2022 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

Jazee said:

CW18 - frozen sweetcorn is a cheap option, a handful defrosts really quickly.
Budgets holding up here but vet bills still the bane of my life. Fortunately DH did some overtime.

No freezer space at the moment - and as I tend to throw my butties together at the last minute I'd like to have some tins in.   Have to admit I've never tried using from the freezer without boiling it first though, so hadn't really considered that as an option!

cw18

MazzieD said:

I don't know if anyone else saw the on-line article (think it was the Daily Exp*ess) about how to reduce the cost of using a Combi-boiler.  Basically the factory settings are high for heating and hot water so reducing the settings on the boiler for heating to 55 degrees and 50 degrees for hot water will reduce your gas bills.  Only difference is that it takes a bit longer to heat up

My Mum turned hers down without understanding what she was doing because my daughter declared the house to be way too hot, and ended up with a too cool house and almost no hot water.   According to my OH, those temps are what the water should be at when it returns to the boiler having gone around the system.   It then adds a bit more heat to the water as it passes through the boiler before kicking it back out to start the circuit again.   As my Mum has a fairly big house, it was losing a lot of heat as it passed through the first few rooms - and was almost certainly below temp when it got back to the boiler, so never reached a decent temp again.   She's had to turn hers back up in order to keep her house at a comfortable temperature - but it's still lower than before my Dad passed away, as he needed it warmer as he was pretty immobile for the last couple of years.

I'm still on a traditional system with hot water tank.   The only thing I had to do after a service was turn the thermostat on my water cylinder back down.   I was told it had to be higher to kill off bugs, but I don't drink the stuff and don't have children or elderly here (when I'd need to worry about other issues) so I'm happy to run it lower.   I don't even heat it every day now I live on my own, so I don't see that it makes a lot of difference.   And it no longer gets services as the cost got too high, and BG announced the boiler was of an age they almost certainly wouldn't be able to get parts for it - so just what was I paying for other than an over-priced service?    By no longer having a contract my OH and I have been able to do one repair (at a fraction of the cost - just a replacement of a control valve), and I've been able to change the control box twice - once so I could set it different every day instead of 'weekdays and weekends', and then more recently to a smart one so I can turn it on remotely (a bonus as work finish time isn't set in stone).   Doing any of that with a contract in place would have meant I'd have had to pay for an 'inspection' before they'd continue to honour the contract !!!

joedenise

We use a local plumber/CH engineer to service our boiler.  Way cheaper than BG who would probably condemn it as being too old! 

balabooberlies

BG are rogues in my book.  OH cancelled service because of covid so when the boiler went wrong they wouldn't honour the contract.  No more money to them.

spudsmum

BG are terrible - told my mother in law she needed a power flush which surprise surprise wasn't included in her plan and was going to be over £1k. I managed to persuade her to ask a local plumber for a second opinion who told them it wasn't needed at all. 

She would have paid the £1k too - she's one of the "old school" who stick with BG because they are the original gas company and they think that makes them better and more trustworthy. No wonder people get ripped off 

Bluegreen143

Ahhh new thread! Joining again after falling off the wagon a bit last year. Will go back and read previous pages tonight. You are all so inspiring!

We are in such a different situation to where we were a couple of years ago (I was a SAHM and we were skint!) as we both now have well paid jobs. But now it’s hard to keep focused and the grocery bill etc keeps creeping higher. We can afford it but I want to use the money we have coming in wisely, not fritter it. 

Our main goal in 2022 is adding a conservatory and wood burning stove to our house, this will likely add £25-29k to our mortgage (currently is £109.5k, house value around £185k). This will add a lot to our quality of life and set us up for staying here til the kids are grown with no desire to move. So after that it will be rebuilding our focus will be rebuilding up our cash savings first, then overpaying the mortgage and building up retirement savings. 

I’m happy with this plan but it means being sensible with our wages not frittering them away on rubbish. We don’t have a minimal £4K or similar style budget but I am aiming to track everything and cut back on everything that’s not a priority area. Health and wellbeing will be a priority this year though and I will be spending a bit on a gym membership but that’s coming from my own spending pot, not our joint budget, and again I will need to ensure I’m not frittering my money to afford this.

