NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Turtle

Edwink - you are so right about the electricity usage. We got one of those monitor things from our supplier and went round switching things on and off to see what used what. We switched quite a lot of things off as a result! We also had solar panels fitted nearly 3 years ago and they too have made a difference - we're quite careful at not running things at the same time so we can use the power we're generating rather than buying it, ie if vacuuming / washing / making a cup of tea (and I only put the required water in the kettle ) doing them one after the other rather than at the same time.

A combination of fixing our tariff and being more careful with usage (including gas) has brought our monthly dd down from £110 to £45 a month! I checked it recently and we're still in credit by an amount I think will cover the next couple of months or so until we don't need the heating on

On another note, I have today renewed our house insurance. Our old supplier wanted to charge us £416 for the year, I have renewed with a new supplier, slightly improved cover, at £213! The payments are interest free and we get £50 cashback after the first 70 days so I am very pleased indeed with this :T

candygirl

Having another nsd today, and am rejoining ebay:mad:couldn't sign in after last years cyber attack, where they made everyone change their passwords, n I couldn't as had forgotten go update my contacts:( Have lost over 300 positive feedbacks, but onwards n upwards eh:cool:
am dyeing my hair later, n catching jp on the first few series of downton, as I never saw them originally. Have fabbily frugal days gals x:D

oldtractor

well done Turtlewith the insurance

Turtle

oldtractor wrote: »

well done Turtlewith the insurance

Thank you! I was really chuffed and it's surprising just how much you can save!

ArthriticOldThing

Hi everyone. Been reading but not posting for quite a while as very busy in RL.
Am pleased to report that managed to save £70 on my budget this month even though my grocery spends were higher as I restocked the freezer. So more in the emergency fund and a little for my holiday spends fund. The holiday itself was booked and paid for before Christmas last year. :T
I fill my kettle but then make not only one cuppa but four more in a flask - so that is a saving. I must be doing something right energy wise as have just had £164.00 back from SSE - just in time to pay for new glasses.:j They have also reduced my monthly payment by £9 so am pleased with my efforts.:)
NBI is certainly helping me BUT I still have a lot of decluttering to get on with so need all the inspiration you lovely folk can give me.

pm2326

Have been to hairdressers this morning, bought some bread buns, 2 more boxes of cat food (offer finishes today) and some lemonade for my bourbon and that's me done spending for as long as possible.

Fridge, freezer and cupboards are full. I have 12 boxes of cat food so that should last about 3 months, worked out I've saved £18 by buying it on offer :money:

Made a chicken curry in slow cooker this morning using YS diced chicken out of freezer. Decided to make it an all in one dish and added the rice.....I could literally stand a spoon up in it after 3 hours :rotfl: have had to stir it twice and add more liquid before I eventually switched it off an hour ago....taste test confirms its lush :j will Get about 6-8 portions out of it so one for tomorrow and rest in freezer for another day.

edwink

Turtle wrote: »

Edwink - you are so right about the electricity usage. We got one of those monitor things from our supplier and went round switching things on and off to see what used what. We switched quite a lot of things off as a result! We also had solar panels fitted nearly 3 years ago and they too have made a difference - we're quite careful at not running things at the same time so we can use the power we're generating rather than buying it, ie if vacuuming / washing / making a cup of tea (and I only put the required water in the kettle ) doing them one after the other rather than at the same time.

Hi Turtle


We are another one with solar panels and we had ours fitted just over 3 years ago. They are fantastic I am sure you agree with that. We were low users before we got our panels. We are the same as you for not putting everything on in one go. Yesterday here was fab weather for putting the washing machine on. Our panels covered all of that electricity usage.


We currently pay £19 per month and at the moment are building up quite a bit of credit so when our direct debit review comes up next time I am sure it will be reduced to a lower amount still.


My Mother in Law still has the old type light bulbs all over the house. They are the family that I mentioned in my last post that also fill the kettle to the brim every time. There are kettles out there that you can put a small amount of water in to boil. The kettles that have the element showing when you look inside the kettle must be covered with water otherwise they would burn out. The other type of kettles have their element within the base of the kettle (as a rule( these can not be switched on if there is no water in them, so never burnout.


Just out of interest for others. MSE ran a collective electric/gas supplier switch which everyone could join in on!! Because MSE managed to get x amount of people who wanted to switch they were able to negotiate really good tariff prices plus cashback for everyone. So if any of our shipmates on here see that mentioned again in the weekly MSE newsletter it is well worth reading in to and maybe doing this yourself. I did not actually need to switch companies but as I liked the look of the tariff that my utility company was offering on this collective switch I still changed my tariff through this switch and got the £15 cashback (£30 for both electric & gas) even though I stayed with my existing electric supplier. I hope this information is of some use to others!!


Edwink x

purpleshoes_2

Ive been using the low energy bulbs for about 20 years now, as long as Ive been in my flat. Ive only recently started using a kettle, I dont drink tea or coffee, but I boil water to fill a hot water bottle, I figure that the money I use boiling the kettle is well worth it as I'll save money on gas because my heating isn't on.

Im a low user of both gas and electricity, however like most people, my bills would be much lower if we didn't have to pay a standing charge. I used a ridiculously low amount of gas last year, something like 20 units in a year, I was still paying £35 a month for gas and electricity and I know thats very low compared to some people, but for gas, the bulk of my bill is made up of the standing charge.

GreyQueen

purpleshoes wrote: »

Ive been using the low energy bulbs for about 20 years now, as long as Ive been in my flat. Ive only recently started using a kettle, I dont drink tea or coffee, but I boil water to fill a hot water bottle, I figure that the money I use boiling the kettle is well worth it as I'll save money on gas because my heating isn't on.

Im a low user of both gas and electricity, however like most people, my bills would be much lower if we didn't have to pay a standing charge. I used a ridiculously low amount of gas last year, something like 20 units in a year, I was still paying £35 a month for gas and electricity and I know thats very low compared to some people, but for gas, the bulk of my bill is made up of the standing charge.

May I recommend checking out Ebico? They have no standing charges and a flat rate for gas and electricity. I have been with them just over a year and am very satisfied - I manage my accounts online, too.

I'm a very low user, esp of gas, as all that is on the gas is the cooker and on accounts with standing charges, I was paying one-third of the bill for what I'd used and two-thirds were standing charges. Paid just over £11 for the past 13 weeks' use of gas and my teakettle is on the stove, plus I cook a lot inc baking bread.

Ebico was a tip I got off a fellow MSE Old Styler (nuatha, bless his heart) and it was brilliant for me. Plus they're ethical, and you pay the same if one prepayment meters, if that's relevent to you. HTH.

Happy_Home

Good idea about the kettle. I chase DS & DH round the house switching off light bulbs but never considered the kettle. I know we have been using less electric than last year, because Scotpower give you a comparison on their website. Anywhere we can save a bit more will help. We are in the process of Changing to the coop deal, so will keep a close eye on it.

Made 6 portions of soup for the freezer at lunchtime with leftover roasted veg I had saved up. So that's work lunches sorted for awhile.

HHx