Escape to the country & living off savings

SuzeQStan

Ordinary_Yet_Unique said:

I guess I just believe in making my life easy lol.  If you have your oven cleaned once a year properly that only works out at saving just over £3 a month. The net price is probably less after deducting cost of materials.

I also send all towels and bedding to a laundry twice a month cost about £50 depending on whether or not relatives have stayed. Again net cost is probably less after allowing for use of electricity especially during the winter and other materials. Lovely to have hotel like sheets to put on the bed every time they are changed. No way am I washing large sheets and ironing them ever again.

The only other service I pay for is the window cleaner, once a month for £30. Not bad considering the house is fairly large and he also does the conservatory. So monthly the cost of those services is about £85 a month which in the scheme of things is not much at all, especially when you take into account the time saving, fewer leaning materials to buy, and lack of effort involved.

I do wash my own car because it is something I do enjoy doing at the moment. However, if I was ever pushed for time or not feeling 100% I would take it to the hand wash centre.

This is interesting - not thought about outsourcing linens/towels before.  We have solar panels and cheap tou tariff so tumble dry the towels at night for 7p per kWh. The bedsheets are wrinkle free hang on the line. 

There’s a lot of services I used to pay for prior to the pandemic which I now do myself

Hair - used to pay £80 every 6 weeks - now I colour/cut it myself £5.50 every 6 weeks

pressure washing - used to pay £400 every 2 years (house is surrounded by a veritable island of paving previous owner fault) - bought pressure washer from Mr Aldee for £75 and a weed burner for £20 (no chemical solution to weed problem)

window cleaning - we still get this done but negotiated longer in between cleans - 6 weeks instead of 4 (which is plenty and works fine) £20 which includes a bifold door, a french door & a small greenhouse on top of all windows.

car washing - bucket and sponge - always has been/will be ever since our car roof got scratched at a handwash.

All of the above result in additional  £1000.00 in my pocket a year. That’s worth a plane ticket for me to see family easy.

Organgrinder

Ironing sheets??? It'll be socks and underwear next!

Skint_yet_Again

Great savings Suze  🏆  

Lol @Organgrinder

I rarely iron anything these days unless I am going out to a “do” when I might give my outfit a quick press as I rarely dress up. Each to their own I suppose if you can afford it 

Organgrinder

Skint_yet_Again said:

Great savings Suze  🏆  

Lol @Organgrinder

I rarely iron anything these days unless I am going out to a “do” when I might give my outfit a quick press as I rarely dress up. Each to their own I suppose 

Same here. Properly hung out to dry or tumble dried means things don't really need ironing, even my shirts for work.

And with regards paying for someone to do the sheets or other jobs totalling over £1000 a year, I can find a much better use for the money!

Skint_yet_Again

Organgrinder said:

I use Oven Pride or the equivalent one in Home Bargains.

For £5 or less it does a great job. Just be patient and follow the instructions and it works a treat.

@Organgrinder Sorry not sure how I missed this earlier. 🤔That’s what I used for the shelves & mr muscles for inside double oven 

I also edited my previous post slightly at the same time as you quoted the former comment 🤦‍♀️ Not with it today. Must be the smell of all the oven cleaners 🤯

Organgrinder

And the £35 in your pocket that you saved by doing it yourself! ;-)

doingitanyway

I'm trying to think how sheets laundered at an outside source could be any better than sheets I have washed in my machine. I buy excellent bedlinen, surely it is the quality of the sheets that result in a better experience.

I do believe in outsourcing, but I also want to do as much as I can for as long as I can. It isn't solely a money issue. I like being capable and active. The time will surely come when I need someone else to wash my sheets or clean my oven...

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

I have not criticised the choices of anyone else, I have just said what I do.

To be honest I prefer to spend my time doing the things I want to do, rather than things I have to do but do not like doing, hence my choices.

I enjoy my garden for example and will do that as long as possible. However if things need cutting back severely or removing I always get someone in, as they do a better job than I ever could.

Likewise driveway cleaning and gutter cleaning. I am no good at those things and others do a much better job than me. It is the same with DIY. Hate it and useless at it.

I know a lot of people get a lot of satisfaction from doing things themselves. I am not really like that. I just like to see things done.

Apologies for taking thread away from its main focus.

Skint_yet_Again

As previously said, each to their own if you can afford it. I’m sure in 10 years time when I get my state pension I may not want to be cleaning my oven, car or windows and if I can’t manage it then I will pay someone if I can afford it. 

Organgrinder

At the end of the day it is all about choices. Same as any spend once you get past the essentials.

I consider many things these days are effectively commodities. They are mass produced, readily replaceable and readily available. Hence for many things I'll get the best deal possible provided the service and quality are what I want. Eg.

My SIM card. £5/month.
60mbps broadband. £16/month.
Gas/electric fixed at 6% below new price cap (was 13% below old one plus an additional 4% cashback for switching)
2 pairs of designer glasses (Nike and Converse) in Asda, with high index varifocals for £160. I could have paid £120 but wanted different frames.
I subscribe to Tesco clubcard extra. £7.99 a month gets me 10% off two shops. I have a net save of say £8 a month, but I use clubcard vouchers to get money off holidays etc.  This year alone my clubcard vouchers have so far saved me £350.

All in all I do it simply because I enjoy my holidays and currently have to go in school holidays. Try not to imagine the cost of two one week all inclusives plus a 5/6 day snowboarding trip. It's so expensive these days. Without the above, my bank switching, Topcashback and stoozing I wouldn't be able to afford it AND put £10,000 a year into my pension on top of my final salary pension.

Someone once said they couldn't possibly go on multiple foreign holidays a year. Neither could I currently unless I do the above. It's the choices I make.

If anyone wants to spend their money on other things that's their choice too. We're all on this forum to pick up tips to help us make our own choices.