Your best food & heating saving tips

[welshbyrd]

Last few days, I have come across 2 threads about expensive food/gas/electric have become, a lot of Mnrs have replied to these thread, like me, are scared about winter food/bills shooting up

In my situation Im all ready stretched to the max, so really am dreading this winter in the UK, I have looked up a few weather predicting sites, they are all saying this winter is going to be worse, than the last four

From reading these threads I know Im not alone is being worried.Some very kind poster mailed me the £30 a week meal planner, I really am truly grateful
Has anyone else got any money saving idea/experience that can make mine and other Mnrs winter more bearable?

OMG is this winter really going to be that bad??? I best get my nan some hot water bottles, and thermal pjs and stock up our home too.

Excellent thread, I've just checked my gas/leccy prices on one of the price comparison websites mentioned on MoneySavingExpert and found that I can save over £300 quid a year if I switch. I'm planning on using the money I save to have MUG tattooed on my forehead!

Turn the water temp down on your boiler - it's usually far hotter than you really need it.

Use cash more often and leave your cards at home.

Eat one or two non meat dinners a week.

"Pay your bills only when you receive the final reminder (or court action threat letter if you are brave!). This helps cashflow (basic accounting - big businesses do it)."

Not wanting to pee on your advice but I really, really wouldnt recomend that. Say it takes 3 months for that final reminder or court action to come through, you then have to find 3 months worth of that particular bill instead of just the one.

Also, if you do have debts, and are in a position to, ask them how much they will accept to have it payed in full. (this usually works if the bill has been passed on to another debt collector) you may find they will either give you a very generous discount or offer you a payment plan which wont leave you scrabbling for pennies at the end of the month.

Forget energy bills, the big bills are plumbing problems. Anybody know how I can save money getting my boiler fixed? The guarantee hasn't run out but the last service was more than a year ago, so guarantee is void. The boiler is only 1.5 years old. I only know plumbers that charge lots and lots. It might be a circuit problem - what will that cost me, any ideas?

Be careful about turning water thermosts down. A temperature of 55- 60 degrees is required in hot water systems to kill off legionella bacteria ( though not necessarily continuously). Better off making sure cylinders and pipework are well lagged.

There is a brilliant thread on MSE at the moment (in the Old Style Moneysaving forum) about preparing for winter.

It's about 200 pages long, but there are some really excellent tips. I now have a list, and am feeling less concerned than I was a week ago.

*There is a brilliant thread on MSE at the moment (in the Old Style Moneysaving forum) about preparing for winter.

It's about 200 pages long, but there are some really excellent tips. I now have a list, and am feeling less concerned than I was a week ago.*

Ooh-post the list, post the list! Please!

Alphabettyspag - not wanting to "pee on your advice" either (how charming!) but paying bills later makes the difference between your bank balance hovering around £0 - putting you at risk of incurring bank charges,
or hovering around £100 - a helpful buffer zone in case of problems or emergencies.

I guess so Chicken..you are right. It just seems more stress and hassle than needed but if there is no other option and the bank charges are extortionate sometimes I can see how that works.

My tips are:
make lots of soups - the butcher will often give you bones to make stock with for pennies or for free (tell them it is for the dog if you have to)! Then add any veg that is going off or which you can buy cheaply (sat late afternoon at the market is a good time). Make huge vats of it and bag and freeze.

Milk puddings are filling and very good value - rice pudding, custard, bread and butter pudding etc

If you put the oven on for anything, then fill it up don't run it for only a couple of things. I usually fill the space with home made bread and jacket pots. You can then warm the jackets up in the micro very quickly if needs be.

Rice is cheap and easy to cook with. Make lots of it and add very small amounts of meat e.g. stir fries, savoury rice, rice and peas, rice salad.

If you buy herbs then put them straight into the freezer - you can then add them frozen directly into food and it saves a lot of wastage.

Check your fridge contents daily - anything going off or near to its use by date, can be put in the freezer or used to make soups and casseroles. My goal for the next few months is not to have to throw any food out - arrgghhh!

The film you can put over windows to keep out draughts works very well.
I keep meaning to make a draughts excluder snake thing for the front door but until I do I use old cushions to keep out the freezing winter winds that blow straight up the stairs.
I put clothes racks in the kitchen when cooking to benefit from all that heat. Also move them into the hot sunny rooms when the sun shines.
All in one fleece jammies for the younger children help if they kick off the covers at night.

