Village living on a budget what NO ALDI!

GlynD

mardatha wrote: »

House coal here is £15 a sack and smokeless stove eggs £17.50... we use 2 bags a week, not really cheap at £35.

If you're using 2 bags a week it certainly wouldn't be economical. We pay £13.50 for a 500kg bag. 2 bags will last about 6 weeks but that's because we're not burning it all the time. We use it in conjunction with our OFCH. It's really at nights we burn coal, gives a much cozier feel to the house we think.

Welshwoofs

I'd also mention that it's worth asking around to see if anyone goes shooting rabbits and pigeons because it's often the case that someone does and is happy to give them away when they have a good haul.

Also bartering! In my last house I had a fairly large apple and pear orchard and used to swap with a local small-holder who had eggs, honey and seasoned wood.

But it's absolutely crucial that if you go and live in the countryside you mingle! Almost any information of value is word-of-mouth and 'city folk' who come in and then keep themselves to themselves tend to not get on too well.

mardatha

GlynD, I have a multi burner stove that is on 24/7 and heats 7 radiators and the water. constant boiling hot water and a very warm house - I think its worth it. But its not cheap

Seanymph

If you have space for chickens they are brilliant - I have six, and we get five eggs every day.

Gloomendoom

GlynD wrote: »

If you're using 2 bags a week it certainly wouldn't be economical. We pay £13.50 for a 500kg bag. 2 bags will last about 6 weeks but that's because we're not burning it all the time. We use it in conjunction with our OFCH. It's really at nights we burn coal, gives a much cozier feel to the house we think.

So coal is only £27 a metric ton in NI? No wonder you are using it to heat your house. It costs ten times that on this side of the Irish Sea.

GlynD

mardatha wrote: »

GlynD, I have a multi burner stove that is on 24/7 and heats 7 radiators and the water. constant boiling hot water and a very warm house - I think its worth it. But its not cheap

We would never run our heating 24/7 unless conditions were really bad. We generally only run the OFCH for about 2 hours daily and if it's cold enough to warrant a fire at night we'll light it from around 5-6pm and stop adding coal after 9pm. If the weather gets as bad as last year we'll run the OFCH on a 24 hour basis but on a reduced heat. None of that is for economical reasons, we only demand the levels of heat we like - it seems we're fortunate not to feel as cold as some.

suki1964

Welshwoofs wrote: »

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But it's absolutely crucial that if you go and live in the countryside you mingle! Almost any information of value is word-of-mouth and 'city folk' who come in and then keep themselves to themselves tend to not get on too well.

Best bit of advice given

Also accept that there will no longer be a "pop in and out for a loaf" shop because whilst there you will be expected to depart with any news you have and to catch up on that you havent yet heard.

I remember the first time I went out in the car on my own ( two days after passing my test) stopped off for petrol somewhere and ended up sat in the sun drinking tea with the garage owner talking about country life vs City life and what took me so far

mardatha

Well its kind of hard to let a coal fire go out then re-light it all the time, so is best left alone and turned to zero. Plus I live in a very cold place. And we're old. LOL !

Welshwoofs

mardatha wrote: »

GlynD, I have a multi burner stove that is on 24/7 and heats 7 radiators and the water. constant boiling hot water and a very warm house - I think its worth it. But its not cheap

That's the exact set-up I had in my last cottage. I also ran it 24/7 in the Winter and it's actually more economical to do that than let it die out. As you know, you get the air-flows into them right and it can smoulder away merrily for hours. When they're going 24/7 you just 'damp them down' overnight and then open up the air grills first thing in the morning, empty the old ash and stock up again with new coal.

I think my spend was around £180 a month for smokeless fuel by the 1/2 ton during the Winter. Sounds a lot, but then that was only half the year, the electricity stayed fairly static at £40 a month all year round.

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Though not really rural I also move out from the big city. It does take a while to adjust to the fact that you don't have 24/7/365 shops on the doorstep and a huge supermarket around the corner. Yet strategic shopping can be done and you use the local shops for minor top ups.