Domestic Budget

[Arzosah]

That sounds brilliant! Assessing the outgoings is the first important step to take in reducing them, and you've obviously all been gung-ho about it all

Once you're comfortable with the way things are, see if you feel okay to move some/all debits - switching accounts can get £150-£200 of cash, it's really remarkable. I guarantee its real - I've done it myself - and it's Martin Lewis you can go to for how to do it

Otherwise? Enjoy the dog and the cats, you're doing great.

[jansman]

Electricity is @35p per Kwh so a 2Kw kettle will cost you 70p per hour which is 1.2p per minute

500ml is two mugs of tea/coffee takes my kettle 90 seconds to boil which is 1.5p per boil. Dam site easier than feeding twigs into a kelly kettle.

Butane cartridge stove will give you roughly a 120 minute burn at full power so if you bought the gas when it was cheap at £2 a can its costing 1.7p a minute to run, if you paid £4 a can its costing you over 3p a minute to run so a ring on your gas cooker is cheaper to use by far.

The Kelly is more of a * point* if honest. Mind you,my fuel for that costs… ZERO. In fact,the back room stove ,apart from a little coal,has warmed the room WELL for almost ZERO since 7am.

I have always been a belt and braces guy,and it’s interesting to check our alternatives.In fact the gas for the bistros is ten odd years old ( still good) and cost LESS than a quid each back then! That’s prepping. just found out that electric is going up again in January too.

Anyhow,thanks for the input.

[jansman]

That sounds brilliant! Assessing the outgoings is the first important step to take in reducing them, and you've obviously all been gung-ho about it all

Once you're comfortable with the way things are, see if you feel okay to move some/all debits - switching accounts can get £150-£200 of cash, it's really remarkable. I guarantee its real - I've done it myself - and it's Martin Lewis you can go to for how to do it

Otherwise? Enjoy the dog and the cats, you're doing great.

Thanks for the compliment! I am going full on to deal with potential/ possible change. Sooner than doing nothing,I think.

[jansman]

I have 2 flasks on the go here. Boil the kettle for morning brew and fill them up. Lasts me through until 4 PM when I rinse and repeat.

I'm looking into wall coverings and doorway curtains adding extra rails.

Also thinking about 4 poster bed and curtains.....jury rigging rails from the ceiling.

Low wattage car seat heater for the front room, plugged into the Jackery if lighting the stove is too much.

Draft excluders for rooms that need it.

I'm going all out this Christmas breaking my own rules and having carbs (bread,sausage rolls etc) also ignoring the Drs advice. It might be a while before everyone can have food they really enjoy for everyday meals, so getting the ,emory banks full this season.

Sounds like an adaptation that won’t hurt.

[Frnc]

Sticking with the fan heaters or portable heaters Sliced Bread on radio 4 did an interesting comparission between various types. Academic if you already have fan heaters as it's probably more cost effective to use them than to purchase alternatives but they came to the conclusion that the best all rounder for cost and efficiency was the oil filled radiator.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001dxtx

Mine is described as "oil free energy saving technology". It controls the heat very accurately, keeping my room 19.3-19.5 over several hours, and used 0.7kW about 7 minutes twice per hour, so about 0.175 kw/h.
At 34p kWh that would be 6p per hour.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002DGTMJE/
It claims "Oil-free technology has up to 30% faster warm up and uses up to 9% less energy compared to oil-filled*"

A light comes on when it's heating so it's easy to see how much electricity you're using.

[grenfell]

One thing that was recognised in the testing was that radiator type heaters provide a more gentle background heat. Others such as fan heaters provide heat quickly but also stop giving heat quickly too if you turn them off. The result of that is that people tend to notice the drop and will leave them on longer thus using more energy simply because it's on for longer. Generally all electric heaters are close to 100% efficient and it comes down to the wattage and how long they are in use.

[Frnc]

One thing that was recognised in the testing was that radiator type heaters provide a more gentle background heat. Others such as fan heaters provide heat quickly but also stop giving heat quickly too if you turn them off. The result of that is that people tend to notice the drop and will leave them on longer thus using more energy simply because it's on for longer. Generally all electric heaters are close to 100% efficient and it comes down to the wattage and how long they are in use.

This was part of the problem with mine. I got the slider position right one day, but could never repeat it. It would stay on too long, or not come on soon enough. I was constantly messing with it. So I'm glad I have the Dimplex as well. And as you say, with the fan heater one minute you're too hot and the next you're too cold. Maybe some are better, mine is old.

[jansman]

Just had notifications,daughter and me,that leccy is going up 1/1/ 23. Woodstove and alternative are getting better…

[steptoe]

Just had notifications,daughter and me,that leccy is going up 1/1/ 23. Woodstove and alternative are getting better…

Your right there i am trying to get quotes to put a wood stove in the living room one with the place to put a kettle on top and also a fan mount so i can blow warm air toward the upstairs , i know not a lot but it might help , we just had out elec and gas and well £200 a month for 2 people who use led lights and bed early watch tv and so on not big users and £200 this month with them saying from next year we will be looking at £300 to £350 a month yup candles it will be lol well torch light and gas lanterns

[jansman]

The fans are superb on the top of stoves.