Put away your purse & become debt-averse

twiggy86

Hey @foxgloves - I'm a lurker on your diary (and others) but I wanted to say your energy saving measures list has been in my mind when I'm doing bits and bobs around the house. I have two things that I've been doing which I don't think were mentioned so thought I would (hope you don't mind!)...

1) Turn bathroom mixer tap to coldest position so it has to be an active choice if you want warm water (although having it positioned in the middle is the most aesthetic). But how many times have I triggered the boiler when I am simply rinsing my toothbrush?! 

2) Turn oven off at the wall. The digital clock hasn't worked for years (just constantly flashes 12:00) but equally I always wear a watch so I look at that anyway! 

Also I am still in shock that you (the queen of all things frugal!) didn't put lids on saucepans!!! 

foxgloves

Hi @twiggy86, That's a good point about mixer taps. We do get maximum use from hot water re baths, as I tend to hop in first & Mr F goes in after me, & that must save a decent amount of money annually. We've also reduced baths by 1 per week & replaced with a strip wash.....oooh-er, Matron! But back to mixer taps. It's occurred to me that I run a bath with the mixer levers in roughly the same position each time i.e mostly hot tap & some cold tap. BUT, when I test the temperature to get in, it's almost always too hot, meaning I have to add quite a lot more cold. I'm thinking there's boiler time being squandered there & as you said, experimenting with lever positions to get temperature right ought to mean less hot being used.
Re lids on saucepans. I've known about that years but got sick of mopping up the hob from endless boiling over of pans. I am using lids every time now, but Mr F won't budge on this one as he says pans with lids always boil over & make a mess. I cook 4 nights a week & he cooks 3 nights, so even me using lids will be a little bit of a saving.
Nice to hear from you. All contributions welcome.
F x

milann

My memories of the power cuts in the 70s were neighbours coming around as they were all electric….we coul boil the kettle on the gas hob….and playing cards by candlelight. I loved it. We could get dispensation with our homework if we could show we’d had a power cut…..of course I took full advantage 👍😁 I think my parents were far more concerned than I was though. I was in my early teens.
It makes perfect sense to stock up on candles etc….although I have to admit it hadn’t occurred to me until I’d read about it on a different diary….not sure where my head was at the time…..🙄🤷‍♀️

kayannie

I accidentally discovered a small way to save electricity on a recent hot sunny day. Because we're on a water meter, whenever I run the hot water tap I run the water into an old metal camping kettle until the water in the tap runs hot. I leave the kettle on my kitchen window sill & use the water to water the garden. On hot sunny days, the water in the kettle gets hot enough to swill a few dishes, wash hands etc.
KA

foxgloves

@milann - Oh yes, playing cards & board games by candlelight seemed a lot of fun in those 1970s power-cuts. I don't expect I shall be quite as excited 50 years on, lol.

@kayannie - That's a resourceful idea about heating your camping kettle on a sunny windowsill. Our landing & conservatory windowsills were stupidly hot during the recent heatwave so I can see that would have worked here too.
F

foxgloves

Afternoon Frugalistas,
Another Monday, another week. Not a huge amount of energy today...woke up a bit headachey. Think I slept too deeply.
Never mind, onwards with today's small frugal wins:
*Did my usual Monday morning budget updates. August grocery budget looks set to come in below target.
*Breakdown cover renewal arrived & I'm accepting the quote as it has gone down by £6.72. Updated bills spreadsheet.
*Cancelled a monthly subscription. Will make maximum use of it this month until it expires. From Sept, that's £19.99 a month back in the budget. 
*Updated my log of monthly energy bill charges. Had a detailed look at bill & noticed that the fact that we changed our heating system to gas 2 years ago finally seems to be feeding through into the Tentacled Provider's estimates of what we will pay annually. I compared this up-to-date estimate with the one received in March when they sent out email letters about the big price rises, & I can see that the latest estimates seem more indicative of what we would expect to use in terms of gas V electricity. Printed out the page with our credit account balance. Mr F's idea. They have a lot of our money....although it will doubtless be swallowed up quickly once the heating goes on.
*Not much ironing, which in itself felt like an energy saving.....both the electric kind & mine!
*Garden pickings: Big bowl of tomatoes & basil.
*Baked bread & used up last bit of old loaf to make Mr F's packed lunch for tomorrow.
*Roasted lots of tomatoes with garlic, basil & a drizzle each of oil & honeyed fig vinegar. They're just cooling, then I shall remove the skins, blitz all the fruits & freeze for pasta sauce. They looked so jewel-like in their tin ready to go in the oven.
*Oh, & rubber pork! Divvied up yesterday's leftover roast & have sufficient for hot pork & apple sauce cobs tonight, a stir-fry tomorrow, an Epic Man Stew on Weds & I've frozen the rest in chunks to make a neat & vegetable curry next week. Pork £10 so that's £1.11 per portion or £1.00 if Mr F makes sufficient stew also to do a work lunch.
Well, that's my break in the fresh air....must go & get busy blitzing all those roast tomatoes now.
Cheers for now,
F x

QueenJess

@foxgloves I’m sure you have made blackberry gin in the past? I normally copy out useful recipes in my notes, but I seem to have failed. Can you help please as I’ve no idea what page of your diary to look on?!

Incidentally, does anyone know if gin goes off? I have a bottle opened for about 5 years and didn’t want to throw it away if I don’t have to. I feel like spirits wouldn’t go off.

Blackcats

Thank you for sharing your winter plan.  I read it out to MrBC and I can almost hear the cogs turning in his head as he processes the ideas.
obviously I can contribute candles to the winter preparedness plans ....

I remember the power cuts - we lived in a top floor flat and I was terrified of being stuck in a dark lift so I always used the stairs.  We used to play cards and scrabble but I can't remember what we had to eat although I recall there was always a flask of tea.  At the time I assumed that a 3 day working week must be a good thing 🙃

Humdinger1

@foxgloves those tomatoes are sumptuous velvety rapture! I am so grateful that your thread is so high on appreciating the beauty of the moment as I think it will massively help boost morale in what will be a difficult winter. I think the incompetence at the top has a direct link to their attitude to citizens and we are heading for a sea-change...about time love Humdinger xx 

Suffolk_lass

I love your list and am going to do my own on the back of that. I also love, love, love the roasted tomatoes for sauce pic!