If things get tougher?

mardatha

What is HIPS ? I would never ever give up my coal fire, its the only thing cheerful in winter afternoons. I have a stove which heats radiators in all rooms, and my house is warm and cosy. If the power goes off , as if often does, then we use a camping gaz stove to cook on, and the living room stays warm even when the pump stops working.When the kids were wee & OH was out of work, we used to go wood gathering and burn logs.

sammy_kaye18

Yeah agreed - what is HIPS???

I would love a coal/woodburnign fire.

I have lived in two houses with coal fires and loved them both - theres nothign like being stood outsdie on a frosty morning attempting to get te coal bunker open because the door has sealed shut and then shovellign in the coal before attempting to light the fire - as soon as i hit 13 that was my job - (could never sleep as a kid) and watched my dad so many times lighting the fire he let me have a go, that was my job every mornign there after.

katieowl_2

DdraigGoch wrote: »

I have a treat coming up if I ever sell my house then, Kate! I run entirely on wood for heating. In our main room I have one fire and our room is 25 metres long by 6.5 meters wide by 4.5 metres tall, with two glass doors 3m wide by 4m tall. The fire keeps it nicely warm and we don't have central heating either. I'm contemplating fitting it - have bought the boiler already, but that's wood fired too! Our bedroom is unheated, but we're having a woodfired cooking range installed in the kitchen beneath our bedroom so that should bring some heat upstairs, even though these new double insulated chimneys are very well insulated and you get no heat out of them - doh! Hot water is heated at point of use via a Sadia multipoint heater or the shower itself. That does for us, but if the HIPS man ever catches up with me, we're probably dead in the water :rotfl:

Yeah but with a bit of luck your guy will be used to seeing all wood/no heating etc...this one looked too old to be wet behind the ears, but I guess age is no indication of wisdom in all members of the human race

They calculate the efficiency by working out the cubic meterage of the rooms and dividing it by something? the BTU or whatever of your heater. He took PHOTOGRAPHS of my fireplaces, the insulation on the water tank (an old double duvet :rotfl: ) the Aga, the electric oil rad in DD's room and the hall, and he wanted to check if I had energy saving light bulbs - although he assured me it didn't make much difference!

In the report they sent the suggested we get cavity insulation - IN A VICTORIAN BRICK HOUSE and that we have our lovingly restored sash windows replaced with double glazing.... Grrr.... and gave us the lowest posible rating, despite the fact there is a flat above us and a house on each side

The best bit is that it's going to cost me £300 + VAT (Ching! is that the sound of Gordon's cash register I hear?) If I pull the house off the market as it hasn't sold I have to pay up immediately, and if not I still have to pay within six months....Oh yeah and it only lasts a year...so lovely, despite the credit crunch whatever, I'm going to have to find ANOTHER £350 either when I decide to sell again or in twelve months ...(Double ching for Gordon!!! :mad: )

Regards

Kate

katieowl_2

HIPS = Home Information Pack

Some daft government bu&&ers idea of simplifying the purchase of a house. Original plans were to include the survey - which might have made the whole thing worth while...now they do the searches to make sure you are legally the owner (which apparently the solicitors STILL do to be sure....) and this daft energy efficiency assesment.

They are OBLIGATORY :mad: and cost around £300 + Flaming VAT!!!!!!

Kate

[Deleted User]

I think we have the best of both worlds these days. We downsized from a little village and we were going to buy a real eco house s of penrith but that wasn`t meant to be because our buyers were dragging their feet and the small builder started putting pressure on. It felt like it wasn`t meant to be so we pulled out. We came past this place and we have been past here hundreds of times but never called in, it is a lovely new development linked to a manor which is being developed and we share lots of acres and lovely woodland. New town house so well insulated etc

The bonus is that I can cycle to the big supermarket (3 miles) aldi is closer, the village shops are closer again and the station is within os walking distance. I never in my wildest dreams thought that being far from the shops would be a handicap but how things have changed over the last two years. I thank my lucky stars that we came to live here

I couldn`t live in a town but having been isolated once, would never do that again either

FieryBlondeScot

I think the price of everything is just awful now, one thing after another goes up, from the rent, travel, electric, water, TV licence, house insurance, the price rises in food are just too much on top of all the other increases we have to absorb using our measly annual pay rise in our wages and pathetic increases in child benefit!

am on a rant as i have just been paid and am working out how to scrimp and save another month!!! :mad:

especially when i bought 8p morrisons value chocolote dessert mix and was very proud of myself, before thinking really puddings are a luxury even if its only 8p and half a pint of milk!!!

[Deleted User]

FBC thank goodness those really bad days are far behind me and my dh but I haven`t forgotten how it was to lurch from one month to the next. It felt like we were only existing at the time. We came out of it the better for it though and I hope that folks can look ahead and hang in there

I did a casserole on the induction hob (no wasted heat) and I did the costing via an energy meter. It cost exactly the same as using the slow cooker ie about 12 pence. Enough for 4 people or 2 days for us both. All in all I am finding that the pressure cooker on the induction hob is the best value for money ie 6p. The remoska is equal but the pc can do bigger quantities

mardatha

My son and until recently my hsuband as well, work as office cleaners. They have had no wage rise in 5 years.

sammy_kaye18

FieryBlondeScot wrote: »

am on a rant as i have just been paid and am working out how to scrimp and save another month!!! :mad:

especially when i bought 8p morrisons value chocolote dessert mix and was very proud of myself, before thinking really puddings are a luxury even if its only 8p and half a pint of milk!!!

We dont really tend to ave puddings now purely because we cant really afford it anymore - we do tend to have plenty fo fruit abotu though which we do have as fruit but anythgin otehr than that tends to get brought when it is reduced in work down to 20p then it really is treat and a bargain.

we are having to scrimp and save this month too - even though we have had extra money. I know its only july too and i havent even had my birthday yet (thursday) but Im already dreading christmas - we are having to scrimp/save/bake/borrow and swap just to make it through a regular month so god only knows how i will afford christmas for my 4 year old . We literally have pence to our name come the last week.

Valli

Graham_S wrote: »

stop drinking
no need for it really - especially as i'm getting fit this year

Graham

So Graham - a girlfriend AND savings? Would've thought they were mutually exclusive (joke - I'm just single and poor so I'm bitter)

Well done!:rotfl: