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Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Awesome August Frugaleers..

999 replies

Laska42 · 29/07/2015 18:17

Blimey.. It's August Already (nearly) Grin

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

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OP posts:
Pointlessfan · 03/08/2015 12:13

Fuzz and Pink I hope you are both OK.
The fuel bill plot thickens... when I looked again it had changed from being £74 in debit to £125 in credit! I think perhaps the dd had transferred between the first and second time I looked.
For the time being I've reduced the dd back down to £95 a month which is a bit better than it was. I expect my use will increase slightly the autumn as I'll be part time and home 2 extra days a week so will probably use more heating and lighting as winter draws in. The £125 credit should be a buffer against that now anyway. We are in a contract until Jan but the get out fee is only a fiver so it still might be worth switching. I'm also thinking of paying to get thermostats put on all the radiators, I'll wait until the boiler is serviced in November and see if the heating man can do it all in one go to avoid two call out fees.
peppa I can't see how water would be any more complicated than gas/electric. I don't really understand how we can change suppliers anyway, surely it comes from the same power station, down the same wires???
Going to have lunch then get onto insurance company - I really know how to enjoy myself don't I?!

colliewobbles83 · 03/08/2015 12:28

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Lovetoknit · 03/08/2015 12:30

need I am sorry to hear your sad news

Very busy day yesterday, had to rescue our oil tank from the hedge before it causes any damage. Went to family fun day, dd had a great time climbing the wall 4 times and younger dd tried archery for the first time. Went to beach afterwards.
Ds has summer school this week for 3 days to help him settle at the new school. Had to pay £50 but should be good for him as he is very shy and find it really hard to fit in.

Harvested 6 cucumbers from my greenhouse yesterday, does anybody have a good recipe for pickling/preserving them?
Garden has been hit and miss this year so far, I think it's the weather.

TheOnlyPink · 03/08/2015 12:50

No idea what caused me to faint! Feel fine now! Had been really tired, and ny dad commented on me looking awful on thurs, so don't know if it's connected. My poor dh got an awful fright. Thanks so much for all your well wishes though!

fuzz you poor thing. I haven't been here long enough to know how bad your illness is, but remember you saying that you were afraid you might have to give up work altogether. Really hope it doesn't come to that. Hope this bout is over soon.

pointless that's really odd. Definitely needs them to explain how they are coming up with their numbers.

toblerone welcome!! Best of luck with the house! It is hard to budget when things are all over the place.

Was going to hang my washing out, but it looks like it's going to rain any minute. My fb feed was full of people with fires lighting last night! My neighbours but up a kind of roof over their washing line. I'm seriously considering doing the same!

girliefriend · 03/08/2015 13:21

I think the roof thing over a washing line is genius, for days like today would be perfect. My washing is out but am assuming will be dashing to get it in any min as sky looking very ominous!

Fuzz I'm sorry to hear you are still not feeling great, which condition do you have (sorry I can't remember Blush)

Going to log on and check my account in a mo, most of my DDs come out on the 1st which is great. I get paid on the 27th, the one that throws things out is my rent which seems slightly random. It can be any day in the first week of the month Confused annoying as that is the biggest payment!

Peppa that doesn't surprise me about the water companies, they are completely ripping pole off imo and there seems to be very little anyone can do about it! It is awful that we get no choice at all about our supplier, if there is no competition there is no incentive at all for them to keep prices down surely!!

Pink do you faint a lot? You are not pregnant are you?! Wink Grin I managed to faint at a patients house Shock when i was pregnant with dd!! Totally mortifying as no one at that point even knew I was pregnant. Have also fainted getting up in the night when dd was poorly, poor dd was completely freaked out and I was fortunate not to knock myself out as went down like a ton of bricks! Think it must be a low Bp problem or something.

Having a quiet day today, friend came over this morning with her little boy and we went to the park. Now chilling out on the sofa, need to do a tip trip later but am determined not to buy anything in the reuse shop!!

SpottyTeacakes · 03/08/2015 13:33

My washing is out. We've had a few very quick, light showers but not enough to wet the washing. Hopefully it'll be dry soon.

Fluffycloudland77 · 03/08/2015 13:35

Pointless, how much are you paying per month on each fuel?.

Do you know how many units of each fuel you use each month?.

