Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

I do actually - oddly enough I made some arnica salve earlier last year, and I've barely used it. I think I had it my head it was only for bruises. Worth a try, no point it just sitting in the cupboard! Thanks for the suggestion 😊

themadvix

The race sounds really good Cheery - I love the idea of it being sunrise to sunset. The events afterwards and the painful neck definitely sound less good though! Hope the arnica helps. 

Cheery_Daff

Thanks 😊 I love the sunrise to sunset element too, and it just feels like a really nice way to round off the year.

The last time we did it we also did the sunset to sunrise one they do in November - the two medals fit together like two halves of a puzzle piece 😁 Sadly that one was utterly grim. They don't use the 1km track for that - they run it along a wooded Riverside, and each loop is 11 miles 😱 and obviously it lasts a lot longer, being from about half 4 in the afternoon to about 8am the next day or something. There weren't as many runners, the fog drifted off the river and made the whole thing damp and eerie. There were refreshments at each end of the out and back 'loop', so every 5.5 miles, but the whole thing wasn't a nice experience and we only managed 2 loops (22 miles) before giving up. A shame really, as we were fitter back then, and if we'd only been doing 1km loops on a well lit track I'd imagine we would have kept going!

Won't be doing that one again, despite the medals fitting together in such a pleasing fashion! 

Anyway, I have stirred myself a little this afternoon. Seen to the chickens, been to the chemist for supplies for Mr Cheery (who is still feeling very rough), got some invalid food for him, and spent an hour in the cafe by myself, eating Christmas cake and admiring their Christmas tree, and plotting and scheming for the year ahead, one of my favourite activities 😁

Might look back in this thread to see if I can find last year's list, see how much i actually got crossed off 😂

First though, I'm going to rouse myself enough to do some washing up 🙄

beanielou

Blimey, that was some end to your day

Cheery_Daff

Certainly was Beanie! 

Had a nice evening yesterday, sewed a few more present bags and watched a few more episodes of Call the Midwife. 

The sun is shining today, but I suspect I'm finally getting this cold that's been plaguing Mr Cheery since before Christmas. I was hoping I'd avoided it - we've been trying to avoid each other all week! But I think I knocked my immune system somewhat with my shenanigans the other day. Just a bit of a sniffle so far, so I'm going to nip out for supplies (chiefly more loo roll, which I forgot yesterday) in case I start feeling as bad as Mr Cheery has been before he starts feeling better. 

In the meantime, some financial pottering, I think. First I'm going to check the LGP account, then I'll see about setting up next year's YNAB budget. Expect a bit of waffling (sorry!)

themadvix

Don’t apologise, we love your waffling! It’s often very insightful!

KajiKita

I’m looking forward to YNAB waffling as I am working on my first YNAB budget myself 😊

Recommend you grab some vitamin C and echinacea tablets whilst you are out ….

KK

Karmacat

Also love your waffling - but sorry you're finally getting the lurgy, it sounds an intense one.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all, you are lovely

Well, this has been an interesting exercise. As you know, we aren't on mains gas here, so there is no meter, and no way of checking consumption on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. We usually have 3 deliveries a year, but not at the same times, and not when the tank is the same level, so it's all a bit vague. 

What I've never done before though is set it all out in a table, which I've now done. Delivery date, amount in litres, weeks since the last delivery, cost of delivery, cost per week, and then also noted which season (roughly) it was. 

I've got records since June 2018 (we only moved in Feb 2018, and had an initial fill from another provider which I have no easy record of). Average weekly consumption ranges from 36 litres to 206 litres (!) That's quite a difference, but obviously it depends on the time of year. The 36 litre period was April to October (so a lot of low-consumption months), whereas the 206 litre period was Dec-Feb, so much higher.

We had a gas cooker until some time in late 2019, but I don't think that's made much difference. 

Obviously the price has changed quite a bit - 29p a litre in 2018 to 50p a litre now (fortunately fixed for another 18 months or so now). 

Can't be exact, but since we've had a December/January delivery four years out of five, I've calculated using those and divided by the number of weeks between them. Does mean that some of these calculations have got a week or two extra of winter gas use, which might skew things a little, but I can't do any different. 

So. 

* 2019 total (54 weeks) = average 78 litres a week, average cost £28 a week
* 2020 total (55 weeks) = average 94 litres a week, average cost £37 a week
* 2021 total (49 weeks = average 68 litres a week, average cost £29 a week

2020 was when we didn't have a ceiling in the kitchen, so a large part of the house was open space right up to the rafters, so I'm not surprised consumption was higher then, and it makes sense that 2021 was lower - we had a ceiling between kitchen and bedroom, and between bedroom and loft, plus extra insulation and the remaining single-glazed windows were replaced. I suppose we were also in the house a lot more than usual in 2020! 

Not sure what's going on this year yet - last delivery was early August, so I'm only counting 33 weeks so far

* 2022 total (33 weeks so far) = average 84 litres a week, average cost £41 a week

I'm hoping that average will come down. We've got a delivery on order, due mid Jan I think. Previous July-Dec usage has been roughly 53-57 litres a week. This will be Aug to Jan, so probably a little more (one more winter month, one less summer month). If we say another 23 weeks (to mid Jan) at an average of say 65 litres a week (allowing for the extra winter month), that will take our total to: 

* 2022 projected average total (over 56 weeks) = average 77 litres a week, average cost £39 a week

Hmm. We'll see when the January delivery arrives. I'm hoping we've used less than previous years, we've not had the heating on above 16 degrees yet, and we've done more in the way of insulation this year too (some of that will be reflected in the electric bill though because I've not been using plug in heaters in the study. 

I'd be delighted if it turns out the average consumption was the same or lower than last year. I'll make a note to come back to it in January. 

That all took rather longer than expected, and I'm not dressed yet, so I should probably see to that before I do anything else!

beanielou

Remember your vitamin C!