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

otb666

@kimwp i take my cucumber out of film wrapper and it lasts longer.  Cleaning oven/DW/Toaster/Kettle/Washing Machine and Fridge Freezer defrosting regularly so they work at optimum.

shykins

@I_Love_comps  the Olio App is free!    there is a payment option but you dont have to and the only extra you get is a Location map

 many seem to have lost the ability to sniff and look to make a decision whether something is useable and are a slave to dates .   Many Use by items can still be ok a day or so after and BBE is just a guide.   week after week i see Food waste bins full to the brim and it makes me want to cry at the money and food being wasted

C_J

I wanted to know how much my domestic heating oil was costing me per hour, and found this useful calculation which may help others:
 https://www.rix.co.uk/blog/heating-oil-usage-calculator-how-much-heating-oil-am-i-actually-using/

GreenCat80

It would be great to have a guide to washing machine temperatures. How low can you go and still get things clean? 

Nonnadiluca

I think we should extol the virtues of second hand! My house and wardrobe are full of great quality items that I could no way afford to buy new, for example, a French outdoor brand down filled coat, over £350 to buy new, bought for £30. I also bought a shirt for my grandson from a charity shop as by the feel of the fabric it was real quality; when I looked up the brand, the cheapest shirt they do is £135!!!
I hardly ever buy anything new, except underwear,. There's more than enough stuff in the world already so it's good for the planet too.

bouicca21

A guide to help people understand the money saving value of investing in items like air fryers, slow cookers etc.   A sort of ‘is it right for you’ crib sheet. A friend tells me he hasn’t used his ordinary cooker since he bought a ninja.  In reality I don’t think he has any idea of the relative running costs and whether there is actually a return on the capital expenditure.

Of course people who are really cash poor would not be able to afford the capital expenditure in the first place …. What gadgets are essential and what help would be available to help with their purchase?

In my area there are schemes run by local cycling groups that help people in need get cheap secondhand bikes.  And Dr Bike sessions help with maintenance. Local councils run free bikeability and cheap maintenance courses.

And yes, a section with a rural focus.  A friend lives 5 miles from the nearest supermarket.  She has a job and a car, how would she survive if she had neither?  For those whose budgets are tight, living in an area like that requires a lot of planning, and much thought about the shelf life of different types of food.

It was only during pandemic that I realised how much some people spend on takeaways, so maybe a section with easy recipes for fakeaways might be useful.

[Deleted User]

GreenCat80 said:

It would be great to have a guide to washing machine temperatures. How low can you go and still get things clean? 

You can still get things clean regardless of the temperature of the water, some countries wash their clothes in cold rivers thrashing the clothes on the rocks. Ive always used a 30° wash for everything, its the lowest on my machine. Hot water does not make your clothes any cleaner, in fact washing clothes in cold water can help slow fading of colors and shrinking in fabrics, therefore your clothes last longer.

GreenCat80

Deleted_User said:

GreenCat80 said:

It would be great to have a guide to washing machine temperatures. How low can you go and still get things clean? 

You can still get things clean regardless of the temperature of the water, some countries wash their clothes in cold rivers thrashing the clothes on the rocks. Ive always used a 30° wash for everything, its the lowest on my machine. Hot water does not make your clothes any cleaner, in fact washing clothes in cold water can help slow fading of colors and shrinking in fabrics, therefore your clothes last longer.

I always wash our clothes at 30°, I'm wondering about going down to 20°. Towels and bedding I wash at 40° or 60° (my son wets so I wash bedding a lot)

cdm

Hi everyone! Spotty I’ve not managed to pop back before…thank you for clarifying ‘TCB’…I found myself wondering about ‘tax credits something-or-other’ and all manner of different definitions!!! Thanks again! 

ZsaZsa

scrummy-mummy said:

Alternative ways of heating and cooking. For example, there are appliances like air fryers, halogen cookers, slow cookers that are able to perform the same function/role as cooking on the hob/in the oven and are much cheaper/more efficient.  We now cook a lot of food in our air fryer which is very versatile and a lot quicker.

I’d love to know the actual savings of using actifry/instantpot/ ninja/ remoska and the like compared to cooking on the hob/ oven. 

I’ve tried to research it but can’t find a lot of evidence one way or the other- just multiple bloggers telling me that it is cheaper if I buy whichever gizmo they’re promoting. They’re often deemed to be cheaper but I wonder if they genuinely are. 

I can see the benefit perhaps if cooking for one or two people. We’re a family of 4 and I can fill the oven cooking for us, but with a gadget I don’t know how I’d cook all the elements of one meal in one appliance. (Other than bunging a stew type meal in a slow cooker which I do frequently). 

This isn’t a criticism, just a genuine curiosity over which is best.