Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

I know what you mean, @amber03, it is like free solar power, isn't it, during winter, when you can sit in a sunny room. I really notice in in our lounge as we have a bow window so it starts picking up the heat from the afternoon sun sooner than it it was a flat one. By then, the conservatory, which is lovely & bright in the mornings, is like a fridge in winter!
F

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

@Onebrokelady - Yes, the news is not good for my blood pressure either, but I'm a real news junkie so would find it very difficult to give up my daily rants at the screen.
F x

I'm normally a news junky and used to have to watch twice a day at least plus I had apps on my phone but it was having a detrimental effect on my wellbeing so I decided to stop watching it altogether and get rid of the news apps on my phone. The first few days were quite difficult but a couple of weeks later I'm finding it easier to do. I did feel guilty about turning myself into someone who is possibly going to be ignorant about the world at large but that's worn off now 😀

foxgloves

Morning Friday Frugalistas,
No builders today = time to myself & decent productivity.
Let's start with energy saving. As the Tentacled Provider doesn't increase its energy prices until tomorrow, I decided to bring a few energy-using tasks forward so as to do them on the old prices. You know, if the increase was just the usual few pence, I would probably not have bothered, but with a 54% increase? Yes, I was motivated by that. Our energy saving measures are really the only weapon we have against this level of price rise.
So, I did a load of laundry & managed to get it pretty much line dried for free before the snow & hail showers started. Just a couple of towels finishing off on the kitchen radiator. I also baked 2 loaves of bread for the freezer. It made me think I will try & make two together going forward as that is 55 mins of gas saved (inc 10 mins heating-up time). I'd have baked them singly next week but thought it made mse sense to do them while we are still on the old rate. Ditto the paper shredder! My shredding pile has been sitting there a while waiting for me to do it, as I want the shreddings for bedding in the worm composter. I'm not paying 54% extra for that.......shreddings now bagged waiting to go down to the shed. I will only bother using electricity for shredding in future when I want worm bedding (it saves me buying the coir compost bedding) - I will tear small amounts of future personal docs into rough pieces, soak & compost them, like I do with till receipts.
Also vacuumed the entire house.....but I'd have done that anyway, as Friday is my regular cleaning day so as to enjoy the place over the weekend. Thought the vacuum had carked it halfway through when I was cleaning under my treasures cabinet & it started making the most horrendous noise......it turned out to be one of the cats' toy mice stuck in the pipe, now rescued!
Finished B-in-L's socks & added them to the presents stash.....I took a pic of them to put on here, but it' downstairs on my phone, bah! Selected next craft project from my stash  - a small rug kit which a family member started but found too tedious to finish & gave it to me. I think it could make a cover or cushion for my piano stool.
And......I've unblocked 2 sinks. Both were running very slowly & refusing to be coaxed into action by the sink plunger. Clearly a job for the Drain Weasel. Mr F will be gutted he missed that, lol, as drain-weaselling regarded as a 'man job' even in our very gender-equal relationship! Oh my days, I don't know what on earth it was that I was weaselling out of the kitchen sink, but it was revolting as well as unidentifiable. And there was lots of it. All now in the bin where it should have gone in the first place. 
I've done a few surveys too, as I actually feel more motivated since deciding to cash out my PA earnings monthly instead of annually, so I feel I've been productive & saved a bit of cashola. 
I'd intended to try & take meter readings from our smart meter because I read somewhere that this was still probably a good idea on the final day at the old energy prices. I think advice on this has been confusing, however, as I am now reading that this is not necessary, so we are not intending to do it & will hope that all the Tentacled Provider's smart meters will be asked for an automatic reading at the close of today.
Right, while there is currently no snow or hail shower, I'm going to sign out & go down to the greenhouse to put all the plant babies to bed. 
Stay strong, m'dears.
F x

