Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Evening, frugaleers!  

I've been doing a bit of bulk buying.  I think I mentioned I bought 6 bottles of conditioner, 6 bottles of shampoo and 120 toilet rolls?  Well, as some of you will know from this diary I have been trying to stop smoking for years.  I never quite managed it going cold turkey, but last year I started vaping and that has stuck.  I still plan to stop vaping eventually, but for now the immediate costs and health worries have been minimised (although I know the health outcomes of vaping are as yet poorly researched, and no doubt more health issues will become known over time). 

Anyway I had been able to get bottles for vaping liquid for 95p from H*me Barg*ins, but where I have moved has none of that shop near. So I googled the brand, and I've been able to bulk buy 25 bottles for £18 odd after discounts.  I'm not sure how long they will last me as I haven't been keeping track, but I think 3 months at least. So that's one thing off the list.

I am struggling getting decent poo bags as well.  I also used H*me Barg*ins for them - think I got 50 or 100 extra large ones for about 70 or 80p.  There are none anywhere near that price online, and the ones my nearest supermarket sells (the C**p) are rubbish.  With a big dog I am very fussy about poo bags, and they need to be a certain size and thickness! The closest I found was 99p for 100 if you spent £25.  I might do that as I need them this week, but its not ideal...

I'm having some bother with my energy company.  I think I mentioned that although I had signed up to Octopus, my estate agent signed me up to Ovo.  It took a couple of weeks to sort out, so my first 2 weeks in the house are with Ovo and the subsequent time is with Octopus.  Well, I have been submitting readings to Octopus, and when I looked at my bill for December it was about £2.50 which obviously wasn't right. 

So when I looked at the readings the starting reading were complete rubbish, despite me having provided an accurate reading.  So I looked on Ovo, and their readings were also complete rubbish and said they were estimates - when they should have at least had an accurate start reading from the estate agent, and Octopus should have given them the handover reading I gave them.  So I called Ovo and gave them the correct reading, and I called Octopus and gave them the correct readings.  So far, so good.  

Octopus have corrected my bill and that all looks kosher.  However, I have no idea what Ovo have done.  The initial readings are still wrong, and now they have 2 handover readings - which are also both wrong!  They want to charge me for 122kwh of electricity when my readings say I only used 63kwh in that period.  I'm going to wait 24 hours and see if anything updates, but I suspect I'll be back on the phone to them tomorrow  .  

Other than that I did a couple of Pr*lific surveys today.  I made a nice broccoli and stilton soup for lunch in the soupmaker with some stilton from a cheeseboard my mum gave me.  It wasn't really enough stilton so its not very strong, but its tasty enough and will do for another 2 day's lunch.  Dinner will be the second portion of an as yet nameless dish I made last night - half a bag of those frozen cheese dumplings L!dl sell, mixed through with a jar of red pesto and some mushrooms that needed using up, peppers and onions, and a bit of grated cheddar on top.   I can only really eat the same meal 2 days in a row, so I'll freeze what left after tonight and probably have it for an office lunch.  

I'm stretching things to last until I can do a shop at the weekend.  My remaining 2 litres of UHT milk are being watered down to almost see though to stretch that far  ! I'm remembering to do little moneysaving things like filling my flask with extra boiled water when I boil the kettle.  Makes another couple of cups of tea at no extra cost to me  . To be honest, milk and dog food are the only things I'm very short on (the dog is getting some cat food with his biscuits just now!), so this weeks shop won't be a big one even though its for the rest of the month.  I could see it far enough but needs must, and I'll be running out of a lot more next week if I don't do it and then have to top up at the C**p which is too expensive.

My walking boots got soaked when I was out climbing a hill at lunchtime (I'm so chuffed at how fit I am getting - a month ago I wouldn't have made it up there!), so I'm going to light the woodburner tonight and put them on the mantlepiece to dry off a bit.  Think I might catch upon All Creatures Great and Small as well if I can get Channel 5 to work on my Firestick.  It has been playing up.

Hope everyone is safe and dry.  The flooding around me is tremendous - its like being in one giant puddle.  Roads are flooded left and right.  My house is fairly safe though unless the steam at the end of my garden breaks all previous records, and I think the worst of the weather has passed for now.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Slowdown said:

Hi
Just popping in to happy new year and that I love catching up on your comings and goings. Your cosy new place sounds ideal and your bookcases look fabulous.

It’s wonderful to feel cosy on these wet and windy days and a basic need for everyone. I completely agree with those saying the housing situation in this country is completely broken. I have a 30 year old daughter who will be leaving London for Manchester this year due to house prices. Her work will remain in London and she will have to commute sometimes when not working from home but she and her partner simply can’t afford to buy down here.
Neither of my sons own houses and one of them still lives with us despite being 26 this year and working full time in a reasonably paid job. Sigh.

