Pippi’s pulling up her stripey-socks for the final sprint towards the Good-Life……………

vl2588

The Guardian of the Meter Cupboard?! Shame he can't read them for you...

EssexHebridean

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Eh yes please and good car advice missed you there

Confession - camera in flat - home on Saturday with oh I hope xx

Challenges difficult in-between - sorry

ROFL at the camera thing. Either PM me on here or message on FB with your address and I will pop the seeds in the post for you...may have some other seeds which are technically out of date that I can add in as well if you want? I have persuaded OH that we will devote a small piece of our tiny bit of garden to veggies this year, but as it's a space about 4' x 6' I will have to do some careful thinking about what we plant in it and when - I *need* things which wil space-share happily, so am thinking along the lines of spinach/cut & come again salad sown around tomato plants.....

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Kc yes please whenever suits you xx thank you very much always time for plants anytime perfect for that sedge - very hardy I'll pm you - you're like me, make a very bad stalker - I'm always deleting folks addresses or losing them in cyber space

Makeup it's cos of the charge to ship rotten stuff away I think - better to get something for it. Don't worry you'll get a 10p delight one day xx less people here too - more chance of a bargain

Aunty c feels like forever already - hope granny is mending a wee bit? Xxxxx
Woo hoo aunty c dont dispair the globe artichokes are still alive I saw them on my extensive tour of the greenhouses!

Hope greenval is ok xx not seen her for a blink

It IS exactly that Pips - I was talking to my BiL at New Year - he is a Manager for Co-Op in Devon and he was saying that both your co-ops and the Hebrides ones are under strict instructions to sell as much as they can to avoid having to ship it back. Apparently there are specific stock groups set up for the Island stores too as they have some lines which other stores don't stock!

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Cheery looks like we're a double act!

Don't worry about the call we were getting up anyway - white out here - so far and howling a gale!

Greenval lovely to know you're OK - I do wonder how folk are when I've not seen them about for a bit Plants are fine, were nestled under some snow for a bit then thawed - nice to hear the eggs have started again for your physiotherapist. I am sorry to hear you've lost a few plants - although it does open up a 'planting' opportunity.

Well today I had the joy of opening the quarterly electricity bill - I had to have a little sit down and a cup of herbal tea. For the shock. Its a downside to living up north - I guess.

£378.36

:eek:

To be honest its better than the last house (in so far as we don't have an oil bill of £115 a month as well) but its still scary. Thhis house is all electric and we've had a billion snow days. (that sound better eh?)

We'd budgeted for £150 in winter, £50 in summer (storage heaters go off from March to Aug/sept) so as long as the bill doesn't go up again over next 3 months it will be (fingers crossed) ok - money sucks huh?

I need to try and up the overnight electric stuff and reduce the daytime consumption for things like the washing machine, dishwasher etc. HOw can anyone claim to be green using that much electric???????????

OK - do you have timeswitches? If so - put your washing machine, dishwasher etc on those, and then when you set them remember to check that the timeswitch AND the appliance are set correctly. Our DW for example has to have the timeswitch set to on to be reset in the morning, then the t/w set to off again. Remember to pack the dishwasher as efficiently as possible so you have to run it less often too.
I take it you have an immersion heater? Make sure that runs overnight - rather than switching it on at peak rates for hot water - so plan baths for times when there is already at least some hot water to start you off. Our immersion stays switched on but as standard just runs from the Economy7 electric - we have to swtcih it onto over-ride to get it to come on at any other point in the day.
I suspect more of your spend than you realise is the cooker - assuming that is electric also? They positively drink through power - so re-visit all your attempts at batch cooking - if you have the oven on cook on all the available shelves, so lasagne, cottage pie, fruit crumble,etc etc. (I KNOW, this is teaching grannie to suck eggs but it's easy to lose sight of stuff like this - god knows I'm now kicking myself about not doing more of it!) Remember also it makes more sense to have your oven on for longer, than heating it twice for the same amount of cooking so think about having cooking afternoons when you do loads and loads. For re-heating stuff, cheaper to blast it to "hot through" in the microwave then whack under the grill to crisp up the top and give some colour.
Pop excess water boiled in the kettle into a thermos flask, then pour back into the kettle next time you boil it - saves time and money on boiling.
Keep your eye on the weather forecast and set storage heaters accordingly. Are yours new-ish or older? Sadly the age of them makes a real difference to the power they take to charge up. If they are getting on a bit how about asking your Landlord nicely if he would consider a programme of planned replacements?

Sorry if any of the above has come across as patronising, we've been living with economy7 for over 7 years now and are till learning/coming up with new ideas relating to it still so I know how the seemingly obvious can slip by you!

