2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Finstickle

Received an electric bill today saying we've been under paying and they're putting it up to £132pm from March 

Last week it was the water bill!
I know a lot of it is driven by being at home all day (mat leave - ends in 2 months - and DH works from home) but we must be able to do better?

We're an outdoorsy family of 5 including a 7mnth old in Cloth Nappies which means I'm always washing, and in this weather tumble drying (although I know I could be better with this). We mostly cook from scratch, 1 full dishwasher load a day, have the heating on low for 10hrs during the day. The baby's room has an electric oil radiator as we had to split a bedroom and the radiator is in the other one and she needs to be warm.
We don't have a tonne of electric equipment (no TV or tablets, a couple of laptops and phones).

Water wise we do have leaky taps and a toilet which is temperamental which need fixing but that's it!!

Any ideas for anything I can do? I know it will improve when I go back to work, but must be able to improve and I would definitely rather us have any improvement benefit!!!! 

CraftyLittleLisa

cw18 said:

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire wrote: »

Changed energy provider and registered my interest for a smart meter.

I've had a smart meter forced on me for my water (they insisted the meter, which was only 14 years old, needed replacing - and all they fit now are smart meters which purely remove the need for a meter reader as I've no internal display gadget), but I've not yet been offered them for gas or electricity. Quite happy to have not been offered, as it means I'm not constantly fighting to NOT have them fitted. When I do get offered I plan to hold off as long as I possibly can (until they become compulsory by law).


I see absolutely no reason to have them. I'm already considered to be a very low user (same with the water - I suspect they wanted to change that meter as they thought there was a fault with it, though they wouldn't confirm that to be the case), so I'll gain nothing from having a gadget I can sit and watch to see when I'm using energy. But I'll be paying for the energy to run said gadget Was chatting to a guy who fits them 12-18 months ago, and he said there's no point at all in my having them given my useage for the property and headcount (big house with just me most of the time).

I'm also a low energy and water user but now the second generation gadgets can be used across all firms (rather than not working when you change provider) I want one to see where (if at all) I can reduce my usage any more.  I haven't been offered a water one yet though.

mumtoomany

Finstickle, tips for saving electric: Thermal long-johns or woolly tights for all, adults and children, my sons and grandson have all worn tights under trousers in winter. Turn everything off that's not in use, turn things of at the wall that have lights/timers, eg. microwave. thermal linings or second pair of curtains (charity shop) on all windows and doors, always close all curtains as soon as it's getting dark. If I feel cold in the house, I go for a walk around the fields, much war
Saving water: share baths, or follow one another in same water. Only wash clothes that are dirty, most things will last another day. Invest in a pressure cooker, if you don't have one. less water and less fuel, great for potatoes, carrots, soups, stews.Fix the leaks asap, easy to do, videos on youtube. 
Let us know how you go on, mumtoomany.

Frugaldom

Finstickle said:

Received an electric bill today saying we've been under paying and they're putting it up to £132pm from March 

Last week it was the water bill!
I know a lot of it is driven by being at home all day (mat leave - ends in 2 months - and DH works from home) but we must be able to do better?

We're an outdoorsy family of 5 including a 7mnth old in Cloth Nappies which means I'm always washing, and in this weather tumble drying (although I know I could be better with this). We mostly cook from scratch, 1 full dishwasher load a day, have the heating on low for 10hrs during the day. The baby's room has an electric oil radiator as we had to split a bedroom and the radiator is in the other one and she needs to be warm.
We don't have a tonne of electric equipment (no TV or tablets, a couple of laptops and phones).

Water wise we do have leaky taps and a toilet which is temperamental which need fixing but that's it!!

Any ideas for anything I can do? I know it will improve when I go back to work, but must be able to improve and I would definitely rather us have any improvement benefit!!!! 

Make a tin foil reflector to slot behind radiators to reflect heat from walls and wherever taps are leaking, try to collect dripping water, decant daily to a bucket and use elsewhere. (Replacing the tap washers might resolve the drips) You can reduce toilet flushing and also by placing a plastic drinks bottle of water inside the cistern will reduce volume of water used on each flush. Speed showers instead of baths and if you want to be even more frugal, use veg cooking water in soup stocks and set up a rain barrel for buckets of water for things like toilet flushing. Draught excluders, curtains over doors, fleece blankets and even bubble wrap over glass doors (and windows, depending on how extreme you need to be) all help save heat and in turn, save money. 😁 Plus the simple things like switching off what isn't being used and only boiling enough water in kettle as needed, or saving extra in a flask until needed. 😊

Frugaldom

Our hens are laying well enough to be swapping eggs for baked goods and veggies from neighbours while still leaving enough for using ourselves. I like mine best when pan cooked with flour and milk then sprinkle of sugar & lemon juice on top! 😄 Pancakes, porridge (Scottish cooked), soup and puddings are top foodstuffs here all year round.

