Domestic Budget

[jansman]

As a result of now being off work,our combined income will drop viciously. I am sure there are other members here who will be in a similar situation,and also sure they will have top tips! I am planning on getting better and spending at least six months at home,before moving along to do work. Got to have a plan! So whilst waiting for treatment,I am not being negative,but trying to make positive plans for us.

Prices ,we all know,are increasing. Mainly fuel and food it appears. And whatever else causes it… I don’t waste time anymore analysing all that. So here goes. Our own domestic environment is very rural and ‘preppy’ ,and the way * we* live,so my suggestions are personal,so don’t think I am being pig headed. In fact fresh ideas from members are looked forward to! Here goes.Starting with fuel.

FUEL: Now to me/ us ,this is fairly basic . We heat 99% of space with solid fuel. Because of increases and potential shortages,I made sure that coal and firewood was stocked well. It is in mind now,for Winter 23/24 ,of which wood will not be an issue,as son in laws both have access,and already are arranging supplies,as I can no longer drive,and my wife’s lovely little motor is too small and clean! Coal I keep an eye on,and we have now headed towards a ‘shopping trip’ once a week ,to use Jan’s very low mileage ( nice) car and take me out,so our food,a bag of fuel,birdseed can be picked up in one go,build up steadily,and save petrol - another fuel issue.

We have a gas cooker,so that’s the only part of that fuel bill,and no problem,for what we use,although doing research,we use it as little as possible,as there are other ways to cook, which are ironically,slow cooker,microwave and air fryer.So be it.

So ELECTRICITY! Well we all know,this is the big’un don’t we?

We have back up radiators - electricity- which are rather good TBH. Depending where,we have German infrared,rather posh glass wall radiators,but the *best* ( to me) are simple fan radiators. They heat quickly.The stove is still warm from last night,but as we know,it’s damned cold out there,so the fan heater set to come on for short moments works well to take the edge off the temperature. We pay our bill monthly ,and we are very average each time,the £66 GVT discount making it VERY good! In fact,the saving will go to next Winter!

Madam has surrounded the house with appropriate blankets and ‘throws’ and we are ,frankly, more than comfortable. Which is a good job!

Water heating is set as close as needed via digital timer. We * could* cut it down,but we like hot water, and the steady supply stops any FREEZING issues on mornings like this! Which saves cost. The shower is the same,electric,and used quickly ,so really the cost is fair in total. Our average monthly bill,taking out the 2022 six month discount,is currently £30 a week in total.

In there of course is lighting. We are all LED now,and they are on movement timers too,so if they get left on lazily,they eventually turn off! The LED is cheap to run,and efficient of course . Upstairs we have battery powered approach lights on,which are economical approach jobs along the stairwell,landing and bathroom. They are superb,and are on rechargeable batteries,which are USB charged,via the Television- it’s on anyway,so uses little juice! I have similar light in the outhouses,so it’s saving only pennies ,I guess, but it’s saving. The approach security lighting is 10w LED, but again,certain ones are off,and I have personal head lighting,again,usb charged. If things got REALLY BAD,either costly,or emergency,we have a huge supply of LED Emergency lighting, ( all very good) along with rechargeable battery charging power banks. Got 9 I think,and we have posh looking bulbs could run off for absolute hours TBH. USB ,powered on the TV if needed,but the stored ones are solar charged - no good at the moment though! Lots and lots of disposable batteries too,if needed.

Another big ‘electricity’ job is the KETTLE .Now,it appears that at current rates,it’s about 5 p PER LITRE.Surprise that,and if I am wrong ,tell me. I am home and drinking tea! Ten times is a 50p day ,so 3.50 a week! A figure like that can buy all sorts can’t it ,elsewhere. So from this morning,The Kelly Kettle goes out there and my posh Aladdin Flasks take hot water in as I am the tea drinker. Boy o boy,I have more than loads of free fuel for that!

One of the beautiful situations,indeed THE situation with our firewood,is that is zero cost. Massive saving. It’s minus 5 out there, so obviously getting cool inside. Firewood is in the stove now,and we are warm down there.

I cannot say how difference much my lack of income will make ,so we are prepping now. Any emergencies will suck the savings quickly,so I want alternatives.

That’s our fuel as it simply stands right now.

FOOD and groceries.

Well , I cannot comment to other people about what WE eat ,as we are all personal there aren’t we? Right now,my appetite is superb so it’s an issue! We have a huge storage ( to us) in our walk in pantry,and the outside emergency building. Out there are extra tins, sealed buckets of rices, pasta etc. Less now than when the girls were here,so two thirds of shelves are emergency batteries,lights,candles,cooking blah blah. Mrs J needs this organisation to be frank. Even like a small electric repair kit with stuff like fuses etc. Works for us. One good thing,is everything is in date for us. Also in that building are two freezers.

FREEZERS: Right now we have a good 6 weeks of stuff in those freezers. Of course they too are part of the cost of fuel. We will work through and reduce,so nothing is wasted,and we know what we have. We consider the freezer to be simple two week ( ish) storage right now. If they should go wrong, as they are old (!) we won’t waste…

I’ll carry on later.

[Arzosah]

Jansman, it sounds like there are a few further little cuts you *could* make, but choose not to, not right now, anyway. And since it's an active choice of yours, that's really good.

Your idea of using the kelley kettle (with twigs etc) instead of the electric kettle seems sound - where would you put it? If you do need to use the leccy one, because of the need for speed or something, how full do you fill it? That's a Martin Lewis point - don't heat more water than you need.

