NST March: Marching to a different beat

clippy_girl

Morning all

First check in for me

Thursday I wasted £1.05 in the shop at work on sweets :mad: then paid £1.30 for parking as needed to pick up an order from new look in the shopping centre. Spend £4 in boots but that was medicinal as bought tissues and some Vaseline to put up my nose. Nose keeps bleeding especially when I have a bath. Think it's caused by being too dry. Got little ramekins of water on each radiator as well (too tight to buy a humidifier!). Going to attempt a bath later so fingers crossed it's ok

Friday I spent £54 in morrisons :eek::eek::eek: that was only for me! Need to look at receipt but I know I spent £23 on dishwasher tablets, sensitive washing liquid and two jars of coffee. Forgot toilet roll so may have to get more during the week as have guests most of week so can't use the ones in there.

Today will not a sfd as I am going out tonight for pizza. Only going because my friend is picking me up as I refuse to attempt to park on my road when I return home as it's all compacted icy snow. I keep my car on the main road as it's ploughed and gritted so don't mind going out in the day. Also popping round to visit a friend but I bought some nice biscuits yesterday to take.

Tomorrow I am off for a roast dinner (snow will melt yey :T). So not a spend free weekend!

I get paid on 19th and out of this months 4 weekends I am staying in two and doing nothing as this weekend is a bit spendy and next weekend will def be as I am going to a country festival at the o2 so will drive to Stratford and need to pay for parking, food, drink etc....

Toni's friend my friend had a house with loads of spotlights and she reckoned that she saved a fortune replacing them with energy saving led ones. I now have put energy saving bulbs in all my lamps and ceiling lights and put led spotlights in. Asda was very cheap for a multipack of led bulb. Annoyingly I have a dimmer ceiling light in the living room and two touch lamps in my guest room and if I use energy saving bulbs in any of those they flicker and make a humming noise. They are the only bulbs that ever break, never replaced the energy saving ones!

As I've been working from home during the snow I've been wishing I could use the fireplace in the living room. I've never used it in 8 years but I'm going to investigate getting it swept and what I need to use it. Think I might just need the grate bit. It's a Victorian one but only had the decorative pieces of iron left in it.

Sorry to hear about the car Lauren fingers crossed that will be the end of your streak

Have a good day all

dolly84

Lauradora - hope you enjoy your maternity leave. When is your baby due?

Debtfreewannabeme - 16 degrees is my day time temperature for our house.

clippy - I haven't been impressed with energy bulbs at all, I've lived in this house 15 years and have replaced them numerous times and they are supposed to last 8 years.

Well Sainsburys didn't deliver my re-scheduled grocery shop yesterday, they have been a complete shambles really, they just cancel and don't call to tell you. I went to Asda on foot yesterday and spent £15.92 and then to Tesco today and spent £31.45 including a £4 voucher, this will see me over till Wednesday now. Tesco was heaving, no parking spaces and you could barely move inside.

I'm concerned about our gas bill too but also with just how much gas we are all using, where do we think it is coming from? I have my thermostat at 16 degrees during the day and turn it off at night and just leave the frost protection to stop the pipes freezing, last night I left it set at 12 degrees so it didn't have to works so hard getting back up to temp today.

Called at the library to collect a book, dropped a car boot full of stuff off at the CS, called at the building society with the kids savings and posted an ebay sale. I've had £62 of sales in the last few days which has all gone into savings.

Debtfreewannabme

Hi Dolly84 thats great if it suits you but for me with a baby and a toddler living in an old house we have ours on 20 in the day and 16 at night. I refuse to leave my children cold whilst we can afford it - no judgement please. I guess we all have different allowances.

I'm counting today as 3/18 NSD. We are snowed in and DH spent another night away as he is unable to travel home safely. It has been very hard going but we have passed the hours by playing with balloons, making soup, and dancing to the radio to keep warm.

I am thankful for my FIL dropping us some bread for emergencies (it's gone straight in the freezer), for hearing the giggles of my children and for being warm and safe. I'm also thankful for a local curry house opening its doors to those without a home and providing them with food and drink.

