Living with little or without household energy??

theoretica

Happy_Sloth said:

 I need to get the total monthly down to around £100 total max including 2 PC's which after using a meter i know cost about £1-2 per day each, which is about £80 a month So i have £20 a month to play with outside the standing charge.  Not quite no energy but outside the 2 PC's it doesn't leave alot. 

If anyone you know has an old laptop to give you it might be worth seeing if you can shift any of your computer time onto that and save the computing power for when you actually need it.

Do you have electric showers?  As I mentioned above, the same amount of gas heated water is likely several times cheaper than electrically heated water, if you can choose.  But this will depend on your system.

But you still seem to have a lot of electricity being used - somewhere - and need to work out exactly where!

QrizB

theoretica said:

But you still seem to have a lot of electricity being used - somewhere - and need to work out exactly where!

£80/month (£1000/yr) on electricity for the work PCs is roughly 360kWh/month, 4400kWh/yr, and is almost half of the OP's electricity bill (and 1/2 as much again than the average household uses in total).

From April that will become £1400/yr just for the work PCs.

FreeBear

QrizB said: From April that will become £1400/yr just for the work PCs.

Could be worth installing some solar panels - If the computers are on during the daytime, the panels will help to supplement the power demand.

TheAble

QrizB said:

theoretica said:

But you still seem to have a lot of electricity being used - somewhere - and need to work out exactly where!

£80/month (£1000/yr) on electricity for the work PCs is roughly 360kWh/month, 4400kWh/yr, and is almost half of the OP's electricity bill (and 1/2 as much again than the average household uses in total).

From April that will become £1400/yr just for the work PCs.

I was surprised it cost so much. I had a look at my own work laptop I use for WFH and it's 130w. Doesn't sound like much but actually at 10 hours a day it's a fair old whack. Certainly dwarfs the £6/wk tax deductible when you add in the heating, free tea and coffee etc. But then there's commuting costs saved on the flip side.

pollyanna_26

I have only just noticed this thread Happy Sloth. I noticed some mentioned doing a SOA which is a good start. Has anyone    mentioned the Preppers thread?

Vanoonoo had a very long SHTF preppers thread ,later closed with suggestions for every sort of likely scenario in extreme times. It included alternative ways of living without the gadgets and other things we have in our lives now. No good for your PCs but a lots about what to do without mains power and all the things we're accustomed to.

Some of the regular posters are still on the current preppers thread and may be able to offer some advice

I recall Zippy did some links to the original thread before closing it. They're probably near the start of the newer one.

polly

Nathalia

Is there any possibility of taking in a lodger?  Ir's not ideal but could bring in a decent amount of money until you are all back on your feet again.  You have a good idea of how much money you need: how does that compare with what a lodger would bring in?  You would need to keep the house warmer, but that may have benefits down the line as well - we have to watch a couple of areas in our house very carefully as they are prone to develop damp.

Floss

OP if you're renovating a Victorian property, have you got floorboards or carpets? If it's floorboards, get hold of some rugs as that will warm up your rooms a bit. 

Also, do you all turn off your pc every night  or are they left running? 

pelirocco

Born in 1960 so brought up with no heating except  for 1 open fire and once a week baths ,waking up to ice on inside of windows  ,things weren't much better in the early to mid 70s with the added joy of strikes ,3 day weeks and power cuts
Consequently  I am over attached? To being warm and having hot water
We have a gas fire that is due for replacing so we are considering  replacing with a wood burner ,and trying to cut down on fuel usage .Luckily we have a good income so do have the choice of cutting spending elsewhere 

CCW007

thriftwizard said:

I was also going to mention clothing - DD1's boyfriend is constantly surprised when he goes to advise people whose bills are high and finds them wearing t-shirts or PJs whilst the thermostat's set to 30℃ & there are no curtains at the single-glazed windows. Not suggesting for one moment that the OP's family do this! But some do... We live in wool in winter, very little of it bought new - charity & recycling shops rarely charge more for wool, as people are often wary of buying it as it can be trickier to wash than acrylic, but it's much warmer. Thermal underthings are also a good bet, as are lined curtains for the window, or even quilted blinds; I've made a few of those, some by just chopping up & edging big bedspreads & hanging them from hooks screwed into the window frames. Not ideal, or likely to feature in any lifestyle magazines, but as a temporary measure to keep hard-won heat in, they work.

Doesn't even need to be proper thermals - I bought some thin leggings for £3.50 off Amazon recently and those under trousers / track suit bottoms / whatever make such a difference to keeping warm. 

I usually wear three layers at home - t-shirt / vest top, then a thin long sleeve top, then a fleece / jumper.  If I get really cold I put a thick cardigan or body warmer over the top. I often wear fingerless gloves or wrist warmers in the house as I can still type or whatever but it stops my hands getting really cold.

Our house is mostly stone, the rooms where we have replaced radiators get warm when the heating is on but in the rooms with old radiators the heating barely makes a difference so until they are all replaced we need to find other ways to stay warm.

Rosa_Damascena

To all those who have suggested home improvements inc insulation to cut down on heating costs.

I have spent tens of thousands on making my draughty 1920s home energy efficient; what I haven't done is install solar panels as @FreeBear has suggested. Any difference it might have made has been entirely wiped out by the existing hike in energy bills, which means my heating is set to come on if the inside temperature falls beneath 12degC. So I've invested a lot and am still constantly cold when wfh, although granted not freezing. The tips that have really helped is about heating myself and not the space; digging out my sleeping blanket for daytime use has really helped me. 

My broader point is this: I am lucky that I have the resources to invest in my home. People who have nothing and are looking to save against an unjust hike in fuel prices just don't have that luxury.