August Frugaleers Part II

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Thought I would start a new one since the old one is full!

Peering head round corner to say hello. Been a rough couple weeks but climbing back on the frugal wagon. Onwards and upwards. Hope everyone's been fab...will catch up with thread

Sounds like a lovely meal plan to me spotty, especially cheesy leeks! Working days are tough aren't they for getting something nutritious on the table. We eat a lot later now the DC are teens, but by the time the dogs are walked, the pony is sorted, the washing is swapped, dishwasher emptied etc, it's very easy to slip into convenience food unless I have a weeks plan, at least a loose one.

ipsos I would find it very easy with regard to your DH. This is a typical phone conversation in our house.

DH. Hi need, you ok? How's your day? Any chance of pie and chips for tea?
me. Hi DH, all fine. No, it's risotto.
DH. Please? I really fancy pie and chips.
me. No. Risotto or starve, sorry.
DH. Ok then....

I meant to thank you all for your sun cream suggestions, so I apologise for that. I have used ultra sun and P20 for years and years, before they become more popular. I like them both but the DC now prefer cream, so I have bought the Piz Buin Once, which is my ultimate favourite, £20 a bottle but was BOGOF. That's a bottle each for a week.

collie I thought your bucket list was absolutely lovely, and brought back some lovely memories of when our DC were little. We had very little money when DH started the business (DC were 18 months and newborn, it was scary!), so all our activities were things as you suggest. That said, even last year we still did stuff like rock pooling in summer!

Should be a NSD today.

Rough menu plan for the week.

Jamie's drunk chicken and wraps with corn on the cob.
Gammon, chips, pineapple, with a fried egg on top (just fancy this!)
Frittata and spicy home-made wedges.
Beef casserole.
Vegetable curry.
Pesto pasta with extra veggies.

Hope you are ok wheely

Having a minor panic about gas / elec prices now. I never did buy a usage meter as I dont quite understand how they work. I'll have another look online today.

I have a few questions though:

When do you usually turn the heating back on? Last year it was late September for us. But the house was old and cold with huge single glazed windows. This year its a new build so hoping to wait until October.

What is your thermostats target temp in the Autumn/Winter? Ours is at 17c at the moment and its fine. It was set at 22c in the old house & it was still cold.

What time is the heating set to come on? I'm guessing early morning & evening for an hour. I doubt I can afford it so will try 30 mins each time.

How many hours are the TV and lights on every day? I have turned on the eco option on our tv. I have already told DH that it will be reading & Terry Pratchett audio books this autumn/winter as we cant afford lights and TV/youtube (not 100% sure yet)

And finally.... Is it worth turning off the BT router at the wall when we have gone to bed? Will it use much energy?

really sorry about all of the questions! I'm a worrier!

This will be our first winter without wooden windows I'm hoping it'll make a difference. We try to hold out with heating until October. It just depends on the weather. We have storage heaters so don't have any of the options you have.

When do you usually turn the heating back on? I think that the trick is to keep it off for as long as possible (obviously) but then turn it off again as soon as possible. So, if the weather turns nice again after a couple of days, or you're all out all day, turn the heating off. Don't think of it going on and then staying on until March kind of thing. This is a working hypothesis what do you all think?

I'm new to thermostats this year and I think it was set to 19C.

I too am interested in the router question. I can't help but think it's the kind of thing that should be left on (and I turn my alarm clock off during the day!).

Ipsos I'm also interested in your usage question. I've been recording electric and gas units daily. My daily usage with no washing machine, dish washer, hoover or oven is 2 units of electric a day. Gas is a trickier thing, I use very little gas but the units are converted in to Kilo Watt Hours for billing purposes and it's an equation which requires at least one coefficient that appears to change.

Hello all, just catching up this thread has been busy since ystd evening!

I have storage heaters as well and my plan is to keep them off till at least mid sept october. My problem is that i haven't got a tumble dryer so if it is wet for a few days I struggle to get washing dry. Today looks like it will chuck it down all day and i have bedding to wash

There is an ambulance station open day on later so going to go and have a look at that for something to do, will do some baking later as well I think.

I am now wondering if I should turn my radio alarm off during the day as I had noticed the plug gets quite warm so is using a fair bit of energy? My gas usage is low as only have the gas oven but my electric use is very high due to storage heaters and a night storage heater water tank.

Meal plan this week....

Tonight sausage roast
Mon pizza with salad and new pots
Tues pittas with bacon/tuna and salad and chips
Wed Salmon with pesto, rice and veg
Thus Spaghetti Bolognese
Fri the same!

I normally wait as long as I possibly can before putting the heating on and when it first starts to get chilly I just put it on for an hour in the evening to warm the house up, put jumpers etc on while it's warming and then switch it off. I don't usually put it on the timer until about Oct half term and then just for an hour in the morning and two in the evening. Thermostat is set to about 18-19 but it's ancient and I'm not sure it's very accurate.
I'm another one who would like an energy monitor but doesn't really understand how they work! I think if I new the cost each time I used an appliance it would make me think twice.

