Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

Sisyphus

MIRRY wrote:

also what about candles ?

I dont know if they work out more expensive than electric

We sit around a candle when it gets cold.

When it gets really cold we light it.

nicki_2

I have an electric oven with just 1 shelf in it :mad: We've been stuck with it since we moved in (rented accomodation) and it's always annoyed me that I could only do one tray of cookies, or 1 cake or just one oven cooked thing due to the lack of space. Baking cakes/cookies/pizza or anything else in bulk always meant having the oven on for hours. I looked for replacement shelves for them but all I could find were extending ones that were too shallow for our oven and at £9.99 EACH I wanted more area :eek:

Anyway, I popped into Aldi on Wednesday and they had expanding baking-trays with a lip on for £3.49 so I picked one up to try it out. It's FANTASTIC!!!! :j It expands to the width of my oven and slides in like an extra shelf so I've just gone and picked another one up! :dance: No more oven on for 3 hours while I bake a dozen muffins at a time, now I can bake 3 dozen in one go :money: Plus I can bake cookies in bulk AND even better, when we move I can take them with me knowing that they will fit the oven at our new place :j:money::D:D

Between this and my new "switch the emersion off at 8.30am, put it on at 10pm", Relag the emersion so the covers FIT (there is now about 6" extra room in my airing cupboard:eek:), less time on the computer, listening to my MP3 player instead of the radio (it charges via the computer ), and OH's re-wiring of the TV/DVD/Video/Freeview (now only on if we need it instead of all on and most of it on standby), I'm hoping to keep the electric bill for this winter less than the £198 it was in January with BG DESPITE the pricerises....now if only there was some way to save gas but it's too blooming cold to cut back on the heating anymore without illness or OH/DD leaving me! :snow_grin

julbags

Confused_Jo wrote:

These are a cheap way of blocking any unused chimney.
It is just like balloon that you blow up and can stay up the chimney. I have noticed that the drafts have stopped as the chimneys can't "pull" the air through the house. approx £20 each but much cheaper than c£400 to put cowls on 4 chimneys!
https://www.chimneyballoon.co.uk

I've looked at various sites for a better price but none are better than the manufacturer.
Jo

Thanks for that Jo its just the type of thing I'm looking for. I think the chimney for the unused fire in our lounge is sucking the heat right out the house its always freezing in that room with draughts round my ankles. I've stuffed some newspaper up into the narrow gap as a temporary measure but this is much better.

loren83

When does the Economy 7 kick in? We've just moved to a new rented house and I have no idea how it works. We've got storage heaters too... are they expensive? How do they work?

sammy_kaye18

Afternoon all,

well its bloody cold here in south wales and what do i get to do later - go to work in the local coop, on the till right next to the big double doors - yey me!!! anyone fancy swapping?? its only for 4 hours though so cant complain too much.

Well i will let you all know this - on the 31st November i put another £10 on my gas meter - so in total i had £12.03 - ive done no extra baking - in fact i think i have hardly used the cooker (gas) but i have had the heating on in the evening for an hour between 8 - 9pm (little ones bedtime) and then on timer to come on at 3 - 4.30am (cant get the markers any closer together for it to be an hour exactly on our meter) to take the chill off in the night. the temp is only set to about 18 decgrees. then its into hoodies, dressing gowns when we wake up with cups of tea.

and im down too (baring in mind i had £12.03) - £7.95!!!!! thats £4.08 in 3 days! that seems a hell of alot!!

plus i put £10 on electric the same day and i had £10.05 on there and i have £7.94 left.

these bloody meters i hate them - but theres no point changing them as we are due to move soon to a house with prepayment meters so i have to deal with these fro the winter season. - will have to start digging all our bits out again

so im off to reread the thread but tonight i am going to
*put fleece blankets under the sheets tonight to see if i can go without the heating in the night time
*see if we can get by with just the hour early evening to do the water etc for baths if needed.
*hot water bottles will come into use.

then tomorrow ill spend the day
*line dogs bed with those pillows and some bubble wrap/cardboard on the bottom to insulate him
*make rice bags tomorrow - have all material cut adn rice ready need to make covers
*line the living room curtains - have thin ones that dont quite make the bottom but have material i could line them with.
*line bens bedroom curtains too
*put curtains up in the kitchen - currently have none and the window is a bit loose so losing lots of heat in here.
*fix the jacket on boiler - its a half one dodgy fitted by looks fo and tied with an old phone cable!!! (was done before we moved in so will correct this - any ideas what i could use to wrap it with? dont have money for new jacket
*will turn radiators off in the hallway,(only one) but the bathroom is used to dry all our clothes as it gets quite hot in there and i hang things round the shower rail.
*putting airer up around radiator in the bathroom too to help with drying when bathroom not in use.
*buying a hat or using a buff to keep my head warm
*put bens fleece blanket on his bed in the night
*hot breakfast every day to keep us warm for day