It will be interesting to see what happens to your energy bills in a much warmer place @Elisheba and hopefully you be able to save your pennies for some treats.
  

Hi Slowdown - sorry to hear about your daughter. I'm going through the same thing too but going back to Yorkshire for me and my partner. Buying a little house by the sea. Its too hard in London and the prospects didn't look to be any easier going forward sadly. Wish your daughter well on her move. Manchester is a fab place to live.

SuzeQStan

Oh Elisheba - am keeping everything crossed for you re this horrible weather!!

well done on packing in the smoking - BIG achievement!! 👏🏻👏🏻 

as always am in admiration of your MSE tips - some brilliant ideas there.  

Loved all creatures here as well - binged it over the holidays - I never knew that Sam West who plays Siegfried is son of Timothy West and Prunella Scales who star in one of my favourite series - ‘ Great Canal Journeys’ (many seasons available to stream on ch4 & Giles Brandreth and Sheila Hancock took over once Pru began to struggle with her health more.)

Cheery_Daff

Hope things dry out soon, and that the electricity companies sort themselves out 🙄 Sounds like you have done some good bargainous shopping there!

Slowdown

@Queen_of_the_HiveI’m quite looking forward to visiting my daughter in Manchester though I will miss her very much. We meet up in London and spend some time together and she pops home every now and again. It’s just such a shame she can’t afford to stay closer to us. Your home by the sea sounds delightful. I hope it all works out well for you. 

I like a bit of bulk buying as well @Elisheba. Sounds like you have made the most of the offers and bargains!

Elisheba

Just a quick update so say I was offered a 5% discount on the poo bags, so I now have 3000 poo bags speeding their way to me 🥴. Really hope they are the ones I think they are or else I'm going to have a good couple of years of extreme annoyance!

fionaandphil

SuzeQStan said:

Budget looking well thought out as usual Elisheba 😊👍🏻 everything 🤞🏻 that you get that well deserved pay rise xx 

wanted to tell you about a little experiment with heating we’ve done over the Christmas holidays this year -

we normally use the central heating for 1x hr in morning, 1 hr at lunch, 1/2hr in evening & 1hr water heating. This usage of gas typically costs us approx £4.50/£5.00 per day.

Then we pretty much exclusively use firewood in our log burner in the evenings which we source from local tree surgeon (and season/test for water levels) @ £40 per ton bag-  £750.00 to cover us the whole winter = 19 x ton bags! Per winter phew!! 🙀

my family have been visiting this year and are nesh and hate the log burner so the heating has been on solid 6:30am - 11:45pm every day.

We thought we would be in for paying around £25 a day with gas being on so long but as the boiler cuts out once it reaches temperature (21C - been boiling! 🥵) and the average gas usage has been just under £8 per day for 17hrs a day over the last couple of weeks!! Mind that doesn’t include 5% VAT or standing charge.

so our gas costs have risen of course over last 2 weeks (nearly doubled) but if you divide our annual £750.00 firewood by the average days we use heating then it’s actually cheaper for us to heat the home with central heating by approx £100.00 per annum once you take out our regular usage. 

Sorry for the novel - but we have decided to go ahead with GCH and move away from so much reliance on the log burner (do love a cosy fire tho! 🔥) 

Thanks for posting this, its something we are always debating as we have oil and an open fire.  We don't use as much wood as you and it comes free but we are always debating whether it is cheaper to use the fire or boost the heating when it gets cold.  I also like a cosy fire though!

Elisheba you will find that you use next to no oil to heat water in the summer but once the heating goes on it does disappear quickly.

Makingabobor2

Fingers crossed for the poo bags...lol

[Deleted User]

Very interesting reading about your budget for 2024. Just curious to see how this compares with your expected income? When I put together a budget I start with expected income and then allocate the fixed costs before looking at anything discretionary.
Feel free to check out my diary in my signature below to see how I do things. Fortunately I do not have any rent or mortgage costs.

SuzeQStan

fionaandphil said:

Thanks for posting this, its something we are always debating as we have oil and an open fire.  We don't use as much wood as you and it comes free but we are always debating whether it is cheaper to use the fire or boost the heating when it gets cold.  I also like a cosy fire though!

. 

Thanks @fionaandphil - my OH has reminded me since I posted that it was the mildest Christmas for some time and with extra people/body heat in the house I might have been a bit previous in my calculations.

but there is one thing in our favour - we are much more comfortable at 19c instead of 21c like thermostat was set at over the holidays!

so the experiment continues this Saturday when neither of us are working and it’s forecast rather chilly round these parts. Gonna set the thermostat to 19c from 8am-12am - so 16 hrs straight and see how much it costs. 

One last thought I also had was how much it cost us last winter not to heat an unused room - carpets and a mattress had to be replaced. I know it’s wasteful to heat a whole house if certain room/s aren’t being used but it was nice having the whole house at a steady temp over the holidays.

sorry @Elisheba for the hijack!