If things get tougher?

suki1964

Like I say - extreme but there again it really is taking money saving back to old style

Had to spend a long time looking for the right property so we could still live independently of each other and without living in each others pockets. Its going to take some adjustments living in the same house but I think with some solid ground rules and a bit of give and take we should manage it

rammy007

if all these bills go up massively the whole country will go into a big recession cos no one will have any money left to spend after paying these huge bill rises more tough times ahead i suspect

[Deleted User]

Rammy you are so right and that is the scary part.

I am fortunate not to be owing any money to anyone and partly this is to do with the torrid time we had when mortgage rates rose to 15% and more and more people were losing their jobs. To be in debt at this time is doubly scary for a lot of people

I forgot about sky. I have had my cancellation letter written for three months and can`t wait for march when I will be sending it recorded delivery.

Just thought of another couple of savings and that is no more first class stamps and all hand made cards

exlibris

D&DD wrote:

Would it save money to have the heating/hotwater on constant?I have heard people say this.. is it true with all systems? (sorry if this is a dumb question!)

We have a back boiler and we do this. We turn the thermostat down to about 15C overnight and don't turn it up until we sit down to relax.

I am trying to get DH to turn it down about half an hour before we go to bed as the heat stays in the room but I think I am fighting a losing battle.

When we first had the heating installed in the early 70's, the installer told us to do this. We didn't quite believe him so we tried a quarter on the timer and one as he recommended. (Installation in October so 2 big quarters)

IIRC we saved £7 per quarter at 70's prices.

The argument is that if you keep the heat reasonably high overnight, the system doesn't have to work as hard to bring it up to temperature. there is also the advantage that nothing is likely to freeze although we still put the plugs in the bath and sink after use.

Hope this helps

tootles_2

We used to have the heating switch on at 7am and off at 9.30pm, we changed when the weather was bad, turned the thermostat down but left the heat on, it has made a real difference, the house neever really feels cold even when the heat cuts out, which it does for long periods, I rang the gas company with a reading and for approx 6 weeks it was £46.00 that was part on the old style usage and part on the new, so it looks as if it is going to work out about the same, will know better when we have gone through the two winter quarters, in the summer I leave the heat switched on at the boiler but turn the thermostat down to 10o as the temp raely falls below this in he summer the heat does not kick in.

We always had a cold bathroom until we started using the heating like this, also the lounge used to get quite cold as the heat went up the stairs, it seems to have evened itself out, we keep the bathroom and bedroom doors shut during the day, but leave them open at night to allow the air to circulate, helps keep the condensation down too.

calleyw

Apart from me getting a local job that I can walk to I have no idea what we can cut back on.

We run one car. Have no telly. But of course do have broadband. Don't buy clothes. Well that is a lie. We do buy underwear. As I am slowly losing weight. So keep needing to get smaller ones. But my other clothes I just seam rip and then re-sew up.

I try and only put the heating on when it is really cold during the day. My husband home brews and can make 40 pints for about £10 and that is allowing for the equipment as well. Because of course the more you use it the cheaper it becomes. We have one bottle of wine well perry at about £1 a bottle. So a whole saving of £4 a month.

We don't buy a lot of meat this month I bought one chicken, one small joint of brisket and some pork, and some lamb and beef mince. And also bought some salmon and tuna. But we have a special tea on a friday night. To stop us going out.

We rarely go to the pub. Did last night for an hour or two. But my parents where there so only needed to buy one round And it was really nice and warm.

I go around turning everything off as well. I even walk in to town and spend the morning/afternoon in the library. So that means I am not using any gas/electric by being at home.

And it does not help either that this month my husband will have to take some unpaid leave as there is no work at the moment. And next month he will have to take two weeks of unpaid leave. But he will get his money from another source. But think we will be waiting a while for that.

Yours


Calley

larmy16

Chocolate is about the only thing left to give up! If I have to do that, I will feel really deprived. Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do.....eat chocolate. Rarely go out, hardly ever buy clothes, occasionally off the pound rail in the charity shop. Most of my money goes on maintaining and running and paying for my car to get to work in the first place. Oh and I don't take holidays - cannot afford to as self employed. OOh it sounds really grim.....can still read though, and I will not give up my broadband and miss reading all these fab threads.:)

HOLsale

thriftlady wrote:

No matter how tough things get I could never stop drinking

I'd stop buying meat too.

I once made a chart of protein prices,ie a list of meats,fish,cheese and pulses with the cost per lb.I didn't include anything more expensive than £2 a lb.

The 3 cheapest things were;
Value baked beans -16p a lb
Tinned sardines - 13p a lb
Value tuna - 12p a lb

Dried pulses came in pretty low as well.

if you have a halal butcher you may not need to give up chicken even by those standards... i can get bone/skin on leg/thigh portions for 99p/KILO, bone/skin on breast/wing portions for £1.59/KILO and whole chicken for £1.59/KILO

i would give up all junk food, make dh stop drinking irn bru as this costs us at least £10/week

i'd always walk up to the shops and back

and i'd make sure that everyone got their fingers rapped if they didn't turn things off behind themselves (constant battle :mad: )

can't do much more than that really, i'm doing most everything already

HOLsale

larmy16 wrote:

Chocolate is about the only thing left to give up! If I have to do that, I will feel really deprived. Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do.....eat chocolate. Rarely go out, hardly ever buy clothes, occasionally off the pound rail in the charity shop. Most of my money goes on maintaining and running and paying for my car to get to work in the first place. Oh and I don't take holidays - cannot afford to as self employed. OOh it sounds really grim.....can still read though, and I will not give up my broadband and miss reading all these fab threads.:)

with the exception of the car (sold mine years ago) you sound just like me larmy! i couldn't give up the broadband, i make my living via the internet!

9 times out of 10 any new clothes i get are courtesy of vouchers gained from online surveys etc

i'm sure there are some areas we could cut back if we really had to BUT we've cut back so much already, are severely underhoused (dd has her half of a large room that is also our bedroom and living room :eek: ) i just don't think i could take cutting back any further unless it was a life or death or getting evicted sort of situation...

HOLsale

Graham_S wrote:

hi judi -
i live on top of a hill too - i don't have the views but i get the cold i think everyone should go for the - take a duvet everywhere - option

when i was a kid my grandmother bought me this duvet/sleeping bag type thing

the bottom half was like a sleeping bag. the top half could be zipped up like a sleeping bag but it also had poppers so you could unzip it then fold the sides down to form sleeves so you could sit in it and be cozy or even sleep in it more comfortably than a sleeping bag

one of these would really do an OSer quite well in winter!