ChickenLickn / AlphaBetty... debatable about whether waiting for final demand would help. In some cases a charge may be added (on a following bill) for admin charge (sending letter warning of cut-off / court action) and in any case, over course of year, fairly sure better discounts made for customers paying monthly by DD so delaying payment not an option.

If I wasn't expecting to move I'd switch supplier. British Gas charges 20% more for electricity here (N Wales) than in Humberside, and there are differences region by region for other firms, but lots of people don't think about switching. It would make little sense for me to switch as I'd have penalties to pay if I had to close account (eg if property only had electric for heating and cooking). KWH comparisons mean gas cheaper than electric for same output, so would suggest boiling kettle on gas if you have choice (and then use thermos, as more efficient to boil fewer times per day).

greentea is that in stored water tanks? I was talking about combi boilers - don't have a hot water tank. We turned the hot water to just below 60 to stop DS getting burned.

have heating on low all the time 16-17 if it is below freezing outside may need 18

This is not how heating should work.

It doesn't matter how cold it is outside, if you set your heating to 16 degrees it should heat your house to 16 degrees (too cold IMO, but it's your choice). If you set it to 18 degrees it should heat the house to 18 degrees. It should come on automatically if the temperature drops below what you have specified and go off once the house reaches the correct temperature, maintaining a constant-ish temperature within a couple of degrees.

If you have to set your heating higher because it is colder outside then you are not setting it to a number of degrees you are just setting it to an arbitrary "make it quite warm" or "make it hot" setting.

It's like the difference between air conditioning and climate control in a car. Air conditioning will blow cold air at you, you can choose from quite cold to very cold. Heating will blow hot air at you, you can choose from warm to hot. Climate control you pick a temperature and the car will blow as much cold or hot air as needed until the thermostat senses that it has reached the right temperature, then it will stop. If the temperature changes it will come on again and do the appropriate thing (hot or cold) to change the temperature back to what you have specified.

Gosh the OP on that MSE thread!

My response in bold to the first 5 points.

1. Sweep the Chimneys and clean out the grates fully, repairing any cracks with fire cement. Chimney sweep costs £60! We don't use the fire too much so won't bother.
2. Sort out the snuggly duvets ready to go to the cleaners. Send Duvets to the cleaners? How much does that cost? WTF!!
3. Check the winter wardrobes, who needs what in the way of coats, jumpers, boots, slippers, wooly socks etc. What's the matter with last years' stuff?
4. Ordered a generator so when we get the inevitable power cuts we can at least keep the freezer going. Don't open the freezer in the event of a power cut, it'll be OK for days - how the fuck much does a generator cost?
5. Make sure we have some nice heavy thick curtains for the windows and doors (our double glazing is a council special...crap) New curtains too??

Haven't had chance to read the whole thread yet.

We are lucky to have separate thermostats for upstairs & downstairs so I can switch all the heating off upstairs at once. Worth considering for anyone upgrading/replacing their heating system.

We set our central heating timer to come on in the morning for an hour. At around 7pm it switches on & back off again for a minute or two. This setting is so that if we have knocked on the heating to continuous during the day it automatically gets turned off again at 7pm - that way it doesn't get left on for hours on end by accident. We used to have it come on for when we came in from work but we found we were coming home at such random times that it wasn't worth it. We switch it on for an hour when we get in now.

In the winter I have fleeces & blankets around the place so we can get snuggly on the settee without the central heating - I figure even if I can cut down for an hour or two a day it helps. Hot drinks - if I'm chilly I have a brew before I reach for the heating.

We put up a thick curtain & a draught excluder at our front door - made a huge difference TBH. I was very surprised.

In the kitchen I have the radiators off almost all year round. Cooking keeps it warm enough.

Hello this is all very useful, thanks all.

Could someone please send me the £30 meal planner that I have seen bandied around recently?

Thanks

Can I just clarify - keeping the heating on at 16 degrees all of the time - does this mean over night as well?

To those who have front door curtains: do you have one of those special rods that open with the door (portiere?) or a normal curtain rail? I haven't got space either side of the door, so just wondering if a curtain would obstruct the door opening.