Collie I cant find any info that gives a definite answer on the broadband hubs usage, I found one site that said it was 8w. So roughly the same as a small energy saving bulb. I still switch it off overnight and when I go out for fire safety as much as anything else. I switched the door bell off months ago. People can knock.

Do remember when the energy bills started to rise and the CEO of Npower said the cheapest unit is the one you don't use? he was right. He's on £600K a year though so his energy bill is probably not worrying him.

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/domestic/ This is an excellent site.

[[http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub]] This is whole of market, no deals are hidden.

Need I have those conversations with my dh too.

I try to keep our heating off as long as possible but dh puts it on. He has thermal tops that I make him wear. We only heat the room we are in. Bedrooms only go on if we are actually in them, same for bathrooms. Mainly I heat the kitchen/diner because that's where we end up.

Collie If your in a new build now it should cost a lot less to run because it will be insulated to current building regs. We were told by our builders not to store anything in the loft because it reduces the insulating properties.

I'm going to have a go at programming our heating to come on for 45 minutes and switch off for 15 minutes every hour after 5pm. It will mimic the action of a chop-cloc device then. I think we will be able to have it on for half an hour and off for half an hour eventually.

The oven, tumble dryers, irons, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and hobs will be the biggest consumers in a house.

I don't run things with a clock like the microwave or oven unless I'm using them after reading on Moneysavingexpert that it can cost more to run the clock on a microwave over a year than it costs to use it to heat the food in a year.

Modern LED tv sets dont cost much to run compared to Plasma screens. Old cathode ray tv's are about 200w.

ipsos reading your posts, it's like you are living such a similar life to me. We bought our house in 2008, and was in chaos of ttc health problems, poorly baby, dh health problems and ds 1 special needs. It's only now I'm able to breathe and consider how to run things economically and get organised. It's terrible that you are having such a hard time, but it's good to know I'm not alone!

collie I got an app from the Irish energy company, that tells you how much it costs to run all the appliances in your house. The prices will be in Euro so not accurate for you, but I could post some of the more expensive items like oven and tumble drier and things like router and tv, just to give you a general idea?
Eg the oven, if you use it for an hour a week, that would cost €1.43 per bill. Using an electric hob for 1 hour a week would cost €1.51 per bill. 1 load a week in the tumble drier costs €6.05 per bill. 1 hour of tv per week would cost €0.14 per bill. 1 hour of the sky box being switched on would cost €0.03 per bill. 1 hour of the router being on costs €0.01 per bill.
Our bills are every 2 months. Hope that helps a little bit for comparison of how expensive things are to run.

We are off to a free festival today, hoping the rain forecast doesn't materialise! Need to get dh New wipers for his car too.

It's pouring here. Dh treated us to Costa and I paid a 60p library fine

I switch off the microwave but have to oven clock on as I use it when cooking, am I best to switch it off?

I've stopped drying and straightening my hair mainly out of laziness and I always switch the kettle off before it does it itself.

We have the heaters on in the dc's bedroom, kitchen and sitting room. We have two in the sitting room but only use the second if it gets really cold, it doesn't help that our front door opens into the sitting room and the stairs go up from there too as there's no hallway.

Thanks for your responses everyone. I am a little in shock about the microwave clock thing. We turn our oven off at the wall so little hands can't switch the oven on by mistake (which happened last month!) So at least we have saved in that respect as it has a clock. But never once thought about the microwave clock.

And also the doorbell..... I never even questioned whether it was mains or not. I suppose I thought the little doorbell fairies were chiming away for me. I'm so clueless sometimes.

Just about to phone Scottish Power for the 6th time trying to find out why they wont set up an account for us. I'm concerned that we will be on an emergency tarrif once they finally bill us

They arent open on a Sunday. So DH will try tomorrow. I handed the task over to him....

spotty I've also stopped using hair dryers (expensive to run) and straighteners (laziness).

theonlypink that app sounds brilliant!

Just wish I had an actual account with Scottish Power so I could see what tarriff we would be on. They just seem so useless when new builds are actually purchased. I am going to email our developer. I wonder if they need to "sign off" some random paperwork informing the suppliers that its no longer a building site.

Although all other utility providers were fuss free.

I used a similar tactic to Need with my DH and his ideas about food ipso, twice

He arrived home one lunchtime while I was dishing up a colourful veg risotto for DDs, they were toddlers. He said "interesting, not what I normally eat" so I told him I'd made it for DDs but he was welcome to have some. Or not.

Few years later, after realising that he and I both have a problem with gluten I did a Mexican style pork dish with tacos, he said he didn't like it before he even tasted so I told him- okay,don't eat it - and I carried on enjoying my food.

