2022 Frugal Living Challenge

zafiro1984

Beco here as well, 3years old, I too put the clothes on a clothes dryer overnight in the kitchen where it's warmer. Sometimes - but not always - I fluff up the towels in the dryer for few minutes, it depends which cloakroom/bathroom they are destined for.

Hopefully, electric now under better control. It's taken quite a lot of readjustment in the way I think and work but I'm now down to 14-16kw a day for the entire house from over 35kw daily last winter and we are still warm. I've just looked at the temp in the kitchen and it's 24 degrees. The washed clothes are on the dryer, the woodburner is stocked up with wood for overnight, all curtains drawn, we should get up in the morning to the temp still being around the 20 degree mark. 
I'm usually up before DH, first job is to get the woodburner going again, followed by putting an old fashioned aga whistling kettle on the woodburner hotplate. DH then makes coffee and toast whilst the kettle is reboiled to provide water for the sink so I can clean the dishes from tea last night - there's only 2 of us so not many dishes.

I mentioned in a previous post that DH had  managed to cut the electric on the farm by almost 40% so hopefully my usual sto to the electric co won't need any increase this year despite prices going up - well that's the plan/aim.

Jellytotts

@zafiro1984 blimey that's warm. Not sure I've ever managed to get my house that warm. It was 13 degrees in the living room this morning here when I got up.  I'm not a heat lover so that's fine for me, once I've started moving around and showered and dressed I'm usually opening the back door for some fresh air.  I went straight into the garden to watch the sun rise this morning, it was glorious and not as cold as I'd expected.  

Food pantry this morning and need to buy a new loo seat as the other one cracked yesterday...not sure a loo seat wrapped in duct tape (to stop the crack from pinching skin) is a look I want to continue with   

MazzieD

 Logged in to energy account, my bill is now there, current SVR made very little difference for February which was quite a surprise and explains why my Direct Debit hasn't changed yet .  Needless to say I can't cut back much more on usage anyway.  Changing the boiler heat settings has made such a difference.  Still not seen anything for those without Combi-boilers, it must be possible to do on older style systems.

Direct Debit is definitely going up in April,  still no official confirmation but quite by chance I found a section which mentioned an amount that I have never paid so that might be the figure.  Probably better to wait for definite amount to be confirmed which hopefully will be fairly soon. 

Getting closer to all price increases being confirmed for April, not something anyone wants but it is what it is.  It just seems to be relentless bad news and ever increasing prices, not good for budgeting or a positive outlook.  Just taking pleasure from the simple and free things in life like a sunny day and more daylight hours.

cw18

MazzieD said:

 Changing the boiler heat settings has made such a difference.  Still not seen anything for those without Combi-boilers, it must be possible to do on older style systems.

What is it you're looking for?   I'm not on a combi.

fritzie-65

@ Zarfiro1984 -- Hopefully, electric now under better control. It's taken quite a lot of readjustment in the way I think and work but I'm now down to 14-16kw a day for the entire house from over 35kw daily last winter and we are still warm. 

What measures did you take to reduce your lecce by more than half - please share - I am wandering around the house looking to see if I have missed any thing but have reached a plateau on our daily kw useage but am sure I can shave off some more somewhere.. any ideas ???? 
   

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,
sat here again in my camping poncho lovely and warm. WM is coming to the end of a new cycle I am trying out that should be a little more eco with the electric.
 @fritzie-65 you haven't said what you already do to try and keep to a minimum. Yesterday "ish" on here was the conversation about eco WM's and the length of time they run and trying to get our heads around how is a shorter programme more usage that a long one. How do you do your wash? To use a tumble dryer or not, just be choosey how you do when you do. Solar & wind is free  I am currently looking at the items that are on constant standby. i.e TV and other items that could be turned off. #our multiple lights fortunately have the led bulbs in them so that is a better usage. Too many lights left on maybe for e.g  on the hall and stairs put a timer switch.
2 Scratters xx

zafiro1984

fritzie-65 said:

What measures did you take to reduce your lecce by more than half - please share - I am wandering around the house looking to see if I have missed any thing but have reached a plateau on our daily kw useage but am sure I can shave off some more somewhere.. any ideas ???? 
   

