Put away your purse & become debt-averse

penny_less

Also, the card is showing as ‘unregistered’ on the app which was reassuring.

foxgloves

Thanks, @penny_less. I'm sure it will arrive soon then, if you are also waiting for yours. I'll.give it 2 or 3 more days.
F

foxgloves

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer - Sorry, missed your post. Free torch - sounds like a good start. The little torch I put by my end of the sofa.....can you believe I've used it already? Needed to re-boot our wi-fi hub the other day & the task required a torch as the teeny-tiny switch was barely visible to the naked eye.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Campers,
Well a depressing start to the day, as instead of radio alarm pinging us awake with classical music, it was a headline about the energy price cap instead. I still think there are probably a huge amount of people out there who don't really understand how it works.....I hope the couple of people I know who still put the heating on now & again during summer are wearing an extra layer rather than squandering any chance of building up a bit of credit.
This morning, I need to get to grips with various aspects of food planning. This will include doing today's garden pickings & dealing with them, getting tonight's meal into the slow cooker, sorting out the freezers to see if I can free up some much needed space, doing next week's meal plans & writing the grocery shopping list. I also need to decide what we are eating at Saturday's BBQ when we have friends coming over, including baking something to eat with coffee (prob biscuits) & something for dessert. 
That's my 2nd mug of coffee, so I'd better head off down the garden with my basket now. Wishing everyone a peaceful productive day.....as much as is possible in these disturbing times.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Frugalistas,
Straight onto Guardian website this morning to find out the exact horrible extent of the next price cap..It's quite clear to me that Something Major will.need to happen because these prices are not sustainable. The chasm between energy sector profits & the effect on the rest of us is a disgusting immorality. I await our extra £14 a month from the NI increase reversal with the contempt it deserves. 
With that out of my system for 5 minutes, time to plan my day. Friday is usually my big weekly cleaning day, but Mr F is off for BH & has volunteered to go out & get the grocery shopping then vacuum the house. I'm.intending to

*Clean bathroom & kitchen

*Bake a sourdough

*Bake biscuits

*Check for surveys

*Start off this year's blackberry & pear gin

*Sort out jam.jars for jamming tomorrow

*Look for knitting pattern I downloaded & printed & price up yarn required (for a Christmas present)
*Activate new CC, which arrived yesterday, as I intend to pay off the item on the old one on Monday (my Big Budget Day) ready for the accounts to be merged.
*Research new bread bin. Was assailed by Mr F going off on one about the state of ours first thing. He refuses to put 'his' bread (lol at that because we don't have our 'own bread' in it any longer.bevause it's mouldy..Asked him to show me the mould..There isn't any, but I concur that it needs replacing because there are holes in the base where the metal has corroded. Torn.between.buying new or simply using a very large cake tin which is only rarely used for other things. I might go for that if it's tall enough for a loaf & shop from home.
Oh & I'd quite like to de-gunk the pond too, which only takes about 30-40.mins but is messy & I always seem to end up with my sandals full of pond water. 
That's enough to be getting on with for today.
Take care all,
F x

Cheery_Daff

Could I politely suggest a Wellington boot for the pond clearance?? 🤔😂😂

Well done on shopping from home for your bread bin! Excellent work! (I know you haven't completely decided yet but I thought I would congratulate you in advance to encourage you in that direction 😁)

I agree on the depressing energy news 🙄 something will indeed have to be done - although I confess I'm glad I'm not the one deciding what that something should be... 🙄

QueenJess

Thanks for the recipe for blackberry gin a while back @foxgloves. I will need to test my gin to see if it’s still ok.

My last energy bill had an average electricity use of 12kWh a day… we do work from home with laptops etc on all the time and we have 4 people’s worth of washing plus reusable nappies. Anyone any idea whether this is average, low or high usage?

I’m not sure how much I can do to cut electricity use really, but was thinking this morning about buying one of those plug in night lights so I don’t have to leave the lamp on in DD’s bedroom to feed her at night. Not sure how much difference that actually makes, but all I think I can do is tiny things.

ladyholly

Nadim zahawi (sorry sure the spelling is wrong) says we have to cut back on energy use but gives no practical ideas how and what does he think we are trying to do. Don't you love politicians. 

foxgloves

@Cheery_Daff - You may indeed politely suggest it! But losing my temper with a wellyboot is what originally caused my tendon injury back in first lockdown so I haven't worn them since. I have deferred de-gunking of pond until tomorrow morning after jam-making, so will do it barefoot.

@QueenJess - I don't know what the average energy use is for a family of 4.....or indeed a couple with no children in our case. I agree that it would be useful to have at least a vague ballpark average for this, as something to kick against in trying to reduce our usage. 
Never discount doing lots of tiny things, as that is how Aggregate Gains Theory works. I know some of my measures are miniscule, but all together, I believe they will add up into annual savings.

@Ladyholly - Yes, I read that & had posted a suitably snarky comment on Facebook in the twinkling of an eye. Two things:
1) Does he HONESTLY think that people haven't thought of this? I'm sure most households have been doing the same as all of us on here & have been cutting back on energy use since February when these huge & thoroughly scary increases were first flagged up.
2) I am not taking this advice from somebody who, it was quite widely reported a few years ago, attempted to claim the heating of his stables on expenses aka taking tax-payer money to keep his bloody horses warm!!
This is an extremely wealthy individual & I think it would behove him to ponder the Oscar Wilde quotation - "To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque & insulting". So yes, it wound me up big time. I might join the 'Enough is Enough' movement.....though as I live in Tory-Town, there probably isn't a local chapter.
F

milann

They ( government) are so far removed from the real world they don’t need to worry about bills. They won’t be deciding whether to heat or eat this winter like a great many people already do 😡😡😡😡😡 it makes me so angry……
Anyway I’m off my soapbox now. The preserves are looking great 👍
Have a great long weekend