It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Doom_and_Gloom

The standing charge is horrific. For us it is approximately £13 a month (depending on the length of the month) of any bill. That figure shocked the OH. It is all well us doing what we can to reduce our usage and/or do as much on the cheap tarrif we have but that figure is the starting point of any months bill. 

[Deleted User]

Our standing charge for electricity is 54.923p, which has risen from its previous price of 23.764p. Gas I need to check (we have LPG and are billed for the SC quarterly).

It is the end of the Easter holidays here. I am having a use up week, and will pick up some bits of food on Friday when I get a lift into town. This means a completely vegetarian week in our house, as we have no meat in at all. 

I have spent a reasonable amount (by my standards) recently - both children have shot up so I have been getting them bits of clothing on ebay. I find the cost of new clothes for children shocking, and it seems supremely wasteful to buy new when they are hardly in them for any time at all when they're younger. 

Floss

Doom_and_Gloom said:

The standing charge is horrific. For us it is approximately £13 a month (depending on the length of the month) of any bill. That figure shocked the OH. It is all well us doing what we can to reduce our usage and/or do as much on the cheap tarrif we have but that figure is the starting point of any months bill. 

Is that on a fix, or pre-31/03/2022? The majority of companies have raised standing charges and mine is going up to around 75p a day, £22 a month on average (Shell, about to move onto SVT from a fix).

Floss

Deleted_User said:

 
I have spent a reasonable amount (by my standards) recently - both children have shot up so I have been getting them bits of clothing on ebay. I find the cost of new clothes for children shocking, and it seems supremely wasteful to buy new when they are hardly in them for any time at all when they're younger. 

Do you have any friends with children slightly bigger or smaller than yours, who you could swap kids clothes with or pass onto? I can remember getting clothes from a cousin, then they would go back for her younger sister, and I did it with my boys too 😉

[Deleted User]

Floss said:

Deleted_User said:

 
I have spent a reasonable amount (by my standards) recently - both children have shot up so I have been getting them bits of clothing on ebay. I find the cost of new clothes for children shocking, and it seems supremely wasteful to buy new when they are hardly in them for any time at all when they're younger. 

Do you have any friends with children slightly bigger or smaller than yours, who you could swap kids clothes with or pass onto? I can remember getting clothes from a cousin, then they would go back for her younger sister, and I did it with my boys too 😉

Thanks @Floss, yes we do for DS so get some bits for him, but as we know boys have a way of wearing things out, especially living such a rural life as we do! For DD, we pass her bits on as she is the oldest of the girls in our friendship circle. 

I have prepped their packed lunches for tomorrow, we are now out of bread so the rest of the week they will be taking warm food in their food flasks. Thankfully breakfast can be porridge or pancakes - we have looooads of eggs and milk!

Datchet

To my great shame I realised that I have unused homegrown (purple) potatoes in the garage. They are the “fiddly little blighters” left after the decent sized ones were used!
so, I’ve just spent a pleasant hour in the garden peeling and auditing the useable spuds. To quality control We have air-fried some for 12 mins - had those for lunch & made purple mash for the freezer. There’s a load more for chips and mash later in the week!
feeling my thrift halo has been polished.

[Deleted User]

Can anyone offer advice on comfrey plants, and specifically using the leaves to make fertiliser? I want to feed what we grow as organically as possible, not resorting to chemicals.

Wigwam was a success, thank you to you all for the advice xx

Effician

Deleted_User said:

Can anyone offer advice on comfrey plants, and specifically using the leaves to make fertiliser? I want to feed what we grow as organically as possible, not resorting to chemicals.

Wigwam was a success, thank you to you all for the advice xx

Bocking 14 is the variety you want, once the plant is established you can either cut & soak leaves to make a concentrated comfrey tea ,or add leaves to compost pile as a booster or dig leaves into ground around plants .

I picked up some cheap root cuttings late last year so just a beginner myself but the plants are looking healthy now & hoping to start pulling leaves later in the season.

Already doing stinging nettle tea for the garden but it's quite low in potassium & phosphorus hence the comfrey.

Brambling

Effician said:

Deleted_User said:

Can anyone offer advice on comfrey plants, and specifically using the leaves to make fertiliser? I want to feed what we grow as organically as possible, not resorting to chemicals.

Wigwam was a success, thank you to you all for the advice xx

Bocking 14 is the variety you want, once the plant is established you can either cut & soak leaves to make a concentrated comfrey tea ,or add leaves to compost pile as a booster or dig leaves into ground around plants .

I picked up some cheap root cuttings late last year so just a beginner myself but the plants are looking healthy now & hoping to start pulling leaves later in the season.

Already doing stinging nettle tea for the garden but it's quite low in potassium & phosphorus hence the comfrey.

Most other varieties or the wild kind will spread like mad (or like mint!).  If I remember correct comfrey tea can stink so keep away from the house

mrs_motivated

I haven’t posted much recently but still read threads regularly and I have to say I’m loving this one, so many useful tips and ideas I’ve picked up from it.

I think most are feeling the pinch and fear it will get much worse before we begin to see any improvement, so please keep posting everyone and now I’ve delurked will start to contribute if that’s ok.

most of my efforts to cope with the price increases have already been mentioned, but keeping the pantry well stocked and bulk buying when things are on offer and also growing most of my own veggies has definitely helped and I’ve bought hot water bottles in the sales and an electric throw which will come into their own next winter.

meal planning, cooking from scratch  and making sure nothing is wasted is something I’ve always done which I expect is the case for most of us on here, but is probably the thing that I would advocate most to non ‘oldstylers’.