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

YoungBlueEyes

Just caught up on a few pages. 

To add to the reduce-reuse-refill thing. In my nearest town we had a refill shop open a few years ago, it was quite popular but just hummed along rather than making big waves. Then before Christmas we had another one open and I was happy about that cos I thought it'd make them both cheaper. Not so. When I asked the young woman why everything was so dear she said "well being so new, people pay for novelty value".

I thought 'what novelty? I was doing this 30 years ago!'

Made me feel old....

KxMx

My switch to Octopus went really smoothly. British Gas called, asked to keep me as a customer and offered a £75 credit after saying unit rates are much the same everywhere due to the cap. 
I declined as Octopus have lower standing charges and will be getting a £50 referral credit.

Just waiting on the first DD payment to go out, after which they said I can change to variable DD. Also to see what's what with the meters.
With the referral credit and first payment, I've not budgeted any further amounts until July as I am a very low user- although my heating use has remained higher than I'm happy with due to the persistent cool weather.
Determined to keep it off from next week (as it's flipping May! ) and just layer up again then try to grin and bear my cold bedroom, which is around 2-3c cooler than the rest of flat. 

I'm taking the smooth switch as a win in a week where I am hanging around waiting for other people to sort stuff out their end. 

Including Universal Credit, due to be paid Tuesday and the amount is not enough for rent and too much for the main element! Payment due Tuesday with the BH I really don't think it will be sorted in time.
Equals spending much more energy on my budgeting in the short term!

I've also decided to up my food budget by another £10 a month. Hopefully prices will start to ease then I can decrease it again. 

euronorris

Interesting that BG called and asked you to stay @KxMx They didn't ask us lol. But our transfer to Octopus has also been very smooth, which I am very grateful for, and I wouldn't stay with BG anyway.

Car went in for it's MOT yesterday, and passed. Though we were told the two front tyres were on their legal limit and to please get them replaced within the week. So more money there, but hey ho.

I was wondering about the environmental impact of the tyres themselves. I'm not sure we've got any other alternatives at the current time.

Florenceem

I think we are with Eon but as Mr F dealt with all the utilities - I will have to sort it out.

greyteam1959

I moved to octopus agile tariff a few months ago.
Moved my dishwasher, washing machine & tumble dryer usage to take advantage of the low rates during the night.
Paying on average 16p / kWh.
So about half the cost.
Well pleased.

linz

greyteam1959 said:

I moved to octopus agile tariff a few months ago.
Moved my dishwasher, washing machine & tumble dryer usage to take advantage of the low rates during the night.
Paying on average 16p / kWh.
So about half the cost.
Well pleased.

I've done the same. I think I'm averaging about 23 or 24 atm, saving about £10 a month against the standard flexible tariff. KxMx you could look at Agile too (if you have a smart meter). Theres an app called Octopus Compare where you can compare what you spend on Flex with Agile 👍

YorksLass

I have some meds to pick up next week but wasn't sure if I still had a valid repeat prescription.  Good job I phoned the pharmacy  this morning to check - I haven't!  Kind pharmacy lady has put a request in for me so they should be ready for Wednesday.  Fingers crossed.

April's housekeeping budget has gone well as I haven't spent much at all - started off with £122 and still have £52 left in the kitty.     I'll keep £14 of it back to pay for the toilet rolls, WUL, toilet cleaner and a new toilet brush that are on my next order.  Of the remaining cash, I'll carry forward £8 to May's pot and transfer £30 to my Squirrel Fund that so far remains intact.    

I'd like to think I could do the same again in May but I doubt it since the fridge is looking like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard and I've been using some pantry stock too so that will need replenishing at some stage.  Thankfully, the freezer is well stocked.  So far, my next shopping list total stands at around £39 (not including the loo rolls etc) but honestly there's not a lot there for the money, even though much of it is "basics".   

DD for gas/electricity went out today and, as I suspected, it's staying as it was before so the credit balance has been reduced a bit but is still looking healthy.  Our fixed price plan finishes at the end of August and I'm already wondering what (if anything) will be on offer then  Our heating is still on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening when it's quite chilly.  We had planned on turning it off altogether at the end of the month but that remains to be seen.  Roll on some warmer weather.  

borefest

Thanks for all the fruit cake recipes, I made one today with my out of date fruit & its lovely, I am not the best baker in the world but very happy with results 😘😘😘

Siebrie

I couldn’t find a birthday cake I liked for a price I liked for dd2’s birthday Tomorrow, so I Baked 2 small chocolate sponges. I bought rolled up white icing, gold spray and hotpink sturdy cream (sorry, Brain not working) to make rozettes. All together still less than half the price of a bought princess cake.

littlemoney

CKhalvashi said:

Nelliegrace said:

Bad news today. The NHS does not pay dentists enough, so our dentist is joining the exodus and will provide only into private treatment in future. Denplan will be £30.30 a month and doesn’t cover much. 
There are no NHS dentists in many areas now.

Yet another reason to get over national the tooth-rotting addiction to fizzy pop and sugary snacks. 

I have my dentistry work done in Georgia and have for a number of years.

Even with flights it's cheaper than a private UK dentist. Mom was lucky and managed for the first time in a long time to get an NHS place at a local surgery, I tried a few weeks later and was told the limited places they had were gone.

ladyholly said:

Going back to the sustainability subject. Which is better for the environment? A new electric car with all the pollution in the manufacture, using rare earth elements, no real way to recycle the batteries (yet) or using a 20 year diesel car with the pollution they cause. I dont expect a definitive answer but it is a question that has been posed. To come clean we own a 20 year old diesel and do very little mileage as we are retired.

I have an electric car but do quite high mileage compared to most. We also have a diesel Skoda Yeti. Someone will be able to pluck out the CO2 per kW, but mine is operating at a little less than 5 miles to 1kWh (I generally get give or take 200 miles from a 38kWh battery) on what I'd deem mixed driving.

I'd suggest that you'll be better off overall keeping the diesel a few years and taking something like mine later, so you can reap the benefits on what will probably be a slightly diministed battery, but still fine for most people (say around 150 miles instead of 200).

On a quick Google, studies indicate that battery production is associated with 56 to 494 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of battery. At a worst case, that would be 20t of emissions for the battery. OH's car is rated at 164g/km of CO2, so that would be 122,000km on a worst case, or around 75k miles. My Ioniq will probably have that by the end of the year, so the only additional damage at.that point is the emissions created from generating the electricity. I know there will be some despite there being a claim that all my electricity is green, but can't give you a number for that (I'm sure someone can).

Over the 5 to 6 years I'll probably keep the car I'm sure it will become lower emission than a new Mondeo or etc, but I know this period will be a lot longer for most drivers and shorter for others, especially those generatinIg their own solar etc (there are a few on MSE doing just this with an EV).

As an EV and technology enthusiast I do appreciate they're not a one size fits all solution.

I am in a similar situation to ladyholly.  My car is only 8 years old and was purchased when we were encouraged to buy diesel as it was good for the environment. I do less than 5000 miles a year and feel it is a greater environmental cost to change my car than to keep it. Also I can't afford another car.  This was supposed to be my last car.

Why is it you need to spend lots of money to save a little money and the world such as solar panels, air source heat pump heating systems are all beyond my finances.

I do my best but I am being penalised having a car, which I was encouraged to buy, if want to drive to certain places with low emissions zones where I have to pay a tax to drive a car the government told me was good to buy for the environment.