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Lower Bill & Vehicle Maintenance Avoided

November 19th, 2013 at 02:19 pm

The budget billing amount for our natural gas has been lowered from $43 to $28. A nice surprise! We do have quite a bit of money on credit going into the high gas use season, so I'm sure it will work great.

I have a Pinecone $3 payment in my PayPal account this morning. Another snowflake for November!

The glasses we ordered online for my youngest daughter arrived this weekend. She is thrilled with her pick. Last night we went to Target to have them adjusted and soft nose pads added. So far so good. I believe she wore them to school today. I told her to let me know if she gets any headaches, as that could indicate a problem. I don't anticipate any however. We did pay $135 for the glasses, so not ultra cheap, but I know there is a savings there over other places we have purchased from in the past.

We thought a new timing belt was in our future for our Honda Odyssey. We remembered the dealership mentioning it last year, saying it should be replaced every five years. They also mentioned a mileage amount for replacement. We were at the year mark, but under the mileage. We decided to wait a year. Last night we pulled out the owner's manual, which states every 60,000 miles under extreme weather conditions (very hot and very cold). This does not apply to us. We are nearing 80,000 miles and don't drive in these extreme conditions mentioned. Turns out our Honda has a maintenance minder code that will tell us when to replace the timing belt. We will wait for our van to tell us when it is ready for a new belt. Glad to not have to spend that money now.

Do you participate in budget billing for utilities? Have you ordered glasses online? Does your vehicle tell you when to do maintenance?

8 Responses to “Lower Bill & Vehicle Maintenance Avoided”

  1. snafu Says:
    1384877179

    We've done utility budget billing for a great many years because it automatically withdraws from bank even when we are out of the country for work. Natural gas is $3.01 per GJ here this month + $28. 'administration' fee . Our reset sum increased by $ 10. in October. We do get free servicing/cleaning for furnace and hot water tank, monthly meter reading and detailed, mailed bill. If anyone plans to dig on their property, the gas company sends someone to mark gas lines. I asked what all was covered in that fee and got a silly answer like delivery.

    Honda: When we bought a 2 y/o CRV, it included free oil changes. Whenever I took it to the dealership for servicing they sent a mechanic to scare me with a list of expensive work needed. Never did that when DH took it in! Perhaps it was because I had to stay and wait. When we checked with our mechanic, she laughed and said when it caused a problem that was the time to replace it! We checked the manual and noted suggested time on the calendar to be aware of potential servicing.

  2. snafu Says:
    1384877683

    Kudos to DD who is willing to wear glasses. Our DSs insisted on soft contact lens which are very expensive. Gratefully insurance covered about 80%.

  3. Xtreme Thunder Says:
    1384885051

    You should be good until 90-105k on the timing belt on the Honda. The service light may come on sooner, I can't remember if the maintenance minder is month driven or mileage for the timing belt. Anyways, when you do get it done make sure the quote includes water pump and timing belt tensioner. Those items are readily accessible when replacing the timing belt, you don't want to pay the labor twice!

    I have a 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan with maintenance minder, however, it has a timing chain rather than a belt. DW has a 2010 Honda Civic LX Sedan with maintenance minder, the engine in that also has a timing chain.

    We budget bill our utilities, natural gas and electric through same supplier. We used less utility this year again, even with the addition of central air! We are still based on the previous owners usage for the budget as we used less each year since! Haha!

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    1384887932

    Thanks XT, I think we will wait until 90K, unless it is indicated before. I'd rather do it on the early end of the suggested rate than too late. I yes, we will get those other items replaced at the same time...as I think Honda generally recommends that.

    Can you utility lower your budget if you are consistently using less energy?

  5. Xtreme Thunder Says:
    1384892676

    CCF, I probably can call up and suggest a decrease in budget, but figured I'd let it runs it's course. This year we have a partial payment due in December. Last year we didn't have a payment due in December, and had a small partial due in January.

    Regards, Joe

  6. LuckyRobin Says:
    1384906263

    Our van tells us when service is necessary. We don't drive it enough to do it based on the reminders the dealership sends out. We've only put 15,000 miles on it and we recently got a notice for a 25,000 mile service. So yeah, we wait for the van to tell us when it is time.

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    1384913912

    @LR, yes our dealership isn't in tune with our driving habits, but those codes that show up on the dashboard of our van are very helpful!!

  8. creditcardfree Says:
    1384915081

    @snafu, my kids are too scared to touch their eyes...let alone put something on them. I personally have gas permeable contacts and can get away with keeping them for a several years, which ends up being cheaper than glasses.

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