Living with little or without household energy??

TheAble

Excellent strategy there @MovingForwards. I've got a similar setup to you with the heating in the mornings but had overlooked the weekends when it still comes on and isn't needed - will be tweaking accordingly ;-)

LadOnTheHill

Think camping. No mains energy means that's what you're going to be doing, pretty much.

The only way you're going to save 90% on your energy bill is to stop using 90% of the energy you use. You need to figure out what your energy spend is on, then see where you can cut back by that much. I'm assuming that you're cutting back on spend, rather than just energy bills, so I'm trying to avoid suggesting buying things, as you could spend that money on your energy bill rather than a new thing.

Doing without a fridge/freezer will complicate your situation a lot. You can keep just ambient storage in place, through things like tinned or dried food, but even Uht milk will go off quickly enough if you don't keep it cold. The key is to get a unit that's just as big as you need,and no bigger. A portable cool box will help keep a bottle of milk and some veg cool, but not frozen. Energy usage should be around 50w, so just over 1kw per day.

Lighting: you get ambient lighting during the day, but you'll need some light at night unless you want to rely on the nearest streetlight or the moon (the only other sources of free light I can think of). That will mean some spending,  and also having some way to charge the lights up. Solar lights for the garden can work, but they won't charge well during the winter. A solar unit of some kind will mean you can use the sun to charge portable lights, and maybe head torches will be your best bet. You take the light with you, so you save money on having multiple units, and you're not lighting any area other than what you're looking at, saving on batteries.

Cooking: this is likely an area of high spend. Most if not all of the food you eat will have to be either room temperature or hot from the takeaway. Anything from a tin is already cooked, anything that rehydrates in water can be done from cold, even though it'll take a lot longer. Hard cheese doesn't need refrigeration, cheese was invented to be able to store milk at ambient temperatures. Sandwiches are going to be your friend.

Heating: another big spend area. Wear enough layers of clothing, including hats and gloves, and you'll be warm enough. People go on polar expeditions with only the clothes they're wearing to keep them warm, and they do fine. If the house is cold enough, a big marble slab in a cold area of the house might be handy for keeping stuff cold, rather than a cool box. You're likely to get damp and mould in the house if the temperature drops, though. The only way round it is to open the doors and windows on dry, sunny days to air the house. Have a look at the weather report for your area and check out the relative humidity values - lower is better - and get as much of that dry air in to as many rooms as possible, for as long as possible. If you have a tent, that will be a layer of insulation between you and the cold of the house, so consider sleeping in it.

Laundry: ask a friend if you can use their machine. Or try a launderette, though this will cost money. If your washing machine has an eco mode, try that, without any supplemental heating of the water. I did fine with a plastic twin tub and whatever temperature water came out of the tap for years. To this day, folk wash their clothes in river water by beating them against a rock. You don't need heat or detergents, necessarily.

Dishwasher: No.

Computers: are you using laptops? A tower unit and monitor will draw a lot more than a laptop. You can take a laptop to the local library and camp there all day, even charging a portable power bank if you're canny about it. You won't need heating to be on at home during this time, either. If you're stuck with a tower and monitor, turn the brightness on the monitor right down, ensure your tower goes into standby quickly and investigate the power settings, as you might find a "maximum power saving" plan you can activate.

Washing yourself: you can wash in rainwater. Your water bill is likely quite low,  relatively speaking, but it will cost energy to be heated up. A cold strip wash probably won't be fun, but it'll save you money.

You can save 90% of your energy by turning things off, simply, quickly and easily. It's a matter of coping with the result of doing that that's the hard bit. How are you going to avoid falling down the stairs in the dark because you don't want to turn the light on? If there's money in the budget to buy something to help, then give us a figure and we can make some suggestions. A camping stove costs way more to run than a gas hob, though, and if you don't already have one, that's money you could put towards the energy bills.

You've set yourself a very difficult
target, one that is probably going to make you miserable. There's no easy way to achieve it, and it's going to require a huge step change in the way you live. I genuinely wish you luck with it.

Pollycat

Happy_Sloth said:

We work in computers from home so the PCs need to be on for around 8-9 hours a day, so there will be some significant spend, we are also trying to eat down our freezers and fudge when empty we will switch them off. 

My freezer saves me money.
I batch cook which is cheaper than buying ingredients specifically for a planned meal.

Happy_Sloth said:

emmajones1976 said:

You are a house of computer developers?

You clearly have a wider issue here than just your energy costs, surely thats two very well paid jobs you are in, I can only assume you have other debts and maybe you need a full overhaul of all your outgoings and incomings in that case.

The pandemic put us out of work for a huge portion of the time which meant we got into debt,  it's not massive and we are getting out of it.  My husband is still out of work right now.. so the 2 PC's are mine and my sons,  he's a new graduate so earning a respectable amount but by no means full developer rates

But coupled with the fact that we bought a house we could never really afford and needed alot of renovation means, we are living beyond our means.  Our energy bills are 3x higher than most peoples in good times because it's a large poorly insulated house.. add a 100% increase and it's simply unmanageable.  

The issue with the energy is that it isn't a short term blip,  we'd absorb it somewhere if it was,  but it's a long term problem we need to figure a way of living with these prices. 

. 
  

