The Frugal Hearth: Stories of Simple Living and Living Well

liselle

Many many congratulations and wishing you every happiness in your lovely new home.

I used to always pack a small overnight bag when I moved, so you’re able to access nightclothes, toiletries and clean things the next day.

borefest

brilliant news & good luck🥳🏡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

beanielou

That’s great news.

PollyWollyDoodle

delurking to say congratulations, I have followed your journey and am very pleased for you that you’ve finally achieved your goal.

Top tip: as well as the ‘urgent needs’ box (add things like screwdriver, Allen key and sharp knife - also rubber gloves and washing up liquid for emergency cleaning). Take spare bedding and make the bed as soon as you can, so you can collapse into it when you need to!

scandimore

Congratulations! fab news 😀

jwil

Huge congratulations!

Cheery_Daff

This is SO flipping exciting - well done you!! 😃😃😃

ThriftyPrincess40

congratulations 🥳🥳🥳🥳

amber03

Hard work finally pays off. Congratulations to you, hope everything well in the move.

Elisheba

Evening, my thrifty and frugal friends,

I write from my little house in the hills in south west Scotland 😊😊😊.

So the move happened last week. It was all a bit hectic with the removal company arriving at 6am, and I didn't sleep well the night before. I constantly checking the clock to see if it was time to get up yet 🙄.

That part went pretty much to plan, and I left before they had finished packing up. Drove the 300 miles north in about 6 hours plus a stop for a flask of coffee and a reduced sandwich is bought at the supermarket the night before.

Arrived at the house and had the code for the key box. Turned the key and then couldn't get the key out the door. Deep breath - I'll sort that out in a bit. Task one - make sure the water is on. The water was not on. Look under the sink for a stop !!!!!!. Various knobs. Turn them all - no water. Phone the estate agent - they say the neighbour should have turned the water on. Well, there is no water. Oh and then the skirting board that goes around a cupboard in the living room came off.

I decided to sit in the car and wait for the removals company.

To cut a long story short, I did eventually manage to get the key out the door. The estate agents called back a couple of hours later to say a neighbour would be round after work to fix the water. The removal company arrived about 4 hours after I did, and unpacked everything and reassembled my bed.

I had a couple of big bottles of water in the car, so the animals and myself were able to drink but there was no flushing toilet. The neighbour still hadn't arrived, but another neighbour appeared who said he would be around later. He had turned it on, but then turned it off again at the weekend due to the cold weather and worry about pipes bursting.

By that time it was getting late and I was knackered. I decided against driving up to my mum's and staying there for the time being, and was just getting ready for bed at around 9 o'clock when the neighbour, let's called him D, arrived.

Turns out the stopcock for the water is outside, underground. It has a plate on top but it was covered in mud. So he dug it out and used a big metal pole called a toby key to turn it on. The pipes under the sink started gushing with water. D roped in another neighbour who was just passing by to do something with the toby key while he fixed the burst pipe under the sink.

So at 9.30pm after almost no sleep I found myself entertaining 2 strange men in my front room, while silly dog was jumping around mad with excitement. One of the more bizarre experiences of my life.

D the neighbour said it would take up to 72 hours for the water tank to fill. So still no flushing toilet the next day. Some taps were working through so I was able to use a jug to flush.

Three days later the toilet flushed but there was no hot water, even although the boiler switch was on. D the neighbour came round again. Airlocks in the system. He fixed them and showed me how to fix them moving forward.

So the next morning I woke bright and early, all excited to finally have a shower in my new house (I had gone to my mum's to have one, and done some sink washes with water down the kettle in the meantime). Still no hot water in the shower. Called D the neighbour, and he came round again.

The shower pump had gone. He went up to Glasgow to buy a new one. £668. Despite it being Good Friday and a bank holiday he fitted it straight away and didn't charge me for labour which was very good of him.

So as you get 5 days in Scotland to report any problems to the old owners, and this was related to a problem I reported within the 5 days, ie. the water, I have contacted my solicitor who is contacting the old owner's solicitors, to see if they will cough up and pay me back. Dunno if they will though as it was past the 5 days, and legal stuff thrives on technicalities.

So that was the saga of the water. While all that was going on I was delighted to discover the heating worked very well. Until I saw how much it was costing on the smart meter. The first full day - with no water heating and very little cooking - it cost £12! For heating what is basically 2 rooms and a hall! It's direct heat electric radiators, not even storage ones 🙄.

I had budgeted double what I was previously paying on energy, but that would have meant easily 400% more, possibly more like 600%. I did some sums and it was going to cost me basically almoat all my money, and I would be able to put away almost nothing.

