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

YorksLass

Welcome back Jackie, glad you had a good holiday.  Fingers crossed, you'll be there permanently soon.   And well done on hunting out the bargains for re-stocking your freezer.

Beautiful weather today but we're not venturing out anywhere as it's far too hot.  Our living room is the coolest room in the house and doesn't get any sun until late afternoon (good in this weather but not so good in winter) so the windows will stay open until then.  After that, we'll close the windows and curtains until later in the evening, then open them again once the sun has gone down.  We've also cancelled our health review appointments for tomorrow as it's supposed to be even hotter.  Bit of a faff having to re-book them but at our ages it wouldn't be a good idea to be out and about and getting dehydrated.  I think the NHS has enough on its plate without us making it any worse.

We use fresh milk but I always have a couple of cartons of long life in the cupboard in case of emergency.  I'm not overly keen on it in tea but it's not too bad and what's left does make nice custard or rice pudding.

My choice of SM is limited to Sainsburys or Co-op but I do collect points from both and also check what they have on promotion, price lockdown or  Aldi price matched.  I also look at what extra points S are offering me each week and sometimes use those.  As well as the loyalty points from S, I get extra points for paying with my credit card but always pay it off after the delivery has arrived.  I'm currently using around £10 worth of points each month against my shopping and that £10 saved goes into my winter squirrel fund.

Another thing I'm thinking about doing is trying an online order from each of the different SMs as they sometimes have money off offers for new customers.  It might take a bit more planning on my part to make it work to my advantage but it could mean a bit more cash in my pocket.  I do like a challenge!  

YorksLass

CKhalvashi said:

YorksLass said:

CKhalvashi said:

For £1200 with no exit fees, I'd be tempted to risk it and go for the deal.

The difference between £1770 and £2939 is?

Ah, I see now.  I wasn't quite sure how you'd arrived at £1200, but point taken.

I'm with elsien - it does make the brain hurt!

euronorris

Glad you had a lovely holiday JackieO.

Sweltering here, but hey, got 2 loads of washing done and dried already 😂

Sent DD off to school with suncream, sunhat, cooling towel, ice cubes in her water bottle, and an extra water bottle that I had frozen, so should have melted nicely and provided a cool drink at some point.

Went to the supermarket for lunch as not cooking in this heat, and I'm sick of having sandwiches (for that very reason). Plus, it had air conditioning and chilled aisles 🥰 got some sausage rolls for our lunch. Delicious.

Have noticed in the last few days thag petrol has reduced by a couple pence per litre. Hope it continues that trend, but shan't get my hopes up.

YoungBlueEyes

Energy tariffs - I check the standing charges for each company and pick the lowest. That way when I’m using no or very little energy, my bills will be the smallest possible. 

London_1

Florenceem said:

London_1 - I am not keen on milk full stop but prefer fresh skimmed milk to UHT. Those biscuits sound yummy - lovely treat.
Upstairs landing was fairly cool so I did the ironing - only one wash load so very quick.
My kitchen is cool so I will make the cards that I need in there - just heard of a bereavement so two to do.

My grandson Henry bought me some of those Cartwright & Butler biscuits in a tin at Christmas and they were gorgeous, they are normally about a tenner a tin, but I spotted some in a garden centre on the IoW reduced to £5.00 as they were dated to August 2022 so snapped a tin up.
They are a special treat, as they are ,even at a fiver quite expensive, but as I didn't actually spend a great deal while away, it was my treat from myself to myself   

They are their stem & ground ginger cookies, and so delicious they really are a treat as there is only about a dozen in a tin I shall eke them out I adore ginger both biscuits and for cooking.

My son-in-law cooked the two bream my daughter caught when sea fishing on holiday with lime, ground ginger, and a pinch of garlic and a diced jalepeno in butter and it was delicious. Lime and grated ginger is a smashing mix for flavour ,especially with fish.
My washing dried so quickly this morning and I hung the tops on hangers, and the rest I just folded neatly and put away no ironing for me in this heat

its due to be even hotter tomorrow apparently, so I'm definitely stay indoors by the fan I have a large glass of lime and soda water with ice to keep me cool and I shall probably have a small 'nanny nap' around 3.00 as it was hard to sleep last night because of the heat But the good news is it will start to cool down from Wednesday to a more acceptable heat of around 23c which I can cope with  

Keep cool and carry on chums 

JackieO xx

Floss

YoungBlueEyes said:

Energy tariffs - I check the standing charges for each company and pick the lowest. That way when I’m using no or very little energy, my bills will be the smallest possible. 

I think there is very little difference in them nowadays.

YoungBlueEyes

I haven’t done it recently tbh. I moved here 3 1/2 years ago and spent a while doing it then. 

I don’t check gas and electric prices so closely because they don’t make the biggest overall difference. 

If I’m being good - turning off the heat and using snuggly blankets, sometimes having a strip wash instead of a shower etc, then I want the lowest bills possible. The only way to do that is with the lowest daily charge. 

I’m not paying £1 a day for no heat and no shower if I can pay 50p. (Roundy made-up figures, not actual costs.)

Effician

YoungBlueEyes said:

I haven’t done it recently tbh. I moved here 3 1/2 years ago and spent a while doing it then. 

I don’t check gas and electric prices so closely because they don’t make the biggest overall difference. 

If I’m being good - turning off the heat and using snuggly blankets, sometimes having a strip wash instead of a shower etc, then I want the lowest bills possible. The only way to do that is with the lowest daily charge. 

I’m not paying £1 a day for no heat and no shower if I can pay 50p. (Roundy made-up figures, not actual costs.)

Hope you have a long time left on a fixed tariff  otherwise you maybe in for a shock.

YoungBlueEyes

Runs out soon sadly, and we’re moving too so god knows what it’ll be next! 

The principle’s the same though. I’ll not pay £2 a day for no heat and no shower if I can get it for £1.50. (Roundy made-up figures again.)

Effician

YoungBlueEyes said:

Runs out soon sadly, and we’re moving too so god knows what it’ll be next! 

The principle’s the same though. I’ll not pay £2 a day for no heat and no shower if I can get it for £1.50. (Roundy made-up figures again.)

Unfortunately the choices you were used to no longer exist, you may want to take a look at what today's reality is & what's in store for October.