It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

ChocClare

maryb wrote: »

I do feel gloomy when I think about it, but I think the best thing I can do is to invest in energy saving products. Am tempted by the 'rent your roof' scheme for photovoltaic panels but I don't trust them not to move the goalposts. However I think I will definitely look into ordinary solar panels for hot water. We have a roof with a SSW orientation so it ought to work.

It seems to me that at our age, and provided you don't have any intention of moving house)the usual payback theory doesn't work (ie the number of years it would take you to recoup the capital cost from the savings). It makes more sense to me to compare it with buying an annuity. You invest your capital in an annuity which gives you an income which is at risk from inflation (unless you buy an index linked one which pays peanuts) and which is taxable. Whereas if you invest it in something that saves money then the savings are not taxable and the return has inflation proofing built in.

Just need to persuade DH. He's not keen because we have had so many problems with the roof (though it seems OK at the moment, touch wood) that he is not keen on them running pipes through the roof as he thinks it is somewhere else for it to leak.

Kittie, I think you said you have lots of roof panels - do you find there is any problem with the seals?

We have solar panels at our current house and at our previous house and never had a problem with leaks at all. They must have been on the roof for 8 years at our previous house before we moved, so if they were going to leak they probably would have done. Also, because we were on the cliffs, they were very exposed - lots of salt in the air.

The ones we had in Southbourne were BRILLIANT - BOILING hot water from May to end October. And I mean BOILING - you would literally scald your hand from the tap. DH set up the washing machine and dishwasher so it had a hotwater feed so that we didn't have to pay for the thermostat to bring either machine to temperature. Tiny savings, but they all help. Our gas bill averaged out at less than £30 per month - for a 3-storey, 7 bedroom, 4 reception room HUGE and ancient and draughty Edwardian house.

Mind you, we got them when they first came out, so even so we probably didn't get out money back - but we were doing it because we wanted to be green and "give something back", so we weren't bothered.

Our current house is thatched so no solar panels on the roof. They are on the side of the house and not so effective, and have taken AGES to get right - but they are finally starting to repay our investment.

We looked at photovoltaic panels and we would get money back on them, particularly as DH could do the wiring. But they are so UGLY - and for us they would have to go in the garden - again, we couldn't put them on the roof . So we decided against it.

Hope this helps

maryb

Thanks ChocClare that does help.

We have a woodburner, which I love and we are beginning to find ways of getting wood cheaply and storing it to season. Tree surgeons often don't have room to store wood for long enough to be able to sell it as logs and they have to pay to dispose of it. So whenever one of our neighbours is having a tree cut down I am out there. I find if I speak to the workmen and 'buy them a drink' they will cut the wood into reasonable lengths and dump it in the garden for us. We then have to split it so we have had to invest in a log splitter but it has already paid for itself.

However we live in a smokeless zone so although our stove is approved for burning logs because it is so efficient, it wouldn't be if we fitted a back boiler. So we would still need to pay for water heating in the winter.

Do you find with the solar panels that a sunny day in winter takes the chill off the water so that it doesn't take so much energy to get it up to temperature?

mardatha

CC, how did the OH do the washing machine? We have constant boiling water too but the WM is cold fill only and annoys me. I got my elect down to 5 units a day and would like to get to 4 ...Is it easy to do ?
(I think this is a legit subject because it involves moneysaving.)

cheeswright

mardatha wrote: »

Has anybody tried bread with non-bread flour ? can it be done ?

i'm probably late on this but - yes - no need for bread flour at all -
or potatoe starch or vitamin e or...whatever
what do you want - a bread machine recipe ? or a hand made?

handmade white is

6 1/4 cups plain flour
1 package quick yeast
2 1/4cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter or lard etc
1 teaspoon salt

shove in bowl

mix with food mixer untill bored ( 3 min ?)
tip out and knead untill it stiffens.... and your all relaxed !:rotfl:you'll know when it happens ( note its very sticky at first - just keep going it sorts itself out - dont add anything to adjust here)
rise -
beat down and split in two - shape
bake
30 mins hottish oven....

crispy cust - ? boiling water in oven tray at bottom of oven when cooking steams it crispy

let me know if you want bread machine or wholewheat versions...

mardatha

Could you please post one BM recipe ? ty for that !

