2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Floss

otb666 said:

water company wanted to increase dd from 31 to 53pm I am not in debit with them Another bill I have to keep an eye on 

Are you on a meter?

nannygladys

JackieO - I haven't used softener for about a year now but my towels are gradually going 'harder', I will definitely try white vinegar as I have some in, thanks for letting me know.

zafiro1984

I've just been catching up with the last few pages as I dropped off the wagon for a period of time.

It's refreshing to see things are back on track with ideas and suggestions for saving and scrimping. Love the white vinegar idea in washing, I'm going to try that. I bought 15yrs ago a very good bargain of 20 x bath sized towels, the trouble was they were white. A couple have gone a bit grey but the majority are fine, but hard - white vinegar - here I come.

The only thing I can add to the threads at the moment is that dog food that has the name 'working dog' on the label doesn't carry vat, therefore it has a saving of 20% over 'posh' food - same quality just cheaper.

Floss said:

Are you on a meter?

Yes we are:- I'd hate to tell you what our consumption is - we have animals. If you have a leak between the road and your stopcock its the water boards problem and they will check it for free. If the leak is on your side of the stopcock it's your responsibility. However, I've always found the waterboard to be very fair. We had a couple of incidents, one was a delivery lorry driver not being careful and driving over the edge of the drive and cracking an underground pipe, the other was worse - someone came into a couple of the fields, messed with the automatic watering (no animals in those fields at the time) so we didn't know about it. The waterboard compensated us over 2K. We now check the road meter every week!!!

Floss

zafiro1984 said:

... I bought 15yrs ago a very good bargain of 20 x bath sized towels, the trouble was they were white. A couple have gone a bit grey but the majority are fine, but hard - white vinegar - here I come.

Wash your towels with just a little bit of detergent and add the white vinegar instead of conditioner. I give mine a quick 30m tumble before taking them out to line dry and they are lovely. Some napisan & sunshine will help them stay white too, think of brilliant white terry nappies blowing on a line!

cw18

otb666 said:

water company wanted to increase dd from 31 to 53pm I am not in debit with them Another bill I have to keep an eye on 

If you're NOT on a meter, then they should have set the DD to cover the annual bill.   And that increases sounds like one heck of a hike !!

If you ARE on a meter, then you should be able to calculate what your bill is likely to be as long as you're using the same amount of water as last year.   Mine have the standing charges and unit prices on their website - and this year my bill should work out about £5 LESS than last as long as I don't use extra (some elements have gone up slightly, but others have come down).

Floss

cw18 said:

otb666 said:

water company wanted to increase dd from 31 to 53pm I am not in debit with them Another bill I have to keep an eye on 

If you ARE on a meter, then you should be able to calculate what your bill is likely to be as long as you're using the same amount of water as last year.   Mine have the standing charges and unit prices on their website - and this year my bill should work out about £5 LESS than last as long as I don't use extra (some elements have gone up slightly, but others have come down).

But if you use more than you are paying for there is a bill at the next reading which will be added onto the reassessed usage, which I think is what's happened here. I bet your next reassessment will be to around £42 pm, assuming you stay on the same usage.

JinJinBlue

I've just watched Frugal Queen in France. The video was, "What are you prepared to give up to win financially?"
It was interesting but the last suggestion had me shaking my head in horror. It was to give up privacy as in sharing accommodation, living in a place where people could see your comings and goings, living in a terrace and hearing your neighbours through the walls etc. I nearly had a breakdown when we lived in a semi with nightmare neighbours next door. When I downsized, I went a lot smaller but detached and I wouldn't swap it for all the tea in China. I'm prepared to give up a lot but not my privacy. How about you? I know many people don't have the luxury of choice and I know how lucky I am but one more Jimmy Hendrix impersination at 2.00am in the morning would have pushed me over the edge. 

florianatwobob

@JinJinBlue I live in the middle of a terrace of 4 houses so have people both sides. I don’t have the luxury of choice however I’m only 8 years from
finishing my mortgage and was fortunate in benefiting from the full buy to let discount that my mum had earned which equates to about £30k off the property. 

Generally it’s fine, the neighbours don’t actually pay much attention to you. I could do without the amazing lung capacity one neighbour’s babies and the tuneless singing and guitar playing of the other neighbours teenage son but babies grow up and teenagers move out eventually! 

cw18

JinJinBlue said:

When I downsized, I went a lot smaller but detached and I wouldn't swap it for all the tea in China. I'm prepared to give up a lot but not my privacy. How about you? I know many people don't have the luxury of choice and I know how lucky I am but one more Jimmy Hendrix impersination at 2.00am in the morning would have pushed me over the edge. 

I'm in a much bigger detached property than I officially 'need', but downsizing would cost me more than I'd save - so it's not something I'd be able to consider as a way of saving money anyway !!

To sell I'd have solicitor fees (plus the cost of the energy survey thing you need these days), and almost certainly estate agent fees as well.   To buy I'd need solicitor and survey fees, plus there'd be removal costs (even if it were only hiring a van) and I could end up needing things like a cooker and fridge/freezer (mine are built in so can't be taken).   I can't see my electricity bill reducing, gas could even go up (if the property isn't as well insulated), and water would almost certainly stay the same or increase (I'm already metered, but could go up if the new property couldn't have a meter installed as I use well below average).   The saving on council tax wouldn't be enough to cover the costs in the short term (even if I dropped to the lowest band it would only be £435 a year on the 2022/23 costings), so I'd be seriously out of pocket in the long term - although it could mean I have a small amount of capital in the bank to live off for a while.   And as I don't have a lump sum to put down as a deposit on a new place I'd actually have to sell / rent / buy, which means paying pricey rent for at least 6 months - and paying removal costs twice - which would greatly reduce the capital I'd gain.

I could (if I tidy up a LOT) rent out a room or two, but it's not something I fancy doing.   The only way I might is if a family member moved in and paid a contribution to the running costs of the house in order for both of us to keep our heads above water (in the same way my older son did for a few years - and he's the one most likely to do it again).   I would have to be at high risk of losing my home before I let strangers in........

cw18

Floss said:

cw18 said:

otb666 said:

water company wanted to increase dd from 31 to 53pm I am not in debit with them Another bill I have to keep an eye on 

If you ARE on a meter, then you should be able to calculate what your bill is likely to be as long as you're using the same amount of water as last year.   Mine have the standing charges and unit prices on their website - and this year my bill should work out about £5 LESS than last as long as I don't use extra (some elements have gone up slightly, but others have come down).

But if you use more than you are paying for there is a bill at the next reading which will be added onto the reassessed usage, which I think is what's happened here. I bet your next reassessment will be to around £42 pm, assuming you stay on the same usage.

But obt666 saud there's no debt on the account.  The only way it can be due to using more than they've been paying for is if the account was hugely in credit, and the payments had been reduced to use up the credit balance.   If that were the case they'd now have a balance with a low (or no) credit balance and have to start paying for what they're using so they don't fall into debt.