2021 Frugal Living Challenge

ancientmum

I 've been reading the electricity discussion with interest. I'm with Bulb and send in a reading each month.  They keep e mailing me about having a smart meter despite telling me a few months ago that it it is not possible on Economy 7.  About a month ago my usage shot up and I could not work out why.  I did increase the input rating on the storage heaters when we went below freezing, but would not have thought that would have made much difference.  I have an elderly laptop which needs to be plugged into the mains when in use, I did have that on for a couple of hours several times over the month.  

Now the storage heaters have been off since the start of May, I've turned off the immersion heater which was on overnight and only switch it on when I get up for about 45 minutes until the cheap electricity goes off.  I've also got more conscientious about using the laptop  and unplugging it.  I'll take a reading next week and see if I've saved anything.

Tightpants24

While I am pretty "softcore" when it comes to frugal ways in comparison to lots of you here, I am feeling quite pleased that I got some very cheap fence paint on FB market yesterday.  Normally I would have gone straight to H0m3base and paid full whack without any thought.  I have been gradually reducing my grocery costs thanks to the monthly grocery challenge.  And I have planted my garden at about a quarter of the usual garden centre blowout.  Just wanted anyone who is new to this to realise how easy it is to make changes that will make savings 😃 

[Deleted User]

I should also add that whenever I need any inspiration about energy consumption i re-read old Frugaldom blog posts and Ilona’s Life after money blog.

No money will be spent this weekend and I’ve just lit the woodburner. Chilli is in the slow cooker and we are having a lazy one. 

MazzieD

Thanks for all the responses so far.  I hadn't heard of a Remoska either @willow_loulou.  Looks quite interesting apart from the price(!) and don't think I've got enough room for storage as apparently the handle is quite bulky. Think I'll have to stick with my microwave and slow cooker. I use mine for cooking whole chicken and batch cooking but could use it more rather than the oven. 

Was playing around with my Smart Meter IHD (In House Display) yesterday after my post, the microwave is definitely cheaper.  Tried frozen veg without added water and it actually tasted better microwaved!.  Must make the effort to unplug the IHD and pop it in the kitchen when I'm cooking and using other appliances, got a bit lazy with that after the original novelty wore off.

Living_proof

I am impressed with how Olio has taken off now in my local area and every week some otherwise-wasted goodies come my way. This week sourdough bread, baguette, smoked salmon, avocados, celery, leaf salad and plant based wraps have all been available. Then today I noticed some butternut squash available not too far away and requested that and picked up later. I met the very nice lady offering the squash (and also best cherry tomatoes) and she told me she is involved in a local community shop. Apparently there is a staggering amount of produce donated and they sell boxes of mixed goods for £5. One day I will try that out, but right now I have more than enough to handle!

MazzieD

ancientmum said:

I 've been reading the electricity discussion with interest. I'm with Bulb and send in a reading each month.  They keep e mailing me about having a smart meter despite telling me a few months ago that it it is not possible on Economy 7.  About a month ago my usage shot up and I could not work out why.  I did increase the input rating on the storage heaters when we went below freezing, but would not have thought that would have made much difference.  I have an elderly laptop which needs to be plugged into the mains when in use, I did have that on for a couple of hours several times over the month.  

Now the storage heaters have been off since the start of May, I've turned off the immersion heater which was on overnight and only switch it on when I get up for about 45 minutes until the cheap electricity goes off.  I've also got more conscientious about using the laptop  and unplugging it.  I'll take a reading next week and see if I've saved anything.

Be very careful about Economy 7 Smart Maters.  It might be possible for Bulb to program  a standard Smart Meter for Economy 7 but as far as I know you probably need a different meter or settings which don't exist yet.  It may also cause all sorts of problems if you decide to change suppliers.  I was on Economy 7 and had exactly the same with Scottish Power, I challenged them when they put me under pressure to change and they told me yes you can have a smart meter which contradicted all the advice on their own website and everywhere else.  I changed supplier and asked if I could have a standard tariff with a Smart Meter as the previous owner hadn't bothered to change the meter when they ripped out the storage heaters and installed gas central heating!.

ancientmum

Thanks for the info Mazzie D.  I have to stick with the storage heaters for now, I might start reading the meters more often than monthly just to get an idea of when my usage is creeping up.

MazzieD

@ancientmum Apologies, I wasn't suggesting you change from storage heaters to gas.  It must cost quite a bit to change over if you haven't got a gas supply with all the pipe work to be laid as well.

willow_loulou

I managed to get 2 tgtg bags from a budgets garage on my way home tonight, they contained,
4 large burgers 
a loaf of white,milk,potato salad, coleslaw 
pukka pie, a pot of pineapple,punnet of grapes
8 sausages, 2 punnets of strawberries and raspberries ,croissants x 4
So tomorrow I’m making rice pudding with the milk for the kids and do burgers with the bread, coleslaw and potato salad for them, I’ll just have the burger probably. 

Will do the Pie for a snack for son after work if he’s not had it before! Excellent stuff. Will try these tgtg’s again. No need to shop beyond some milk for me, veg and salad and  then probably not till Thursday. 

Isn’t this weather dreadful, so much outside to do but the garden is a bog again. Hoping for a dry hour tomorrow to at least cut back a few weeds and scrub the dogs area. 

willow_loulou

MazzieD said:

Thanks for all the responses so far.  I hadn't heard of a Remoska either @willow_loulou.  Looks quite interesting apart from the price(!) and don't think I've got enough room for storage as apparently the handle is quite bulky. Think I'll have to stick with my microwave and slow cooker. 

Same! I like my slow cookers so they fill the little storage I have