2023 Frugal Living Challenge

Debsnewbudget

well done for dealing with this.

earthgirl2

Sorry to hear about the bullying, it's great that you dealt with it so swiftly and that the other parents were also supportive. I would also be considering police, but like you say hopefully it's an end to it. 

mandy47

Siebrie said:

@mandy47 "She has very long thick hair that takes ages to rinse." How often does she wash it? A girl I knew had thick long hair down to her knees, and she washed just her scalp once a week; it was a 5-minute job.

I have curly hair until just over my shoulders and wash every 5th day, once with shampoo and conditioner, the other time just conditioner.

Every day!

cw18

Well, I got my new boiler

It was supposed to go in on Monday, but I got a call at 10am that day to say there'd been a mix up!  The installation team had been sent from Birmingham to Derby instead of Manchester.....

So they came on Tuesday.

I have a lot of extra pipes, some of which are ugly but fortunately not where they'll be seen regularly.   However, there's one ouside that means the gate on my side path no longer stays fully open - and without it fully open I can't get my mower or wheelie bin through to deal with the garden    I don't think having it fully open will actually damage the pipe though (it's the insulation foam that's actually causing the problem), so I'm going to find a hook to hold it in place.   I didn't notice it until after they'd left.

My biggest issue now is converting it to a smart system I can control from my phone.   The control panel in the kitchen is no longer in us - and the backplate for the new one (which is in the garage by the boiler) is different, so I can't just lift off the one they installed and put mine on like I did before.   I'm also not sure my internet signal will reliably reach it out there which is an even bigger problem.   But putting a smart controller onto my system has made the most significant difference to my usage over the years I've been monitoring it closely, so I do need to find a way to do it before the weather changes enough that I need it on around work.

After they left I did some searching on the web, and the boiler I have is almost £1,700 on it's own - and I saw it considerably more than that on a couple of websites.  Then there's the cost of the filter they've attached to the incoming water, the control panel and thermostat, the carbon monoxide detector I spotted on the ceiling as I was closing up the garage, a new flue, the pipes they installed (with insulation foam for most of it), 6 new thermostatic radiator valves (only 5 of the 12 radiators had them, now I'm up to 11 which is a job I'd been trying to save to have done ), and the corrosion inhibitor they put into the system.    Add to that the cost of labour for two men for 8 hours each (even without anything for travel), and I dread to think what the final bill would have been if I had to pay it!!

The chap who was putting the boiler in said I'd been given a bigger one that he'd expected.  He reckons the next one down would have supplied my house OK, but I must be borderline between the two as the company got clearance to install the more powerful (and more expensive) one.   They apparently said that if the smaller one didn't do the job properly they'd only have to come back and swap it over, so they'd sooner put the larger one in now.

Tried the shower out Wednesday morning.   Water pressure is better which was lovely, but the hot came and went which wasn't much fun.   I also had to have it turned much further towards 'hot' than I did with my hot water cylinder.

Then I went and washed the pots.  Again the water pressure for both hot and cold is much improved (though I don't understand why - especially on the cold), but I had a full washing up bowl of water before it came through hot enough to use.   My OH says I might have to increase the water temperature on the boiler, but I'm going to give it a week or two while i get used to it - mainly because a higher temperature will use more gas, so I have to work out a balance.

Next job is to get a plumber to put a stop valve on the inlet to the toilet in the cloakroom so I can use the wasted water to fill that.   Both toilets upstairs have one, and I'm sure downstairs did until someone came and did some other work to it - no idea why he removed it, but a section of pipe was changed to a hose when I'd only asked him to change the diaphragm thing in the bottom of the cistern!   And he only charged me what he'd quoted for changing the diaphragm in all 3 toilets.

I did 2 tip runs this week.   Filled OH's Duster on Sunday, and almost filled my Punto on Monday after son got home from work.   I've also been listing non-food items on Olio, and have given away about 50 items so far.   My son reckons progress is long overdue and too slow.   I agree with the long overdue, but see it as a step closer to being done - and my Mental Health counsellor totally backed my way of looking it when I had a phone session with her on Wednesday afternoon.

I've been off work for about 7 weeks now (sciatica blow up - but my MH has got worse as time has passed, mainly due to a few 'conversations' with my manager), so I have an Occupational Health call in place for today (at my request) to try and find a way forward to get me back to work.   I know I won't manage a full delivery route yet, but my manager seems to have a history of accepting phased returns and then forcing full duties by day 3.   I'm hoping to get guidelines from Occ Health as I think that will give me more confidence that anything that's agreed will have to be adhered to unless *I* want to discuss moving it on faster.    I'm then due to have a meeting with my manager early on Saturday, but if I want Union representation it'll have to be rearranged as the rep doesn't work on a Saturday.   Not sure what'll happen, as manager stated 3 weeks ago that she holds all her 'sick clinics' on a Saturday as instructed by her manager.

ladyholly

If its a combi boiler they do take a long time to run hot. A bowl full is sbout average here.

cw18

ladyholly said:

If its a combi boiler they do take a long time to run hot. A bowl full is sbout average here.

It is - and it seems a terrible waste.   I don't want to push my water bill up

I figured out today that I probably only need to 'tip' the first half of the bowl.   If I tip the lot, then it's starting to get too hot to put my hands in by the time I have enough depth to wash the pots (had to leave it sitting for 5 minutes).   So if I save the first half for other use and then fill the bowl as it's getting hotter I might be OK.....

joedenise

We've given up using the hot water from the tap for washing up and just boil some in a kettle.  Don't need much in a bowl of water.  Run a bit of cold water then add the boiling water and top up until the water is OK to get your hands in.

Alternatively, when you make a cup of tea or coffee put any excess hot water in a flask and use that when you wash up.

flamingo747

I always use the kettle to wash up, and then I get a bonus hot drink for my hard work!

willow_loulou

I don’t have any running hot water now, the immersion system failed and water was running through the kitchen ceiling once we’d capped the boiler. It needs a whole new set of plumbing which is not something i particularly want to invest in right now. Im getting an instant water heater - like a shower I guess - put in to my bath. 

So all my hot water is solar or kettle. 

Quite honestly I’m happy to leave it as it is, it’s really no bother boiling the kettle a few times to bath. Yeah I don’t have a deep soaking bath very often but I’m not exactly crying over that. 

The dishwasher and washing machine heat themselves so it’s not like I’m really missing out on much. 

People are aghast when I tel them but the money I would have spent on new pipes etc took me to America to see my daughter for a month. I know which is more important to me. It’s not much different to living off grid really and people think that’s brilliant. 

2Scratters

@cw18 we use the first water from the tap prior to washing up (generally about 2 litres) to fill our water filter that sits in the fridge and put some into the kettle. Also fill the coffee machine. Excess is saved in a bucket in the bathroom for the loo flush. In summer it is used for watering the plants. We try to make water use do other jobs. The joys of having a water meter  We don't wash up every day as it depends on what we are doing. I would love the loo set up that you wash your hands and that water feeds into the tank for a flush. I wish there was a system where waste water is collected and placed/fed into areas where grey water can be reused. We now wash hands in cold water to save the gas kicking in trying to heat the water. 

2 Scratters xx