It may help you to visit the Debtfree wannabe board and do a SOA (statement of affairs) in case someone can see savings in other areas.

theoretica

It would be a pain, but my suggestion would be to list everything and work out usage until it adds up to your energy use.  In kwh as that is much easier to work in and compare when prices change!  Then you can work out what is unavoidable, what you choose to change, how much effect your changes will have.  Just like money budgeting, you want to know exactly where it is going and then decide where you want it to go.

Electric

Room by room, every single appliance, every light, how long and how often it is used for, if it is on standby...

Gas: Heating, Hot water, Cooking, Other?

Once you have identified the targets that are costing you most, then it is easier to come up with specific suggestions.  Cooking, for instance, I now cook pasta by bringing it to the boil (with only just enough water), and then turning the hob off.  It doesn't need to be actually boiling, just sitting in hot water, and only takes a few minutes more this way.  I sometimes think about trying a traditional haybox, but haven't got round to it.

Toonie

Does you son contribute to the bills? It looks like in order to save that much money you will have to seriously consider how long your computers are on for things that are not work related, and possibly have a discussion with the family about that if the energy use from those is so high.

It may be worthwhile doing an SOA to see if there are any other areas you can save in to help contribute to the increased energy costs.

elsien

Asking friends to use their washing machine is fine for a one off emergency. 

As a long term solution, it’s taking the proverbial. 

Broomstick

I don't use a fridge any more.  I now live by myself and I'm vegan. I don't buy anything that would need fridge storage (eg margarine, fresh tofu, bought sauces etc).  The soya milk I use lasts fine for a few days out of the fridge. Lots of the protein foods I eat are store cupboard things.   Fruit and veg are kept out on the side where I can see them and therefore remember to eat them up!  Veg like lettuce or celery stay nice and fresh if their roots are in a container of water. I don't drink alcohol or other drinks that need to be kept chilled.  If I cook double for supper time, it either gets eaten up for lunch the next day - perfectly fine not to have been chilled - or is frozen for the future. I tend to eat fresh fruit if I want a pudding so I don't need a fridge for chilled deserts.

Interestingly my local wholefoods/grocery shop said the other day that they are hearing of a growing number of customers switching off their fridges too and shopping a bit more frequently instead.  I do run a freezer for the moment but managed fine for a few months without before Christmas.  Anyone who runs a freezer and has a picnic cold box can use the latter as a fridge, eg. for dairy, by keeping the cold box topped up daily with frozen cold packs from the freezer.  It's just like camping really.  

I cook food more quickly in the microwave or on the gas hob, and never use the electric oven nowadays.  Last year, I 'bought' a round cast iron casserole with a well-fitting lid using my Tesco points so it only cost me the delivery charge.  I am planning to use it in a super insulated box (old duvet, cushions, spare towels etc) as a non-electric slow cooker/hay box but haven't got round to that experiment yet.  I hope it will cut costs some more.   Overnight oats for porridge cook very well in a thermos if you don't mind having a luke-warm breakfast. At the moment I like a hot breakfast so am using the microwave but in the summer it would be fine.  They'd work in an insulated box cooker too I expect. 

Like others, I boil a kettle for drinks twice a day and store it in a thermos - easy and works fine. I heat water for an hour on days I'll be having a quick shower (strip washes on other days). That's enough for the shower plus hand washing and washing-up for at least two days (the tank is very well insulated).  It really helps to stay on top of the (by-hand) washing up, doing it as you go along rather than saving it for one big session with stuck-on food.  I think I use less hot water and washing up liquid as well that way.  I am also trying not to use the boiler for space heating - am alternating lighting the wood burner every other day to eek out the wood pile, or going to bed early with a hot water bottle and a book.  I sleep in thermals.

I think the big thing that helps me is that I'm viewing this as a positive move in doing tiny bits to care for the planet rather than the more depressing one of trying to save money with increasingly rising costs even though the outcome is one and the same financially iyswim.

B x

thriftwizard

@Happy_Sloth, we also live in an elderly & poorly-insulated house with 2 people WFH on computers all day. (Two more of us also basically WFH but have done so all along & tend to be mobile, therefore don't get so cold, and don't have online meetings to be seen at - we can, and always have, just put more jumpers & fingerless gloves etc. on.) I'm dreading the rise in fuel bills but we are lucky enough that we will be able to absorb it without too much trouble. However my elder daughter's boyfriend is studying building surveying whilst also working with a company who advise people on energy-saving measures and putting people in touch with any sources of funding available. We've never been eligible for anything much in the past, none of us being on benefits of any sort, but I've been surprised & delighted to discover that we are certainly eligible for free advice and help with some measures, and probably help towards other, more expensive measures too. It would be worth contacting one of your local energy advice firms; it's quite possible that you will be eligible too as the eligibility net is spread quite wide. I never dreamt that we would be. And some free professional advice certainly couldn't do any harm.

EmrysWyllt

Saving 90% seems an impossible task given what you’ve said you have to keep switched on. Have you calculated how much of your bill in percentage is the standing charge for example? Sometimes showing us the impossibility of a task makes us think outside the box more. 

Robin9

@Happy_Sloth   If you are going to make a success of this it must be a commitment by the whole of the family not just yourself..