Dear reader,
I can't believe how the temperature has dropped so much and so quickly. It is 16 degrees in our house today so that's about 60. I always feel warm in the morning and am sitting here in my pj's.
One of the things we decided to do to save money was to cut down on our gas and electricity bills.
We used to just have the heating on and heat all the rooms, we also had a really old boiler here when we moved in.
We previously lived in a tiny one bed, one lounge, tiny kitchen and bathroom house so the heating wasn't much of an issue. Before that we were in a flat with storage heaters. (Never did get the hang of them)
Now we have had a new boiler fitted in this house and all the radiators changed. We also had a heated floor put in the bathroom. Seems funny that we are now trying our hardest not to use them.
We don't have a tumble drier so everything is dried outside. Has been a disaster of late as we have had so much rain and dampness. We dry it on an aired in front of the log burner in the winter.
We have our logs ready all seasoned. We bought some that needed seasoning £90 and I found a load of wood for free on Gumtree that Big man was tasked with chopping and chain sawing.
We have pallets for kindling that my dad gets from work. So we are prepared.
I have been reading the meters and entering them on line. I love to see the gas comparison show we are paying a lot, lot less than other people in this area. We pay direct debit monthly and it was always £50 a month for gas. We built up a large amount and claimed a refund. I wouldn't let them keep it in their account. They then dropped the monthly amount to £44 and we are still paying slightly over according to the last reading. We have spent £80 on gas since June.
This may be more then other frugal folk but Big man loves a hot, deep bath and he works so hard I can't deny him.
We turn everything we can off to use as little electricity as possible. I just couldn't leave a light on in a room we aren't in.
We have an electric under blanket for our bed. This has a 5 minute quick heat and we will use this before we go to bed just to take the edge off the cold of the sheets when it gets bitter and we add out winter duvet to the thin summer one.
I don't really like the bedroom to be heated, I get nightmares if its too hot.
There will be lots of slow cooker stews, curries, chillies and jacket potatoes.
There will be thick socks and slippers, fleece blankets on the sofas and dressing gowns.
The doors will be closed to keep the heat in one room and the log burner will be used about November time.
There will be brisk winter walks and hot drinks.
The sun facing rooms will have the blinds opened to get some free heat if there's any sun.
I am hoping to keep our heating bills to a minimum this year. Don't get me wrong, we won't suffer, if its really cold or one of us is ill, the heating will go on, we just want to last as long as we can without it.
Sadly, not everyone in the UK will be able to do the same.
We put underfloor heating in our new bathroom for spring and autumn when the Rayburn is not alight and heating the radiator (for free). But as it takes about an hour for the darn floor thing to warm up we don't bother. I think some people keep it on all the time
ReplyDeleteStorage heaters are a funny one - our flat isn't really suitable for central heating - it would be a massive upheaval to have it installed - and so we've had to get used to them. You need to keep a good close eye on the weather forecast and be prepared to adjust them - on a daily basis if necessary - I've found. we only cook on gas - nothing else, and at the moment as we're in credit again our DD is set at £1.01 a month - it'll increase to £5 a month again once the credit is used. Electric is currently at £58 a month - and I anticipate being able to knock that down again at the latest in the spring, when our (fairly new to us) supplier has realised that we use rather less than their other customers!
ReplyDeleteI heard someone on TV this week talking about how the average temperature in our homes used to be 12 degrees. These days the average is around 18 degrees. At the moment I'm around £80 in credit with my gas, having only used £4 worth in the last month. I pay £33 per month, and usually use the heating in the evenings from November to February. I don't go out to work, but never dream of using any form of heat during the day - it would be a waste of money as I have the windows open every morning. I'm usually busy, but if I do have a sit down and feel chilly I just use a blanket. My daughter's friend's family have the heating belting out rather than put a woolly on! They clearly have more money than sense.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are doing a great job!
ReplyDeleteWe are coming out of our winter and so far we have been extremely fortunate that the credit we had at the end of summer from our solar panels has meant we haven't had to pay anything. However I'm sure we will on the next bill!
We try to not use the heating during the day but as I work from home (office type work) I do get a bit cold, so I start with putting on warmer clothes but if that doesn't work, then the heater goes on. I don't find it fun being cold and as I'm fortunate to have the choice (financially) I'll live with it.
We have bottled gas (rural area) which is only used for cook top.
We do have solar hot water with electric boost but I think it's a waste and we've had quite a few problems with it, so we are in the process of saving for a new hot water service which is run on gas (will mean more in gas bottles, both installation and running them) but the water only heats as it's being used, rather than sitting heating up/cooling down in a storage tank (very wasteful!)