Magic money tree revisited

Katieowl

Six months ago I posted here that I was really struggling with our finances and that there wasn't a magic money tree (sadly) anyway I wanted to give you an update!!

I've kept up my spendy spread sheet religiously logging every penny I've spent, and every month I've had a good look at the results and reached the following conclusions

Dogs are still very expensive :rotfl: one of mine is disabled and she costs twice what the other two do, but they are loving their new diet which is subbing a tin a day of Butchers for rice and veg. Usually I use basic frozen veg, but if I'm cutting up veg for hoomans they get the stalks and odds and ends chucked in a pot to be cooked with the next rice. They think its a massive treat, I save a bit. Win!

Our diet has improved no end. I am supposed to be following Low Carb for health reasons, and first month I noticed (but it was Xmas) that I was spending way to much on stuff I wasn't supposed to be eating, so knocked that on the head. I was buying almond milk just for me, but have discoved that I can sub cream thinned with water and its cheaper I think. I often had it left over from work anyway. We were eating quite a bit of fruit (I'm not supposed to eat much of that either) but I thought veg was too low, so bumped that up loads. I asked my son the other day if he was happy with the way we were eating at the mo and he said yeah he thought it was great. I'm making much more of an effort to keep low carb and the food is more interesting. We still eat loads of cheese though. (And some weight is shifting...)

Petrol from the local garage lasts longer than petrol from the supermarket?? :eek: I thought that was an urban myth.

Right whoever told me to get to grips with the Rayburn and stop using the drier, award yourself a CDM immediately! British gas have had to cut my direct debit again now, :T and its now down to only around £70 a month. I only really tumble dry tea towels now, as they were too crispy to fold dried on Rayburn, and I use loads for work. We cooked loads of food in the oven over the winter, and now its gone off for the summer I'm a bit lost TBH. We have to put the immersion on for hot water, but I've been setting the timer on the cooker when we put it on 45 mins costs around 80p and I've been trying to use it as little as possible

I noticed that the laundry room was getting really hot, and was getting a bee in my bonnet that I could heat some water in there. I've done a couple of experiments, and yesterday I had enough hot water in containers to do a load of hand washing (and rinse it) I think I've convinced OH its worth doing some kind of permenant solar thingy in there to heat the water in the second tank. It was 110 F in there at the weekend, it has a uPVC roof and is in a sun trap corner. I'm also drying washing in there.

I've been really, really good at not buying things we dont need, and trying to shop at home first. I've got a regular shopping routine going that involves Aldi on the way home from my last work delivery, and TESCO/Aldi at the weekend when I have to shop for work - and if we run out of anything in the meantime we go without - which also saves petrol.

I have had one or two excellent months and a really bad one (vet bills for two dogs) and fingers crossed I HAVE STAYED OUT OF MY OVERDRAFT.

Nonnadiluca

Great progress, well done!

VfM4meplse

Wow, you've really given this a lot of thought! Your laundry experiment is intriguing but I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it. Just be sure to know where to draw the line between time and money.

Btw, I was told that solar panels are old-skool now. New technology is rearing its head so I'm holding off for now to a) see what it is, and b) let it bed in before I make the leap. My conservatory gets ridiculously hot, and if there was some way of storing and redistributing it so I can use it as and when, that would slash my bills in the winter (when it's like living in an ice bucket ).

Katieowl

VfM4 I'm not thinking solar panels, I'm going full Mad Max. Was looking at a copper coils that go in a tank. The guy said they could be connected to a solar panel, but they worked just as well with a black painted radiator housed in a glass lidded box, with a circulating pump. Well within the capabilities of the OH and what is a conservatory if not a glass lidded box? It takes a long time to move him from convinced to action, so in the meantime I am going to rig up an outdoor shower. I'm rural so not worried about the neighbours LOL.

Time is money for me too...I'm using the washing machine as usual, not intending to do it by hand, my experiments were if I could get water hot enough to shower comfortably. I just happened to have hand washing,and thought I'd try. We are drying over the rayburn though, that takes a few mins longer than tossing in the drier, but not much.

mardatha

Just found this Owl, well done!!! yaaay you! And now we have dropped over £100 a week and we're having to revamp and re-adjust as well..

[Deleted User]

I was watching a Supershoppers programme on TV last week and it said that the replcement for dairy milk was basically quite expensive water and the almond milk actually only had 2 almonds extracts in it and the rest was expensive water

They did almost all the replacement milks in tests to say how much was actually in them. See if you can get the programme on catch-up. and in fact ordinary milk was as good if not better for you as it had extra nutients in it that replacement milk didn't have.

FrugalAndFabulous

You can make your own almond milk which might help you. Basically just almonds, water and a blender/food processor. Lots of instructions online