2022 Frugal Living Challenge

ladyholly

With our increasing reliance on electricity ( cars, heat pumps etc) no one has asked the obvious question. What happens when we get major storms that knock out supplies which lasted for days in some areas last winter.  I hope someone with authority has thought about this and has done some planning.

cw18

Treasurequeen said:

At the moment now tv is on a special offer until end of October so I will see how it goes but if money gets tight they might need to be cancelled.

When you cancel NowTV, make sure you say it's beacuse you can't afford.   They almost always give me a new offer when I do that, and if I don't accept the offer and continue to cancel I'm likely (but not guaranteed) to get an email with an offer within a couple of weeks.

But the one thing I do like about NowTV is that you're not tied to them by a minimum term contract.   I could probably manage with the Entertainment for just a few months a year, and binge watch the shows I enjoy while I have it

zafiro1984

We thought about power supply when we moved here 20 years ago. I have a woodburner with  an attached oven, it also has a back boiler. We thought it was rather expensive when we bought it but over the years it has proven to be a really good investment. It kicks out 8kw and also heats two radiators which are in an adjoining room, which could be turned into a bedroom if needed. 
A bonus is that it costs nothing to run as we have plenty of home grown wood.

My main worry is the freezers. I use them for home grown stuff, fruit, veg and meat. I think the way to go would be  - when I have space in one of them to fill it to capacity from the other freezers. My mother in the 50's had freezers and she used to put blankets and eiderdowns in the empty spaces. She said it is cheaper to run a full freezer than a half empty one. I think she was probably right. 
The other thing is 'think before you open the door both of the fridge and the freezer', know what you want and have a mental picture of its contents. Fridges and freezers have one aim in life and that is to stay cold. The longer the door is open the more cold air escapes and the more power is used to get it back down to temperature. as they say 'Every little helps'

Floss

cw18 said:

But the one thing I do like about NowTV is that you're not tied to them by a minimum term contract.   I could probably manage with the Entertainment for just a few months a year, and binge watch the shows I enjoy while I have it

You can add Sky Cinema for a month at a time too, ideal over Christmas 😉

cw18

I (we) currently have both Cinema and Entertainment on offer until late November - just in time for any Black Friday deals they may have this year.

We took the Boost trial then cancelled that, and got a couple of months cheap.  Cancelled when the offer ended, and got another few months cheap.  Cancelled after they took payment last month, with no offer being made.  We've now been without it for over a week (today is day 11) and I've not had an email with an offer, so this looks to be the one people are less likely to make a saving on.   And at £5/month it's the one that I feel is hardest to justify.    I don't mind about having ads and haven't noticed the lower resolution - and as I don't use surround sound that's not a loss either.    £5 to be able to run on more than one device at a time seems a lot to me - especially as we have access to other streaming services, meaning one of us could watch somewhere else.  But he's been chomping at the bit since Friday to sign back up to it!  I've just convinced him to give it at least another day - and if we can get past tomorrow he's then at work for 2 long days so it won't be needed.  Then we're spending 2 days doing things together, so no need.  And then he's got 3 more long days at work.     I reckon I can get him to hold off until at least a week on Tuesday (23rd)     I'd like to hold off until 28th, as that would mean it's paid the same day as our passes.   No point having it expire part way through the other passes, as if/when we decide to cancel completely we could end up with several weeks of Boost having been paid for but no service to use it with   Think I'll put that one to him on Thur/Fri, and see if he's on board with it......

MazzieD

@ladyholly That's a really good point about major outages lasting for several days.  I suspect it may depend on where you live, how good your network supplier is, where the engineers are based and how bad the damage is 

Although it was an unplanned power cut it got reported and the engineers were despatched really quickly as all the local city traffic lights went out as well so it was a bit chaotic in rush hour even though we are in school holidays.  

I had no idea as I wasn't working or using anything.  Bit bothered though, I got a text from our network supplier on my work mobile, it isn't publicly registered to me anywhere and the Company I work for aren't local so no idea where they got the number from!.  I have a personal mobile as well and didn't get a message on that one.  Normally I get a message on both.

cw18

MazzieD said:

Bit bothered though, I got a text from our network supplier on my work mobile, it isn't publicly registered to me anywhere and the Company I work for aren't local so no idea where they got the number from!.  I have a personal mobile as well and didn't get a message on that one.  Normally I get a message on both.

Could the works one be down to the last mast it pinged through?    Not sure why you wouldn't have got one on your personal mobile in that case though......

Primrose

I suspect and fear we may suffer more power cuts both over this drought period (due to local fires) and during the winter. Empty freezer space should be filled with old pillows or similar too retain the cold temperature for longer.
Every household  should be having these  domestic "what if?" conversations with themselves.  Perhaps do it over a leisurely meal when you,re all relaxed and can think creatively, instead of having to respond to an immediate emergency in a panic with no previous thought having been given to it. 

 A well trained crew always ensures a better outcome! 

MazzieD

@cw18 Although both are switched on even when I'm not at work they are now also different mobile networks so it really is a bit spooky.  You might be right about the masts just seems very odd that they can send a text to a number that I don't give out.  I could understand it if it was something like a Government Covid announcement where they get all mobile numbers from the network operators.  I doubt I'll ever find out why.

@zafiro1984 Freezers do work better when they are full. Hopefully any planned power cuts are going to be sensible and not going to end up with us all having defrosted freezers.  Can you imagine how many insurance claims there would be - assuming your insurance covers that.  It's unplanned ones that worry me or the freezer breaking down.  

ladyholly

MazzieD said:

@ladyholly That's a really good point about major outages lasting for several days.  I suspect it may depend on where you live, how good your network supplier is, where the engineers are based and how bad the damage is 

Although it was an unplanned power cut it got reported and the engineers were despatched really quickly as all the local city traffic lights went out as well so it was a bit chaotic in rush hour even though we are in school holidays.  

I had no idea as I wasn't working or using anything.  Bit bothered though, I got a text from our network supplier on my work mobile, it isn't publicly registered to me anywhere and the Company I work for aren't local so no idea where they got the number from!.  I have a personal mobile as well and didn't get a message on that one.  Normally I get a message on both.

We had a power cut late at night one evening. My husbamd doesnt go to bed until the early hours so after about half an hour he phoned powergen. Spoke to a very helpful person who knew we are on their priority list as we are over 60. Anyway within about three quarters of an hour there were workmen at the end of the oad sorting out the problem. When I got up in the morning they were still there so I asked if they had any idea when the power would be on and they had just turned it back on. Brilliant service from all concerned and they went round every house to check ther meter was showing they had power. In previous cuts they have rung usto check we didnt have any medical equipment that needed power I am not sure what they would have done if we said yes.

I know my friend in Aberdeenshire lost power for several days last winter but because she lives in sheltered accomodation they had generators provided but I am not sure we would have been helped liked that from what i saw on the news.