No Waste Like home

Zziggi

i'd love to keep chickens.....

Mr_Proctalgia

I too was a bit 6 and two 3's about the programme, I am sure (I bloody well hope so) that they are not a "normal" family. I cannot fill a swing bin in two weeks, and that washing OMG - Did any of you catch the bit where she says she does an EMPTY wash at 95 to clean the machine. What a prat!

I liked the composter/wormery but my worms would soon be very thin and starve and leave for better pastures. ( I learned my lessons from my mother - Now peel the peelings - smack LOL)

I dunno really - Unless you have been up to your neck in it and in serious financial straights it is hard to learn serious money saving, I've been there, got the Tee shirt, so, am very wary about spending to save, my preference is to save by not spending. I'm doing serious research about solar heating, photo voltaic stuff and greywater now, got a gas powered car so am wondering where to go next. However I do think that solar water will be next.

Gingham_Ribbon

I think you're right about the not spending to save. Although a composter for me would be mainly for environmental reasons. Give me a couple of years though and I'll have gathered a plethora of pots to grow things in and will be able to use the compost!

VickyA_2

I felt that they rushed through the second week, when they cut back even more. I thought that it might have even more of an effect on them.......... but we didn't get to see much of it - or was that just me?

I couldn't help but feel smug too. We recycle everything that we can. We don't have a composter because we're in a rented house and not staying here for much longer. One day, when we have our own place we'll have a composter though as I'll be busy growing my own veg!

squeaky

The thing is - the program mostly listed the "what" but didn't say all that much about the "how".

Reduce the grocery bill? Yes, they clearly bought less, (but they never mentioned budgeting skills or shopping skills), used more without chucking so much away - yet not a single handy tip on how to use the leftovers - just an instruction to use them.

Fine as an overview - but I'm not sure how informative it was.

Jet

I agree squeaky, i was really looking forward to learning a few money saving tips, but was sadly disappointed.

I was infuriated at how wasteful those people were, when some of us have no choice but to turn the heating off and be cold! And there are people starving in the world - what a disgrace to see all that food go to waste! :mad: And all that washing...........

Unless I missed it, they didn't say how much it cost to install the solar panels and all the other bits and pieces - I bet it wasn't cheap.

RE: energy saving lightbulbs. All but 1 of the light fittings in my house are modern spotlight type fittings (not my choice, they were here when I moved in), so I can't change to low energy bulbs unless I change the fittings. Unless anyone knows any different?

Loadsabob

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

I wondered if a composter smells a bit as my yard is quite small and we like to eat outside...

Mine is about 2 metres from my kitchen door, right oposite. I often have the door open, and when I walk past each day I don't even get so much as a whiff of the composter. I only take the lid off to put stuff in. And though I can smell the compost then, it doesn't smell like bins, because the worst culprits for smells from bins are the leftovers from cooked food, and everything in the composter is raw, so eventually smells a bit earthy and not really yuk even when you take the lid off.

squeaky

Jet wrote:

I agree squeaky, I was really looking forward to learning a few money saving tips, but was sadly disappointed.

Thank you for agreeing I was a bit disappointed too. I hardly expected them to surprise me, given all the tips I've read here, but there were very few practical tips at all.

Unless I missed it, they didn't say how much it cost to install the solar panels and all the other bits and pieces - I bet it wasn't cheap.

They very carefully didn't say

RE: energy saving light bulbs. All but 1 of the light fittings in my house are modern spotlight type fittings (not my choice, they were here when I moved in), so I can't change to low energy bulbs unless I change the fittings. Unless anyone knows any different?

That depends - there are quite a few low voltage and low wattage lighting systems around so yours might be one of them.

See if you can remove a bulb and read the voltage and wattage written on it.

tr3mor

The program itself was pretty crap, they should've made an hour out of it, actually showed what they did to reduce bills / good ways of saving money, and that chicken coop wasn't exactly the epitome of energy saving, i dread to thing how much oil was used in making the plastic. i'd have also liked more info about the solar heating panels too.

Jet - Ikea do some energy saving spotlights now, they're very good, but take a little time to warm up. When they have the light from them is just as good if not better than the normal spotlights.

margaretclare

Hi all

It's not essential to have the kind of composter that you bury. Our council were supplying them @ £9 each and they're just a Dalek-like plastic bin with tight-fitting lid. You stand them on bare earth and the worms find their way in no problem. Also woodlice and other creepy-crawlies that are necessary to do their job!

There are wormeries that have a tap at the bottom for releasing plant-food, and you buy the worms by post.

None of these things smell at all!

Aunty Margaret