2022 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

Sweetlittledaydreams said:

I looked at solar panels for the house but it is a very big initial cost, do any of you have them/ what is your opinion on them? They would have to work from an environmental and financial point if I was to get them and I'm thinking you'd still have to pay your daily electric tariff so might not be worth it?

My Dad had them fitted to my parents house some yeaars ago, but I never heard him mention savings (which I would have expected) - and according to my Mum he forgot to complete and file the paperwork to get back money for any extra generated (the system was still in place when they were installed).

Since his health got worse from just before Covid, my Mum called out a company to look at the roof which was leaking slightly.   The company said it was down to the installation, so she called out a solar panel company (all installation paperwork had gone missing, so she just picked a company).   Whilst they sorted it all out she also paid them to install a battery to store excess for using overnight.  I've seen her energy bills since my Dad passed away in November, and I really don't think they're working even now!!

We have similar sized houses with similar devices - although she's not as hot on turning lights off when leaving a room.  I'm out at work whereas she's at home, but her usage (as billed by the energy company) is quite a bit more than mine.   If her solar panels are working then she's using the energy from those AS WELL - and I really can't see that being the case

dreaming

Sweetlittledaydreams said:

This weather is great at the moment too - no need for heating and the washing is drying quickly. I've got a solar phone charger I thought would save me electric but it hadn't been working that well, hopefully now the sun is out a bit more it will. I looked at solar panels for the house but it is a very big initial cost, do any of you have them/ what is your opinion on them? They would have to work from an environmental and financial point if I was to get them and I'm thinking you'd still have to pay your daily electric tariff so might not be worth it? Also looked at single house wind turbines but they're expensive and I live in too built up an area I think.
Anyway, have a good frugal day everyone.

I had solar panels fitted in 2013 as part of my early retirement planning. We had just been told that our dept.would relocate (in 2 years from then) to another part of the country and although we could go with them I decided that at 58 I would drawdown my final salary company pension and stay put. On top of that I got a good redundancy payout which not only paid off the rest of the mortgage (which I had been overpaying anyway) but enabled me to get a few other jobs done on the house as well as put some away to provide a buffer until state pension age of 66 (last year). The panels are still working well for me and the FIT (the payback) covers my combined annual gas and electric bills. Well, it did but obviously that may change this year! I would say I am quite frugal - I live alone (although had DD living here for 4 years who was definitely not frugal) in a 2 bed semi-det. bungalow with a gas combi boiler for CH, hob and shower, but have electric oven and usual appliances. Until this Spring I was paying £65/month for combined gas and electric - this has gone up to £79/month (although checking earlier they are suggesting I could reduce that to £73 but I shall leave it for now).. Last year I received in total just over £800 FIT pyts. Overall, since 2013 I have had my initial investment back. I don't have a battery for storage  and although I try to be mindful of how I use my appliances I could probably do a lot more and save even more but feel it was definitely a good investment for me, especially as interest rates were so low on savings. I'm not sure what the FIT payments are for new systems (there are very knowledgeable people on the Green and Ethical forum on MSE) and not sure how much it would cost to install (mine was £6000 for 16 panels) but the technology has moved on and I know some people have their hot water etc. linked as well. It's definitely needs a lot of thought.

cw18

dreaming said:

I'm not sure what the FIT payments are for new systems

no longer a thing for new installations since 1/4/2019 (with a few exceptions apparently)

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/feed-tariffs-fit

This is why there are no longer companies offering to install them on your roof for free - in return for which THEY took the payments.

I almost went for one of those schemes (2010-ish), but was worried about what it would do to the value/appeal of my house if I ended up having to sell in the next 10 years (minimum term you had to keep them for).   As I was only widowed (and made redundant from a well paid job) at the end of 2008 I wasn't sure I'd be able to hang on to the house that long.   I'm still here, but there's no way I can afford to pay to have them installed - I can't even afford to replace my 20 year-old gas boiler (which I'm told is well past the age where spares are readily available, so a breakdown could mean a write-off).

Jellytotts

We had freely installed panels at our old house and the company that installed them gained the FIT payment but we got to use as much free stuff as we could.  When we moved here 3 years ago we dithered about having them but went for it.  Cost us £3900 (same amount of panels as our old house and they would have cost £16k at the time. As DH is disabled we are “retired” so get to use a lot of daytime power and have an electric car so charge that on sunny days (using a slow charger to maximise our free electric). 

