What should we include in MSE's new Cost of Living survival guide?

ladyholly

many years ago we visited China and were shown a traditional brick platform bed which had piping under it leading from the cooking fire. It was quite a complex system but I would think very effective.

basketcase

@Cherryfudge mentioned that waterproof coats keep out the wind and it reminded me of something I was told years ago about choosing a 'normal' winter coat.

Put your hand up the sleeve and blow as hard as you can on the outside of the sleeve over where your hand is - with your mouth against the sleeve.  If you can feel any airflow it's not windproof, so not a suitable outdoor winter coat.

arnoldy

"Egg timer showers"

Get one of those old fashioned egg timers for the shower. 2-3 minutes should be sufficient setting. Helps with both the water meter and electricity/gas.

Cherryfudge

kimwp said:

To add to the window drafts chat, it's worth looking at getting hinges changed if there are drafts through uPVC windows as they wear and the windows become misaligned with their frames. Cleaning the frames will help slow this wear.

Thanks for this - I'd never realised and we do have a window that (ahem!) has a lot of gunk inside the frame and which is also not aligned properly. It's opened every day so it's going to be prone to dirt and therefore wear and tear. Lesson learned.

Somebody further up the thread mentioned a 'stitch in time saves nine' and I wonder how much old fashioned mending and cleaning has been been lost from our skill set. I read somewhere about how we could save a lot by learning to do some jobs for ourselves. I'm pretty sure the book was 'Early Retirement Extreme' by Jacob Lund Fisker. While his angle is about saving to retire very early, a lot of the thoughts would be relevant for anyone wanting to save money.

TheBanker

arnoldy said:

"Egg timer showers"

Get one of those old fashioned egg timers for the shower. 2-3 minutes should be sufficient setting. Helps with both the water meter and electricity/gas.

I have the radio on when showering and I allow myself the length of one full song. Also, if you have an electric shower, turn the temperature down to save power. I love a long, hot, steamy shower but needs must!

Not sure if this has been mentioned already: Combining journeys to save fuel is a good idea. I used to do my shopping at the weekend - now I do it on my way home from work which saves an extra trip. Also worth seeing if there are any opportunities to car share with colleagues/neighbours if you're going the same direction. 

QueenJess

arnoldy said:

"Egg timer showers"

Get one of those old fashioned egg timers for the shower. 2-3 minutes should be sufficient setting. Helps with both the water meter and electricity/gas.

You can often get these completely free from your water company. Just have a look on the website for your water company around saving water.

kimwp

basketcase said:

@Cherryfudge mentioned that waterproof coats keep out the wind and it reminded me of something I was told years ago about choosing a 'normal' winter coat.

Put your hand up the sleeve and blow as hard as you can on the outside of the sleeve over where your hand is - with your mouth against the sleeve.  If you can feel any airflow it's not windproof, so not a suitable outdoor winter coat.

Same method for figuring out if a mask is effective!

pennyforthem

1 KWH = 3 hours of watching your favorite series on TV

or

TWO days on your laptop. You can keep your lap warm with a laptop as well!

Foods like lettuce, and celery can be kept healthy by leaving the base in some water roots will start growing.

Use a stovetop kettle. There are no parts to break, tea tastes better when the water has not been boiled fully if you have electricity and it is used a lot it will retain heat so use less to boil.

Make your own vinegar from fruit scraps, yellow sticker items, and foraged foods.

Wash fruits and put in jar

Add sugar and water then cover with a cloth

keep smelling/tasting the mix you should be making alcohol

then you can either get a mother (the form used to convert alcohol into vinegar is called a mother) so I purchased live apple cider vinegar from Homebargins just over £1 and add some to your alcohol and leave you will see a mother appear. Because you have used some vinegar if you wanted berry, or prune (apparently very nice with icecream) then it will change the flavor but you can keep your mother(the brown thing on the top) by putting it in a jar with vinegar and it will stay healthy for your next use and not add any other flavors that way. It's also a good way of getting vitamins etc without the high sugars.

Dehydrate foods in your vehicle/ make your own fruit leathers. You just need either silicone mats or greaseproof paper, a vehicle/conservatory, and hot weather.

Fruit leather blend the fruit, sieve it spread it thinly over the mats then place in the sun to dry out. Or you can thinly slice either way I would start as early as you can you want to get them dry in one day.

Save the insides of your teabags to use as potting compost.