Lemon_Tree

wish i'd had that advice when i first moved in here EH!
one of the things i'm annoyed with is that the dishwasher has to have a second button pushed to turn it on, so if i set it on the timer even though i've already pushed the button it's forgotten by the time the power comes back on. Mean we have to either stay up late to turn it on or if we wake up in the night come through and turn it on! I am obsessed with timers though, got some nice digital ones from B&Q recently for less than £4 and they are quite neat and don't make the ticking noise that the others do.

Pippilongstocking

Eh you are a sweetie thank you!

X


The house is big with the weather we are in a lot over winter - I'm learning about the storage heaters vie been watching weather and happy to have any advice. I have timer on washing machine not dishwasher but I'm going to put it on at night from now on.
Kettle - Eco kettle fills a cup at a time
Water overnight only
Laptop/etc charge at bed time and charge on cheap
Need to do more batch cooking etc - well reminded! Need do more that!!

Thank god we asked land lord to take tumble drier away eh?


I'll be in touch about seeds - your garden plans sound interesting!! Any help let me know!

Heaters 10 years old - not much chance of being changed but learning to twiddle them!
Co-op stuff interesting

troglodyte

Have any of you tried using the microwave more to actually cook stuff (as opposed to re-heating)? I keep meaning to do this as it's very energy-efficient; I manage for a few things but not many. One good example is Xmas pud - steam for about 2 and a half hours or microwave for about 5 minutes, and the result seems to be pretty similar. I use it for baking spuds, making custard, 'steamed' sponge puddings but not much else. I keep meaning to use it to cook veg but then I forget every time. I use it to warm water (eg warm water for bread making) and have wondered if it would be worth warming water in there first then adding it to the kettle if I want it really boiling - or is that just crazy?

vl2588

Not sure if it is too cold where you are but I found I could get enough hot water for a full bath by having the water on for only an hour at night.

EssexHebridean

10 years old sounds about alright anyway - the one we just had changed recently was in the region of 25 - 30 years old and we had stopped using it as it was basically slupring up vash amounts of 'leccy for bugger all heat in return! :mad:

One thing I am trying to remember is to charge my iPhone on the USB cable when I am using the laptop or computer anyway - might not save much but every little helps!

I'm with you on the needing to get back to batch cooking - although I also need to work on getting some room in the freezer first to put back the stuff I've cooked! :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

vl2588 wrote: »

Not sure if it is too cold where you are but I found I could get enough hot water for a full bath by having the water on for only an hour at night.

I tend to run ours overnight, then if I'm having a bath do a top-up of half an hour - that allows for some of the hot from the tank being used during the day, plus the heat going out of it a bit over time.

MatyMoo

vl2588 wrote: »

That is most eek! I have spent just over £17 per month on gas and £17 per month on elec but that is a flat. However, they are pre-payment meters so I believe the rate is quite high. If you think of being jealous for a moment just bear in mind that I live in Stevenage (for my sins) :eek::eek::eek:. I guess this does explain why I am always so blimmin cold!

Flippin eck, that's cheap! I'm not too far away from you and pass by on the A1 every time I visit my sisters.

troglodyte wrote: »

Have any of you tried using the microwave more to actually cook stuff (as opposed to re-heating)? I keep meaning to do this as it's very energy-efficient; I manage for a few things but not many. One good example is Xmas pud - steam for about 2 and a half hours or microwave for about 5 minutes, and the result seems to be pretty similar. I use it for baking spuds, making custard, 'steamed' sponge puddings but not much else. I keep meaning to use it to cook veg but then I forget every time. I use it to warm water (eg warm water for bread making) and have wondered if it would be worth warming water in there first then adding it to the kettle if I want it really boiling - or is that just crazy?

My big sis taught me to do veg in the microwave. Stick in pyrex bowl, coer in clingfilm, whack in MW and watch until the clingfilm domes right up at which point veg is beautifully cooked. When you take it out it all sort of collapses and looks like shrink wrap but keeps it warm for ages. Works for cabbage, cauli, broccoli, peas, beans, chopped carrots, brussels (I seem to like a lot of green veg :rotfl:)

I have a combi and need to learn how to use that bit of it - I only ever use it as a microwave

Pippilongstocking

Snowed in - well what I mean is all school transport off two kids home - work at home today. We could get out if required, but we have no pressing need to.

All good, save today's petrol
Kids have work here so they'll be fine
All great ideas there - except Xmas pudding which is far more evil than cake.

Mr stripes due tomorrow.........?

I can't decide why I'm not truly horrified at the electric (I'm 'deeply concerned') maybe because it's under my own estimate and in budget?

Don't get me wrong it will be tackled and hopefully reduced further, I think mainly it was inputting the readings and not hiding from the bill for once. And, no oil makes a huge difference.

Washer and dishywishy on overnight - it's a start