Onebrokelady

Oops forgot to say that I wish my living room was on the south side of my house because I would hardly need to put my heating on in that room. DDs bedroom is on the south side and her radiator is mostly turned off unless it's the middle of winter. My patio is a real sun trap all day though so I get to sit out in sunshine from about 10 am until the sun sets 😍

foxgloves

Oh, forgot to say, there was also some accidental energy saving today.......the house felt so cold I checked to make sure the boiler didn't need re-pressurizing. It was fine, but when I looked at the thermostat, I found that one of us had accidentally pressed the 'minus' button & re-set the temperature to 17 degrees! I reckon on such a cold morning, that error's probably saved us a small wodge of gas so it wasn't all bad.
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Morning Friday Frugalistas,
No builders today = time to myself & decent productivity.
Let's start with energy saving. As the Tentacled Provider doesn't increase its energy prices until tomorrow, I decided to bring a few energy-using tasks forward so as to do them on the old prices. You know, if the increase was just the usual few pence, I would probably not have bothered, but with a 54% increase? Yes, I was motivated by that. Our energy saving measures are really the only weapon we have against this level of price rise.
So, I did a load of laundry & managed to get it pretty much line dried for free before the snow & hail showers started. Just a couple of towels finishing off on the kitchen radiator. I also baked 2 loaves of bread for the freezer. It made me think I will try & make two together going forward as that is 55 mins of gas saved (inc 10 mins heating-up time). I'd have baked them singly next week but thought it made mse sense to do them while we are still on the old rate. Ditto the paper shredder! My shredding pile has been sitting there a while waiting for me to do it, as I want the shreddings for bedding in the worm composter. I'm not paying 54% extra for that.......shreddings now bagged waiting to go down to the shed. I will only bother using electricity for shredding in future when I want worm bedding (it saves me buying the coir compost bedding) - I will tear small amounts of future personal docs into rough pieces, soak & compost them, like I do with till receipts.
Also vacuumed the entire house.....but I'd have done that anyway, as Friday is my regular cleaning day so as to enjoy the place over the weekend. Thought the vacuum had carked it halfway through when I was cleaning under my treasures cabinet & it started making the most horrendous noise......it turned out to be one of the cats' toy mice stuck in the pipe, now rescued!
Finished B-in-L's socks & added them to the presents stash.....I took a pic of them to put on here, but it' downstairs on my phone, bah! Selected next craft project from my stash  - a small rug kit which a family member started but found too tedious to finish & gave it to me. I think it could make a cover or cushion for my piano stool.
And......I've unblocked 2 sinks. Both were running very slowly & refusing to be coaxed into action by the sink plunger. Clearly a job for the Drain Weasel. Mr F will be gutted he missed that, lol, as drain-weaselling regarded as a 'man job' even in our very gender-equal relationship! Oh my days, I don't know what on earth it was that I was weaselling out of the kitchen sink, but it was revolting as well as unidentifiable. And there was lots of it. All now in the bin where it should have gone in the first place. 
I've done a few surveys too, as I actually feel more motivated since deciding to cash out my PA earnings monthly instead of annually, so I feel I've been productive & saved a bit of cashola. 
I'd intended to try & take meter readings from our smart meter because I read somewhere that this was still probably a good idea on the final day at the old energy prices. I think advice on this has been confusing, however, as I am now reading that this is not necessary, so we are not intending to do it & will hope that all the Tentacled Provider's smart meters will be asked for an automatic reading at the close of today.
Right, while there is currently no snow or hail shower, I'm going to sign out & go down to the greenhouse to put all the plant babies to bed. 
Stay strong, m'dears.
F x

The last advice I saw for smart meters was to take a photo of the reading and mail it to yourself so it has a time stamp then you have proof of what it was on the day 😊

foxgloves

B-in-L's Christmas socks finished & stashed in present bag. I found the sock yarn online, reduced to £3.50 . As I can get a pair out of a single ball & B-in-L likes hand knitted socks, it seemed like a no-brainer. F x

Sun_Addict

They look so warm and cosy. Well done.

savingmore

ignorant question.   how do you blend the different colours so neatly, meaning how do you ‘knot the colours’ together, obviously not with knots - especially in socks 🤪🤪

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

love those colours foxgloves ! x