Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@QueenJess -I agree that's going too far the other way. Certain plastics do degrade & become brittle & breaky.
F

foxgloves

Evening Money Savers,
Been out to a local-ish gorge for a walk this morning. Very nice. Annual parking pass about £15 & not too far on the petrol front. And what did we talk about while we were traipsing this ancient landscape? Tomatoes & energy bills! Well, tomatoes are a work in progress but I have decided I need to make a Winter Plan, so I ran my thinking past Mr F & as he is also a planner, he agreed it would be worth doing. We chatted about what it needs to include & this afternoon while he was doing noisy battle with Mum's old vacuum, I took myself off to the bottom of the garden with my notebook & pencil. I always reckon I think better in pencil.
As I've always had a love of words, I first read various quotations about preparedness & extracted those I found most encapsulated my need to write a plan:
1) "Give me six hours to chop down a tree & I will spend the first four sharpening the axe"
(Abraham Lincoln)
2) "Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now"
(Alan Lakein)
3) "It does not do to leave a lone dragon out of your calculations , if you live near one"
(JRR Tolkien)
So as the sky has been darkening, the wind strengthening & apples have been falling off around my ears, I've been thinking & making notes, & can now say that I have a Winter Plan.
Do I feel better about the energy bill crisis? No.
Do I feel I am prepared to deal with it? Yes, I think so, as much as I can be, anyway, & that's all any of us can do, isn't it?
I'm going to rescue my bunting from the shed roof, fetch the laundry in & retire to the sofa with my book.
F x

ladyholly

I was half listening to the radio while preparing dinner and I heard a suggestion that by April average fuel bills will be £6000 pa.!!

amber03

This is what annoys me when people don’t prepare and then complain. Sadly a lot of people have not got the finances to do this now, these people I don’t have a problem with, it’s those who have the money. Even just putting a tin or two of food away each week, buying socks,T-shirts,scarves, a bag of coal each week during the summer. I do love a list though, you can get some good ideas on these boards on what to get.

foxgloves

Mr F also heard that figure mentioned, @ladyholly. Terrifying as it is, I think we have now reached fantasy territory in terms of what most people will be able to pay. There will have to be a significant intervention because this situation is completely untenable. The Government is currently missing in action over this, despite the Opposition calling for the urgent recall of parliament to deal with the emergency. 
I am sitting in the dark atm..Determined to cut out all unnecessary energy use. TV or lamp....not both, unless I am knitting.
F x

slm6002

Love this quote, it is so true .... "Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now"
(Alan Lakein)

foxgloves

Yes, it's very concise & exactly true, isn't it, @slm6002? I need to plan in times of stress, then I know I've done everything I can to mitigate a bad/unwanted situation.
I'll post my Winter Plan today or tomorrow, depending on how far I get through my garden tasks today.
F

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Lovelies,
Useful day so far. Unexciting, but I'll settle for dull & useful. Had worrying news last night that my 19-year old nephew has been admitted to hospital. He'd been poorly all week but could only get a telephone appointment, & although the Dr did diagnose him correctly & prescribe some strong painkillers, the problem was already at serious infection stage & is now going to require a long course of IV antibiotics. Thank goodness he is home from university atm & my sister was persistent in getting him seen. It pays to 'keep at it' when things don't seem right, doesn't it?
Anyway, back to dull but useful stuff: *Finished the laundry for the week ahead as it looked such a good drying day. The fault on the washing machine is still there, but I can work round it. I have no mind to empty our Appliances Replacement Pot buying a new washer.....it's not even that old.
*Free exercise making serious inroads into cutting back a big garden border.
*Garden pickings: Big basket of windfall apples, blackberries, chard, huge colander of french beans.
*Dealt with the windfalls as they don't last long before going manky. Turned most of them into a large pan of apple sauce. Will eat it with roast pork tonight & tomorrow and the rest can be eaten with yoghurt or with oats. Two containers frozen.
*Monthly energy statement from the Tentacled Ones. Credit balance will be almost exactly where I predicted it by the end of September. It will cushion us for a while, but only because they have been overcharging us for two years. Generally I don't have any complaints about this supplier as their comms are good - a statement every month which is very clear about how much we have been charged for gas & electricity plus an updated balance of our account. I've noticed that quite a lot of people currently struggling to make sense of exactly what their account looks like, why their DD has risen more than they thought, etc, are tending to be those who have been paying each month without tracking usage or how much the account is in debit or credit. We have so little agency over the current crazy state of affairs, but in the spirit of 'knowledge is power', I am keeping tabs on our account more than ever atm.
*Mr F bought a big pork roasting joint from the market butcher for £10 & is doing dinner tonight. I have earmarked it for another 3 days of meals & if there is any left in addition to that, I will freeze it in slices for a 'free' roast meal another time.
*Have looked out a different apple chutney recipe to try - I shall almost certainly need to process more windfalls over the coming week.
Right, that is it for today's small money saving wins......I shall post up my Winter Plan now.
F x

