Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Good morning daffodils!
It's chilly out of the sunshine (icy grass & car this morning) - I'm on our coffee bench waiting for laundry#2 to finish spinning. First load already pegged out in the sunshine, a third to do & I'm hoping it will all dry for free today.
Builder started at 8am & is here all day (for next 3 days, I think) building our new wall, so I decided to have a day of household-running activities so as to be on hand for queries, etc. So far, good inroads made into this week's laundry & yesterday's Indian spiced chicken divvied up (leftovers allocated to two further meals plus a microwaveable lunch mug for Mr F). I've checked my tiny plant babies have survived the frosty night & got bread dough on 1st proving for a batch of rolls. 
Soot & Ash are outside in the sunshine. Ash passed his cat-flap training yesterday, but Soot only sussed it one way & threw himself at the back door repeatedly on his hind legs, yowling like crazy because it was closed. I've left the back door open for him this morning so he can get the idea of being able to come & go as he pleases. Ash is more comfortable with outdoors.because he lived rough for several months before his time in the Rescue.
Ah well, that's my coffee finished just as the washer pinged so I must peg it out if I'm to get everything dry.
Wishing everyone a decent start to the week.
F x

foxgloves

Hello again for evening instalment, & yes I'm afraid it's energy bills again! So I've now had a chance to do a bit of number crunching on our newly arrived monthly energy statement. We used a total of £34.62 less energy than last month. I don't think there has been much of a temperature difference tbh, as it hasn't been a cold winter, but we did turn the thermostat down from its setting of 19°C from 5 till 10pm to match the 18°C we set it at for the rest of the time. We also agreed not to light the stove until at least 7pm, instead of previously 6pm. Apart from these alterations to our heating, the other savings have been from all the little things I've been wittering on about on here - as much laundry as poss washed at 30° & line drying outside whenever possible, two baths from.one lot of hot water, not over-filling the kettle & lots of other micro-measures which all add up.
I noticed that we used less energy than our direct debit this month - a total of £110.26 whereas dd payment is £119.44. I had a look at how frequently this happens & it turns out that in the last 2 years, we only used more energy than our dd in Jan 2021, Feb 2021, Jan 2022 & Feb 2022. 
I suspected we were paying too much following our heating upgrade in Sept 2020. I'd intended to request both a refund of £200, which would still leave a decent wodge of credit, & a reduced monthly dd at the end of this month, but it's pointless now, with the price storm set to hit us all imminently. I'm leaving it in place & will be thankful for it. I'm hoping that as this is post-winter period credit, that the Tentacled Ones will take it into account when they set our new dd, but I'm sure the reality is that it will be swallowed up very swiftly by the extremity of the price rises.
Ah well, I'm still going to feel pleased about the £34.62 reduction in usage this month. Warmer temperatures & lighter evenings as we get into April hopefully means we can keep building on that. With prices so high, my take on it is that no little energy saving measure is too small to throw into the mix. 
F x

Four_Seasons

Gosh that's some saving Foxgloves just by being mindful about usage. I just love drying washing outside definitely the little things bring me joy! 

Sayschezza

Foxgloves I don't know if you have an electric kettle but if so and if it's like mine, it keeps boiling for several seconds before it turns itself off. I stand by mine and I turn the switch off as soon as it comes to the boil. Must save a little fuel every time multiplied by several times a day.

Sun_Addict

That’s a great amount to save on one month’s energy usage 👏 Reminds me I must be more mindful going forward. 

ladyholly

Great saving we only managed a £20 saving this month. I must try harder. I did put DH off putting the heating on this evening. The temperature was 19!!!

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments. Yes, I was pleased with that reduction because making those little cutbacks didn't inconvenience us at all & didn't feel remotely 'hair shirt'. If we were starting to feel a bit chilly at 6.30 or so, it wasn't a problem as we knew the stove would be going on at 7pm. Also, there were a couple of warmer evenings where we didn't need to light it until 8pm. Also, while I may wash some laundry loads at 40°....bedding, towels, kitchen linens, etc, the vast majority of our laundry seems perfectly clean & fresh washed at 30°. The handwash cycle which I've started using for knits, woollens, blankets, etc, takes an hour less than the 30° one I always used to use, so as I'm a knitter, those hours saved should add up over a year too. 
@Sezchezza - I don't have an electric kettle. Ours is one that goes on the hob, but I know what you mean about electric ones boiling away taking ages to switch off because we had one at work & it used to drive me mad with every second of a 15 min tea break needing to count!
F x

kayannie

foxgloves said:

