Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Thanks beanie 😊

Octopus have sent me through some of their calculations from yesterday. Bear with me while I try to get my head round this…

According to them:

• Annual heating requirement = 39,867kwh
• Annual hot water requirement = 2314kwh

According to Ofgem, the high end of typical gas use in this country is 17,000 a year - are we really more than double that??

Obviously we don't have a gas meter, but we had a gas delivery in Oct, and another in Dec (both filling the tank) - we used 1092 litres in 75 days, that's 14.75 litres per day. From what I can see, 1 litre = 7.08kwh, which means

14.75 litres x 7.08 = 104.43kwh per day

If we multiply that by the whole year, that's

104.43 x 365 = 38,116

Ok, that's not far off - although I suspect it's VERY unlikely that our daily average for Oct-Dec is representative of the entire year.

I do realise they're going on what it would take to heat us up to their required temp, not what we're actually using.

(I'm going to have a look at a different invoice but the website is running slowly and Mr C just arrived home - back in a tic)

Cheery_Daff

Ok, not got a exact year's worth, but starting from a full tank on 2nd Dec 2024 to a refill on 24th Dec 2025:

19th Feb - 1637 litres

11th Oct - 1099 litres

24th Dec - 1092 litres

= 3818 litres in a year and 20 days

3818 x 7.08 = 27,031kwh

Or, to be slightly more accurate 3818 divided by 365+20 days = 9.92 litres per day x 7.08 = 70.21kwh per day

x 365 = 25,627kwh per year.

So higher than average (to be expected, given the house) but rather below their estimation (especially as ours obviously includes both heating and hot water, so added together theirs would be 42,148).

So our actual useable is 16,554kwh less than their estimation of our requirements - that's the high end of Ofgem's total average household use IN ADDITION to what we actually use.

Anyway, not going to do anything much with that info right now but it's interesting nevertheless.

They've sent the floor plan too, so I'll check that as well (part of the problem my friend had was that half of her measurements were wrong!)

greenbee

Mine says 42,443kWh for 'gas' (I have oil). I use around the same as you in the winter. I don't use any in the summer. This is why I want someone who knows what they are doing to look at it…

Cheery_Daff

Well this weekend is not going at all to plan!

We were meant to be going away for a couple of nights. On Thursday night Mr C felt a bit ropey so we said we'd just go for one night. By Friday afternoon he was feeling worse, and by Friday night he had a full on sniffle and was feeling quite sorry for himself, so we cancelled altogether (hadn't booked anywhere yet anyway so easily done).

Instead, I went to slimming world (lost half a pound) then spent a happy hour by myself, plotting and scheming in a cafe. Remembered I wanted to take my sewing machine for a service, so went home and headed off to a different town, booked it in - then remembered the blithering seed swap! Aarrgghh! I'm so annoyed with myself - I was disappointed at missing it last year, looked forward to it this year, then was disappointed at the thought of missing it. And then, when I actually had the chance, I forgot all about it! What a plonker.

Never mind. I have plenty of seeds- i was more concerned with getting rid of some of mine and supporting a local event, which has likely done very well without me.

Still, I have had a nice day, and am now in another cafe with a free cup of tea (had a voucher to use) reading a cheerful book I got for Christmas 😊 The sun has been shining too 😊 My sewing machine seems like it will be salvageable for not too much money (around £60) so all good.

Might get out in the garden when I get home 😊

themadvix

Sorry to hear Mr C isn't well and you didn't manage to get away. But glad to hear you're in a cafe with a good book - that sounds like your sort of weekend (maybe not without Mr C though). Sadly no sun here - it's very grey. However, as I've needed to do some work, it's probably for the best - I'd have been much grumpier/less inclined to do it if the sun was out!

beanielou

Hope Mr c is on the mend soon ❤️‍🩹

rtandon27

Oh poor MrCheery - I hope he starts feeling better soon! Snuffles are no fun.

I love that you do the rounds at the coffee shops & plot and plan at the same time - it's so atmospheric! I've taken to playing utoob coffee shop sounds in the background while wfh!

Cheery_Daff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893894#Comment_81893894

Definitely best to have grim weather on a working day, I agree! Sadly the sunshine didn't last long here and it's bucketing down again now 😬

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81894082#Comment_81894082

Ha, yes cafes are definitely a place for hatching plans, reflecting on life, reading, and generally pondering. Mr C and I rarely chat in a cafe - he usually does the puzzles in the newspaper while I sort my life out 😂 I get quite grumpy sometimes if he tries to start a conversation 😂 So it's actually more productive from my point of view if he's not there 🤭

Anyway, home now via yet another location and a couple of charity shops. I blew the food budget buying treats for Mr C (nothing extravagant - tins of soup, a single packet of sweet potato pakoras which are only an occasional purchase, and a chocolate bunny 😂). Got a couple of candles in a charity shop too, we do get through them but fortunately charity shops have a never ending supply.

@rtandon27 I too place cafe ambience while working (at home, but also with earphones in my hot desking shared office) 😂 I have one video that I play over and over - it definitely signals 'time to start work' to my brain 😂 The exception is that I aim to do 2 hours of writing at the start of each work day (as part of my job, I'm not trying to write a novel 😂) and I have a different video for the, which lasts exactly 2 hours, split into four sections. Very repetitive but works!

Anyway, home now and having a cosy half hour with hot chocolate and a book before I make a risotto.

oh, and I reported the missed bin collection from yesterday 🙄 We're on the rural round and if we miss a week (I think we forgot the recycling last week) it's like they just decide 'oh, they mustn't need a bin collection ever again' and miss us out until we report them 🙄😂 I do get it, there's nobody else down this lane and it must be annoying to have a wasted trip 🙄 Fortunately it's very easy to report and they do usually come back within a day or two 😂

Cheery_Daff

Oh darn it I am SUCH a plonker and so annoyed with myself!

Not only did I miss the seed swap this morning, I also missed a public lecture this evening! I'd planned to go to this in January, but it was postponed because of the snow. Then I was looking forward to it, but obviously we were going away... Can't believe I forgot this too, SO cross. Just seen some pictures and there was an actual snake there! I miss all the fun 🙄

I wasn't even doing anything either, I've been twiddling my thumbs all evening, idly pottering about, drinking tea, reading a book, doing the washing up.

🙄

Cheery_Daff

A sad day today MSE chums - I am mourning the closure of the Down to Earth blog 😕 Sounds like a frivolous thing, but Rhonda's was one of he first blogs I ever read, and I've read and re-read so many of her posts over the years. She even encouraged me when I started my own blog. I've got all of her books but it's not the same - I'll forever miss her posts on the joy of housework (I often needed their motivational pep talk 😂).

It's such a shame. Obviously she's well within her rights to remove everything, I'm just sad from a reader's side. She stopped writing a while back and switched to insta, got sick of the ads and went back to the blog. Offered some workshops as I think she was struggling a bit with income (I think she's almost 80 now) and not many people signed up. She wrote a goodbye post, lots of people suggested a subscription model, patron or similar, but a day later she took everything down.

I hope she's ok - I got the impression she was hurt when not many people signed up for workshops and may have felt she just had so much out there for free. Who knows. As I said, obviously her decision.

Just a bit sad today. And it's a good reminder of the impermanence of what's on the Internet. I confess I just assumed (for no good reason) that it would always be there 😕

Anyway, moping won't do. She herself would have been up for several hours by now and no doubt would have cleaned out the pantry, mopped the floor, baked a cake, and be sitting in the garden with a cuppa, so really I should stir myself!