Cards and savings: I try my best to pay as much as possible using a cashbach credit card but it has now dropped to 1%. I have my Nectar card registered to my own, H's ad DS's eBay accounts but gave up my Trust membership years ago, as we didn't use it often enough... Not many places to visit about here and now no spare time for going day trips.

willow_loulou

reducing electricity is something I always frustrating. We are electric only here -
no gas. We have a log burner which can heat most of the house when running well but I’m struggling with my wood supply as so many people have stoves now. I scavenge all the time and will be out looking for wood now the wind has passed. My best tips are
 1.electric pillows around £20 on Amazon. These are very low use of electric and help keep warm if sat around (I use them as pain relief too) 
2. Turning off everything before bed. It’s an easier habit than remembering say when I’ve made dinner to switch oven off at the wall - I do try but remembering before bed has helped me when I’ve missed stuff (top tip put tape over fridge or freezer if not a concealed socket so not turned off accidentally) 
3. Look at your light bulbs that are on a lot, I have swapped some out for led lights. 

4. Only boil the water you need in the kettle or invest in an instant water boiler (mine was £27 on eBay)  of you wipe the inside of a kettle around with a one sided bottle brush it will remove limescale so it’s more efficient and no chemicals needed 
I use hand warmers, the type you reset in hot water, I pop them in a thick freezer bag thing and pop them in the veg water pan  once I’ve finished cooking - I wash the bag up with the plates so you’ll have to do that by hand as I don’t think you can dishwasher bags. 

You could wash the nappies in bath water so they don’t need a long wash cycle in the machine. Maybe you could get some 2nd hand on Facebook market place so you’ve time to pop them on a sock airer to dry. 

You could set timers for showers double whammy if it’s an electric shower 
Look up your water provider and see if they offer freebies. I got a cistern bag, toothbrush timers, a floaty for a baby and a tap adapter thing. 

Will post again if I remember more 

Frugalistamama

Really inspired by you all.❤
 I have had 2 NSDs in a row going for a third today but then will have to go shopping. I feel a lot less anxious about overspending and feel more in control when I go to the shops so really happy about that. I looked in my account ( I've been avoiding it) and I'm £700 overdrawn and getting charged daily. This is terrible! I really went out of control when I'm usually pretty frugal.  It'll probably take me several months to get that back into balance before I can work of the other debts. Depressing, but I'm forging ahead....
Spent £40 on food shopping last week which is really good for me, plus making space in the freezer for some batch cooking. 
I need to look at ways of bringing some money in. 

[Deleted User]

Morning folks, I am still figuring out this new format so this is my first post in a while.  It's half term for us this weekend so me and OH are having a weekend in Edinburgh which, while not particularity frugal, is fully budgeted and paid for including our spending money.  We both love reading and have book tokens that were Christmas gifts which we will take with us as we will be visiting a couple of bookshops.  This will be my first and only book purchase of the year as I've stopped buying books to quit my Amazon habit and I am really enjoying using the local library.  I hope everyone has a good weekend when it comes.

Siebrie

Frugalistamama said:

Really inspired by you all.❤
I looked in my account ( I've been avoiding it) and I'm £700 overdrawn and getting charged daily. This is terrible! I really went out of control when I'm usually pretty frugal.  It'll probably take me several months to get that back into balance before I can work of the other debts. Depressing, but I'm forging ahead....

 

Would it be worthwhile to call the bank and ask for less interest or a loan to cover the overdraft (presuming the interest is less)?

viv0147

Hi, I am not sure if this will help you but in Wales, if you are a member of a library you can ask for a PIN for their online library you can get hundreds of ebooks and audiobooks and all the Uk magazines, for free to read or listen at your leisure.   

[Deleted User] said:

Morning folks, I am still figuring out this new format so this is my first post in a while.  It's half term for us this weekend so me and OH are having a weekend in Edinburgh which, while not particularity frugal, is fully budgeted and paid for including our spending money.  We both love reading and have book tokens that were Christmas gifts which we will take with us as we will be visiting a couple of bookshops.  This will be my first and only book purchase of the year as I've stopped buying books to quit my Amazon habit and I am really enjoying using the local library.  I hope everyone has a good weekend when it comes.