One of his other points is about downsizing a brand, eg not special pasta but basic supermarket's own - I'm guessing you've already done that, though.

Two things about your bank accounts: firstly, check that you know what the direct debits are, that you've got going out of your account: magazine subscriptions, membership of odd stuff. I do that online, but I'm not sure you're online? And the other thing is that if you've got any savings accounts, make sure what interest rate they're at. I've just checked now, on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savin ... -interest/ and Yorkshire Building Society have an easy access account with unlimited withdrawals for 2.6%. It's a lot less than inflation, but its a lot more than nothing at all.

HTH

[jansman]

Jansman, it sounds like there are a few further little cuts you *could* make, but choose not to, not right now, anyway. And since it's an active choice of yours, that's really good.

Your idea of using the kelley kettle (with twigs etc) instead of the electric kettle seems sound - where would you put it? If you do need to use the leccy one, because of the need for speed or something, how full do you fill it? That's a Martin Lewis point - don't heat more water than you need.

One of his other points is about downsizing a brand, eg not special pasta but basic supermarket's own - I'm guessing you've already done that, though.

Two things about your bank accounts: firstly, check that you know what the direct debits are, that you've got going out of your account: magazine subscriptions, membership of odd stuff. I do that online, but I'm not sure you're online? And the other thing is that if you've got any savings accounts, make sure what interest rate they're at. I've just checked now, on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savin ... -interest/ and Yorkshire Building Society have an easy access account with unlimited withdrawals for 2.6%. It's a lot less than inflation, but its a lot more than nothing at all.

HTH

Madam has sorted debits etc already. Cuts are documented now,and ready to change too. She has cut membership of things we don’t really use also. It’s actually quite a lump! In fact,when my sick pay,then government payments are organised,by my Union,the union will be binned as well. It IS amazing how much one spends that’s not REALLY necessary in some cases.

Joking aside with the Kelly Kettles: My cup of tea now ,is from the Aladdin flask filled by the Kelly. More a matter of order than anything,me going through that,Trangia,and gas bistro stoves,along with all emergency lighting,batteries,etc. as if anything goes wrong and it’s needed,you can guarantee I won’t be here for whatever reason!

Not too much detail,but Jan has moved a lot of *ahem* to daughter to allegedly be sure the DSS sees our bank is erm…. Looking after No1 time now.

[diamond lil]

All I can think of is to maybe get a wee (clean) trailer for Jan's car incase you ever need it.. Also get online deliveries now & then to save trekking out. We pay £1 for Sainsbugs delivery and we would use a gallon to go and get it ourselves. I also get 5L of laundry gunk and washing up liq from amazz which saves money. Apart from that, eat soupsoupsoup

[pseudonym]

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.

[Frnc]

5 p a litre to boil water sounds about right. But even two cups of tea or coffee should should only need 0.5 litre max, which is the minimum level on my kettle. On mine you can see the water level against the indicators. I fill it to the minimum, but I only use a fraction of that.
So if you can do that, it costs about 2.5p for 2 brews.

[Frnc]

Re fan heaters, I got sick of mine as the thermostat didn't seem to be doing much. So I went over to the Dimplex electric rad I have. This is great and keeps the toom temp very precise. It runs for about 7 minutes, twice an hour, keeping the room at 19.3-19.5. I only use this if the c/h is off and there's only me in during the day.

[rik_uk3]

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.

[grenfell]

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

[jansman]

All I can think of is to maybe get a wee (clean) trailer for Jan's car incase you ever need it.. Also get online deliveries now & then to save trekking out. We pay £1 for Sainsbugs delivery and we would use a gallon to go and get it ourselves. I also get 5L of laundry gunk and washing up liq from amazz which saves money. Apart from that, eat soupsoupsoup

We will keep everything small,compact. Whilst I can ,we shall make a visit in order to * go out*. I fully intend to get back to normal . Indeed,today,I have sorted emergency kits from car onto shelves,fixed a section of fence,cleaned the fowls,emptied coal, and so forth. I am tired through not bl** dy working!

So going back to economic change: I have had ,from this situation,some positive time to sort price comparisons for our groceries. The result will show some real savings if honest. Fortunately the house is ours and long paid for. Unfortunately,we have to have a fund for maintenance,so it’s a double- sword ,isn’t it? The next big expense is fuel,which we have discussed. So the real one ,to us,is groceries. Let’s face it,without eating,you are knackered!

A fifth of our bill is animals. The old dog has a very set meal. That will not change! The cats eat anything. That comes out of our allowance. The ‘out stock’ comes from *my * allowance,along with coal. Now for those last two,I have always had cash,and will continue. It’s simple. The groceries though have been card. Now it will be cash,if we are physically shopping.

One good thing about *time* is that it gives just that: Time to compare prices,to change recipes and techniques. This I am doing ,so that no working by me,can be survived. We live near a Tesco,and an Aldi that are close. I have gone through prices of our usual products,and I now know who sells what - and an old - fashioned shopping list will be the way. Very un technical,but simple nonetheless.Making the effort WILL pay off.It’s quite a good change to really save cash.

A good change also,is that I have time to adapt our recipes. Again,there will be time. I enjoy cooking,and I intend to run the house. The very food we eat will make good price changes. However,IMO, the changes will be good for health too. On top of that,later on,our garden will be a real and good help too. I am looking forward to that one.

So right here,that’s The Plan. No doubt there will be change,but it’s a plan.