Hope your all having a nice day x

Debtfreewannabme

ps. todays wins are realising we have another days worth of meals, listing an item on ebay, finding £20 in an old purse and transfering into savings £100/ £1,000 buffer goal.

Toni'sfriend

Hi Turtles

The snow seems to have stopped but sill lying deep on the pavements. It's bitterly cold still and a strong wind so stayed in today as well. NSD No 3.

Sahanut, Hope you get your water problem sorted soon.

I've made a beef curry for tomorrow (always better if left overnight) and tonight we're having roast chicken. So glad I got 2 half price free range chickens in good old Aldi last week. Apparently people are panic buying and there is no bread or milk in the shops.

Thank you all for your advice on electricity consumption. Debtfree, your post was really interesting. I don't have a tumble dryer or dish washer but, my goodness, aren't they expensive to run. I will research how much it costs to use other appliances. Smart meters aren't available here yet but I've put my name down for one when they are. Clippy, I'm going to start replacing the bulbs. Ours are on most of the time because C has extremely bad eyesight. Dolly, I am constantly replacing the bulbs in our sitting room. I thought there might be a fault but the annual electricity check said “no” so I think it's our useage that's the problem.

Plans for this month:

Haven't done any decluttering or tidying. Another lazy day!
Meal plannish for next week. Weather might change it. We'll see.
Finished The Odessa File last night. Even better than the film. C has assured me that The Day of the Jackal is a cracking read.
Not going to even mention what I haven't done as regards my appearance.

Hope you are all ok and keeping warm.

Debtfreewannabme

yes very expensive to run. Ive discovered that boiling the kettle and microwave are more expensive than hob and have even taken to filling the kettle once - boiling and filling up a few flasks for hot drinks through the day. Cheaper than constantly boiling kettle. Having a smart meter has really been an eye opener - admittedly I have plugged it out as became slightly obsessive over the amount going up haha. If you let me know what appliances you use I can give you the details based on my energy supplier - wont be exact but might help give you a better idea. I have analysed the cost of most appliances - even to the point where I found a 'frugal' riscotto receipe that required 8 mins use of microwave...I worked out it was 'cheaper' to use the hob. Things like cooking with the lids on helps save money too. I really have been converted to MS.

clippy_girl

Interesting talk on energy saving. I always thought dishwashers were better than washing up by hand as no gas and they use a lot less water apparently than a few bowls a day?

I can't get a smart meter as I have an economy 7 meter. Annoying as I don't ever use economy 7 tariffs and I can't switch to all providers as some won't let me have non economy 7.

I bought a heated clothes airer from Lakeland which is amazing. So much cheaper than tumble dryer and if I chuck the bedding over it then no ironing. I do Airbnb so wash a lot of bedding and it's a lifesaver! I only tumble dry towels now and then generally only partially. I have a combined washer/dryer so even more expensive to run (washing part is good energy rating).

I must confess I hate being cold and my heating is generally on about 17 all the time and then 21 in morning and evening for a few hours. Even though my house is Victorian it's a mid terrace with double glazing and keeps the heat in I cannot stand being cold and would definitely only cut back on hearing if I couldn't save anywhere else first I am very grateful that I can afford to heat my house

indigowarrior

:hello: Nsd 2 for me. Have eaten out of the cupboards. Been trying to find out my rights regarding lodging. I am currently renting a spare room from my friend but he doesnt want me here long term.

Toni'sfriend

HI Debfree
My son has an enormous amount of computer equipment (although he doesn't use it all at once). Uses it in the evening to game etc. Other than that we have a washing machine, electric oven, electic shower (gas hob and heating) and the other usual things (tv microwave etc). A LOT of lamps in the living room which are on most of the time which makes me think that changing the bulbs is a good idea.
Thank you so much for your help.

Fmess

Loving the energy saving and heating talk.

Any idea how much a 30 degree quick wash costs? (Please) I always use this setting as it only takes 55 minutes.

I have my heating on at 17 when I!!!8217;m home, 18 on a very cold day and off at night. I have blankets on the sofa and always sit under one.