If things get tougher?

Alfietinker

Mmmm. This has got me thinking really hard. I got a shock last night when our gas/electric bill was £168. :eek: It's been below £60 for the last 2 quarters (actual bills - never estimated). We thought we really cut back but I guess little bad habits start creeping back in if we don't stay on the ball - hence this price rise.

We've got energy saving bulbs everywhere and only have the lights on in the room we're in. Or so I thought - I realised we had started leaving kitchen and hall lights on - that needs to change.

We cook from scratch most of the time, and usually make one meal last 2 days. However, since becoming more OS I've started using our gas oven more to make bread. I enjoy this, but I've just realised this actually works out more expensive for me. I don't eat bread during the week, and hubby can pick up a reduced 10p loaf from Sainsburys. So putting the oven on for 3 loaves of bread is actually more expensive. (20 minutes warm -up and 30 mins in oven = 50 mins gas). So this will stop apart from the occasional treat. I don't batch bake because (a) most of our meals are done on the hob or in the small top oven and (b) we're on diets - if I baked lots of cakes we'd polish them off in one go. So occasional treat baking only.

Come to think of it - boiling a pan of water for pasta can take 10 minutes + cooking time. I can cook pasta in the microwave in 10 minutes total! Mmmm.

We only put the heating on for 1/2 hour in the morning and a couple of hours at night. If we're going to be in one room for the evening we'll light the coal fire and turn the heating off altogether. We're considering swapping our open fire for a wood burner (I can get free wood) but would need to invest nearly £800 to do so, so we're not sure the savings would be recouped before we move house.

We're aiming to make the most from our veg plot this year - but only growing expensive veg that will save money.

We've limited ourselves to 1 bottle of wine a week - that's hard!

We get a take-away only 2 or 3 times a year - and it has to be a special occasion!

We don't go out much. If we go to the cinema we wait a few weeks for films to come on at our local flick - £3 per seat

Our holidays are £9.50 deals or camping.

I very rarely buy any clothes - and then it's because something is really worn our or I've been given birthday vouchers.

We're very frugal with meat, but that's because we try to buy better quality. I'm not sure I could eat economy chicken now (we're getting chooks ) so I'd rather cut back completely than 'downgrade'.

I don't think I could give up our electric blanket though!

We've actually made these decisions for a different reason. We'd like to reduce our mortgage so much that we can move house, to a different area, and have a better life. If we don't need to earn so much, we can start a family. So we're self-inflicted skint for a couple of years.

Sorry for the ramble - I'm thinking out loud!

alec_eiffel

HOLsale wrote:

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!

They were availalable at Netto last week! In many lovely colourways so warm and elegant, can't go wrong. :cool:

[Deleted User]

aprons. What a good idea. We 7 children all had to wear an apron when eating (in the 50s). I wear an apron when baking but not all the time. I will try to make a conscious effort to wear one when busy in the kitchen. It really can cut down on the splashes and hence the clothes washing, or even spoilt clothes, ie pasta sauce stains or fat marks

rubytuesday

Alfietinker wrote:

Come to think of it - boiling a pan of water for pasta can take 10 minutes + cooking time. I can cook pasta in the microwave in 10 minutes total! Mmmm.
QUOTE]
Do you have an electric kettle I always boil the water in that for pasta.

Alfietinker

I must admit I'd not thought of boiling a kettle.....

kiwichick

I always wear HM aprons, mum sends them from NZ for my birthday each year. I asked for ones for the kids for xmas so they all have their own aswell. I also wear an HM peg apron when pegging out the clothes. Its basically a giant pocket with a tie belt and 2 pockets at the front. All the pegs live inside and I just reach in when I need one,saves all the bending down. I do cut the kids hair too, am a bit more careful now as cut dd1's fringe when it was wet............it then shrunk when dry and looked hideous!

bizzy_lizzie

We have a pile of fluffly blankets in the sitting room to bundle up in when its cold. Acquired over the years but mostly from Lidl. Never have the heating on timer, just give it a blast to take the edge of the chill when its really cold but having cavity wall insulation & roof insulation helps the house keep warm. I'd love an open fire but the back boiler is too economical to mess with

Bizzy

squiggles

The things i think i could cut back even further is:

i could buy more value/shops own items,i still buy robinsons,heinz sauce and heinz soups.I would stop getting my haircut every six weeks and maybe get a friend to trim it,as i have long hair i need the scraggy ends removed regularly (cost=£4).Im a huge sweetie eater and those would have to go,i can spend upto £5 per week on junk which is scarey but thankfully i must have a good metabolism as im not over weight.I rarely go out as i dont have any single friends so no money can be saved there.Never go on holiday as ive nobody to go with,gosh i sound like a right saddo dont i.

Hmmmm reading that makes me wonder why ive not got a massive bank balance.Think i will go and redo my budget,i must be going wrong somewhere.

recovering_spendaholic

squeaky wrote:

I was really tempted by these until I realised that they have a limited life...





That last sentence suggests to me that they run down after some period of time and so have to be replaced.

Yes they do have to be replaced but you can use each bag 4 times before they lose their effectiveness. I reckon that they cost about 3p each if you use each one 4 times (Approx £14 for 50) and I KNOW that I was wasting up to and more than £14 a month on throwing out veg and fruit!! so overall I think they are a good thing, particularly if you only do one big shop once a week or less.

squeaky

Yeah... I was working out the sums too - I just don't waste any veg. I was only thinking of having it keep better.