ChocClare

mardatha wrote: »

CC, how did the OH do the washing machine? We have constant boiling water too but the WM is cold fill only and annoys me. I got my elect down to 5 units a day and would like to get to 4 ...Is it easy to do ?
(I think this is a legit subject because it involves moneysaving.)

You put a t-piece with a washing machine tap on the nearest hot water pipe and run the hose from that.

I'm quoting. :D:D

Depends if you / DH is a competent home plumber but it is quite straightforward if you are.

[Deleted User]

maryb wrote: »

be w

Kittie, I think you said you have lots of roof panels - do you find there is any problem with the seals?

yes we have pv and solar panels as we live in an eco house. There are no leaks anywhere and if I could only choose one then it would be the solar panels. There are 2 on a s facing roof and they work every time the sun shines, even in winter. Today they lifted the store tank temperature to 37 from 16 and we only had about 4 hours of sun, 38 is a good temperature for a shower. The stove lifts the top part of the water cylinder so we have hot water on tap. On a sunny day in winter, the store temp will easily get to 40 and in summer it is stopped at 60 because the plumber says that this is a safe tank temperature. They are brilliant and no trouble at all. For 2/3 of the year the water heated by the sun alone is all we need and it is lovely and hot

You will have to get someone round to see if it is feasible as you will need a new tank as well as top up cylinders and a pump etc All the gubbins takes a fair bit of room

ChocClare

maryb wrote: »

Thanks ChocClare that does help.

We have a woodburner, which I love and we are beginning to find ways of getting wood cheaply and storing it to season. Tree surgeons often don't have room to store wood for long enough to be able to sell it as logs and they have to pay to dispose of it. So whenever one of our neighbours is having a tree cut down I am out there. I find if I speak to the workmen and 'buy them a drink' they will cut the wood into reasonable lengths and dump it in the garden for us. We then have to split it so we have had to invest in a log splitter but it has already paid for itself.

However we live in a smokeless zone so although our stove is approved for burning logs because it is so efficient, it wouldn't be if we fitted a back boiler. So we would still need to pay for water heating in the winter.

Do you find with the solar panels that a sunny day in winter takes the chill off the water so that it doesn't take so much energy to get it up to temperature?

You don't actually need sun, just light, so any bright day will take the chill off the water, even if it's absolutely FREEZING (weather or water).

Well done with the wood: we've just done the same thing. The chap who cut down our tree left the wood for us and mentioned that he had to pay to dispose of the wood, so DH suggested he just dump any wood on our drive from now on! Can't get to our garage at the moment...

Boo hiss about the smokeless zone, but back boilers do take away a lot of the heat from your wood burning stove. We bought one with our wood burning stove and DH was going to plumb it in to heat a couple of radiators upstairs but because our house is so freezing we decided it would actually be counterproductive...

[Deleted User]

Primrose wrote: »

Your energy saving thoughts versus inflation seem a very sensible theory, and although we'd vaguely thought about it, we'd not considered it from a built-in inflation proofing angle. As our house faces East/West, I'm not sure how well it would work
QUOTE]

our neighbours eco house is east west and the pv panels are placed to face south but the roof is at only a slight angle so it may not be feasible on a normal roof

fedupfreda

mama67 wrote: »

With a thought to coping OS style, I noticed that A$d@ had their white bread flour at 50p per 1.5kg bag yesterday whilst I was browing mysupermarket.co as this is as cheap as paying for a cheap value loaf of processed air it is probably good sense to buy something at this price now and says on the bag British wheat, so hopefully supporting the British farmers as well in tru OS fashion by buying localish.

I used to buy their flour - sadly, for me, it makes rubber bread - despite trying various recipes, could never quite get their flour to work right (and I've been making bread on and off since I was 15 and I am considerably older than that now ) I have been using Mr T or Mr S, which works well and the family will actually eat it, so to my mind, that is money saving, :j I refuse to throw out good food.

The main reason for investigating bulk buying is due to inflationary pressures. I am just about old enough to remember shopping with my Mum in the 70's - when prices seemed to go up every week. Can't see prices staying stable for much longer. Supermarkets pay little enough to their suppliers as it is. Everyone along the producer/supplier chain is feeling the pinch with increased costs of raw materials/fuel etc. The time has definitely come to think 'local' rather than just 'cheapest', no-one can afford the fuel costs any more. I definitely agree with Primrose and Maryb.