Check the thermostat on the waters not set above 60.

ipsos · 03/08/2015 13:37

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girliefriend · 03/08/2015 13:42

O.kay quick question, dd wants me to get MineCraft for her on the laptop. Have just seen that it is £17.95 Shock is that right?? Is it in anyway worth it??

ipsos · 03/08/2015 13:51

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574ejones · 03/08/2015 14:09

Back from my French holidays. Only used my debit card a little bit when over there so pleased that I stuck to my rough budget. Bought loads of Dolce Gusto pods back as they are much cheaper there.

Spent just under £20 on some plants and seeds as I thought the front garden looked a bit sad. £39 food shop for this week.

Have read half the thread, now going to catch up.

ipsos · 03/08/2015 14:15

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Pointlessfan · 03/08/2015 14:17

fluffy it said to check the thermostat on the water on the Eon website too - how would I do that please?
I can't seem to find out how much I'm paying for each one, the website has me going round in circles.
Insurance will cough up for our wash basin and the poor man has just spend ages explaining our policy to me. It's actually a lot better than I thought it was!

colliewobbles83 · 03/08/2015 14:33

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colliewobbles83 · 03/08/2015 14:33

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peppapissinpig · 03/08/2015 14:45

Girlie we bought Minecraft PC for DS at £19.99 Shock, only for it not to download properly. DH then spend days emailing the game maker to get a refund (which to be fair he did eventually).

If you can just check it will load onto you PC

girliefriend · 03/08/2015 14:55

Ipsos people with good computer skills are always in demand, I think you should set yourself up a little business/ consultancy work. Can work for yourself, do the hours you want etc

Peppa I am shocked at how much it costs, from what I can see the Graphics are rubbish Grin she will have to wait till another month I think as can't afford it this month. I have a Mac so it should down load o.kay I think? Can anyone recommend any free/very cheap games dd might like she is 9yo?

SpottyTeacakes · 03/08/2015 15:21

£1:35 on sweets at the shop (this came out of our summer holiday fund)

This morning we went to a friends for coffee, came home for lunch then walked to the shop where the dc chose some sweets. They played in the garden until just now and they're about to watch despicable me. Dinner is sausages, mash, yorkshires, stuffing balls, veg and gravy. Smile

Pink hope you're ok. Apparently some people are just fainters but I think you should get it checked out.

fuzzpig · 03/08/2015 15:59

Thanks folks, sorry I was feeling frightfully wallowy earlier Blush I have the helpfully named (Hmm) chronic fatigue syndrome (aka M.E.), which is what's flaring up at the moment, and something called POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) which basically means when I'm upright my heart rate goes really high and my blood pressure drops, which causes dizziness, fainting etc. I have 'reasonable adjustments' at work like having a chair at the points my colleagues stand, but unfortunately during bad phases even those aren't enough to make work possible. Sucks, as I love my job.

Speaking of fainting, Pink I agree see the doctor, at the very least is your blood pressure too low?

We are also thinking of getting Minecraft now we have a decent laptop, but we are waiting until the house is nearer the state we want it to be in. Long way to go yet. We all want to play as a family so it's a strong incentive for us to keep decluttering and organising (slowly).

girliefriend · 03/08/2015 16:11

Just been on the phone to EE/orange as noticed still been charged the old amount, spoke to a nice lady who said that because my contact went over late in the month my new contract won't start till next month. However I should be due a refund of some sort so that is good. Glad I rang, this thread gives me confidence to challenge things like that!

Fuzz that sounds rubbish, I suffer with ibs/headaches/tiredness/anxiety and during a bad flare up doing anything is such hard work. Hope you start to feel better soon Flowers

Dd been playing out with local kids all morning but managed to fall out with one of them so is in now watching Legends of the Guardians!

Fluffycloudland77 · 03/08/2015 16:23

pointless

On your immersion tank there should be a round plastic cover secured with a screw. Switch off the power to the tank and unscrew it. There should be a little dial you turn using a flat head screw driver. Ours is at 50c but 55-60c is the norm.

Every house we have moved into has always been set to 70c.

If you have a tank that you can heat off the boiler or the electric then switch the electric off. Heat it for 20 mins before you need it. A gas boiler should heat a well insulated tank in 20m. If when you open the cupboard door a lot of heat comes out then it isn't insulated enough and you need to add another red tank jacket to put over the original and 20mm thick pipe insulation on the pipes that get warm. If the tank is solid coloured metal it is insulated from the inside, you just need to do the pipes.

