2021 Frugal Living Challenge

QueenJess

fionaandphil said:

I was inspired by a programme on TV a few years ago with !!!!!! Strawbridge and his then wife Bridget.  There is an accompanying book called Its not easy being green.  They installed some type of solar tubes on the roof and used that some of the time to heat a shower and also used things like sheeps fleece for insulation, they also had a running stream in the garden so set up a water wheel!!  We have friends who have set up a grey water harvesting tank under their patio and this is used to flush their toilets, its a modern house.  We looked into solar a number of years ago but our roof doesn't face the right way and the chimneys and trees create a lot of shade too.  There are some solar tiles on roofs in the local area but I have no idea whether these are better or worse than the panels.  We have been asking our plumber about air source heat pumps for a number of years but he still thinks these are pretty inefficent and would also involve pulling out our old system completely and redoing the whole house including radiators so we are holding off on that.

I've got an air source heat pump, but it was built with the house when I bought it new 6 years ago.  It was a small builder who thought environment was important and so spent more on it despite it reducing his profit.

They made the house completely air tight first (we have very thick walls... so thick it means the phone reception is dodgy not near the windows!) and then put the filters in each room.  The heat pump does the water and the floors downstairs (no radiators ) and then the filter system is calculated to extract (bathrooms/kitchen) or pump air into the other rooms and heat the upstairs.  Tbh I only have a vague idea of how it works, but I do know that my heating bill is the same as it was in my previous standard new built rental that was less than 1/3 of the size of this one.

t14cy_t

dont give up on olio, i waited ages and finally this week....yay!!!

Thrifty_Taylor

@fionaandphil I loved that programme! I even have the book, might have to.dig it out ☺️

willow_loulou

I just got back into olio via the internet rather than app (you might remember it wanted to charge me so I deleted it) 
we have food available again here. I’m not well enough to go get it today but hopefully I’ll be able to soon. 

I’ve 2 tgtg bags to collect tomorrow. Will get bread at the same time and I’ve booked a tip run to coincide with that. I’ve been struggling with work to have much evening energy but I need to try harder. 

CraftyLittleLisa

Hello all.  I have been reading along but I haven't posted for a long time.  I have just got back from my holiday which was postponed from last year and realise that I need to get back on the frugal wagon.  I have only spent money I have saved for the holiday but I did spend some money on clothes I felt I needed and I have received an email from my energy provider advising my direct debit payments will be going up.  I am now going to check my budget, my bank account and my spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.

mumof3.12kindebt

Morning all/evening all, 

Yesterday was a no spend 

Today we spent 
£35 fuel 
£10 for Niece birthday 
£1.20 milk 

I've also made £60 extra in the last few days so we have started off August well.. 

Jazee

Hello all.
 I haven't posted in this thread for ages but need to get fully on the frugal wagon.  My salary pays most of our main bills but DH pays for food and car repairs but only works part time on temporary contracts.  My new lightbulb moment was this morning when I've had to use some of my redundancy money for the first time.  Only £63 but even so! 

DH is an alcoholic and that's not really budgeted for so I'll make savings elsewhere and hope that one day he stops drinking.
We have no debt and decent savings.  Some spends in the near future including holidays are paid for or put to one side.  DH gets paid weekly when working so from this week we need to save £30 per week for anything unexpected and make sure we don't spend more than what is left.

fionaandphil

Just totted up last months spend and spent about £200 on food and then another £80 on coffee beans for the next 6 month!!  It will save us in the long run through not going out for coffee but it always looks awful.  August is going to be a spendy month. Car MOT is due, although I might save on the service as we've not done many miles in the last year.  We had to buy a new chainsaw as ours was beyond repair, it will save us money in the long run, the last one gave us 10 years, and it does save on buying wood.  I will also need to top up the oil soon but its still double the price of last year so I am still holding out for a price drop.  Greenhouse and garden are going well so hopefully lots from there this month which will save us a bit

C_J

@fionaandphil : I had a delivery of heating oil last week, and the prices are indeed very much higher. My usual supplier was quoting over 60p a litre including VAT, but I ended up paying much less by booking a delivery through Boilerjuice - have you heard of them? It's a nationwide purchasing consortium I think, and they compare prices for the cheapest local supplier and buy in bulk from them to be able to offer lower prices (or something). I ended up paying only (only!) 42p/ltr so it's probably worth a look at their website.

fionaandphil

C_J said:

@fionaandphil : I had a delivery of heating oil last week, and the prices are indeed very much higher. My usual supplier was quoting over 60p a litre including VAT, but I ended up paying much less by booking a delivery through Boilerjuice - have you heard of them? It's a nationwide purchasing consortium I think, and they compare prices for the cheapest local supplier and buy in bulk from them to be able to offer lower prices (or something). I ended up paying only (only!) 42p/ltr so it's probably worth a look at their website.

Yes I've used them in the past, but they tend to be more expensive than most of our local suppliers.  I thought it was bad that I'm getting quoted 42p per litre so maybe I should take it while I can, our local suppliers are all about the same price as boilerjuce just now.  i'm hoping to get it for mid 30s but think that might not happen anytime soon