Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

2Scratters said:

Good Evening Peeps,
it is pouring down here but I'm a bit happy so it can continue to fill the water butts that have a double job to do. We use this water to flush the loo and water the garden. We are in a bungalow so not carrying a bucket up any stairs. Each time we got our water bill I would be in competition with trying to keep it as low a cost as possible. This evening whilst at a friends we got talking about the water bill. Her bill is nearly £1000  a widow living on her own. (Her DH passed away just 2 years ago and it was he who did all the bills all their married life. She has never looked at the account where the money goes from.) I said a meter would be a lot cheaper. She rang the company and was advised that she would be saving over £500 a year by using a meter and has 2 years to try it out with an option of a further 2 years if needed. Looks like we have more work to do to stop the leak of £s from her bank account in the meantime.
 I said to DH I won't be moaning about ours being £250pa again and those buckets will continue being dragged in the house   

Hope that the poorly pets soon recover. 

2 Scratters xx

Never thought about using water from the butts to flush the loo. Does it work well?

Baileys_Babe

Makingabobor2 said:

2Scratters said:

Good Evening Peeps,
it is pouring down here but I'm a bit happy so it can continue to fill the water butts that have a double job to do. We use this water to flush the loo and water the garden. We are in a bungalow so not carrying a bucket up any stairs. Each time we got our water bill I would be in competition with trying to keep it as low a cost as possible. This evening whilst at a friends we got talking about the water bill. Her bill is nearly £1000  a widow living on her own. (Her DH passed away just 2 years ago and it was he who did all the bills all their married life. She has never looked at the account where the money goes from.) I said a meter would be a lot cheaper. She rang the company and was advised that she would be saving over £500 a year by using a meter and has 2 years to try it out with an option of a further 2 years if needed. Looks like we have more work to do to stop the leak of £s from her bank account in the meantime.
 I said to DH I won't be moaning about ours being £250pa again and those buckets will continue being dragged in the house   

Hope that the poorly pets soon recover. 

2 Scratters xx

Never thought about using water from the butts to flush the loo. Does it work well?

When my friend was doing this, 20+ years ago it was fine, we generally poured the water in the cistern and used the flush like normal. We all had preschool children who wouldn't have been able to empty the bucket independently.

Moorviews

I’m glad to hear that Soot is back on top form!
Thank you for your reply the other day. There is a serious mismatch between expecting everyone to take on huge debts to get degrees and then using less qualified and cheaper people wherever possible. What is going on with housing is indeed very concerning. Working families shouldn’t be put in a position where they are unable to afford the basics of life without government assistance. 

We saved a lot of money by getting a water meter, even though the calculator didn’t indicate that we would. I expect it will go up significantly for all of us though once that higher revenue falls off, as more RV customers switch to meters. 

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments. It's interesting about the water bills. We are still considering applying for a year's trial on a meter as £82 per month for a 2-person household is outrageous, esp when you think how much these companies are paying themselves in bonuses, rather than implementing progressive infrastructure.
It's still the veggie-growing season/garden & wildlife pond which are holding us back.

@Moorviews - I agree. Everyone should be able to afford the basics. I think that's what the true Living Wage calculation is based on - everyone being able to afford basic needs plus a modest 2nd hand car & an annual week of UK holiday such as seaside. I don't understand the mindset of the ultra-wealthy. They can't take their money beyond the grave & it won't alter the fact that, rich or poor, we all end as dust. 
F

foxgloves

Afternoon Sunbeams,
First week of Mr F's new compressed working hours so he is off today & we think it's going to break up the week nicely for both of us. Today's budget-helping efforts:
*Grocery shopping came in well under this week's target. Took advantage of a '2 for 1' offer on fruit....& free coffee of course.
*Mr F got on with the rest of the weeding & re-gravelling in our refurbed kitchen garden area. I watered all the veg first thing (got to look after those future food supplies) & he's volunteered for feeding the already-fruiting stuff & containers tonight.
*Did today's survey - I am on Week 3 of a longer PA study & making sure I don't miss any days so as to get full payment amount.
*Re-planted a couple of areas of garden border which weren't really working. All plants for this were shopped from home as I moved or divided stuff I already have & filled gaps with homegrown bedding.
*Cut lettuce & rocket for tonight's salad. Also picked another small courgette to add to tonight's veggie fajhita mix.
*Free fitness marching briskly up & down our long garden to achieve my minimum daily steps target.
*Soot made a contribution to money saving this morning when he let us know in no uncertain terms that he doesn't like the meat Mr F bought them for a treat & would prefer his previous cheaper brand. Opinion noted, Soot!
Lovely seeing wildlife sharing our garden. Baby dunnocks, a red damsel-fly, a scarlet tiger moth, a speckled wood butterfly,  as well as all the usual suspects enjoying the peanut feeder. Apart from cooking later, no more jobs for me today so am going to attempt to finish my current library book.
Hope you all have some of this lovely sunshine, though I'm sitting in the shade now.
F x

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

Thanks for all your comments. It's interesting about the water bills. We are still considering applying for a year's trial on a meter as £82 per month for a 2-person household is outrageous, esp when you think how much these companies are paying themselves in bonuses, rather than implementing progressive infrastructure.
It's still the veggie-growing season/garden & wildlife pond which are holding us back.

@Moorviews - I agree. Everyone should be able to afford the basics. I think that's what the true Living Wage calculation is based on - everyone being able to afford basic needs plus a modest 2nd hand car & an annual week of UK holiday such as seaside. I don't understand the mindset of the ultra-wealthy. They can't take their money beyond the grave & it won't alter the fact that, rich or poor, we all end as dust. 
F

Do you have water butts FG?  It was the garden and the pond that had been putting us off of having a meter, but when our rates went up to £800 a year, it was a no brainer.  Bought 2 cheap water butts from the STW website, dead easy to install for DH, and we have been using it to water the garden and top up the pond. DH even used it to clean his motorbike and said it was fine for the initial wash, and just needed tap water to rinse it off.  I also leave a bowl in the sink and catch any water like when you need it to cool down enough to drink etc...it all goes in the bowl and then the watering cans and a large bucket are outside the back door. They are starting our DD at £44 a month, so we'll see after 6 months if it seems reasonable.  Think the summer 6 months is the best time to start to get an idea with the garden and everything. 

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Yes, we have two, but with the lack of rain, we'd be struggling now if we were relying on them even to water just the fruit & veg. I think we'll give it some more thought. At least we'd be able to change back if it ended up costing us more. 
F

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

@Makingabobor2 - Yes, we have two, but with the lack of rain, we'd be struggling now if we were relying on them even to water just the fruit & veg. I think we'll give it some more thought. At least we'd be able to change back if it ended up costing us more. 
F

Yes, we have 12 months to decide.  Our water butts filled up really quickly with all the rain we had in the last few weeks. In fact they were overflowing at one point and we were taking off bucket loads. Dh went out to investigate and it turns out that where we we are a semi, next door doesn't have a down pipe at the back of the house, so all their rain was running across to our side and down our pipe into the butt.  Then DH put another smaller one down the bottom of the garden by his metal shed and fixed up guttering on that to run into it. 
I think its worth a try, you have nothing to lose. 

PennysIntoPounds

Bless Soot wanting to help pay his bills by opting for the cheaper food, so decent of him 

Blackcats

I think I'm doing the same study as you.  Finding it very interesting and payment is good.