Use eggshells, avocado skins, orange skins etc as a plant pot to get seedlings started you can plant them straight in the ground without removing them.

If you have one of those big jars with a tap for dispensing drinks you can attach a sieve over the back of the tap and then put your kitchen waste in. When you need to feed plants just turn the tap for some liquid feed and what remains will be potting compost. You can either buy an accelerator that is just bacteria so if you purchase one just keep it going by removing some from your old stash before you start your new or you could have a comfrey plant which you just add the leaves to your jar. Comfrey also makes good tomato feed you just leave the leaves to steep in water and use that to water the tomatoes or leave the leaves around the base of your toms to slowly rot and feed them that way which also helps to keep them watered in hot weather.

Instead of following the latest Christmas fashions make your own decorations, each will be a loving memory that can be used for years. You would be surprised people actually spend more time looking at my homemade tree trying to see each design than they would if it was shop brought.

Teach yourself Sashinko visible mending it derives from Japan where the sentiment is that they respect their items and repair them in the most beautiful ways and each repair holds a memory for them, I just love that! Seriously look it up They repair everything clothes, crockery, tools etc not only are they saving money and the planet but it just looks loverly with an absolutely adorable sentiment behind it. I have seen knitted jumpers repaired so many times there is barely any original jumper left!

Pingu1

pennyforthem said:

1 KWH = 3 hours of watching your favorite series on TV

or

TWO days on your laptop. You can keep your lap warm with a laptop as well!

Foods like lettuce, and celery can be kept healthy by leaving the base in some water roots will start growing.

Use a stovetop kettle. There are no parts to break, tea tastes better when the water has not been boiled fully if you have electricity and it is used a lot it will retain heat so use less to boil.

Make your own vinegar from fruit scraps, yellow sticker items, and foraged foods.

Wash fruits and put in jar

Add sugar and water then cover with a cloth

keep smelling/tasting the mix you should be making alcohol

then you can either get a mother (the form used to convert alcohol into vinegar is called a mother) so I purchased live apple cider vinegar from Homebargins just over £1 and add some to your alcohol and leave you will see a mother appear. Because you have used some vinegar if you wanted berry, or prune (apparently very nice with icecream) then it will change the flavor but you can keep your mother(the brown thing on the top) by putting it in a jar with vinegar and it will stay healthy for your next use and not add any other flavors that way. It's also a good way of getting vitamins etc without the high sugars.

Dehydrate foods in your vehicle/ make your own fruit leathers. You just need either silicone mats or greaseproof paper, a vehicle/conservatory, and hot weather.

Fruit leather blend the fruit, sieve it spread it thinly over the mats then place in the sun to dry out. Or you can thinly slice either way I would start as early as you can you want to get them dry in one day.

Save the insides of your teabags to use as potting compost.

Use eggshells, avocado skins, orange skins etc as a plant pot to get seedlings started you can plant them straight in the ground without removing them.

If you have one of those big jars with a tap for dispensing drinks you can attach a sieve over the back of the tap and then put your kitchen waste in. When you need to feed plants just turn the tap for some liquid feed and what remains will be potting compost. You can either buy an accelerator that is just bacteria so if you purchase one just keep it going by removing some from your old stash before you start your new or you could have a comfrey plant which you just add the leaves to your jar. Comfrey also makes good tomato feed you just leave the leaves to steep in water and use that to water the tomatoes or leave the leaves around the base of your toms to slowly rot and feed them that way which also helps to keep them watered in hot weather.

Instead of following the latest Christmas fashions make your own decorations, each will be a loving memory that can be used for years. You would be surprised people actually spend more time looking at my homemade tree trying to see each design than they would if it was shop brought.

Teach yourself Sashinko visible mending it derives from Japan where the sentiment is that they respect their items and repair them in the most beautiful ways and each repair holds a memory for them, I just love that! Seriously look it up They repair everything clothes, crockery, tools etc not only are they saving money and the planet but it just looks loverly with an absolutely adorable sentiment behind it. I have seen knitted jumpers repaired so many times there is barely any original jumper left!

Seriously, don't place your laptop on your lap. The reason it gets hot is because you are blocking the air vents, which are usually placed underneath. It should not be getting hot for long periods of time. Eventually it will shut down to prevent overheating.

MrsCD

If you want a hot drink in between meals, crumble an oxo cube into a cup of hot water. Much cheaper than cup a soups.