I operate a zero tolerance policy - gluten taken into account obvs- with him because he comes from a family where when MIL tried something s little different FIL pushed his plate away and said "where is my dinner ?" And MIL jumped up and scurried back to the kitchen to cook a "proper" dinner for him

Today should be an NSD. Tomorrow the dishwasher and some kitchen lights are being fitted.

at a poo in the swimming pool. Glad they refunded to cost of the lesson.

Fluffy I agree, the energy companies should not be allowed to charge a higher rate for metered usage.

I think it must be very hard to save money if you have to cook different meals for every member of the family
Our menu for this week
Tonight - cottage pie (so I can heat it up when dh comes back from camping)
Mon - tacos/chilli and rice
Tue - crispy chicken in a wrap (ds birhday so he got to choose)
Wed - lasagne and garlic bread
Thu- schnitzels, wedges, beans or peas
Fri - fish and chips
Sat - bbq
Sun - roast dinner
I make the plan based on the meat in the freezer and usually let dc choose at least one meal a week. I think dinners are easier then lunches especially during the summer when dc are at home and I get fed up with making cheesy toast or sandwiches for them.
I think last year we didn't put the heating on till November but we have a woodburner in the living room which definitely helps and we have also sorted out an open fire in the dining room.

Have caught up from yesterday, will catch up on earlier stuff later. Got back from our holiday in the early hours of Saturday. After 2 weeks away in France and having the luxury of drinking water straight from the tap we have come back to having to boil tap water and there is still no definite end in sight.
So my frugal review is a huge cheer for the fact that we came in significantly under budget on spending. We have had a hectic and quite stressful year so everyone was happy with lazy lie-ins followed by not so lazy days on the beach (cricket, beach boules, snorkelling, swimming etc). We didn't eat out much so that kept costs down too. Dh and I feel thoroughly rested and refreshed which is great.

So now, back to reality. Ds has his chest brace fitted in 10 days time. It will cost £2400 if he needs one brace but £3200 if he needs two. All budgeted for but just needing one would be a great financial bonus.

Both dc need school shoes and dh needs work shoes, dd also needs a couple of uniform bits.

On the income generation front, I've done well with my facebook and ebay selling but still have a couple more bits to go. I need to chase up cashback I should have earned with my new car insurance and the rebate from my old insurance policy. I have also had a look through the financial policies we have (life insurance etc) and there is one which is now costing us £75 a month and I'm not sure that we need it any more (due to the amount we owe on our mortgage and that we both pay into public sector pensions with some life cover). We need to do some double checking to make sure we have enough cover but may cancel the policy.

Haven't done a meal plan for the week yet but that will be done later today.

oh my word, am writing a list of all the DCs' home ed activities... thankfully some are really cheap (Brownies/Beavers/Badgers, gymnastics and martial arts). I'm glad there is so much out there locally, and we've built up a good schedule now (5 activities each, some they do together and others separate). I've really noticed the difference this summer - granted I was really ill for much of it so couldn't do much anyway, but DD suffered from not having the regular social activities.

think I'm going to post my piano lessons ad on FB in the next few days, hopefully get another pupil or two.

Attempting jambalaya tonight for the first time - got chicken thighs and chorizo, might bung some frozen prawns in there even though I'll pick mine out, prawns euuwwwww should be a fairly cheap meal really. And hoping if the rice goes a bit pink from the tomatoes, DS will eat it (he likes yellow rice and pink rice. Not white. )

Good grief Adora and at your PIL!

DH is going to take DCs into town - DD's trainers have fallen apart, DS needs a hoodie and DH needs trainers too (Primark trainers = false economy - he runs a lot). And I just remembered I need to get DD a sash and skirt for Brownies. I am very, very relieved we don't have to buy school uniform and shoes this year

I need to ask DH to deice the freezer - we still have loads of lovely homecooked meals/sauces in there which I stupidly didn't bother to label and it's so full I can't actually figure out what is in there.

Argh dh has annoyed me and I know it's ridiculous but I meal plan and I only get what we need. I didn't buy any extra cheese this week and planned tuna sandwiches for lunch today. He's made himself a tuna and cheese toastie. He doesn't care. And now dd is moaning that she doesn't like the bread.

I'm on a meter on my new house and I'm shocked at how much the electric shower costs to run. 15 pence for a 10 minute shower! I'm also surprised at the washing machine, but I can't remember right now what it costs. It doesn't seem much less than the dryer, anyway.

I switch everything off when not in use, apart from the fridge freezer, the boiler, my clock radio and the router. It seems to confuse my router when it goes off. That said, I switched absolutely everything off apart from the fridge freezer when I went away. My electric usage so far since I moved in is no more than £1 a day, so not much more than I paid before, and gas is about £5 a week, on a meter too. I bought a gas cooker deliberately to save on electricity.

The last three years, I've managed to do without heating until November, all the way up here in Durham! I don't know if I can achieve that in my new house, as it's semi-detached and 1930s built, as opposed to small, new build mid-terrace. We shall see...