Hello Sunday Savers,
Interesting to read about the paw-buttering. Both my grandmas also talked about buttering cats' paws.....one said it was because they instantly got so busy slurping off all the lovely butter that they didn't bother going anywhere, & the other one said it was so that wherever they went, they'd return in the hope of more butter! I suspect however, @slm6002, that your Nan's rationale is much closer to the mark.
Agree about all the price rises @Honeysucklelou2, some of which are really scary. I know they will affect our current budget even though we no longer have a mortgage, so I really feel for people who have high &/or rising accomodation costs as well. We still don't know what our monthly energy dd will be, but the letter citing the estimated annual costs of course points to a significant increase.
Useful gardening morning. Mr F cleared a space under the apple tree to start off a wild garlic bed, so we planted those. I did some maintenance on a big flowerbed, forking out thug plants, stray bluebells, weeds, etc, & identifying gaps I can fill for free with stuff I grew from seed last year.
My throat & nose started feeling 'coldy' tonight & as I was at the opera a few nights ago, I thought I'd better do an LFT. Negative. Mr F's cooking night & he thinks it's all the chilli he's put in his spice paste that's kicked my throat off, lol.....& I haven't even eaten it yet! 
Would dearly love a productive week but think I will have a builder for 3 days which is welcome, as work will be finished earlier, but it is harder to get immersed in stuff. Ah well, I'll see what I can do.
F x

Beware the wild garlic! I planted a few bulbs in the garden & within a few years it was everywhere! We've since moved home and I've found it's self seeded into pots of plants that we brought to our new home. If I want wild garlic now, I pick a few leaves from a local wood. KA

foxgloves

Hi @kayannie, I know wild garlic has that reputation, but oddly, previous attempts to establish it in our garden have failed. I'd be happy to forage it instead, but rarely see any around here. If we're successful in establishing a modest patch this time, I intend to harvest it fairly rigourously so that should effect at least some degree of control. I think it's going to be a case of 'wait & see'.
F x

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
Builder here today, although I doubt I'd have gone anywhere were this not the case, as I have hurt my back. Actually, it's a muscle thing from all the digging I did on Sunday afternoon, but it only felt like a pulled muscle yesterday. As often happens with these things, it's worse on the next day but one & I keep seizing up. Codiene (I can't take any of the anti-inflammatories) helped a little bit, but the most helpful thing is that I keep moving. Despite walking around gingerly like an ancient crone, I have managed to achieve a few things:
*Did budget updates, including various transfers of funds to keep different pots straight.
*Cashed out of survey site at £57-47 following @CRANKY40's comment about possibilities of no payout if these survey sites go bust, so I am going to continue adding my earnings to my Personal Spends, but will have a monthly target now.
*Did 2 surveys to make a start on April's earnings.
*Cashed out a £5 M&S voucher from a different site. 
*Ordered a birthday present online which generated a 10% new customer discount so I made use of it by ordering a gift for one of my nephews to put away in the presents stash.
*Last of the l/o spiced Indian roast chicken tonight in wraps with garlic stir-fried chard......mind you, I'm not too sure how much chard I'll be able to gather as my back siezes when I try to bend. I'll make sure I take my phone with me in case I can't move at all, but I think that's unlikely.
*Made a sourdough loaf....that's in the oven at the moment & starting to smell enticing.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Will almost certainly finish the first of B-in-L's socks tonight as only have 2 cms more to knit before the toe & that's speedy because of taking 4 stitches off every other row.
A bit of a freezer panic this morning. Last night, freezer alarm went off & red light was flashing. Out came the manual, most likely cause = freezer not cold enough. I had added a lot of stuff as our fresh fish order arrived yesterday, plus I froze a batch of bread rolls. Mr F switched setting to 'fast freeze' but this morning, the red light was still flashing & we have been worrying that we will need to rescue heaps of stuff, including aforementioned fresh fish when we only have a small additional freezer. Annoying as the flashing freezer is out of warranty (aren't they always?) but not an old one. Anyway, late this morning, the flashing stopped, I've deliberately left it closed up, just in case, but we are hoping what ever it was has righted itself. At one point, it wasn't making any noise, either, & normally it is quite a loud hummy freezer. Fingers crossed it was some sort of glitch & will be OK now. 
Right, bread is almost done, must make an attempt to fetch that chard in. I may be some time.........
F x