Debt Free Diary Newbie. Post 1

PostHoc25

November Update

Well, it has been a costly month and I had to rejig just about everything, but my savings for my defaulted credit card are going as planned so far, so I am hopefully still on target to try and pay it off sometime between April and June 2026 depending on how flexible they are about what percentage I need to pay to get rid of it, once and for all.

I've upped my energy direct debit from £70 to £85 a month and am hoping that will cover me through the colder months - their estimate being I should pay around £82. The October costs were £71 and I had been popping the heating on for 10 mins a day fairly frequently. I do have a credit balance of £137 currently, so should we get a cold snap (which based on my records has tended to hit the March/April bills the worst) there is some leeway there.

I use a dehumidifier for my laundry on an indoor rotary airer in my small bedroom and that runs for 8 hours 4/5 times a week. My landlady kindly replaced my faulty washing machine a year or so ago but downsized it so I find myself running more washes unfortunately, although I only use the 59 minute cycle rather than the 2 hour+ ones, and am usually at 40/30 degrees most of the time so hopefully it doesn't add too much to the bill.

I've found the trick with the dehumidifier is rotating the laundry every hour or so. Particularly for jeans and pyjama bottoms, they need to be re-hung the other way up to speed up drying, as does bedding. I also remove items as soon as they are dry so there is more airflow around the damper items. If you are able, I think it really makes a difference. I don't have a smart meter, so it's guesswork as to how expensive this is, but currently it remains very affordable in the big scheme of things.

My dehimidifier is a Brolin QT8 Quiet and Compact 8L Per Day Desiccant Dehumidifier which I got for £139 back in November 2021 and it's always run great. I only use it in laundry mode on the saving, rather than turbo setting and touch wood have had no issues with it. I do vacuum the filter every couple of weeks although there never seems to be more than a couple of specs of dust gathered.

I have also made an effort not to turn on the overhead pot lights as much, and use side lamps with low energy bulbs. As they say, every little helps.

We're looking into getting the sash windows replaced next year, so I am thinking I might try an extra layer of fabric at the windows for this year. I already have the gaps stuffed with foam strips, but am definitely feeling the chill of the Victorian building!

Am hoping my nectar points will cover most of my Christmas food requirements, only one more gift left to buy so all in all, feeling hopeful for a semi-affordable, albeit quiet festive season!

joedenise

I wash all my washing on the quick cycle - 20 minutes @40 degrees.  I soak the whites overnight before washing.  I do a longer wash every 5-6 weeks.  As long as your clothes are filthy such as football/rugby kit then the shorter wash is fine.

PostHoc25

joedenise said:

I wash all my washing on the quick cycle - 20 minutes @40 degrees.  I soak the whites overnight before washing.  I do a longer wash every 5-6 weeks.  As long as your clothes are filthy such as football/rugby kit then the shorter wash is fine.

Yes, I have a 15 min cycle or a 59 min as my shortest. The 15 min cycle only spins at 800 not 1200 rpm so sometimes I do that if I have a small wash load needed urgently, but then run the spin at 1200 which is 10 mins to get more moisture out, but hard to tell in terms of costs whether that is more efficient than the 59 min cycle which has a 1200 rpm spin built in and takes a fuller load :-)
I agree though that there is far too much concern about boiling everything clean for hours and hours on a long hot wash!

I sometimes soak my dish cloths with a milton sterilising tablet overnight if they are particularly stained, as I have found that gives good whitening, but other than that I use ecoegg and the bio-d eco bleach powder or some bicarbonate of soda. They seems to get most stains out - thankfully no sports kit to deal with! :-)

PostHoc25

Curtain update

Having done some research, the 108" (274cm) lengths needed average out to around £60 minimum for all three windows, whether I go for curtains with built in thermals or just the linings. 2 narrow windows and 1 wider one mean whether I do a pair and one single curtain or 2 pairs or door panels it's around that and up and up, simply due to the length needed - the joy of high ceilings!

My curtains are currently decorating drop cloths which proved to be excellent value to get the length I needed, I just hand stitched a hem and slid them onto curtain poles when I moved in here in 2018 and was utterly skint. But I should definitely have added some extra layers before now, I suspect I also feel the cold more these days, so it  has become more of an issue.

One very affordable option I found is a 3m x 3m panel of what is technically backdrop material used for hanging on a rail on stage or for wedding photos. It comes in ivory velvet polyester material and I could cut it into two narrow and one wide panel and hang it behind the current drop cloths to give an added layer of insulation. Cost-wise,£37 approx total to do all three windows.
The main downside is that it would be a faff to cut straight, I suspect.  I also think it will shed fibres but is definitely a cheap option. Maybe good if someone has french windows in need of a cheap amount of material to help block draughts!     Curtains | Neel Blue 3x3 Metres Curtain Backdrop, Polyester Fabric Drapes | Neel Blue

But after some more digging, I luckily found the right length at Dunelm.  £30 again + delivery for a pair of ready-made thermal lining panels. I can leave one panel intact for the large window and cut the other in half giving me 84cm approx width for each of my 60cm width windows. Hopefully adding these panels will make a difference now the temp is dipping on the regular! Might even help block a little street noise too.    Thermal Eyelet Curtain Linings | Dunelm