Frugal fuel tips

LadyHarriet

I'm not new to MSE forums but two changes of laptop and a change of email address + forgotten password meant I had to make a new account. It's good to be back - I've been reading all the posts here avidly!
We have an oil combi-boiler (no mains gas in the village) and the current cost is an eyewatering £1.42/litre plus 5% VAT.  We're retired and home all day, but the heating is on timer (6.30-9, then 4.30-9) and the stat set at 18C, so thank goodness for thermal underwear!
We do have a log-burner and a good source of well-dried wood and we fixed our electricity last year when we changed from Bulb to Octopus just before the solids hit the fan and are with their fixed tariff until October 2023. Still terrifyingly expensive though! 
My slow cooker and pressure cooker have been working overtime - as has the microwave. I can happily eat more veggie meals but my husband is sad if he doesn't get meat a few times a week, so it's long, slow cooking using cheaper cuts and bulking up with pulses/beans. 
I'd looked at halogen/multi cookers  I do bulk cook when I need to use the oven but since there are only two of us, an alternative to the electric oven might be a good idea- does anyone have one, and are they worth considering?

Rosa_Damascena

MrsPorridge said:

I very rarely cook anything from frozen, always defrost first, despite what the instructions might say.  I haven't cooked oven chips from frozen for years.  I do it because I want to make sure that my food is properly cooked, not from a moneysaving point of view.

I very rarely cook or have hot food at all (habit). The microwave gets used daily for heating milk / tea / coffee but that's about it.

joedenise

I have a halogen oven and a Remoska, both are useful but if I only had one I would choose the Remoska over the halogen as it uses less power - standard size uses 600w and the large size uses 800w.  I also think it cooks slightly better.

The biggest advantage of the halogen is the variable temperature control and up to 1 hour timer.  The Remoska is a fixed temperature of about 190 degrees but you can cook anything in it that you'd cook in the oven and takes a similar length of time.

Cranmer1662

newlywed said:

Does anyone that restricts heating find their home suffers from damp and mold?

A little but the main culprit for that is lack of ventilation rather than lack of heating.

Cranmer1662

Cherryfudge said:

otb666 said:

i just wanted to add something so i use baby shampoo as you dont pay VAT, I have never bought clothes just used hand-offs from children+ hubby.  I prefer mens/boys pants as thicker.  I always cut my own hair and bath once a week.  Since menopause dont seem to need deodorant anymore.  I know 2 of these dont relate to fuel apart from you will have more money to spend on it

Another money-saver that as far as I know doesn't involve fuel but is worth knowing: many items have a 'pink tax', i.e. a version is marketed to women at a higher price than the equivalent aimed at men, but the only substantial differences are price and colour. They really do often charge more for a pink item!

A good example is razors - I bought a men's one with clip-in blades (asked my husband for advice on brand and model!) and no longer get itchy legs after shaving them. I reckon if it can deal with a beard it can deal with legs .

If you are using GII or Mach 3 type cartridge blades, you can strop these yourself so that one blade lasts years - I got two years out a Mach 3 blade once. Lots of advice online on how to do it. I now use double-edged razors which are cheaper, but I don't think these are suitable for ladies' use.

Cranmer1662

Topher said:

I managed to get my dual fuel bill down to a manageable £65 last month but I barely used the heating, was disinclined to move around the house and quite frankly felt miserable much of the time. 

The sleeping bag definitely helped during the day but was a bit of a PITA wrt comfort breaks.

I know that feeling, I really have to weigh up saving money on fuel by sitting in thermal clothing, extra jumpers and under quilts and feeling low and less like getting up and doing chores, or having a few degrees warmer by using the central heating and feeing motivated to get things done, cooking from scratch in the slightly cooler kitchen for example. I’ve had years of zero choice, but once my family was moved past survival mode economically, I swore I’d indulge on warmth first and foremost. The feeling of wellbeing goes a long way to helping tackle all the other aspects of life.

I would happily sit under a blanket on the sofa with no heating on in the evenings, but Mrs A feels the cold and so we have the radiator on in the sitting room only between supper and bedtime, so about three hours. We heat the room to about 19c and I must admit it does feel more comfortable once you get used to it. Other rooms like bathroom and kitchen get heated on the lowest setting and we don't really heat the bedroom at all apart from about 30 mins in the morning. I think over-heating of houses is just habit we've got used to since North Sea Gas came in but I don't think it's necessary or even particularly healthy.

Brambling

Cranmer1662 said:

newlywed said:

Does anyone that restricts heating find their home suffers from damp and mold?

A little but the main culprit for that is lack of ventilation rather than lack of heating.

 I was told many years ago when I lived in a flat that damp and mould was caused by condensation and to try and open a window for a short while each day especially in bedrooms or if you dry washing in doors 

Auntycaz

I think I read somewhere on here that if you go upstairs each day and open all the windows, then, come downstairs and do the same, then go back and close them all in the same order it should stop you from getting condensation. I can't remember who posted it but I find it useful.

luvchocolate

Day 6 of no heating but sun through windows warms each room. 
First thing in the morning I throw duvet down and open windows in bedroom..bathroom and kitchen..until about 3pm. 
I've never had condensation or mould in any of the 25 houses I've lived in

Spendless

Usual argument with Mr S tonight over the heating. He asked if the heating was on because he was cold.  I pointed out he was cold because he was wearing a short sleeved polo shirt. I had a jumper on and wasn't cold! He then insisted the outside temperature had nothing to do with the temperature in the house. I asked him how that worked when it got to July and no-one wore a jumper inside then. He then insisted that you should be able to sit in your house in underwear if you want. I said why would you pay to heat the house to that degree in winter when you could just put appropriate clothing on. That was met with I wanted him to wear loads of jumpers. I said that wasn't the case, I had bought him thinner long sleeved tops, to which I got the reply 'yes, around 4 years ago' so I pointed at  the jumper I was wearing and pointed out it was older than that. He then grumbled to the dog about me and got a blanket. Thought it was women who were meant to be a PITA about heating!