• Whole-house electricity monitor

    As I wrote previously, I’ve been keeping tabs on how much electricity I use.  Last week I got a whole-house electricity monitor called an OWL from natural collection and have been playing around with it.  It’s surprising how surprising the results are, if you see what I mean.  I know that switching on the kettle…

  • Expendable tutorial (offset mortgage calculator)

    This is a quick guide to using Expendable for modelling home finances.  If you want to be able to predict how much time or interest can be saved on a mortgage by using an offset facility, or want to see the effects of using a cash ISA or regular saver account, or any other type…

  • Modelling home finances

    I’ve just uploaded a rough-and-ready program for modelling mortgage offsetting.  Mortgage offset accounts are like savings accounts linked to a mortgage, but instead of earning interest they reduce the interest charged by offsetting the loan amount.

  • Epson Stylus Photo 1270 versus pencil

    from Kith-Kin (via things magazine)

  • Fibrecity

    The town where I live is going to be the first “Fibrecity” in the UK, apparently.  I’ve been asked for permission to connect fibre-optic cabling capable of speeds in excess of 100Mbps to my house, at no cost. I’m usually quite skeptical about no-cost offers like this, but this one does seem like it might…