Things that use lots of electric;

Eclectic ovens
Hairdryers
Vacuum cleaners (unless you have a new one subject the new eu regs which will be cheaper to run)
Plasma tv and older lcd tv.
Halogen lightbulbs.
Washing at 60. I wash most things on cold after seeing on here that the clothes would still get clean.
The 70c cycle on a dishwasher.
Overfilling kettles
Immersion heaters. Our builders left ours on so the first week I had boiling water 24/7 until I cottoned on. I have it switched off at the consumer unit to make sure it doesn't get put on accidentally.

Things that we think use lots of electric but don't include phone and tablet charger, They use a penny to charge overnight, induction hobs use a lot less power than halogen/ceramic hobs and have timers so they can be programmed to switch off.

If you have a gas oven then that will be really cheap to run. If you have an electric oven consider a halogen oven. It cooks quicker and you're only heating 12-19l. My oven is inbuilt so it's quite small but it still has 53l of space to heat and a 2kw element.

You will have to ring them to ask them to clarify how much you use of each fuel. I am sure you probably never want to ring them again ever but it's worth asking, they should be able to calculate it while you are on the line.

If you don't have an electricity monitor then buy one, our old one was £10 but it pinpointed the high consumption devices.

At the moment our gas usage is £3 a month to heat the tank when we need hot water, roughly every other day as dh is taking showers. By contrast someone I know pays £85 a month because they wash up by hand and take very long showers every day.

If you have a combi boiler and a mixer tap anywhere then the boiler will momentarily fire up every time you run the COLD tap. This is because it's anticipating you will need hot water as well. If it's a newish boiler it should be safe to switch off when you don't use it.

If the boiler hasn't been serviced then now is the time to get it done, it will improve efficiency.

I will catch up later.

Pointlessfan · 03/08/2015 16:32

Thanks fluffy, I'll investigate the hot water tank when I am feeling brave enough to reenter the garage after Saturday's mouse/spider episode! I think we heat the water for an hour a day which probably is too much for DD's very shallow bath and the washing up! I'm quite strict about energy use otherwise, I even switch off the shower at the wall every time so that the little red light isn't left on all day!!
We do have an electric oven unfortunately.

TheOnlyPink · 03/08/2015 16:33

girlie my ds1 is getting minecraft for his birthday on Friday. My reason for getting it is that all the other children have it, and it's extremely popular. Ds has some social issues, so I think any help I can give him to have something in common with the others is a good thing. Plus I was one of the kids who never had the "cool" stuff, so I'm very sensitive to it. My ds will be 8 tho, and I think that's old enough. I may think differently if he was younger!

fuzz Flowers that sounds really terrible, I'm so sorry to hear it's getting you down atm (although totally understandable!!) Flowers really hope you feel better soon!

Definitely not pregnant!!! I have always had low blood pressure, it was 110/60 I think, the last time I was checked a few months ago. But I never actually faint! Feel fine now tho, like nothing's happened. Although poor dh is fussing, which is really sweet.

Spent €23 at the cinema, and the minion movie was rubbish. Ds didn't enjoy it either, they didn't seem to be funny like in despicable me!
Having a proper roast dinner today, chicken, mash, broccoli, carrots and mushy peas. Smile

ipsos · 03/08/2015 16:54

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needastrongone · 03/08/2015 17:17

Thank you all again for your kindness. We've had the doctor out again today, but MIL doesn't want to go back into hospital, so there's little we can do. I avoided talking about it with SIL, although I have worked today, so only popped in.

unescorted No, I wouldn't think you would come over as uncaring, just pragmatic.

Minecraft fascinated DS for a year or so. Prior to that it was Club Penguin, if that even exists still, we had loads of toy puffles in the house Smile now, it's probably COD or Clash of Clans.

£1 spent today on a chocolate bar, as I parked in the M&S car park to do the company banking and had guilt!

pink Poor you fainting! I once bashed my head into a cupboard and felt everyone was looking at DH in a suspicious way until the mahoosive black eye faded.

ipsos Well done on your DS not giving in to temptation!

Welcome toblerone

peppa The charges for soft drinks are insane aren't they?