For reference, we have a 6 and 3yo and I work part time (26hr p/w) around school/preschool hours 🙂 DH works full time. He is talented at woodwork and fixing things, we both enjoy cooking and basic gardening, and I like crafting but don’t make enough time for it! 

nannygladys

Dgs sitting at dds today, so just sat down after lunch and nappy changes, dgs not me!!!   Pup has been sick etc in the night so he is feeling rather sorry for himself as well and doesn't want to leave my side! I don't mind he's a lovely little dog but he has been sick again, so they will have to keep an eye on him.

Frugal bits, well I'm not using my heating whilst here, and I had LO for lunch but that's about it for today I think. I will be going to get dgd from school soon, at least it's sunny and not raining as it was last week, and then it will be home for me when dd comes home, usually about 5:20 as she works local. Oh and I haven't been shopping or even our usual walk, so no money has left my purse.

Nannyg

MazzieD

cw18 said:

MazzieD said:

I don't know if anyone else saw the on-line article (think it was the Daily Exp*ess) about how to reduce the cost of using a Combi-boiler.  Basically the factory settings are high for heating and hot water so reducing the settings on the boiler for heating to 55 degrees and 50 degrees for hot water will reduce your gas bills.  Only difference is that it takes a bit longer to heat up

My Mum turned hers down without understanding what she was doing because my daughter declared the house to be way too hot, and ended up with a too cool house and almost no hot water.   According to my OH, those temps are what the water should be at when it returns to the boiler having gone around the system.   It then adds a bit more heat to the water as it passes through the boiler before kicking it back out to start the circuit again.   As my Mum has a fairly big house, it was losing a lot of heat as it passed through the first few rooms - and was almost certainly below temp when it got back to the boiler, so never reached a decent temp again.   She's had to turn hers back up in order to keep her house at a comfortable temperature - but it's still lower than before my Dad passed away, as he needed it warmer as he was pretty immobile for the last couple of years.

I'm still on a traditional system with hot water tank.   The only thing I had to do after a service was turn the thermostat on my water cylinder back down.   I was told it had to be higher to kill off bugs, but I don't drink the stuff and don't have children or elderly here (when I'd need to worry about other issues) so I'm happy to run it lower.   I don't even heat it every day now I live on my own, so I don't see that it makes a lot of difference.   And it no longer gets services as the cost got too high, and BG announced the boiler was of an age they almost certainly wouldn't be able to get parts for it - so just what was I paying for other than an over-priced service?    By no longer having a contract my OH and I have been able to do one repair (at a fraction of the cost - just a replacement of a control valve), and I've been able to change the control box twice - once so I could set it different every day instead of 'weekdays and weekends', and then more recently to a smart one so I can turn it on remotely (a bonus as work finish time isn't set in stone).   Doing any of that with a contract in place would have meant I'd have had to pay for an 'inspection' before they'd continue to honour the contract !!!

That's really interesting,  one of the features of smart meters is that you can look back at consumption over the last month on a daily or weekly basis on the in house display so it's going to be really easy to check if there is a difference.  I'm going to be really sad and check the hot water and radiators as well over the next couple of days.  If there is no real difference the temperature will be adjusted upwards.  

I use a local company to service my boiler, very reasonable.  I don't take out contracts now, I just pay for the service on the day.  Have to agree about BG, I wouldn't use them.  My Emergency Fund would cover a new boiler if it was beyond repair.

RateTartExtraordinaire

I have an old style gas boiler (coming up for 30 years now!). I used to get it serviced every year when I rented the house out as a legal requirement. I put in a carbon monoxide alarm about 5 years ago but I haven't had the boiler serviced for a while.
How much do you pay for a boiler service?
I have an emergency fund for if it goes.

mandy47

RateTartExtraodinaire said:

I have an old style gas boiler (coming up for 30 years now!). I used to get it serviced every year when I rented the house out as a legal requirement. I put in a carbon monoxide alarm about 5 years ago but I haven't had the boiler serviced for a while.
How much do you pay for a boiler service?
I have an emergency fund for if it goes.

It averages around £50 here. Much cheaper than a contact as long as there's aren't any repairs!