Frugally Forward To Autumn

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Wow thanks for that list Life! Things on there I hadn't considered.

Collie - my DM would say if the ground is dry then your washing will dry. But we have a NW facing garden and only get sun at the bottom from October so bring the lines in. May try again this winter though as there's no way I can run the heating like I do normally and only got a washer dryer.

Gran - that sounds dreadful, get well soon.

'tis a lovely busy thread, sorry I've likely missed a lot of people. But this is great for ideas 😊

Crossed posts, must be good advice!

@ThisisCollie2022 we also live in an old ( like 200 years old) damp draughty house. Some windows are single glazed.

A dehumidifier has been a game changer. We actually have 2 one upstairs for damp bedroom and own dkwnsidor laundry. Do you have a utility room/ boot room or even just a small room? We have a boot room where washing machine tumble dryer and boiler is. We have a ceiling airer and normal airers with the dehumidifier and things dry pretty quickly. I think I worked it out at 14p an hour to run Vs 71p tumble dryer but with the dehumidifier you can dry more than one load at a time.

Also agree with pp that if the paths dry your washing will dry. Even just starting things off on the line like big things like towels them finishing them off in the tumble dryer will save money. That being said though I do tumble dry bed linen from wet as it takes up the whole line and the rest of the washing piles up then.

I also tumble dry pants socks, wipes, nappies, dishcloths etc as I don't have the time or headspace to hang little things up, I save them for a couple of days to make a load though for the dryer.

That was a long answer to your short question 🤣

So exciting! And I don’t think you were that poster!

down to three days of nursery left!!!!!! Eeeeek

That’s not unreasonable gran. I would be feeling murderous too

Wow, it’s a frugal reunion on here! Hi everyone old and new.

@ancientgran sorry to hear you’re unwell, hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for the tips re drying outside. It’s not something I’d normally do beyond the summer months but I’m definitely going to keep pegging out this year for as long as I can.

Not unreasonable at all gran!

Oh it's so good to be back with you lovely lot!

Definitely not TP laska, or anyone here! I'm a Hush fan too, but finding some excellent second hand finds on Facebook and Vinted. And yes, no more ponies (thank goodness), still running!

NC may help! 🙃

Love the paths being dry phrase. Just told DH and he loves it! An easy mental note to remember

Yes we do have a boot room we can use actually and I already have a dehumidifier as DH's work pays for up to £300 health and wellbeing stuff. So I purposely chose an air purifier & dehumidifier.

We don't need an air purifier but it was a good sneaky way of getting a free dehumidifier!

Can someone message me with who that poster was? 🤣 I keep pondering it otherwise... I'm sure I know!

I cried so much when DS finished nursery. Can't decide if it was relief because we no longer had to pay for it, relief because he wouldn't be in caked in flour and mud or sadness that he was growing up.

He's going into Year 4 in September. It flies by! He's already talking about secondary school.

@ThisisCollie2022 I want to know too!

We have the pony mantle need. Loaner though can’t afford owning

mines - it was the dog that was fed up! the groomer is not quick, and he has to submit to being combed and so on. I don't think we're ever going to be able to leave him in kennels, he's definitely grumpy and upset after we leave him. He woke up howling and panting in panic at 3am this morning.

A very kind friend has lent me her membership card, so I will be able to go to an exhibition I've been keen on, but avoided because at £18 a pop, it's too much.

My current fix with E.On ends on 7 October. I've avoided most of the energy price punishment this year but have to now decide between fixing (which they estimate will come in at around £6200 a year for gas and electric on our usage) or moving to their variable tariff which they reckon will cost us around £3157 a year. It seems a no-brainer, but I suppose the variable tariff will soar every quarter with the new price cap. You can exit both at any time. I will visit Martin Lewis for advice, and there's a thread on MN about how to compare. But all frugal views welcome here!

And me! (I dont remember a big fracas, maybe it was after my time of being here so much)

Need ! Yes it was you.. I remember your daughter got a trial week at Oxford or something? Did she eventually go there ?

Em yes its lovely having DGCs and I remember your DS being born.. and hes off to school! Catface also ..

Hello all. Not been here before but I am a big fan of frugality (even in good times cos I can then spend on things that really make us happy rather than mundane stuff).

Re the drying washing outside. If you have any outdoor covered space like a car-port (are they still a thing?) or garage, bung a washing line there. Means you can peg washing out most days all year (except the very rainy windy ones). My mum always had a line in the garage (or outbuilding) as we were five kids and no tumble dryers back then. Although we moved fairly rurally and she could happily leave the door(s) open to get the air circulating.

