If things get tougher?

FairyElephant_2

...sorry - when I rewrite I missed out the 'nitty gritty' bit! IF TINGS GET TOUGHER I WILL....
....have to reduce the mortgage overpayment, and not be able to MFat40 (me) & 50 (DH).

I know that sounds like a small thing in comparison with many on here, but we live very frugally already and have made lots of sacrifices towards reaching this goal. I'm at the point where I don't think there's anything else I can cut back on - or should I say WOULD BE PREPARED to cut back on at the moment.
If we really had to, we could all survive with so much less than we have, but to me, it is about prioritising and still maintaining a reasonable standard of living - I'm not talking champagne & party lifestyle - but the occasional bottle of decent wine at home or meal out with friends (usually Wetherspoons, but hey, it's out isn't it, and a meal I haven't had to cook?!?), a game of badminton at the sports centre, a takeaway once a month - all these little treats which I think make life worth living, and help you get up for work in the morning!

Kadeeae

FairyElephant wrote: »

How annoying - I just wrote a nice long msg with lots of comments & ideas, but I lost it - so have to try again quickly (BTW - does anyone else find that MSE 'times out' their login and you have to input the password again, losing your message in the process?).

Hi F.E. ( for short :rotfl:)

When you sign in to MSE, there is a "tick-box" that says remember me, or something similar and if you do tick that box you won't have the sign out troubles. I too, learned the hard way :mad:

You'll stay signed in until you either physically sign out or clear out your browser's cookies. Here's to no more lost posts :T

MRSMCAWBER

Hi Fairy elephant

Im signed in permenantly too but still sometimes lose posts :mad: ..so now -when i have written my message i click on the very first letter -hold down the mouse and scroll to the bottom (so it all goes black) then hold down the "ctrl" key and press "c" -it copies everything...then i just submit my reply as usual..if you lose your post then -once you are signed back in.. click "reply to thread" as usual and when you have your cursor in the message box hold down "ctrl" again and press "v" and it will paste the last thing you saved
i now do this every time -just in case..hope that makes sense

DdraigGoch

Can I be officially thick, please? What's MF mean?

edited to wonder if it's, perhaps, Mortgage Free .... doh!

MRSMCAWBER

Mortgage free

Valli

Thanks for asking Ddraigoch - I was stuck on MF too - because, I suppose, having mortgaged up to the hilt for freedom (ie divorce) I now know I won't be MF for many years.
Ah well.
What's a Kelly Kettle?
Anybody got anywhere on appliance costings?

ceridwen

Fife_Flyer wrote: »

Ceridwen, I too was thinking about the Kelly kettle yesterday with a view to using it to save money on fuel bills and I would be very interested to learn how you propose to use it to do just that. Would you mind sharing your thoughts please?

Well - I'm planning on getting the accessories as well - so I can cook in a saucepan on top of it - instead of my cooker hob. Hopefully I'm getting it right in thinking thats what one does. The basic Kelly Kettle on its tod would only do (as far as I can see) for boiling up the water for a drink.

ceridwen

Aril wrote: »

An update on yesterday. It turns out that OH has been doing some sneaky research on solar panels on the internet. Sadly they are out of our price budget and having done the sums, it would seem that they would not pay off. We also won't be able to have a windmill [is that the right word excuse me folks I'm having a seriously senior/Essex girl moment here and yes I am from that part of the world so I can call myself that:rotfl: :rotfl: ] as we don't get enough wind in this part of Sussex. However, he's read that you can make your own panels or alternatively paint a radiator black. I can tell he's giving it some serious thought for maybe next year as he started talking about needing different coils in the tank in the loft at which point he completely lost me. So...who knows. We have a south facing roof and it would save us up to a third of the cost of our hot water in the summer. Worth some further investigation me thinks although not quite sure how we'd get the darned thing up there in the first place as yet!!
Aril

I know there is courses on DIY solar panels - got the idea we are talking around £200 mark. That tv show "Its not easy being green" did this didnt they - if memory serves aright. They have a forum thats worth having a look at - might well be on that.

Wouldnt do for me as me and DIY seriously dont mix! Pretty useless at it.

EDIT:

http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/forum/

Olliebeak

Hello Unixgirl - sorry didn't realise that you meant they needed activating after washing in order to reproof them. See what your OH meant now.

I've always used Nikwax when washing outdoor wear jackets and fleeces but never had to tumble them afterwards.

Here's the link to their website:

http://www.nikwax.com/en-us/index.php

and it includes an on-line competition for nikwax samples. You can enter every couple of weeks and the answers are on the website. We've had a few samples from them using the same name and address each time.

Ollie xx

hotcookie101

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi Fairy elephant

Im signed in permenantly too but still sometimes lose posts :mad: ..so now -when i have written my message i click on the very first letter -hold down the mouse and scroll to the bottom (so it all goes black) then hold down the "ctrl" key and press "c" -it copies everything...then i just submit my reply as usual..if you lose your post then -once you are signed back in.. click "reply to thread" as usual and when you have your cursor in the message box hold down "ctrl" again and press "v" and it will paste the last thing you saved
i now do this every time -just in case..hope that makes sense

Just to cut down the time even more-if you click in the message and press ctrl-A that will select all the text, so you just have to ctrl-c then ctrl-v. saves you having to scroll down all that way to select it