Onebrokelady

I have to hold my hands up and say I'm am one of those who is normally not on the ball with my energy bills but it only takes a small shock to change peoples ways, my energy company are now enemy no 1 which makes me very focused 😀

foxgloves

This is the framework of my Winter Plan.
I've divided it into 3 sections'
1) Preparing to use less energy.
We are already doing this, including many of the measures we discussed a few weeks ago from that long list I posted. However, the colder weather is coming so I will
*Wash any blankets which need it, as well as big chunky woollies, coats, shawls, etc, asap so that they can dry outside on the line for free.
*Replace weak hot water bottle with 2 new ones & possibly a spare. Make covers for these.
*Finish knitting black cardi so it is ready for when I need it.
*Make new draught excluder.
*Check window frames on a windy day for any gaps which can be re-sealed.
*Fill annoying hole in lounge floorboard from removal of old gas pipe. 
*Any other simple quick-fixes which become apparent.

2) Preparing for power cuts/emergency scenarios 
*Check how many camping gas cannisters we have in our camping box (DONE - we have 3)
*Find gas lamp & gas camping stove & put in easy reach of loft hatch to access quickly if needed (DONE).
*Find solar/wind-up camping lantern for emergency (or simply free) lighting (DONE, but will clean it up & charge it too)
*Assess torch situation & assign them to sensible places. DONE. We have 4 - Two are rechargeable battery ones & the others are wind-up ones. Have put in lounge near my chair so I don't trip over cats in the event of a power cut when I get up to fetch candles, the others are in an easy reach kitchen drawer, my bedside & Mr F's bedside.
*Check stocks of rechargeable batteries, candles/tealights. Locate old box of tapers for lighting the gas if electric ignition is off.
*Buy extra matches.
*Keep phones & laptops well-charged - no landline. Mr F to investigate solar chargers.

3)Getting ahead with all other seasonal planning activity to lessen/spread its financial impact
i.*Christmas: Unpack presents stash & make a list of what I have already bought for people & a REALISTIC list of what I still need to buy or make. I've decided we won't spend as much this year. 
Continue to build M&S and JL vouchers from surveys/Just-for-points credit card to offset costs. Use underspends on other budgets for saving our nephews' Christmas money (will start next week).
Food & hospitality - Continue to build Co-op dividend & nectar points, which we are using as our 'Christmas Club' money to offset hosting guests this year. Buy a festive ingredient each week to pop away in the pantry starting next week.
ii. Winter birthdays - ditto Christmas presents.
iii. General winter food stores - Continue to process, preserve, freezer, etc, as much of our home grown produce as possible so that it is feeding us well into winter.
Consider stocking up on further grocery items which are rising exponentially in price - i.e butter, also anything which could become more limited due to international situation - i.e flour, oil, wheat-based products - already stocked up on pasta.

Overarching theme or leitmotif in every area of our spending must be thrift, so as to shore ourselves up as much as possible against the coming storm.
"Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Go without"  (I believe this originated in the Great Depression)
And I am adding to this 'Shopping from home' whenever possible.
I can't conjure money from thin air, I can only plan for the worst while hoping for the best. 
I'm angry though. I feel we have been abandoned by the Government. I hope they will in turn be abandoned by us, at the earliest possible opportunity, not that I have ever put my 'X' anywhere near their box, of course.
I feel very worried by what is coming, but I won't go down without a fight.
Foxgloves xx