If things get tougher?

LameWolf

FairyElephant wrote: »

Mind you, after I discovered that he was a lying, cheating, money-spending git and finally got shot of him, my finances increased amazingly! - It might have cost me a lot to get rid of him, but in the end my divorce was the most money-saving thing I've ever done - LOL!!!!!!

I can relate to that.

lauren_1

Me too, i hope he is feeling the squeeze now:beer:

sammy_kaye18

like using my wee candle stove that SammyKaye told me about

~Thanks very much mardatha- glad your still finding it useful.

Thanks SK for giving me courage

Your very welcome kittie - thanks for starting the thread! and Yes I also get a bee in my bonnet about things like that but try so hard ot stay tight lipped when my friends complaining that she has no cigarettes as her child benefit doesnt come in til tuesday!:mad: :mad: :mad:

ps - what is the candle stove please.

moany - a candle stove is a little ring of tea lights with a grill over the top that can be used ot heat food and water in an emergency or as a practical way to save money. They can be made form giant industrial tins of beans/coffee etc, poke a few holes on the sides near the base for ventilation, place candles in teh bottom, light them and then sit an old grill tray/grate/cooking rack over teh top and place a small saucepan,kettle etc on top and it will warm teh item nicely - i believe mardatha is using a wire frame to heeat a kettle at present.........:D

lauren_1

Are they the ones you sometimes get in restaurants? Mainly chinese and indian?

ceridwen

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Lol = how dare you visit my village and not say hello ceridwen!

It really bugs me when you see people who are complaining about money but yet popping out babies left right and centre - i have a few friends who are pregnant and are only 21 and on their second or third kids with the idea that benefits will look after them/keep them fed etc. (dont get me wrong - if you have a genuine reason to be on benefits - then thats fair enough but the people im referring to have no interest in working, their partners dont work, they smoke like chimneys, drink every night etc but yet they are havign more babies)

Meanwhile Im struggling to get into a job that I hope will become a profession to give me and my little family a better quality of life (ie not living pay cheque to pay cheque and actually having extra money to have a treat every now and then) by getting into caring with the hope of completing a nursing degree. Fingers crossed I have a few promising looking ones around me but it really bugs me when people just cant be @rsed.

Errr.....waves......er...did I? I was in Cornwall last week.....you'm in Wales bain't you? If I do visit your village at some point - will certainly pop in and see if you have the kettle on:D

carriebradshaw

balmaiden wrote: »

Talking of the "Survivors" I read last week that there is a new version coming on the box this autumn. Well timed don't you think?

I hope they show the old version first though it was excellent!

mardatha

Moanymoany -- you need at least 9 tealights to boil a kettle. I'm using a spare oven shelf balanced on 2 bits of wood. The kettle is just above the flames and it takes 25 mins to boil my big 4 pt kettle. Because I drink tea constantly all day, by the time it's boiled I'm ready for another cup It must save me a fortune in elect.

russetred

On the benefit front and complaining of being short of money can i point out carers who save the NHS in excess of 600 billion every year and get paid the princely sum of £50.55 a week.Dont spend it all in one shop now!

Charis

mardatha wrote: »

Moanymoany -- you need at least 9 tealights to boil a kettle. I'm using a spare oven shelf balanced on 2 bits of wood. The kettle is just above the flames and it takes 25 mins to boil my big 4 pt kettle. Because I drink tea constantly all day, by the time it's boiled I'm ready for another cup It must save me a fortune in elect.

This intrigued me, as I thought you must be shelling out for a lot of tealights. You may be interested in what I found. This article reckons that boiling enough water for two people for tea for a week in an electric kettle used 2.53 kilowatt-hours (kWh) http://living.morethan.com/2007/10/16/in-our-element/ At 16p a unit that's 40½p a week. The cheapest nightlights I could find in a quick search were £1.48 for 100, which gives 270 continuous minutes (4½ hours) of nine candles for 13.32p. However if you light and relight, apart from the added cost of matches, the last part of the nightlights will not relight below a certain level so some would be wasted. To have hot water on demand for just nine hours a day (although admittedly at 25 mins for 4pts you would have 18 gallons - 4pts x 4 x 9 hours) you would need to spend almost 27p a day or £1.89 a week on nightlights. If you use the hot water elsewhere, like for washing up, that would even up the cost a lot.
However, one other drawback is that candles in confined spaces can be quite toxic :eek: http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=1858
This article is less than three months old and has made me wary of burning my usual array of candles during the winter months. The paragraph that begins 'In April 2003...' shows that the UK is behind the UK in legislating what is allowed in candles. I think I'll consign mine to my emergency stores.

Charis

Caterina

mardatha wrote: »

... like using my wee candle stove that SammyKaye told me about...

Hi Mardatha,

please could you tell me what's the candle stove, I'd really like to know as I am trying to reduce our use of gas and electric energy!

Edited to say: Sorry, I just read the answer to my question, sounds interesting but I would have to use soy wax tealights to avoid bad chemical fumes (and those are quite expensive!). Still a good idea, though, for traveling and in emergencies!

Thank you

Caterina