Shoestring days are coming.

tim_n

I'm moving house and at the poorest I've ever been.

Plans at present:

'Brown out'. No power to anything other than the frige and freezer during day time. Everything else is battery powered. I have one PC that may be on - low power ( < 60watts) which is my freeview recorder!
Bucket and plug in the shower. Reuse of water to flush toilet. Bricks in loo to reduce clean water useage. If its yellow let it mellow.
No oven unless it is a full oven. Plenty of oven stuff I can cook to fill up space. I'm worried about storage though.
No central heating. It's a top floor flat, well insulated by cavity walls and roofspace. It was baking when I walked in and the radiators were cold (december).
Plenty of blankets on the sofa - so if its cold it's easy to get warm.
My girlfriend and I love films - we watch them virtually every night on sky. I can't afford sky movies or even sky. But the local library is charging £15 for 14 films at any one time. That could be 14 films a day which is far too many for me. Because it is a county library it's got looooads too!
Allotment - I've been investing a lot of time and effort in getting the allotment ready. I've got sets and sets of onions growing which I hope to knit for the romantic look of onions hanging, though I've been told they don't really store well like this! Also hoping for bumper crops of soft fruits, potatoes, sweet potatoes, loads of herbs, squashes, sweetcorn, peas, beans, tomatoes etc.
Going veggie - my girlfriend is veggie and I have started to really enjoy vegitable food. Meat is still a highlight for me but I shouldn't be eating it every day. Veggie will hopefully cost a lot less too.
Solar oven - I'm hoping to build one this year for use down the allotment. We spend a fair bit of time down there and it would be lovely to have a meal down there with some appreciative friends
Household products - I've been experimenting with all sorts in my house - from making soap from glycerine (made some nice liquid soap from the scraps of my christmas bars), lip balm etc.
Reduce, reuse, recycle. I've been amazed by the amount of rubbish my family home creates - I want to stop getting so much packaging which only really costs me in the long run. Most of my veggie food can be bought from my local market next to my work place. They're also happy to reuse my shopping bags and because I'm lacking in meat I can leave it in my car whilst I work without fear of it going off - fridge space at work is a closely guarded space.
Car - I've been working on reducing the cost of the car, it is essential at the moment but I'm beginging to warm to the idea of getting the train to work instead. The car currently costs me about £1660 to get me to work and back. The train will cost me (thanks to my companies deal with the train operators) £1270. The difference in time (pretending it is always on time) is 12 minutes not including the time it takes to walk to and from the station. I loose the convienence of the car but my girlfriend owns one anyway.
Bike - I cycle when I can
Forage - I'm hoping to start catching crayfish soon as well as foraging for foods in the local woods and waterways.
Lodger - my friend is interested in taking the box room that is so small it's difficult to swing woodlice rather than kittens or cats in it. I've seen bigger prison cells!

If my life doesn't improve with all of this I don't know what will = )

Anything I've missed?

Seakay

Wow! Well Done! Don't forget to let us know how it goes with the solar oven

Princess81

Hi tim_n just wanted to say good luck hope it goes well keep us all posted with your progress

sammy_kaye18

Crumbs - puts my os/moneysaving to shame!!!

Well done you!! - must admit i did for a while consider going vegetarian as a healthier option but then i caught a wiff of a bacon sarnie and was a total failure (i lasted about 4 hours ! - did pick a motorbike club meet up day as my first day of new veggie life - doh!)

Fingers crossed hun i hope all goes brilliantly well for you. You'll probably find that you wont ever need your electric on though because if you are on a top floor flat you will get everyone elses heat rising through yours.

Just wanted to add that if you have any spare sheets/blankets etc why not try sewing them inside you curtains and this will help deflect any heat in the spring/summer if the curtains are kept closed from dawn etc and help insulate heat in the winter when you have the heating on (or your neighbours seem to have it on)

Also come winter extra blankets on top of the duvet and an extra blanket under the bottom sheet helps too.

Make sure your fridge/freezer are working well. Ie keep the freezer fully stocked even if its with bottles of frozen water and the fridge ful but still full enough to keep everythign cool etc (cant remember the rule im sure someone will post it though)

MadCowMan

are those special vegetarian crayfish then ?

tim_n

ah veggie is as veggie does.

I am not adverse to meat - I will eat it if it is available, but as I get older I look at fresh, local organic meat. In smaller quantities whereas during my childhood and teenage years meat was very much the centerpiece of the meal. This is mainly all down to my other half who doesn't like meat purely on a texture basis. She'll eat fish though with no trouble. Who says crayfish aren't on the menu? = )

MadCowMan

sounds good - I'm sure they'll taste even better if you know you caught them yourself !

Aril

Nettles and wild garlic are good at the moment.
Perhaps check out your charity shop to see if they're selling the freebie DVDS the papers having been giving away. Have myself bought some classics for 20p as opposed to £2.50 hire from the library.
Have you checked out the "only old style things you do" thread?
Re water usage...I have a jug in the kitchen to collect the water which runs off whilst I'm waiting for the hot to come through for washing up...this is used in the kettle.
I've been a very sad person and sat at the library and put various key words like frugal, cheap etc in their catalogue search which as brought up some interesting titles some of which are no longer in print. I'm gradually ordering them and gleaning further tips from them.
There's probably more but it's the end of the working day and my brain as gone AWOL!
Hope something is of help.
Aril

COOLTRIKERCHICK

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Crumbs - puts my os/moneysaving to shame!!!

Well done you!! - must admit i did for a while consider going vegetarian as a healthier option but then i caught a wiff of a bacon sarnie and was a total failure (i lasted about 4 hours ! - did pick a motorbike club meet up day as my first day of new veggie life - doh

sorry a bit off topic... but sammy_kaye18..... what bike club is that...? do you mean a rally... ? which one..?

just being nosey as we go to quite a few......

good luck tim_n..... but just make sure you do have some luxuries.....now and again....

oldMcDonald

Home made wine. Just started off several bottles worth of Gorse Wine for the cost of a bag of sugar

There is ALWAYS something growing for free that can be turned into alcohol

Three_Dancing_Dragons

Wow. You are really jumping in with both feet. It might be easier on the two of you if you add one thing at a time and gradually change lifestyle otherwise you might find it quite uncomfortable and unsustainable at first.