your server which you’re out getting coffee. If you don’t need a server and you’d just like to store all those pictures and videos safely, there’s an online storage app too. Yes, you can be lazy and productive at the same time.
My wife doesn’t believe me.
So what have I achieved this weekend? Well, I got shouted at for not clearing out the garage. I got told that “sitting on my a**e isn’t real work”.
Instead I’ve started building out a man cave, with actual shelves and boxes full of man things. I’ve also saved a bit of money, and I used my phone to do most of that, apart from screwing the nails in, which would probably be a bit too dangerous.