Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

trying-very-trying

madmoys wrote: »

our utility room and downstairs toilet has no cavity wall so last year we bought Thermilate and painted the bare plaster walls. We noticed a marked improvment both with warmth and condensation.
Very please with it and will add it to paint when decorating other rooms.
I can't unerstand why it's not advertised more, well worth it in my book.

I had never heard of this thermalite before, if it's been mentioned in this thread I must have missed it. I have used warmaline in the past. It's like an expanded polystyrene on a roll, which I put up under wallpaper, but this paint idea sounds ideal for our cold bathroom. It's been papered several times in the past, but due to the condensation problem it's now painted.

newlywed

miggy wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is true of all electricity companies, but our Economy7 operates between 1am and 8am in British Summer Time, and between midnight and 7am, GMT. (Essentially the same hours, if you think about the clocks going back/forwards).

Just rang to check. Apparently it depends on your meter as to what your hours are Anyway our E7 hours are apparently 10.30pm-12.30pm and then 2.30am to 7.30am So some very weird gap in the middle

Anyway, that means that the W/M quick wash in the morning will be ok if I put it on as soon as I get up.... and that I need to put my DW and WM on half an hour later at night than I have been - coz all the warming up the water is the first bit isn't it :rolleyes:

Just ordered energy saving bulbs for the bathroom (as it's the only room with no windows so no natural light, so it possibly has the lights on the most and that's 4x50w spot bulbs ). If we use the lights in that one room for 3 hours a day the replacement bulbs are meant to save us £22 a year (apparently) - but they cost £45. :eek:

Will see what else I can sell on ebay to buy more energy saving bulbs next month.


Will also look out for the thermalite stuff ready for when we decorate the boys room - as their room is the only room with 2 outside walls.

spankymonkey_2

i would love to make some draught excluders with my 2 children...... i have some loft insulation(yes the nasty itchy stuff!) didnt know if i could use that as filling?
was going to put it in a rolled up bin bag 1st though?!?

kirsty_johnathon

My 6 year old son is adiment that when he is brushing his teeth that he only rus the water when he needs to!

I still bath my 2 sons together in the bath or shower and dress them in the bathroom to keep them warm and snug,but its after that when the go in to bed their room is FREEZING,i don't know what I can do to make it warmer but not overly....i'm paranoid about overheating since they were tiny babies.
Has anyone got any ideas? they wake during the night because they are cold!

LouiseJ

spankymonkey wrote: »

i would love to make some draught excluders with my 2 children...... i have some loft insulation(yes the nasty itchy stuff!) didnt know if i could use that as filling?
was going to put it in a rolled up bin bag 1st though?!?

The children might not stay where you want them too and are quite wriggly:D

I suppose the loft insulation would be ok but you have to be careful when handling it and should wear a mask as the fibres can be a tad nasty if inhaled.

HariboJunkie

kirsty_johnathon wrote: »

My 6 year old son is adiment that when he is brushing his teeth that he only rus the water when he needs to!

I still bath my 2 sons together in the bath or shower and dress them in the bathroom to keep them warm and snug,but its after that when the go in to bed their room is FREEZING,i don't know what I can do to make it warmer but not overly....i'm paranoid about overheating since they were tiny babies.
Has anyone got any ideas? they wake during the night because they are cold!

Hi Kirsty

My house is freezing in the winter too and the only solution I have found is to wrap them up in cosy jammies (£3 fleccy ones from Primark), bed socks and put hot water bottles in the beds and use a 13.5 tog duvet with extra blankets if they want them. They are unlikely to overheat and can always take blankets off if they do get too warm.

Magentasue

Overheating is a problem for babies because of their limited ability to move but a six year old child is quite capable of flinging the covers off!. I don't know what your heating situation is but I's aim to have the room comfortably warm when they go to bed. Once they're settled, it's enough to have a warm bed and those fleecy pyjamas.

cw18

ceridwen wrote: »

Well...I had "hunted around" in the past for the best fuel supplier. Today..I have swopped again.

So - what I have done is to "buy time" until September 2009. Then...all heck could get let loose on my fuel bills (with this darn artificial linkage between gas prices and the price of oil:mad: ).

I have "bought enough time" for the Government to "get its act together" and:

- stop charging this darn 5% VAT on our fuel bills (that never used to be there).

I recall my Dad explaining it to me at the time they dropped the rate of VAT on fuel that they can't remove it !!

It's something to do with being in the European Union -- once VAT is applied to something it can't be removed. But it can (with approval from 'whoever') be reduced, and the best that the government was allowed was a drop to the 5% rate

To my mind putting VAT onto gas and electricity was one of the worst mistakes any government has every made...... I always thought VAT was only on 'luxury' items, and how they could ever class gas and electricity as luxuries had me flumoxed even then

ceridwen

cw18 wrote: »

I recall my Dad explaining it to me at the time they dropped the rate of VAT on fuel that they can't remove it !!

It's something to do with being in the European Union -- once VAT is applied to something it can't be removed. But it can (with approval from 'whoever') be reduced, and the best that the government was allowed was a drop to the 5% rate

To my mind putting VAT onto gas and electricity was one of the worst mistakes any government has every made...... I always thought VAT was only on 'luxury' items, and how they could ever class gas and electricity as luxuries had me flumoxed even then

Darn it if thats the case - far-sighted the Government ISNT.

Surely - even if VAT physically cannot be removed - then it could be dropped to one of those "notional" things that the Government and firms do all the time - ie down to 0.1% (so its there in theory - but barely there in practice). Just think of that bank that was giving interest on current accounts - so they said (cant remember the name - but they are dropping that now) - but it was only 0.1% so they could SAY they were giving interest.

Or - if even that isnt possible courtesy of the E.U. - then take the money in the first place - but promptly find a way to give it back to us. My last fuel company duly credited some money back to my bank account at the end of each year - some sorta "reward" for staying with them. The Government could do the same - credit us (I mean ALL of us - not just those with children!) all the VAT we have paid back into our bank accounts - say every 3 months.

cw18

sb44 wrote: »

I saw this on the USA ebay site but I have seen them on our ebay.



They tend to get lots of bids in though as they seem quite hard to get hold of, wonder if it has anything to do with our current price rises?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wonder-Wash-Portable-Tabletop-Washer-Washing-Machine_W0QQitemZ120287260716QQihZ002QQcategoryZ159906QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Has anyone got one of these?

I know you can wash your clothes by hand to save some money but these must get them cleaner.

I have one of those -- currently stored in my garage, but within reach if needed.

Must confess I haven't used it for a few years, but it really does work.......... or at least on stuff that's not heavily stained (not tried on that). I bought mine from a Cash Converter place way, way back, and took it on holiday with us as we had use of a cottage in the Lakes which had a spin dryer but no washing machine -- and with three young children (now 17, 19 and 24 !) I could easily spend a full day washing by hand by the middle of the week, I do put the stuff through a 'real' spin after washing in this contraption, but the clothes would get the same spin if they were washed in my WM anyway.

Funnily enough I was thinking the other day that I ought to find somewhere more handy to keep it, as I really should be thinking about using it a bit more these days.

One comment about it -- I use washing powder in my main machine, but find this contraption does much better with liquid...... When I first got it and tried using powder, I ended up having to leave everything to soak in the bath for ages to get the soap out (or if using at home, had to put it through the rinse cycle of my WM)