I think I was probably quite profligate in my electric usage until the last 12 months.
Now our overriding thought is to be comfortably warm where we spend most of our time when indoors, which is the kitchen and adjoining study. 

My main saving was using the woodburner in the kitchen to its full potential. (Mine is an Esse Ironheart and my wood is free) It has an oven attached so I use that instead of the electric cooker. It can drive a radiator so it was easy to plumb a radiator through the wall into the study.

We turned the general central heating down by 2 degrees
Altered the time the central heating was used. Upstairs is turned off during the day, downstairs at night, The rooms we don't use were turned down to a very low temp before any heating comes on.
We also have a heat exchanger, It wasn't connected until I had a word with 'himself' It takes moist hot air out from the bathrooms, utility room and kitchen and replaces it with warm dry air piped into the hall and landing. It doesn't cost a lot to run.

Other ideas were:-
Close the curtains just before dark
Turn off all stand-bys
I use the washer a max of 5 times a week @30 degrees
I've stopped using the dishwashers - I boil the kettle on the woodburner, there are just two of us so not too many dishes.
When cooking I still tend to cook enough for several meals especially soups/casseroles. Eat one, freeze the rest. A full freezer costs less to run than a half empty one.  (My mother had a freezer in the late 50's and she used to fill the empty space with towels/blankets)

The fridge is a big electric user. It has one aim in life and that is to keep things cool. How many times do you open the door, before deciding what to take out, all that time the fridge is getting warmer. 
For a short period of time I had a small polystyrene box with one of those freezer packs in the bottom. I used to open the fridge once a day and take out everything I needed, usually milk, dairy and veg and put it in the box. The idea didn't last long. It probably saved electric but it was a step too far for me. But at least I now think what I need before opening the fridge door.

I'm sure others will have more ideas to share

My DH has a phrase which is so true - You can only spend your money once

fritzie-65

Thanks guys for your replies and ideas - very useful.

I have a daily meter reading diary, I read the meters for both elec and water every morning and note the devices used on the previous day to get an idea of where it's all going.

This has led me to a 2 x weekly washing machine  on a 30 degrees cycle with an extra spin and hanging the washing out.

Tumble dry is only used when absolutely necessary.

The heating has been turned down by 2 degrees and all the appliances are off standby/ unplugged except for the kettle , cooker , fridge , freezer and landline to avoid any vampire energy use.
 
I go around shutting the blinds/curtains at dusk or earlier and have adopted the two cups of tea method one for me and one for low the flask for later or hot water saved for a hotwater bottle in the evening. 

The dishwasher is still used but I have changed it to the most economical wash without the extended drying function and try not to use it everyday and there is no noticeable difference in the cleaning efficiency.

Light bulbs have been changed.

It is a semi detached house with oil fired underfloor heating and all the windows have been checked adjusted to avoid any leakage but I still feel I could be missing something hence my question.

Appointment tomorrow with a guy re solar panels.
 
My DH's motto is that his last shirt has no pockets so he is happy to spend now as he can't take it with him.   
   

 
 




 

zafiro1984

fritzie-65 said:

Appointment tomorrow with a guy re solar panels.
 

There was a scam going on a while back by some unscrupulous companies installing solar panels. It meant that they owned your roof so made it difficult if you ever wanted to sell. Check the small print!!!

cw18

zafiro1984 said:

There was a scam going on a while back by some unscrupulous companies installing solar panels. It meant that they owned your roof so made it difficult if you ever wanted to sell. Check the small print!!!

I looked into having some installed for free some years ago.   They wouldn't have owned my roof - they would have leased it for 1 grain of rice a year.  But I would have also got to use the electricity generated by the panels.   If I sold the property within 25 years, then the contract had to be passed on to the new owners.   I put out feelers in another forum (a diet and fitness one) to see how people would feel about buying a house with solar panels in general, and if it made any difference if they were on this kind of scheme rather than owned.  Only a few would happily buy a place with panels even if they were owned outright (mainly because they disliked the look of them), and almost no-one would with this scheme in place.    As I hadn't long since lost my hubby I had no idea whether I'd be staying here long term or not, so I ended up passing on the chance to have them installed.   Almost 10 years later I'm regretting that decision, as there's no way I can afford to pay to have them installed, and most (if not all) schemes have folded.