2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

SandraScarlett

twiglet98 wrote: »

Sandra you really do have a gift with words of kindness.

Thankyou sweetie ...................... but I can't crochet! :rotfl:

xx

quintwins

maryb wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

It's laptop central in this house. I'm a self confessed MSE addict and spend huge amounts of time surfing. Plus a student daughter home for hols and another teenager still at school, both do actually need laptops for study but both of them Youtube addicts with a laptop each (we had to go for unlimited broadband) but I'd read that laptops were not that power hungry compared with desktops so didn't worry too much - they all hibernate/go on standby (not sure of the difference) after 5 minutes of inactivity. Can you share where you got those figures from, pretty please?

we worked out out on the wattage of our pc, then worked it out using an elec bill, i'm not veyr good at it, we worked out it cost 39p a day to run our laptops so you are right and we have 2 of them, and 81p per hr for our tumble dryer, and something like 3p an hr for our t.v

our pc is very high spec as hubbys into gaming granted not as much as he was before he met me but he still likes to keep our computers high end incase he decided he wants to pay a game with his mates, this is his only vice, so if we ungrade every year or 2 it works out less than if he smoked or drank so i don't mind


if ive understood right it's your tarriff/100xitems consumption gives you the cost per hr, hubby worked them all out for me you can get wee meters that do it for you but thats not very mse :money::rotfl:

maryb

High end computers are quite power hungry - but I think I remember reading that they don't draw maximum power all the time. So it might not be quite as bad as you think

quintwins

maryb wrote: »

High end computers are quite power hungry - but I think I remember reading that they don't draw maximum power all the time. So it might not be quite as bad as you think

it prob is the fans always running and he just turns the minitor off rather than it going into standby, and its left 24/7 well....no more poor man must thinki've lost the plot i canceled our sky, pinched his simcard and now im turning things off like a crazy woman lol i keep doing lapts of the house to check everything :rotfl:

maryb

Go for it! You can get monitors which show you how much electricity you are using at any one point in time, though it doesn't tell you how much any individual appliance is using. You can get them free from some utility suppliers. The novelty wears off after a while so I wouldn't recommend buying one. But to start with it's quite compulsive going round the house to try and turn things off so that the number on the display is as low as possible. And once you get into the habit of doing that, it tends to stay with you even if you don't bother with the monitor

Linz4383

maryb wrote: »

Go for it! You can get monitors which show you how much electricity you are using at any one point in time, though it doesn't tell you how much any individual appliance is using. You can get them free from some utility suppliers. The novelty wears off after a while so I wouldn't recommend buying one. But to start with it's quite compulsive going round the house to try and turn things off so that the number on the display is as low as possible. And once you get into the habit of doing that, it tends to stay with you even if you don't bother with the monitor

i have one of these.. it was free with british gas.. i did exactly the same thing when i had it had to keep seein what i was usin and how much electric it takes!!! i love mine still look at it now as its set up to tell me how much electric ive used for the day/week/3months which is great

seriouslyfrugal

Hi everyone

welcome to everyone new


managed my swim yesterday 34 lengths in 45 mins which i'm really pleased at as I haven't been for ages :j I'm going again tomorrow


had another appointment at the hospital today as I needed my occuapational therapist to make me a new splint for my left hand although I gave my poor O.T a fright as I felt light headed whilst she was doing this so ended up with my head near my knees

although both the parking for the park n ride which I use for my hospital appointments and my weekly swim ticket have both had increases in cost - must be that time of year again

paidinchickens

Afternoon ladies

So far today it has been a NSD however I am collecting the sun holiday tokens and will have to go and get a paper later while whoopsie hunting

Went to a friends for coffee which was good timing as she is vowing to diet and gave me some chocs for the kids. We never bought much junky stuff for Crimbo so have run out apart from DH choccy snowman that he gets in his stocking and then leaves til March to drive us all nuts :rotfl::rotfl: Some months he comes close to physical harm if you know what I mean

I hung on for Mr Ts to reduce their crackers which finally went down from a fiver to £1.25 but it took them ages this year and IMO their seasonal stock is not getting marked down as much as it used to

We are using the damaged chest freezer that was delivered Friday and they are sending someone to change the lid but at least it is now back out of its wrapping as the box alone was taking up ooodles of room. The only question is do I sell the freezer in the garage or do I use that for all the fruit and veg I plan on having a go at growing this year? We have a fridge freezer in the kitchen as well Is having three freezers going to cost more in running than I am saving in cooking from scratch and freezer, bargain and whoopsie hunting??? I dare not make a rash decision


I took Ruby the bike (as she is red) out of the garage for a quick trip to the library today. DH has been chopping and sawing things lately and did not cover her up so she is looking a little sad for herself covered in dust. I looked a little sad riding her as I have not cycled for months as I did my back in and only felt brave enough to give it a go today I must have looked a tad tipsy and rather unfit :rotfl::rotfl:

Today I have decide to bike more and the big one............ GET UP EARLIER AND GO TO BED EARLIER. I think this will help me feel better and give me a bigger part of the day to get on and do something as it takes me a while to get motivated in the AM (usually three coffees) and then at night we go to bed early-ish but end up watching some series or other on DVD.

I have a chicken lobbed in the Remoska and it smells yummy so tomorrow we will be having chicken curry. I found a Chinese wholesalers that sell the curry sauce they have in takeaways so I can now make it myself for a fraction of the price :j

The cat pen is finally ready I am just waiting for the silicon smell to wear off as it was only done yesterday so hopefully I should have a new furry foster baby by the weekend

Hope I havn't bored you all to death or you have had to pick your faces up off the keyboard as you fell asleep.........if you had make sure you look in the mirror for the QUERTY imprint before you leave the house :rotfl::rotfl:

PIC xx

purpleorchid

hope everyone is well

had to spend 92p on postage today to post my 1st book sold on amazon woohoo. got another 18 listed so hope someone buys them
also bought a snickers bar which was 49p, sweet cravings drive me nuts lol, pun not intended. but i dont buy any of that when i go shopping.

Luv P
xx

letsdothis

I may not post much, but I love catching up on all the tips - and makes me feel so good that I am not alone in the fight, and whenever I feel myself waivering I only have to come on here and it boosts my motivation again - thank you all x x x