Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Mrs_Thrify

I have decided at the end of November to have a good look around the loft and bring down all Christmas related boxes, I have many as we have lived in this house a long time. Sort and use what we need. Use The cards and wrapping paper bought in the sales. Next invite DD(adult) around to see what she would like for her flat and then think about giving the rest that is not needed to charity and the rubbish in the bin.

Def. not buying any more in the half price sales as I need to use what I have.

rosemary54

julie_d wrote: »

I have decided at the end of November to have a good look around the loft and bring down all Christmas related boxes, I have many as we have lived in this house a long time. Sort and use what we need. Use The cards and wrapping paper bought in the sales. Next invite DD(adult) around to see what she would like for her flat and then think about giving the rest that is not needed to charity and the rubbish in the bin.

Def. not buying any more in the half price sales as I need to use what I have.

the theme at the church advent fair this year is recycling and people are asked to take in old but good decorations etc and home made jams and cakes to sell

Aril

If you have some of the modelling clay [Fimo] you can make lovely buttons from it- my sister made my some ladybirds one year and then stitched them onto a treeshaped backing that she'd made. I would think that they would be particularly effective for making buttons for little ones clothes. Having seen some of the lovely knitted children's items in the charity shop which are pristine you could also update these with new buttons and they could make good quality but thrifty presents.
My friend hauled me into Pr!mark a couple of weeks ago and much to our hilarity we discovered some erm very "tasteful" glittery thongs for men....I came home and offered to take the frugal approach and raid my stash of findings....I am sad to report that OH rejected my hm offer of stitching red sequins all over his underwear:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Shame:D:D:D
Aril

Mrs_Thrify

OK. I had an email from www.energysavingtrust.org.uk had a go on there carbon footprint calculator. My results were 3.29 in total. Can any one else do better??? there goes a challange :rotfl:.
My results action plan is to...
turn the termostat down by one degree - if that is the CH it is not even on.
Always turn the lights off when you leave the room - I often turn unneeded lights off for the whole family, just don't say anything but snap them off as I walk past an unused room.
Consider replacing your washing machine with a top rated energy saving model - mine is A pluss (just looked) and turned the light off that was left on. In dry weather use the outside line - I do that too, although do use the tumble drier in winter sometimes.
I thought I might be onto a looser with the temp of hot water tank so went to look and "no" it is set at the recomended 60 C /140F.
Does any one know what " choose a IDTV" when buying a new TV means? what is ID? I might have it but don't know. It also says to turn the brightness and contrest down on brand new TV's.
Well and on it goes......read it yourselfs.

annie123

julie_d wrote: »

OK. I had an email from www.energysavingtrust.org.uk had a go on there carbon footprint calculator. My results were 3.29 in total. Can any one else do better??? there goes a challange :rotfl:.

.

How many people is that for?

I did it for 3 adults living here and total was 7.69, but did it again without flights and it dropped a lot, but that's cheating:rolleyes:
The first bit about home use was 3.18

one of the things on the rec list was get an efficient dishwasher
I have one, its me, my kitchen sink and a cleaning pad :rotfl:

Confuzzled

julie_d wrote: »

OK. I had an email from www.energysavingtrust.org.uk had a go on there carbon footprint calculator. My results were 3.29 in total. Can any one else do better??? there goes a challange :rotfl:.
.

can you please tell me where on this page i should click for the calculator? maybe it's because i should have been in bed an hour ago but i just can't see anything about a calculator but i'd like to figure ours out, thanks

Confuzzled

ok i found it, by clicking on the 'top energy saving tips' then clicking on the 'carbon cutter' in the left hand column on that page

i'm a little shocked though, i knew we were very low but it said i had 0 carbon emissions the first time around so i thought it was broken

i then went in and changed somethings just to see if it's working and once i added in a short haul flight per year it had me at 0.22! (i used to do 1-2 a year, now my passport has expired and i can't afford a new one so i def won't be doing any for a wee while!)

mind you, i DO turn everything off at the wall when not in use, many things get unplugged, we have a very well insulated home, i'm fortunate that the appliances in this (rented) flat are B rating, but i also have electric storage heating, however i've been able to keep my monthly bills at 40.00 a month even with heat

we do use our computers a lot and the telly for about 3 hours a day but we walk almost everywhere (dumped the car years ago by choice) and take buses or trains for longer journeys. whilst it doesn't give you the option of showing that you use mostly low energy appliances in the household vs the oven my oven here is induction (big energy saver or so the site says) and i never ever ever dry clothes in a dryer (actually haven't had access to one in years anyway) all clothes get washed at 30degrees and i only do 2 loads a week

this is for 1 adult and 1 child (who is thankfully well trained in energy saving skills ) still i think i might go back again tomorrow and try again just to see if it's off... the second pass i even changed the energy efficiency of the house to no cavity wall (though i'm 90% sure it does have it) and to the lowest loft insulation of 12 (i know it has it, i don't know how much but it looked thick so i put it at 50 the first time) and that still didn't raise me above the 0 mark...

has anyone else gotten a weird result like this? i'm no saint so i'm wondering if it's actually broken!

rosemary54

Confuzzled wrote: »

ok i found it, by clicking on the 'top energy saving tips' then clicking on the 'carbon cutter' in the left hand column on that page

i'm a little shocked though, i knew we were very low but it said i had 0 carbon emissions the first time around so i thought it was broken

i then went in and changed somethings just to see if it's working and once i added in a short haul flight per year it had me at 0.22! (i used to do 1-2 a year, now my passport has expired and i can't afford a new one so i def won't be doing any for a wee while!)

