Things can only get better

beanielou

Mine will be dire.

Sun_Addict

It’s cold in my house downstairs since I set the thermostat to 18. Upstairs is fine. I checked the temperature and it was only 15.5 in the dining room and kitchen 🥶 I put the boost on for an hour to try and warm it up. The patio doors in the kitchen don’t help plus the constant letting the cats and dog in/out. Oh the joys of having a big old house in the winter 🙁

Anyway Zumba warmed me up and got my steps past 30,000. Last week when I wasn’t well my average step count was 6,500 a day!

Had an email from Mr M saying they’re upping the family discount to 15% Thursday until Sunday so quickly put an order in for tomorrow night (mainly beer and wine). Then they sent me a £2.50 off voucher so used that too. Might as well stock up while the offers are on. I’ve still got the £38 off voucher to use but will use that on Tuesday’s Christmas delivery slot. 

Someone at work has organised a Christmas Day chat call for anyone on their own or needing a bit of respite, what a lovely thing to do. 

badmemory

Thankfully I have savings which may well have to take a long time hit with energy prices.  If I am cold I sieze up, if I sieze up it hurts a lot more, so being cold is frankly not an option.  I have reduced the thermostat but not by that much.  Frankly my increased immobility is just not worth it.  I have tried being wrapped up but that makes me immobile in a different way & also ends up counterpreductive.  So I hate the fact that some energy company is going to make a lot of money out of me but it is what it is & we all do what we have to do to survive.

enthusiasticsaver

We are retired so home more during the day and my DH has a tendency to turn the thermostat up as he gets cold very easily.  I am more active and out and about a lot so don't feel the cold as much.  British Gas did our review this week and put our monthly payment up to £240 from £166 a month but also paid back half of the credit we have in our account.  I don't really understand why they just didn't increase the monthly payment by less.  Still £240 less the government contribution of £66 is better than some others. 

Cherryfudge

Eek! That's some bill. We still have credit but I don't think it will last too long: the heating's been on all day since the beginning of the cold snap. It's usually around 16-17 degrees in the day time, 18 if we have guests. Overnight I turn it down to 14.5 but last night it still came on.

A friend pointed out our local weather forecast for the weekend: from -1 on Saturday to 13C on Monday! Crazy, but at least we won't need the heating on as much.  

Sun_Addict

Morning, happy Thursday. WFH today.

My overnight thermostat is set to 7 degrees so the heating never comes on. I'd get too hot and stuffy if it did. I'm glad I've got the £500 credit but it's not going to last long at this rate. I've never been in credit in the winter before. This time last year the gas/electric was only £108 a month, now look at it!

I think to solve the cold kitchen/dining room I need to firstly put up some sort of thermal curtain across the archway that runs between the two rooms and secondly look into some insulation for the patio doors. The curtain across the archway would definitely help. My desk where I work is right at the side of the archway which is probably why I'm so cold. I've thought about shuffling the furniture around and moving my desk but I don't think it would make that much difference plus it fits well in the corner where it is. 

I suppose where our house is doesn't help - at the top of very steep hills both sides, absolutely nothing behind us apart from sheer drops (great views though!) and there is a large gap between us and the church next door. We're in a very exposed area.

The small Mr M delivery is coming this evening so another spends day. Mr T Mobile have sent me a £5 off voucher for Mr T that will get used at some stage between now and Christmas. I had a reminder email from Mr M about the Christmas slot that made me smile, it said the elves are worried I haven't put everything I need in my basket. When I reserved the slot I just put beer and wine in the basket with a view to adding to it later 😆 I must have a good think about what I still need plus I want to use the £38 off voucher on that shop. 

Exercise today will be dog walking plus interval training at lunchtime. Aiming for 15k steps today. 

I'm going to make a traybake for tonight's dinner so will finally get to use up the roast cauliflower.

Sunshine_girl2

SA I think my bill will be humongous, my heating has been on 12 hours a day for over a week now, I am lucky to have money to cover it, lord knows what people on low incomes are doing. 

I am getting curtains for all my windows , I only have blinds and this is the first time I have felt cold in this flat . 

Traybake sounds good . 

beanielou

People on low income are literally crying. 

Sun_Addict

In good news I've received a lovely surprise of a £20 gift voucher as a thank you from someone at work this morning.

In bad news Mr M have emailed me to say they've subbed Mr SA's beer for one he doesn't like so that will be returned. Oh well it was a nice try getting it for 15% off 😐 It's not as if he hasn't got any! The rest of my order is fine just that there won't be a lot of it when it arrives because I didn't order much.

I've been much warmer this afternoon as the sun has been shining on me through the patio doors which was a welcome bonus.

Makingabobor2

How lovely to get a thankyou gift voucher. Treat yourself to something nice.  
I had a Mr S delivery today, they subbed stollen bites for mincemeat puffs. Had to sent them back as we don't eat mince pies. Some of the things they substitute sometimes, do make me laugh.