How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

Pitlanepiglet

Is anyone watching the Boat that Guy Built on BBC1? It's fab....I think I'm strangely attracted to the man with the funny accent and sideburns

greenbee

rachbc wrote: »

Also why is economy 7 more environmental than a standard tariff - the electricty coems from the same source?

maryb wrote: »

It makes more efficient use of base load electricity ie the electricity generating that can't be quickly ramped up or down so is being produced 24 hours a day

yep ... Using nuclear base load... And if we use all ours the French have plenty to export! This is why we need a varied fuel mix. The Germans have done fantastic things with micro generation which can also help deal with grid disruption.

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Can I just make the point that using your washing machine or dishwasher overnight is REALLY not recommended by the fire brigade. I used to do it but have stopped now as I reckoned the money saved wasn't worth the risk. Our Econ7 comes on at 11pm so I often put a quickwash on then as I'm rarely in bed before midnight.
I tend to mostly wash in cold now unless items are really soiled. I use a liquid detergent for cold washes and powder for 30/40% washes (usually whites.)

most E7 and E10 tariffs can be used effectively if you se immersion heaters correctly and do a last-thing-at-night or first-thing-in-the-morning wash/DW/td. I know my dad gets up at 6am to switch on the DW and WM that my mother has got ready the night before after she's dealt with the 'late' load.

If you have solar hot water it's worth having a separate circuit for it to feed the WM and DW as well as proving pre-heated water for immersions and boilers as it can save you a lot more. And at least you'll have warm/hot water when the rest of us don't because our gas/oil boilers need electricity to work!

charlies-aunt

...if its chocolate cake count me in!
...or victoria sponge . . . or cherry cake

Had a lovely surprise tonight though - an elderly neighbour rang at 7pm to ask if our television was working okay as hers was all slosheyed - ours was working fine so DH popped down and with his superior technical knowledge, he 'fixed' it (i.e. turned it off and turned it on again!) She was very grateful but embarassingly tried to insist on paying him but as he was having none of it, she wouldn't let him leave without giving him a little hm lemon cake to bring home.

I don't run my dishwasher at night - he's much more handy as a hot water bottle!

mardatha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBApOzmRMj0&feature=player_embedded
************
I've just seen this on another forum but I cant get it to play. Is there anything awful in it that we should know about , if anybody can get it to work?

born_blonde

If times get tough, tougher I suppose we'd go back to the hierarchy of needs. I may have forgotten but is it food. shelter and then clothing?

I know I'm OK for shelter and it's not so much that food would be tough but that expectations would take some time to reconcile to what was available. Not just mine but also my Husband and son.

I suppose it's change and most people don't embrace change.

We get it to degree now as household income has dropped by two thirds and we all hark back to what used to be the norm rather than what is necessary now.

I suppose what I'm saying is it's harder to get your head to the right place than to stock your store cupboard.

grandma247

I am watching it now. I am using firefox and have just updated some stuff including adobe flash thingy.

dollydaydream07

DH got paid on monday and we are practically skint.......... £800 on bills, £50 CC payment, £100 food, £15 petrol, £36 dancing lessons, £20 school dinners and we have the grand total of £18 in our account we do have around £150 to go in over the course of the month in tax creds and child benefit but we have over £300 to pay out still....... £250 home insurance and the car is due it's MOT which we believe it will fail

so much for my musings about staying at home or going out to work........ looks like i will have to give up being a SAHM there is no way we can afford for me not to

Molly41

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Butterfly Brain who posts on here sometimes, and every day on the Daily, had the motor on her washing machine go on fire on Saturday or Sunday. Luckily she was around at the time. After knowing someone whose house burned to the ground after her WM caught fire a few years ago, I never have any appliances on if I am out of the house or in bed at night. The fire brigade do give this advice too.

Well done jackie - i was about to post that too. Also the fire brigade very much discourage the use of chip pans and encourage deep fat fryers x

kitschy

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

DH got paid on monday and we are practically skint.......... £800 on bills, £50 CC payment, £100 food, £15 petrol, £36 dancing lessons, £20 school dinners and we have the grand total of £18 in our account we do have around £150 to go in over the course of the month in tax creds and child benefit but we have over £300 to pay out still....... £250 home insurance and the car is due it's MOT which we believe it will fail

so much for my musings about staying at home or going out to work........ looks like i will have to give up being a SAHM there is no way we can afford for me not to

:grouphug:

Didn't want to not reply, although I don't have much in the way of advice. It might be worth popping over to the DFW board - they are awesome at finding little places to pinch a few pennies back. Take care, sweetie x

SD-253

charlies-aunt wrote: »

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have

You cannot be more right. Although I am wary about the present government intention on measuring happiness in other ways than in monetary terms this in reality is the only way to measure happiness. There is no other way. If money was all that mattered I would still be living in Manchester instead of 6 miles from the nearest shop with 1 bus a week no car and 3 bicycles and 2 trailers I am of course ignoring the draw of the better choice of real ales in rural pubs