mind you, i DO turn everything off at the wall when not in use, many things get unplugged, we have a very well insulated home, i'm fortunate that the appliances in this (rented) flat are B rating, but i also have electric storage heating, however i've been able to keep my monthly bills at 40.00 a month even with heat

we do use our computers a lot and the telly for about 3 hours a day but we walk almost everywhere (dumped the car years ago by choice) and take buses or trains for longer journeys. whilst it doesn't give you the option of showing that you use mostly low energy appliances in the household vs the oven my oven here is induction (big energy saver or so the site says) and i never ever ever dry clothes in a dryer (actually haven't had access to one in years anyway) all clothes get washed at 30degrees and i only do 2 loads a week

this is for 1 adult and 1 child (who is thankfully well trained in energy saving skills ) still i think i might go back again tomorrow and try again just to see if it's off... the second pass i even changed the energy efficiency of the house to no cavity wall (though i'm 90% sure it does have it) and to the lowest loft insulation of 12 (i know it has it, i don't know how much but it looked thick so i put it at 50 the first time) and that still didn't raise me above the 0 mark...

has anyone else gotten a weird result like this? i'm no saint so i'm wondering if it's actually broken!

I spotted this thread and had a go at the calculator whilst eating breakfast and was shocked to get a score of 13.8 total,10.8 of which was for the house.When I thought about it I can see how i am supposed to save the planet but the cost is way beyond me(and this is a money saving site afterall!)

I live in an old cottage so no loft or cavity walls,I can't afford any of the alternative methods of producing energy,we have 1 bus an hour till 8 p.m and none on sunday so I need a car,whilst my appliances work I cannot afford to replace with more energy efficient ones etc etc etc!!!!!

We did get double glazing for the front of the house(not by choice but because the government insists on new windows being double glazed)It took over 2 years to get a firm willing to take on the difficult job(old cottage clunch walls)and cost us £4K for 4 windows!!!!......no help from the government.

I try my best to help save the planet and recycle like mad ,turn off lights,buy local,grow my own etc etc but it seeems the major ways of carbon cutting costs far too much for the average family so maybe the government should do much more to help?

blueberrypie

julie_d wrote: »

OK. I had an email from www.energysavingtrust.org.uk had a go on there carbon footprint calculator. My results were 3.29 in total. Can any one else do better??? there goes a challange :rotfl:.

My household total was 8.5. It was lower than the national average for my home, a *lot* lower than average for travel, and over average for appliances - but there are eight of us in this household, and many of the questions didn't allow me to give accurate answers, or didn't ask about *how* the appliances are used.

These calculator things always irritate me, because they don't apply very well to households which differ from the average.

The recommendations it gave me:

- install a condensing boiler and underfloor heating - the latter would involve tearing up and replacing ceramic tiles and wood floors. Very energy-saving, I'm sure.

- turn down the thermostat by 1 degree - it's already at its lowest comfortable point (but the calculator never asked about that). My electricity bills probably seem higher than average on that calculator, but there are eight of us and seven of us are here most of the day.

- in dry weather use an outside line rather than your dryer - I very rarely use the dryer - maybe once or twice a month - but had to put once a week because that was the lowest the calculator would allow. My laundry is already hung outside when possible, and it's hung indoors (in the garage, so it's not causing condensation) when the weather is wet.

- fill your dishwasher up and use the economy setting more often - I probably got that advice because I use my dishwasher every day. But it is full every day, and I already almost always use the economy setting.

- avoid leaving electrical equipment on standby - the only thing that is regularly left on standby is my laptop, and that's because I use it frequently throughout the day.

- walk, bike, car-share or use public transport - the only public transport around here is a bus that goes past the end of the road twice in the morning (both times before 8) and twice in the late afternoon. Even if there were more buses, it would soon bankrupt me to use it with six children. I do have a large car, but I do very little mileage in it - no commuting, no school runs (we home-educate) - my mileage for last year was under 4000. And it's pretty much *never* driven with only a driver in it - most of the time there are four or five or six children in it. They ask what I do for journeys less than a mile - I never make any journeys that are less than a mile - partly because I'm organised enough to do lots of shopping and other errands in one trip! How do you compare that to my friend who drives a brand-new small car but commutes to work on her own and does school-runs with one child, and who does at least four times my annual mileage?

- consider using your microwave more frequently - when cooking large quantities, which I do (feeding eight people!), the microwave isn't more efficient.

I'm not buying a new tv (and the one I've got was given to me second-hand), so the only recommendation that I possibly could do would be to install a condensing boiler - which I probably will, but not until my current boiler needs replaced!

*wanders off muttering about stupid calculators and their irrelevant advice* ;-)

Mrs_Thrify

annie123 wrote: »

How many people is that for?

I did it for 3 adults living here and total was 7.69, but did it again without flights and it dropped a lot, but that's cheating:rolleyes:
The first bit about home use was 3.18

one of the things on the rec list was get an efficient dishwasher
I have one, its me, my kitchen sink and a cleaning pad :rotfl:

Annie, that is for 4 adults( mum & dad and 2 adult children) and one large dog.
My results were 1.57 home, 1.5 appliances and 0.22 travel.

I think the appliances can come down a bit as I entered a C for washing machine, before I looked and found it was A pluss.

Got told off for taking the plane once a year and asked if we could use other methods of transport, Er... no! we holiday in the Canaries most years.

I do not have a car though and sometimes use the local bus.
We do have 2 cars in the house hold though, Oh & DD's so I should may be admit to that?

I thought people would like to have a bit of fun and open our eyes to the results too. Julie