And now we go again...

Jessy103

Happy New Year! 🎉

Baileys_Babe

Happy New Year! 🎊🪅

EssexHebridean

Happy new year to you fellow MSE’ers - may all our purses be full, our grocery budgets stretch, and much (budgeted for) fun be had in 2025! 

Precisely no plans here today which is just the way I like to spend New Year’s Day. I must retrieve my new bargain diary from the depths of MrEH’s bag though - and start getting some dates into that. We are currently making the most of a slow start - the last one of the break of course as we are both back to our respective offices tomorrow - MrEH is doing a bit more jigsaw and I’m chatting to you. 

I did (unusually for me) stay up past midnight last night as Roger Taylor (the Queen one, not Duran Duran) was on the Hootenanny so I watched his first performance before putting it on to record for the rest so I can skim through that later. Having stayed up later than usual, then been affronted by idiots down the way deciding to let off a massive set of fireworks literally in the middle of the road, I then didn’t sleep well so a gentle today is much needed really. Very glad my car wasn’t one of those alongside where they were setting the fireworks off from, and that all windows remained intact! Utter stupidity though - not least as they have a perfectly good garden they could have used which would have been far safer! 

MSE stuff:
- Haven’t got a snazzy name for our January grocery challenge but it is underway regardless, with curried parsnip soup retrieved from the freezer for lunch. That made space for the 4 tubs of turkey stock to fit in in fact, no idea how 2 out of= 4 in but also not complaining! I’ll pick out a tub of turkey risotto bits ready for tomorrow evening later, and will probably use some of the veg from the fridge in that as well.
- tea tonight will be focusing on bits from the fridge I think - there is a smoked salmon pate I want to use, the last of an aioli dip, and plenty of cheese so a picky tea will suit well…again! I have to say ai am almost looking forward to getting back to some normal food again now, mind! 

- also want to go through the fridge to see what else needs using up - I’m going to turn a load of tomatoes (£1.50 box ones mainly) into sauce, I think. 

- house is toasty thanks to some nice negative Agile prices overnight. The oil filled rad went on in the living room using a smart plug to get the timings right, and the kitchen and bathroom underfloor heating was also on overnight. 

- I got one load with bedroom and bathroom mats washed early evening yesterday, that then tumble dried during that first super low negative slot. When that had finished we shoved a load of MrEH’s rugby kit through, and then he switched that out for another load of towels which did a wash and dry too. 
- dehumidifier ran all night adding some additional warmth to upstairs AND ensuring that the mats were fully dry by this morning. Bit miffed with MrEH not thinking to get that load of rugby kit on the airer when it finished its wash last night though - that would also have dried overnight if he had! 

- the scores on the doors this morning are just over 19kWh of electricity used for a cost of 9p thus far, and no gas used at all (would usually have been somewhere about 15kWh on the central heating first thing so another approx 80p or so saved there as well.)

The first bag-in-box beer got finished up last night, and I suspect we will see off the second this evening - as always it’s been really nice to have effectively “cask” beer on tap from our fridge! Ironically enough the cans and bottles we bought have barely been touched - but that’s fine, they’ll get drunk over time! 

I did have to go and retrieve a few bits that had blown out of our recycling bin first thing - I’d lain both down last night and thought I had wedged the lids but didn’t quite wedge the recycling one sufficiently. I won’t bother with standing them or the bike back up again yet - it’s still blowing a hoolie out there so they’ll just go over again if I do. We must sort the food waste bin for tomorrow though - this is the only time of year I ever come close to filling it, thanks to turkey carcass etc, and in fact I may even need to get the larger one from the shed! Again though, I’m not tackling it until later! 

greenbee

I've just looked at the Octopus app and it looks like I've just just under 24kWh for -12p by using smart plugs etc. I can only set 4 timeslots on each, but by updating before I went to bed and when I got up this morning I managed to make the most of the negative slots (but should have put another load of washing on when I got up to take the dog out!).

Given that the thread on the energy forum seems to be populated more by people thinking about the upcoming prices than how to optimise the use of those prices, I wonder whether we should start another thread, where it would be OK to plan your batch cooking around Agile pricing  

Sun_Addict

Happy New Year EH 🥳 I daren’t look at our recycling bin after last night’s wind! 

lucielle

Happy new year. My recycling bin is hiding in the garage. I’ve had to retrieve it and its innards several times but no more Bonny lad!  

L

milann

Happy New Year.

starnac

Happy New Year. 

Sounds like an excellent start to the year. The quiet time not the dodgy fireworks and recycling retrieval. Our council recently took away all our wheelie bins. We have clear plastic bags for recycling, which we can put out every week and 3 black bags every 3 weeks. I am so glad that we started our zero waste journey all those years ago! 

badmemory

Do those bags actually last that length of time because our food recycling ones certainly don't last a week once something is in them.  You can actually watch them biodegrade.

EssexHebridean

I think I will invest in some bungee straps which can at least hold the bin lids closed even if they will still tip over - there's not much I can do to prevent that I don't think as it's just the way the wind whips across the fronts - it catches the bike cover and that then goes over and takes the bins with it! Hopefully the recycling bin will have been emptied today anyway - we saw the food waste chap heading our way as we left home so they were clearly out and about.  SA I bet you get properly battered by the wind as you're high us, aren't you? A shame we're not both like L and able to stash the bins away from the wind somewhere! 

Starnac it's lovely to see you back - it does seem a bit regressive that your council have gone to bags again though doesn't it! You've done so well with the zero waste stuff though! 

greenbee that made me giggle - I reckon a new thread for Agile chat could be a way forwards, although I bet the purists would still turn up on there insisting that we can't count savings if they come as a result of using electricity instead of other forms of energy purely because the price is better! That said, nothing is looking particularly brilliant for the next few days as far as the predictor suggests...I might actually have to run the DW in double figures! 

HNY to you too milann! 

First day back in the office nearly done anyway - and not too bad. The traffic coming in this morning was gloriously absent - I said to MrEH a few days ago I reckoned it might be as I bet a lot of folk have said they weren't going to go back until next week - particularly where they can carry holiday over but have to use it promptly in the new year. Anyway, we got away with a later depart from home, and sailed through, bet it won't be like THAT on Monday! 

MSE stuff:
- MrEH's Oyster has been fed...I am predicting three of those this month, all being well.
- Start of month DDs have departed the bank account
- I need to log in and do the tweak to the food account standing order - I've transferred the extra £25 manually for this month though
- The Octopods figures for December and in and look OK - gas used is slightly down on last year, electric slightly up, but I expected that thanks to the load shifting for some heating when Agile prices are low enough. Cost wise a quite notable drop though, which is the main thing.
- I think I may just walk round to Al's tomorrow for shopping, allowing that I shouldn't need much, and doing it on foot reduces temptations to stop in anywhere else to check for bargains. I'll get myself a list together tonight I think, and formalise next week's meal plan as well from our overall list of options.
- Tea tonight is risotto and will use the tub of stock I didn't freeze, and a rub of turkey scraps that I did, and that I hauled back out again yesterday. I'll also throw in some of the broccoli from the fridge, and review what other veggies need using
- I brought some more 8p shallots in from the shed yesterday, and made sure that the tatties, remaining shallots and onions were all went wrapped in case it does drop really cold in there.