Frugal fuel tips

NoraNoir

I used the tip of a sleeping bag with a hot water bottle at the bottom for working at home today. It was perfect, much preferred it to my electric throw (less sweaty, less draughty & super cosy feet). I boiled a full kettle both in the morning & afternoon. 1.5l in a (cosied) teapot for herbal tea, the rest (200ml) in a small hot water bottle. No doubt it would have been cheaper to boil on the hob, but needed no other heating during the day, bar a bowl of hot soup for lunch. Been trying to work out how much it costs to boil an (old, inefficient) electric kettle, but I often do two big pots of tea a day so figure it’s not really adding on to that. (And yes, I reuse the tea bags 😆)

mumtoomany

Glad it helped, nora. Mumtoomany.xx

Pixiekazza

I've found in the past when it's cold indoors that going for a walk helps me, even if it's the last thing I want to do. House usually feels a lot warmer when I get in! Also a sofa duvet or sleeping bag, thinsulate liner hat under a woolly hat and fingerless gloves. I've also slept on the sofa when my living room is the only warm room in the house, which is actually really comfy! I don't have central heating, just my stove and a couple of storage heaters. 

I have many memories of being huddled round the open fire trying to dry long hair when I was a child. Now my hair is shorter it's a lot easier to dry. 

cornishchick

joedenise said:

I do the same @Slinky.  I get it out of the fridge about an hour before I'm ready to start cooking.

and none of the preheats oven stuff..the food can warm up at the same time as the oven 

Slinky

cornishchick said:

joedenise said:

I do the same @Slinky.  I get it out of the fridge about an hour before I'm ready to start cooking.

and none of the preheats oven stuff..the food can warm up at the same time as the oven 

I used to do this but got out of the habit (husband's influence I think), will make sure I start doing it again.

I always roast my veg if I'm cooking dinner in the oven.

LadOnTheHill

NoraNoir said:

Been trying to work out how much it costs to boil an (old, inefficient) electric kettle,

Your kettle will have a label on it somewhere, usually the bottom, that displays its energy usage. It'll probably be something like 2000w. That's how much it draws per hour. You'll need to time how long the kettle is actually switched on for, and use that to work out how many watts it draws per cuppa.

So, 2000w/hr, 1000w/half hour, 500w/quarter hour, 166w/five minutes. Also assuming 25p/1000w of electricity (the actual cost to you will be on your bill), it'll cost you 50p/hr, 25p/half hour, 12.5p/quarter hour, 4.1p/five minutes.

The kettles with a flat plate in the bottom may work out cheaper, as you only need to cover the plate with water. Those with a coil need to have the entire coil covered, which might mean you have to add more water that you don't need and boil that, then waste the heat as it goes cold.

calleyw

Elmer_BeFuddled said:

Effician said:

It occurred to me that as the washing machine is cold fill only ........

Which genius thought cold fill only wash m/c's were a good idea when you have a gas combi boiler which gives (nearly) instant cheap hot water as opposed to using (expensive) electric to heat the water? Even worse, which twonks listened to them?

Ebac are doing hot fill machines, british made and have a 7 year warranty. My mum has a wood burning rayburn so has hot water pretty much all the time.  So it cost her more. 

NoraNoir

Great - thank you @LadOnTheHill ! Shel energy don’t seem to be publishing their tariffs currently (I was transferred from a bust supplier), but if I all I use in a day is two full kettles, a bit of microwaving, an electric blanket/throw, quick shower, phone/laptop charging, low energy lighting (and a 400w halogen heater if needed), that should be just about affordable 🙏(although it won’t be like that every day, that’s probably the minimum in winter) 

[Deleted User]

I have just received our January electricity bill - £70.11. I pay on receipt of bill by choice. We are on LPG gas in a tank which is currently at 70% and I won’t be topping it up this year if I can help it.

I am at home all day every day (health issues), here are some of my tips:

• as has been said - heated throw. Absolutely lovely and cheap as chips to run.
• We no longer run the dishwasher, too expensive and actually a quick wash by hand takes seconds if I do it as I go. 
• WM goes on twice a week and is dried in front of the wood stove on or the line - no TD here. I handwash the odd bits, eg I will have swimwear to wash today which I will do by hand.
• All things off at the plug except fridge freezer and internet router.
• I keep a camping stove on top of the wood stove so we have hot water all day; I decant it into flasks as the day goes on, then use either for cooking or hot water bottles for bed.
• Going outside for a bit then coming back in - you always appreciate being indoors then! 
• We shower twice a week and strip wash in between. We have an old electric shower that costs an arm and a leg to run.
• We cook on top of the wood stove wherever possible, eg today I will cook our veg on there.

Its amazing how creative you can be when needs must. Hoping for a lower February bill x

FreeBear

CapricornLass said: In answer to newlywed's comment - yes you can get problems with condensation.  We did, so much so that I called in a specialist surveyor to check our walls in our bedroom as I was beginning to wonder if the DPC had failed.  It hadn't but he did say that we would have to keep our house at a minimum of 18 degrees, and install a special ventilator.

One silly thing which has helped is to close doors to rooms.

Have a small box room that was always cold and suffered from condensation & mold. Partly my fault for turning the radiator off and leaving the door shut for <mumble> years. Now that the walls have been insulated, it only needs a small radiator to heat it up. Keeping the door open means it gets fresh air in there along with a bit of warmth from the rest of the house.

Maintaining a temperature of 14-16°C seems to avoid any problem with condensation (don't think you need to go as high as 17°C).