So I did some more sums. The coalman charges £60 for 100kg of smokeless coal. So 60p a kilo, or £6 for 10kg. I reckon on a cold day I could use 10kg, so that would be £6 a day for 8 months a year (its 1200ft up here and snowing tonight and it's April, so I can only bet on 4 fairly warm months).

That's £1460 a year for coal, or £121.66 a month on average. It also heats the water so l don't need to use electric for that. Then say £2 a day for electric for lighting, cooking, clothes washing etc. That's £60.83 a month. So that's £182.40 per month altogether, which is much more what I was expecting! It certainly beats £450 a month, which £15 a day in electricity bill would cost!

I'll put a bit more than that in my budget just to be safe. Electricity costs will likely go up in the summer. The radiators are all set at 10 degrees so the pipes don't burst, so they might need to do some work occasionally in deepest winter, and I might need them on very occasionally for whatever reason (thinking about my Mum visiting - she can't stand the cold!).

So it's more expensive than I would like, but it's much more manageable. It won't heat the whole house, but some of the heat will travel through, and I can wear jumpers and oodies. Currently for drying clothes I'm using the dehumidifier in the bedroom with the clothes on drying racks, but I think I'll get one of those ceiling pulleys for the living room and they can dry from the heat from the stove. Will look very rustic, even if not very stylish 🤣.

I did vaguely look at other heating options. But even if I had the money to get them fitted, air pump heating wouldn't save me much money. Solar might, but I'm in a conservation area so don't know if I'd be allowed the PV panels on the roof. Oil would potentially save money, but again it would cost a lot to install and oil prices are so variable. Electric storage heaters would save a bit of money, but not masses and would be an expense to get fitted

What else? Oh, the bins. No general waste bin or paper and card recycling bin when I arrived. So I phoned up the council to order some and they charged me £82 for the general waste bin! Not surprised someone had run off with mine if that's what a new one costs! Anyway, they were delivered today so I could finally get rid of a pile of stuff.

I decided in the end to order the big storage cupboard for the living room from IKEA. I spoke online to one of their design team and have got what I wanted. So that was £900, but the joiner was quoting £1250 at least, and I need to save money. I'm going to need a new shed sooner rather than later, and fencing as soon as I can afford it.

I'm trying to be patient. I want everything now, but something's just take time, and somethings will need to be saved for. It will all come together eventually.

Silly dog does not like closed doors, and with hot air in the house at a premium, that is not ideal. So I bought some curtains and a massive piece of fleece from a charity shop at the weekend, and ordered some tension poles from Am@zon, and am sewing up thermal curtains for downstairs. I might end up putting some up in upstairs as well as black cat needs open doors as well. There is less heat upstairs to escape though, so it's not a priority.

And I know I've rambled on about the water and the cost of heating, because they did stress me out, but I have to say I'm still glad about the move. It was sunny yesterday and I went on a 3 hour hike after work with silly dog in the mountains and it was glorious. I love my village - it's quiet, and the people seem friendly, and the area is just gorgeous. My little house is taking a bit of getting used to, but I wanted an old house and old houses are quirky. I'll adapt, and all the frugal living I've done to get here and the skills I've learned will be put to good use. It is overall a very good thing, and I am very happy.

What else? Oh, getting the broadband fitted did make me laugh. Full fibre came to the village a year or two ago, and that's all they'll fit anymore. Previously the house had copper wire broadband, so an engineer was needed to get me set up. I had him booked in for the day after I arrived as broadband is a necessity for work so I wanted it sorted sooner rather than later.

So the chap shows up at 9am. First he says he's not going to be able to do it as it would need a cherry picker to get to the roof, but he says he'll have a look around to see if anything could be done. Turns out there was a pylon at the back he could use, so he took a wire from there to the back of my house, and started to drill the wall (from the inside of the house to the outside) so he could bring the wire inside. Five hours and two drills later he managed to get through the wall 🤣🤣🤣. The walls are at least a metre thick, and the stone was wet. He said he'd never had such a difficult fitting 😱. Kudos to him though for persevering! I couldn't even offer him the use of my loo, as I didn't have any water at the time for it to flush 😂.

I think that's all my news for now. I'm sitting in front of the stove, using coal I had to buy from a garage as the coalman only delivers every two weeks, and I missed his delivery last Friday. I don't think the garage coal is brilliant, as my thermometer says the room is still only 16 degrees and the fire has been lit for a couple of hours. Still, with a blanket and an extra cardigan I am cosy and warm. Silly dog is asleep beside me, and I'm about to make some cocoa. I have been making lists upon lists of things I want to get done or buy, but all in good time. I haven't got an exact date for the roofer as he was very busy with Storm Dave, but it's in hand. Then I'll see how much money I have left, and decide exactly where to allocate it.

I hope everyone is keeping well. I shall catch up on everyone's diaries soon, now I have a bit more time and am a bit less stressed.