Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@ladyholly - My Mum didn't have a choice re taking the steroids. She couldn't even hold her head up without them, although her myaesthenia did become stable, in that it didn't get any worse. Her Dr thought her diabetes was probably hastened by the steroids, but they didn't have any effect on her weight. 
I don't think it matters that your exercise is short walks, as you're doing 2 or 3 a day and that adds up. It is sitting for long periods which seems to be the thing to avoid. Even getting up for 5 mins to put a few things away or march on the spot while boiling the kettle helps to keep us in working order.
Sounds like you have a clever dog & it will help him learn the ropes quicker.
F

 

ladyholly

Yes I am very lucky that the myasthenia only affects my eyes and mouth.  The breathing is not part of it according to neurologist.  Sometimes speaking intelligibly is hard as the muscles around my mouth don't work well and I have a tendency to choke. All I all feel fortunate compared  to many others.

At the moment I an not sure how intelligent the dog is as he has been impossible to walk for the  barking,  lunging etc. I don't think the rescue have ever assessed him as this is not what we were expecting. Very dispirited.

Blackcats

A bit late to the heating arrangements of our childhood homes ..... when I was about 8 my dad set us up with night storage heaters.  They were huge, heavy beasts of things - about the size of a sideboard.  We lived in a top floor flat so I suppose it's a blessing they never crashed through the floor into the flat below.  

So for me it was lovely getting up in the morning as the rooms were warm and clothes could be piled on the heater so they were toasty in the morning.  Then we all went off to work and school leaving a warm home to get colder and colder until we got home to spend a chilly evening and go to bed in an unheated room.  A very strange heating concept but I assume they used the economy rate tarif.

cbsexec

Hmmmm. Storage heaters.  Remember them well.  Very odd timing so never warm when you really needed them.  

foxgloves

Yes, odd things, storage heaters. They had a big surge in popularity in the 1980s (remember the plasticine 'Creature Comfort' TV ads? I loved the one in which the penguin pinged his flipper). Our house had 1980s storage heaters until they were replaced at the beginnings of our renovations in 2020. Agree, @Blackcats & @cbsexec .....toasty warm in the early hours & at getting-up time, then gradually less warm as the day progressed until stone cold in the evenings & for bedtime. They were designed to make use of the Economy 7-type tariffs, which we did have then, & I used to make additional use of the cheaper night time rate for running the washing machine, etc, early in the morning. The big problem with them was the lack of controllability. The heat was stored in lots of large flat ceramic bricks inside. We recycled a set of these to use as stone slabs around our garden pond. Couldn't believe how many came out of just one heater.
F

foxgloves

Morning Icicles!
Another very cold start, although the car didn't require quite as much scraping as yesterday. Lawn frozen white again. Just popped out to feed the birds & noticed that one of our bird baths has cracked right across in the cold. My fault, really as it's our summer one which I forgot to bring in, but it shows how much milder it was last winter, as I left it out then too & it was fine.
Nothing to tell you - just checking in to say I'm keeping the frugal faith. Jobs done so far:
* 2 x loads of laundry - one of them on 30 mins at 30 degrees to save a tidsy bit of energy. Now all on heated airer with dehumidyfier on.
*Put a colour on my yukky roots - it's absolutely years since I had my colour done at a salon & I still think of the money it saves me to buy a home dye kit (preferably when they're on offer) to do it myself. 
* Sorted out leftover chicken -tonight will be a low cost meal from my mid-Nov to Dec 23rd mega meal plan - Spicy chicken & veg wraps using leftover Indian-spiced whole chicken Mr F cooked on Saturday night. It's fed us for 2 nights already & the last of it is going in tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates.
*Baked bread - well, it's not actually made yet, but it's on 2nd proving. Some of this will be crumbed & used to make the filling for Delia's little cheesy rolls, which I make every Christmas (in her Christmas book - Vegetarian sausage rolls...all meat-eaters in our family, but everyone loves these & they freeze well. Any leftover cheesy mixture can be shaped & cooked as Glamorgan sausages).
*Pinged collection details/barcode to Mr F so he can pick up our click & collect order on this way home from work. We've ordered a portable stand-alone heater......bit of a saga & an addition to my winter plan......we'll test it out before I go into the (boring) details :-)
*Checked for surveys - nothing doing this morning....except for 3 points for being chucked out as wrong demographic!
*Started ear-marking days in my diary for festive baking  - Am busier socially on a few days (Mr F & I can be the life & soul of the party if we're in the mood, but most of the time, we're distinctly unsociable!)
Still to do:
*Crunch down to the greenhouse to see if any of my autumn-sown salad leaves are still usable after a few nights at below freezing.
Smart monitor on £2.43 when I went in to load the washer at 5.50 this morning, which means the heating has come on during the night. Thermostat only set at 15 overnight, but I suppose this is just an inevitability of very cold night-time temperatures. I am trying to decide whether to turn the overnight setting down a couple of degrees, as we are always plenty warm enough in bed, or whether this would end up costing more from 6am when the daytime setting of 18 degrees kicks in & the boiler has to work longer to get the house warmed up from a lower temperature. I suppose the best thing would be to scribble down some figures/timings & experiment. Mr F commented yesterday (on seeing our daily spend on gas go well into the £7+ bracket) that we are heading for £10 gas per day at this rate. I'm kind of glad he saw it as I sometimes feel I go on about it all the time atm, because I'm aware that energy prices will rise again next year, plus our monthly government subsidy will cease. I'm still kicking ideas for 2023's financial goals around in my head & I've told him we will be having a very resourceful year.
Right, must sign out now & go & see if the bread dough is about to climb out of its tin.
Stay as cosy as possible, m'dears, & I know the realities of this will vary according to individual circumstances - very tough times for so many. 
F x

Sun_Addict

I set my heating to only come on overnight if the house goes below 7 degrees. So far it hasn't come on and the house feels warm enough. I couldn't be doing with heating on overnight. 

I've been colouring my own hair for quite a few years. It only takes me 30 minutes and there's no sitting around in a salon for ages which I'd hate.

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - I think that is what we need to do. That would easily keep the house well above pipe-freezing levels. Not sure I could get Mr F to go straight for 7 from 15, but we could defo lower it. We do both prefer our bedroom to be cooler at night.
F

Cheery_Daff

We usually knock ours down to 7 or 8 overnight and it still comes on occasionally 🙄 Really doesn't take long to warm up though once we turn the thermostat up. I was so cosy in bed yesterday morning I thought we'd left it turned up overnight by mistake (we were a bit drunk 🥂😂😂) but no, it was at 7 degrees and we just had lots of blankets on 😂

Makingabobor2

I told DH yesterday I thought we would be paying about £10 a day for gas at this rate, but he didn't believe me.  It'd just too cold to turn it off at the moment. I've only set thermostat low, but it never seems to reach temperature