Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Oh, just a reminder to check the car insurance tomorrow. Might have to do a bit of running around for work in the coming weeks, and while this insurance policy had business included as standard, I have a vague feeling they might have sneakily ditched that at renewal, and I didn't think about it at the time as I so rarely use it. Can't claim mileage without it though so need to check! 

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums 😊

Working at home today, and Mr Cheery is off to see his dad. It was meant to be tomorrow, but the elderly relative they were going to see has taken a turn for the worse, so it's been brought forwards 😕 

Meter read, and I've submitted it in case I forget tomorrow, or the system is busy. 3.1kwh used yesterday - we were both out 8.30am til 7pm so that's why it's so low. We did have a shower, a bath, and the heating on for a couple of hours - but those will all use minimal electric, and obviously we don't have a gas meter, which is vexing me considerably! 

Washing machine is on a 30 degree cycle with the 'eco perfect' button pressed, so should be 3 hours. I've got the energy monitor plugged in. The 15 minute quick cycle cost 4p I think, so let's see how different this one is. I'll get it outside on the line for a bit, but it's a grey day with no wind, and rain forecast later, so anticipating hanging it inside. 

Might try the dehumidifier in the study for a bit today, see if it helps with the temperature. Definitely getting rugs out of the loft at the weekend.

I was woken at 4am by a mouse running over a guitar, so the traps will be coming out again today 🙄😂

Right, best get on!

Karmacat

Your mouse issues are really something 😺🐭

And "eco perfect" is a great name for a washing machine programme 

KajiKita

I was woken at 4am by a mouse running over a guitar, so the traps will be coming out again today 🙄😂

I'm always convinced that the ones above my head are either tap-dancing in hob-nailed boots or launching themselves in death-defying leaps from the roof joists onto the plasterboard above me!! 

KK

Cheery_Daff

Out more definitely rearrange the boxes in the loft!

Washing done and hung outside - it's warmer out there than in the house (or at least in the study). Can't report back from energy monitor as it has some weird setting where it seems to reset itself every time the washing machine doesn't draw power for a minute 🙄 so it'll count up to, say, 9 minutes, then the machine will pause, and it'll reset. I was convinced there was a 'how much have I used today' setting, but I'm not putting the washing machine back on now! 

What I will put on though is the oil filled radiator. I'm trying to hold out, really I am, but I'm wearing 3 layers PLUS a fleecy gillet, and sitting with a hot water bottle and fingerless gloves, and I can't focus as I'm just too distracted by being cold. That's to nobody's benefit. I'm not being too weedy - it's not got above 14 degrees in this room, and that's just not doable for sitting at a desk all day. Yes, there are things I'm going to do to make the room hold more warmth, but not today - today I'm afraid I'm going to resort to the little heater. No point putting the central heating on as there's only me here, and this room is furthest from the boiler anyway, so rarely heats up as much as the other end of the house.

(And yes, before anyone suggests, theoretically I could go and sit in the living room, but there's no desk in there, I've got two screens, microphone etc set up in here so not shifting, not today anyway. May well end up resorting to moving upstairs - but we'll have to shift bedrooms before that can happen!)

Don't know why I'm justifying myself so damn much - I just keep seeing people being proud of themselves for not putting the heating on til October but I'm afraid that's not me this year!

themadvix

If it’s that cold Cheery, you need the heating on! No need to justify that to anyone!

LadyWithAPlan

Hey Cheery, sorry to hear you are getting cold.. Did you invest in a heated blanket so you can wrap it around you as probably easier to warm you in your office set up than a cold room.
I am planning to get one but London is always warmer by 2-3 degrees so not needed yet..

Loving the fact you inspired me to get an electric monitor.. not used it that much as I am away but its addictive knowing my chicken paella in the pressure cooker cost 16p or my kettle is about 1.4p per boil. My only issue is I cant easily get to the fridge/freezer plug but as it is on even when I am away - on such days I use less than 1 kwh I can approximately work the cost on that,

On the Happy wheel, I think I am down this month too on casino. I used to track every casino trade including wagered, EV and p+l  and even produced a graph that showed you how much your actual profit is against the EV but then you get obsessed with what you 'should have won' on the ev vs the actual p/l  -so  I stopped tracking once I started doing £1 spins  £5 blackjack as the variance is greater.

As long as you are only doing EV + offers and no over spinning  you are making money in the medium-long term - you can trust the maths.  Or you could do more maths which is actually more helpful  as below :

As you know the profit is all in the free spins only, I have seen charts where people have track everything separately including the wagering for the offer
eg offer wager £10 for 10 free 10p spins etc    -
whats is  the profit on the free spins
and  the +/- wager of the initial offer £10 
The initial wagering over time you will see becomes fairly flat - if you are using slots such as 96-99% rtp then it will naturally be a little down over 1000s of offers but on a daily/weekly basis the moves can be big especially if you do as I do the wager £100 in £1 spins.

I also used to track every MB offer but again once I had been doing it for a few years I stopped daily tracking of profit.

I have a casino/MB float between £3-£4k depending on horse racing season etc (all MB/casino profit   and now only at the end of each month I just add up all my bookies balances and exchanges and the one bank acct dedicated to MB and then I can see if I am up or down. Like you I then take out my profit and often split it  50/50 between my house savings and my Sipp. However on the occasional month I am down  as well cos of casino so rather than move it back I note the new float balance  so that my float is now say £2900 instead of the standard £3000 so I then can compare  next months clearly.

Its good to change your systems to see what works for you but as a lady who is a fiend with the electric monitor you might quite enjoy tracking profit from free spins seperately !

EssexHebridean

Absolutely with you on there being no sense in sitting there freezing - if we were in a position where we couldn't afford to keep warmer then that would of course be a different proposition, but for those of us who CAN afford it, at least to a reasonable extent, martyrdom is not a good look! 

redofromstart

Completely agree with @EssexHebridean.  I don't want to put the heating on but I don't have to sit and shiver. Grateful to be frugal not broke.  This weekend I will be finding my thermals etc and a timer for my tiny under desk oil heater that stops my feet from freezing.

beanielou

I had also hoped to get to October with no heating but had to put it on on Monday.
My muscles need at least some warmth.