We do get a small back payment each year (£50ish) but no FIT.  We couldn’t justify a battery at the time as they were around £3k extra but will have one installed when we can afford it.  Our electric car costs us (currently) £8 to charge from flat to full and gives us 160 miles.  If we slow charge on sunny days that cost is nil.    We are good at only using the DW and WM one at a time once the sun is up and on the panels too.   I dread to think what our bill would be without them.

elbree

basketcase said:

Primrose said:

I feel sorry for younger people now. The rising cost of living and spiralling energy costs are going to make it much harder for people to spare surplus  cash towards a mortgage free existence.  I suppose each generation has its own challenges to deal with.  I can recall the time when unbelievably mortgage rates were peaking at an unbelievable 15%.

Or even to get a mortgage to be free of in the first place...

I've got no chance at a mortgage and will have to pay rent/save until I'm a lot older. I might then be able to get 60+ property? Probably renting forever though! On the plus side my costs are pretty fixed and if anything goes wrong it's someone else's problem. 

spudsmum

Definitely agree about being mortgage free.  

We got rid of our mortgage about 4 years ago and it's a huge comfort. No matter what happens we'll have a roof over our heads. Also my dad died very young and we had to leave our home because my mum couldn't afford the rent. I always think in terms of that and what we happen if me or my husband were no longer here - I wanted my kids to have the security I never had. 

Frugal stuff this week:

Food shopping came in £45 under budget. Building up a nice little pot there. 

Dona another balance transfer on my cc so £55 a month saved. 

Planted up some strawberry plants I was given and they are already fruiting. 

Invested in a washing line! Our tumble drier is on 2-3 times a day, every day and I, cringe to think how much that costs. I've finally persuaded DH that we should try to hang at least some of the washing outside while the weather is good. 

Opened a chase account after seeing it on the Martin Lewis TV show - paying all of my bills from it and acruing a fair bit of cashback. 

We received our new water bill earlier in the week - I opened it with a fair sense of dread given how much all the other bills have gone up recently - it's actually dropped £6 a month - maybe all my nagging about endless showers and leaving the taps running is actually having an effect! 

2Scratters

@spudsmum well done on the water saving that's a good number saved and then making good use of the new solar drying  line very MSE DH getting onboard slowly but its working with hard evidence. I'm going to ask locally if anyone has some left over strawberry plants and make use of them. Saves loosing all their hard work of growing them being wasteful. Off to work for today.
2 Scratters xx

London_1

spudsmum did you open the Chase one and keep your ordinary bank account as well , or do you have to transfer everything to Chase ? I'm asking as I like my own account but was wondering if I could also get a chase one just for bill paying DD and SO for monthly bills 
JackieO x

Living_proof

I am really pleased with my food purchases over the last couple of months with May coming in at £34.83, April £40.41 and drinks £28.95 (these are low/no alcohol and could be omitted as a last resort). This is for me 5 days a week and two of us over the weekend with additional food contributions from OH if required. This is achieved by lots of YS buys, Olio collections and the occasional visit to a food pantry locally. I have also got into the routine of buying some basics in bulk and these are not included in the figures because there haven’t been any for a few months. I was surprised to see that the 1100 pack of tea bags I bought for £10.99 delivered just 6 weeks ago are now £13.93 or more which is an absolutely massive increase. I can’t somehow see myself rationing yea however!

2Scratters

Well the birthday gift to me from DH of a 250ltr water storage tank got filled last night . That was some rain. It is collected off our large workshop/shed roof.  I think there may only be a few of us excited about having some stored water. I am now thinking (not actually me doing it) of attaching the 40ltr barrel as an overflow taking advantage whilst the gong is good. DH seems to think otherwise - well that's the look on his face at the moment. 
I need to get us back on track as the last month has certainly lost a lot of focus. I finish work on Sunday for half the summer so hopefully will get things back to where they should be. 
Car is all legal again with its MOT and annual service completed and savings there for the use of.
We need to use up some paint to re-do 2 walls in the shed as some shelving needs going in as space is becoming a bit of a premium at the moment. 

2Scratters xx