I already
*turn everything off in the house at the plug
*cook everything together if possible - veg etc
*dry clothes round the oven
*leave oven door open
*have lights off if not in use even for watching tv/using computer
*cuddle in blanket if cold in evening
*bf is candlemaker so plenty fo candles everywhere
*visit mother in law in the week for a bit of free heat
*bled the radiators
*boil just enough water for a cup of tea
*keep freezer fully stocked
*wear extra layers - will defiantely be doing this tonight for work!
*we all have a daily dose of vitamins to keep those cold bugs at bay
*stuff letterbox with old newspaper to stop draughts.
*keep all doors closed when asleep etc to conserve heat in rooms.
*have Ben (2 and a bit years) in bath with me to save hot water
*or shower if on my own
*all have slippers, dressing gown, PJs and hot water bottle - even dog has coat - must get him a jumper though


so looks like a busy but worth while day for me tomorrow especially if its set to get much colder and hopefully i can preserve our heat better and the electric will come down soon hopefully too if i can find some other ways to save on that. will count how many electric saving light bulbs i need and grab some of them too!

mookybargirl

I've read all the way to page 37. I really enjoy threads like this but blimey, it does take ages to read through it all ......

I like the idea of keeping the heating on constant but on low but I'm a bit nervous about it. Seems a few people disagree on this and someone suggested that it only works with a big house. I took a gas reading on the 1st so I figure that after a week, I'll take another, then try out leaving the heating on and see if there's much difference after a week.

My house is all double glazed but it's still a bit cold and I have the heating on pretty much full in all the rooms for a little in the morning and then in the evening for a couple of hours. I'll check out the loft insulation as it does seem odd that it's cold - the house is only 6 years old. I've already bled the radiators and the boiler was serviced a few weeks ago. I changed the bed yesterday, but couldn't find the spare fleece for under the sheet but will do another search around the house and buy another if I need to. I have a matress protector already so it offers a little extra warmth.

I've been round to MIL visiting and baked FIL a weetabix cake while I was there. A good deed and no elecricity costs for the gesture! (Mixed ingredients and put into a tin at my house first)

Keep the tips coming everyone.

carrieparkinson

hiya.... ive read most of your posts, and ive worked out im paying £94pm on coal and electricity..... (15pw coal n 34pm elec) and id like to cut my coal usage down a bit... we go through 1 scuttle and 2 logs per day... (logs r free oh 'borrows them' from work) but we still have to buy 2 bags of coal a week n the house is boiling hot even though the fire is on 0 99% of the time.... dont wanna let the fire out every few days etc as i hate getting the thing lit. can anybody think of anything?

givememoney

Managed not to put the heating on of an evening yet. Although I confess I did turn it on for awhile when I got up this morning as I hate being cold then. I have just put extra jumper on and did follows someones advice about filling a comfort bottle with hot water and held that.

As I went to bed I gave the dog the comfort bottle to snuggle up with.

nicki_2

sammy_kaye18 wrote:

*fix the jacket on boiler - its a half one dodgy fitted by looks fo and tied with an old phone cable!!! (was done before we moved in so will correct this - any ideas what i could use to wrap it with? dont have money for new jacket

I just used garden twine/string when I did mine a couple of days ago. I took the entire jacket off then replaced the sections one at a time, tying the tops together through the eyehooks (and temporarily tying them to the pipe out the top to make sure they stayed in place ). When I had all 4 sections tided up tight I wrapped more twine around them at equal intervals like I was wrapping up a gift and then put some diagonal ones on to secure the jacket even closer to the tank. Our airing cupboard is now room temperature instead of sauna temperature

feistymiss

if you dont feel like making a sausage dog out of sewing, and stuffing, you can use rolled up newspaper or a towel and tie it, with clips, rope, whatever, like a xmas cracker or use pillow cases, slit the pillowcase into sausage shape, if necessary - use nappy pins (yeah, lol, things before disposables) to hold together and then stuff with holey tights or rags, underclothes, bits of material, anything really - for the doors and draughts

and find a cane from the garden, or the lightweight net rods, put some hooks into the pelmet hook, and hang "homemade" curtains from towels, to keep the cold on the other side of the bathroom or the kitchen door

line all the curtains, i luckily got mine from charity shops, really expensive lovely ones

turn all the rads down on their settings so there is an even temp, i actually leave all the doors open so there is free flow of warm air throughout the house

have an extractor fitted in the kitchen to take out kitchen smells

stuff the air flow vents with newspaper so that the necessary air gets thro but doesnt give you a stiff neck

definitely use tights, or sleeping bag, a throw, or slippers and socks, when watching tv, as the ankles get cold with little movement or activity

bit desperate to sit around in hat, scarf and gloves, even if they are mittenless, lol, but if needs must

try and cover all windows, even with shutter type boards if you have to keep warm