Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

I feel a bit meh today, I think it's a case of the January blues and missing my mum . Also I didn't have anywhere I HAD to go today or anything that I HAD to do, and free time unsettles me at the moment.

But my coping strategy has been to write a to do list and work my way through it. So although I still feel a bit down, I have got a lot done which has made the day productive at least.

The park walk got me out of the house and doing some exercise, the house looks a bit better and DS1's important form is filled in which is something I've been procrastinating over.

Tomorrow should be a better day because it's food shop day which, sad thing that I am, I'm actually looking forward to . Then in the afternoon I'll shorten my jeans, which will take two hours as I don't have a sewing machine and I like to do it properly. But I will finally have some jeans to wear that actually fit me.

beanielou

The jeans will be worth it

please-let-me-be-lucky

I was just thinking of Jen the other day Beanie, and wondering how her son was doing.

My boys love playing Uno Xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

beanielou wrote: »

The jeans will be worth it

;

Yes they will be .

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

My boys love playing Uno Xx

We used to play Uno but my mum and stepdad bought them in Italy and we couldn't understand the instructions :rotfl:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I think DS3's imminent return to uni isn't helping my mood. It's been so nice having him home, but he's going back again on Sunday and I'm going to really miss him . I know he likes it at uni and it's good for him to be there, but that doesn't stop me from missing him.

It's a good thing I'm starting my course soon as I need a distraction.

HairyHandofDartmoor

DH and I woke up this morning to find the heating was on :mad:. This is despite us turning it off last night before we went to bed :mad:. Mystery heating :huh:!

We turn the dial to the snowflake setting on the boiler itself (which is in the kitchen) when we want the heating to go off, but have noticed that sometimes it came on anyway :mad:. So we've started taking the batteries out of the thermostat type device on the wall in the hall, as that may have caused the heating to come on if the house falls below a certain temperature.

But last night we turned the boiler to the snowflake setting, took the batteries out of the thermostat, and went to bed. Then this morning we get up and the radiators are warm :mad: :huh: :huh:. I don't want the heating on making our bills even bigger when we're in bed :mad:. It's very strange :huh: :huh:.

[Deleted User]

very odd about the heating coming on, HH, especially as you left it off for so long before Christmas to save money. Ours sometimes bursts into life during the night but I know it's because of the timer playing up. The only reason we realise it's on during is the night is that the boiler makes such a noise and we can hear it even from our bedroom with the door shut. Well, OH hears it, I could sleep through an earthquake:rotfl:. He gets up straight away and switches it off though. Our remedy is to switch the timer off at the wall and remove the plug from the socket as well. Just switching the timer itself to the 'off' setting doesn't always work as it has a mind of its own. The electricity supply to it needs to be off too. It's so old fashioned and has done sterling service for about 22 years so we should probably expect it to be a bit temperamental by now. We don't have a wall thermostat. We can adjust the overall output on the boiler itself (don't ask me how, I've never taken the front panel off) and we have individual thermostatic valves on all the radiatiors. Can't wait for a boiler upgrade though but won't be holding my breath for it happening any time soon:(


Must have been lovely waking up to a warm house though:j. The weather here has been really cold this past couple of days:(

HairyHandofDartmoor

It is very puzzling. DH wondered if there was a thermostat inside the boiler itself that makes the radiators come on if it gets very cold, to stop pipes freezing? Anyway we'll have to moniter it.

I can just imagine your OH leaping out of bed to turn off the heating :rotfl:.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

It is very puzzling. DH wondered if there was a thermostat inside the boiler itself that makes the radiators come on if it gets very cold, to stop pipes freezing? Anyway we'll have to moniter it.

I can just imagine your OH leaping out of bed to turn off the heating :rotfl:.

Do you have instructional manuals with your boiler or system generally? We do but there's not much in them:(.but I also discovered lots of useful information online on the boiler and timer manufacturers' websites.


Even OH leaping out of bed, probably with lots of chuntering, and stamping downstairs (we have an open tread wooden staircase) doesn't wake me up:j. The first I hear of it is next morning when he practically accuses me of being responsible for it happening:rotfl:. He thinks because I insist on the heating being on at all, ever, I'm responsible for it's malfunctioning even when it's supposedly off.

redofromstart

Depends on the boiler but the snowflake setting can be an anti freeze thing, so that the boiler comes on automatically if the temp drops below a certain level. May be worth googling for an instruction manual on how to change that level.

We had an old style timer that often got stuck CBC, it was £45 for a compatible replacement with the same wiring/size which gave us control back otherwise the hot water was sometimes permanently on. Paid for itself quite quickly.