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

Floss

GaleSF63 said:

I call the 95% dark chocolate, solidified cocoa. I do like it occasionally and prefer it to the lower percentages but it's no substitute for a good milk chocolate.

Aldi's Moser Roth 70% mini bars are my go-to.

Wednesday2000

I think it was on here that I said my water bill had gone up drastically and I thought it must have been from having hot baths, hot water bottles and hot drinks during the cold snap. I checked it yesterday and since our bill went up in May our water usage has dropped 28% so us being more careful has paid off.

London_1

Wednesday2000 said:

 . I checked it yesterday and since our bill went up in May our water usage has dropped 28% so us being more careful has paid off.

Treating water like you would gas or electricity and being careful with its use is great So many folk run the tap without thinking ,perhaps waiting for the hot water to come through, or when cleaning your teeth. I don't own and never have had a dishwasher, now living alone I wash up just once a day after my last meal so I only use one bowl or at most two bowls of water.This grey water then gets used on the lawn or round the shrubs in my garden.

I have always been conscious of water usage since my late husband returned from the Sudan in the 1980s and was telling the family about how prized fresh water is out there.
It made us all a lot more aware of how much we used, With the advent of meters as well I treat water as I would any of the other utilities  I certainly wouldn't leave lights burning unnecessarily  or leave the gas on. so water gets saved as much as I can My monthly bill from southern water is just under £8.00 per month. Grey water can be used for flushing the loo as well so well done on cutting back as it means you have more cash in your purse, and less in someone else's.
I'm away on holiday at the moment and apart from the fridge freezer everything else is switched off for a couple of weeks  

JackieO xx

Auntycaz

Hope you have a lovely holiday Jackie

London_1

Thank you, its been good so far ,bit windy today, but not cold. Yesterday we watched the yachts sailing past in the Round the Island yacht race, as we are at Bembridge virtually on the beach, and it was a really lovely day for the boats.

Today we took the three dogs to the dog friendly beach at Yaverland, and my DD even went in for a swim which the dogs seemed to find really good fun. The weather at the moment is sunny although a little breezy, my son-in-law is cooking dinner and I have been spoiled rotten as i've done very little apart from read and relax, but they want me to build myself up for my forthcoming operation (fingers crossed )

Tomorrow her in-laws are coming over for the day and on Tuesday and Wednesday my late OH's cousin and his wife are coming for a couple of days The boys will be down at the weekend, so it will get a lot noisier then. But we all enjoy our family holidays here, and very little TV,  mostly cards and games in the evenings.
 DGS Ben had to go into work this morning at his school as they have Ofsted inspection tomorrow so the teachers want everything in place before hand. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine at last

JackieO xx

-taff

We use less water with the dishwasher than when I did it by hand. Plus I'm terrible at washing up and it comes out clean from the dishwasher which is more than can be said for my handwashing. We live in a hard water area too, the glasses were so shiny when we first did  that I was amazed, I don't think I'd seen them that clean since they were new.

Longwalker

Luckily we dont pay for water here in NI unless its a business

If we paid, they would have to give us decent water

I was looking something from the freezer earlier and tbh, Ive so much food in there, I really dont need to shop for anything other then veg for the next few months 

Katiehound

certainly use less water when using the dishwasher... but now broken.

I used to have a So-Low tariff which was great about £10 per month* brain gone awol but that was phased out by Anglian water & now only those on benefit get  good deal. Back on standard tariff even 'though my usage is very low. Now around £15 pa

oops-* not £10 per year: I wish!!

Indout96

Wow, can't believe your water bills, before we moved 7 years ago we were on water rates at £56 a month for a large 3 bed semi but only 2 of us there, when we moved to our 2 bed bungalow (sold as 3 bed but no dining room so 2 really) it already had a meter and our bills are now down to £26 a month which we thought was amazing.
We only have a large walk in shower and no bath but we do water the garden a lot as we spent a lot getting it right. We have 2 water buts and also use washing up water for the garden as well.

YorksLass

Our water bills are £36 pm (two adults) on an assessed bill as we can't have a meter fitted.  I'm sure it would be even less if we could.

We've gone from warm and dry sunny days to chilly, dull and wet.  Bring back summer!  I'd got used to wearing crop leggings and summer tops but the longer leggings have had to come back out along with socks and cardigans.  Bah.  Winter coat has been washed and put away but that's definitely not coming back out!

Yesterday was a trying day since I couldn't access my emails - well, I could log in to my account but not open or delete any of them.    Although I'm computer literate when everything is working as it should, I'm not techie at fixing things.  After about an hour of trying various things (including changing my password) I realised that somehow the Accept Cookies button was switched off.  I know I didn't switch it off and no-one else uses my laptop so I'm bewildered as to how that happened.  Anyway, it's working again now.  

I'd sent in meter readings on 1st July and received an interim bill that included their estimate of what we'll be paying over the next 12 months - based on our current unit rates (fixed plan) - but that we could save almost £1k per year if we switched to their SVR.  Of course I'd like to switch but I can't for love nor money find anywhere on their website to ask for this.  I'm guessing it's because we're not yet in the 7 week period where we can swap without paying any exit fees - although the fixed plan doesn't actually have any exit fees.  We'll reach that point mid-month but in the meantime I've sent an email to ask when is the earliest date we can change.  I also tried to phone this morning but the lines are busy.  Patient head is on.  

Today I've made a vat of tomato & red pepper soup and have baked a dozen white chocolate chip muffins.  I didn't have any SR flour in the baking cupboard but no matter, there's plenty of plain flour and a tub of baking powder.  Flour was dated BB Oct 2022 but it's worked just fine.  Dinner tonight is ys steak slices with runner beans and mash.  Grated apple and yogurt for afters.