Anyway, good thread - I shall keep popping by for hints and tips.

Gosh that all sounds a bit stalker-y , but old it was a great community thread.. I really dont know why I stopped posting ... Some old memories come flooding back .

Morning, catching up on the thread now, there's been a lot of traffic!

Drying washing this winter is something I've been wondering about. Not concerned about damp in our new ish house, but usually would stick the heating on for a couple of hours to get things dry - certainly won't be doing that this year! I'll hang things outside as much as possible, but does anyone use a heated airer? Are they worth the money and also I'm guessing it would be cheaper to run than having the heating on?

Another question, what is everyone planning on doing with heating this winter. Use it as much as normal and just swallow the costs? Cut down? Not use it at all? We're on a variable tariff which we'll be sticking with, I'm thinking I may try an hour heating in the morning and an hour in the evening, see if we can cope with that and how much it costs and go from there. Does anyone think that sounds manageable? We have a 3 year old so will be investing in blankets, warm jumpers, thicker quilts etc.

Aww, it's so nice to so many of the older timers have returned around the same time as me too (albeit I had a different username). What a coincidence, but then I suppose it's spurred by CoL crisis, eek. Nice to 'see' you all again. I'm pretty confident I remember who 'that' poster was, haha!

I will need to pop the shop on my way to taking DS to nursery for his first settling-in session (EEK) to get some bits, particularly nappies as DD has none left for tonight (she only wears them overnight). I feel like I hardly ever have NSDs these days, it's terrible, but managed one yesterday at least!

We tumble dry PJs, undies, socks, odd bits of old clothes, and I tumble dry most of the kids' clothes when I need to/over the winter in particular. I feel like we have sooo much laundry and there's only 4 of us, I wonder how bigger families manage to organise all the laundry?!

We've never had a tumble dryer, I was considering getting one and then the gas prices started going up so I just thought well we've coped without until now so why add the extra energy expense!

I've been a bit of a hooligan in the past with the tumble drier, but will try to mend my ways this winter. I like the sound of a washing line in the garage. Ours is at the bottom of the garden, so on a wet day will involve a muddy trek there, (I cleared the cellar and paid for additional electrics in there so I could move the tumble drier from the garage into the house) but this strikes me as a very good idea indeed. I will also try and cultivate patience and a multi-stage drying process: start off in the tumble drier, move to the line in the garage, finish in the airing cupboard/radiators where appropriate.

Last winter we heated one floor or another, not both, for most of the time and turned thermostats down. But our consumption was still high. This year DH will be back in the office 4 days in 5, and I will get out of the house more into the library to try and save on heating the house during at least a big chunk of the day. There is also the art of layering.

I run fast and lose with the tumbling. I got the flat heated airer for towels save putting the heating on after showers. It’s fine for that and a few bits that dry quick or need finished off, don’t have space for a big one

Now this is going back a bit but @Gensola** did you have a big collection of Chalet Girl books? I may be remembering someone else but the Miss A rang a bell 😊

Omg 'tumble hooligan' is a brilliant description! I'm very embarrassed to admit that when I had two puking babies to deal with many years ago I often put a load of washing straight from machine to dryer on a beautiful summer's day 😱

@minesalargered
It's interesting times. Both weather and financial. I spent my childhood hearing "at least it's not as bad as 76". I suspect my grandchildren will be moaning one day when I start off with "well, in the drought of 22".

Financially it's also very very odd. Feed prices are rocketing. We haven't seen the prices rises that will compensate yet. I know they're going up in the supermarket and we have had some rises but nowhere near enough to mitigate the challenges we are facing in the livestock sector. Diesel at £1+ a litre and fertiliser at £1000 a ton is scary stuff for the arable side of the business. I've just received our electric bill for our grain store. It's gone from £800 for 3 months to £1600 for 3 months. No energy price cap for businesses!

@mustbefunny yes! I pondered selling the chalet books but kept them in the end. I was on here originally paying off £17,000 of debt my now exH had run up in secret from me.

I've got a tumble dryer out in the shed but I don't use it much. I lifted my rotary clothesline out of the ground last year and stood it in the shed to dry clothes & used to finish them off on those over radiator racks.
This year my plan is to put up a couple of lines in the shed, perhaps the retractable ones as I replaced rotary line & it'll be too heavy to stand in shed.