Bills Bills Bills

Hello. And the bills are piling in this month. Vet, car MOT, petrol, and Tesco food, all on the credit card. Been on the phone today paying for car insurance. Meters have been read and the gas and electric bill have arrived. The water bill came last week and that has been paid. Next month will be the car road tax. A lot to go out all around the same time. Never mind, there is money in the bank to pay for it all.

Big hike in the gas bill for the last three months. Piddling small amount for the previous quarter, and £99 for this quarter. I've been treating us to some heat, although I have known previous winters far colder than this one. My excuse for spending a bit more? Bugsy needs to be warm. The electricity bill is slightly higher due to longer dark nights, need the lights on more. My supplier also sent out an annual summary which is quite useful. Based on the actual annual cost last year, the estimated costs for 2017 are £197 for gas, and £179 for electric. If I was on a monthly direct debit, which I'm not, it would be £31.50 a month. I can live with that.

I went to Crafty Club this morning, it was a good turn out, a new lady joined. I took Bugsy to see Marian the vet this afternoon. It's a drop in centre so no appointment required. I was a bit concerned that he had stopped eating again. She found a sore spot in his mouth so he has had an antibiotic shot, and something to stimulate his appetite. I have some tablets to give him over the next three days. Hope fully there will be some improvement soon.

Jade dog walk when I came back from the vet. No sign of the regular walker yet, we don't know when he is coming back off his holidays.

Got to cut this short, need to go upstairs and spend some time with Heidi. She seems to be forever in the spare room, can't get her to come down and stay with us in the living room. She is a little bit subdued, I don't think she is feeling too good. I've had a word with Marian and we both think I should up her medication dose slightly, and go back to the original dose of one tablet per night. Her gums are not as pink as they should be, she is becoming a little bit anaemic again.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Not a load of old tat.

Hello. I went to my first Vintage Fair today. The venue was The Baths Hall in Scunthorpe. It was billed as Lou Lou's Vintage Fair, seems like it is a very big organisation as they hold fairs in 42 towns and cities across the country. I didn't see Vintage Vixen there though, she must have been somewhere else. 

There were stalls of every kind, predominantly clothing and accessories, with home wares, jewelry, bric a brac, and household linens. Even vintage jam. 

Rails packed full of clothes, lots of colourful dresses.

Braces and neck ties on offer, £5.

This was a very large stall, plenty to choose from, for gents as well as ladies.

I had a chat with some of the stall holders, some were dressed in the period, but some were not. I think if you are going to sell this kind of thing you have to look the part. There were hairdressers available to turn long tresses into pinned up curls and flowing ringlets. There seems to be a strong following for this kind of fashion in Scunthorpe, lots of visitors had made the effort to come dressed up. Apart from me of course. Oh dear, I seem to have got out of the habit of dressing up. I need a personal dresser because I haven't a clue.

I had a few other places to go while I was in town so I was dressed for the weather, which was a bit chilly. My quarterly utilities bills came yesterday so I dropped payment into the bank. Gas was £87.52, I had the heating on when it was really cold. Electricity was £36.75, which is about normal. Both should go down next time as we get longer days, and the heating won't be used again until the autumn.

I stocked up on pet food for the cat sitter, and Rocky will have his overnight bag stuffed full of goodies to take to his holiday home from home. I didn't get my printer organised, need some ink, so I've bought two more OS maps. I have the full set now for my walk across England. If anyone thinks I may be passing through their area and wants to walk a bit with me, you are welcome, but I have to warn you that I walk fast. Meeting in the evening might not be possible, as I like to find a room, collapse, and write my blog. I could spare perhaps an hour or so for a drink and chat. I will need your mobile phone number and town or village, so I can text you if I am coming your way. Sorry, I can't pre arrange to meet anyone, except the reader in Southport, because I don't know in advance where I will be at any given time. My email address is on the side if you want to contact me.

Chill time now. Thanks for popping in. Enjoy your Sunday.
Toodle pip.

Monday's musings

Hello, Not a lot done today, been bimbling around and socializing. Monday is a village day, starting with the Craft Club. We almost had a full house this morning and it was catchup time with everyone chattering at once, and not much crafting getting done. Then a dog walk, then lunch, then the mobile library van and a natter with Stan the man. My fave mag arrived through the letter box, oooh, excitement, couldn't wait to get my sticky fingers into this, so an hour was spent drooling with a mug of coffee. I can be a real lazy slob when I put my mind to it, ha ha.

It's that time of year when I am thinking of walking. Itching to go off on a trek again. As soon as we get some longer days I will be off. I got a free book today, there are bookshelves in the Village Hall, people leave their unwanted books for anyone to take. You can keep them, or read them and take them back, or add some of your own if you have any to get rid of. I found this one all about The Living Countryside. Exploring the land in different parts of the country, looking at the animal and plant life. Some smashing pictures of places I have been to, and some that I hope to visit. Reading these kind of travel books makes me want to put my boots on and go now.

My Anglian Water bill arrived the other day, I get two a year for the water I use, plus it includes  the cost of taking the grey water away. Total for 12 months is £70.55. Out of that, only £15.55 is the cost of the actual clean water which comes into the house. The rest is made up of the standing charge and the taking away of the waste water. There's not a lot more I can do to bring the cost down there. I also get two bills from Severn Trent every year, for the surface water drainage from my property. This is charged at £61.10 per year, I am on a measured drainage band 2 tariff. So my total water charges are £131.65 a year. I will still be frugal with my water usage, even though it wouldn't make much difference if I used a bit more than my normal 10 cubic metres. It makes me feel better to flush the toilets with bath and rain water.

Utility bills due soon, wonder what they will be. Anyway. I'll cut you loose. I'll get back to my magazine, bought with my Tesco Vouchers I may add, in case any of you think I have been splashing the cash  ;o)

Switch it off! Even better, don't switch it on.

Hello, I've spent most of the day indoors today, the weather has been horrible. I did pop out briefly to run to the doctors surgery, yes run, only two minutes away, I got distracted and nearly missed the appointment. As soon as I went in I was called straight away for my flu jab, other people were sat around waiting. I don't want to be in there longer than is necessary, all those nasty germs floating around. I was in and out in two minutes.

It seems one of my readers is most impressed with my gas and electricity charges, and asks how I keep my usage so low. Thank you for your email, I'll try and give you a few pointers. For a start there is only me here, so no one to fight with over switching things on and off. I only switch lights on in the room where I am sitting. I have my desk light on and the small Christmas lights on in this room at the moment.

I don't have anything on standby except the fridge freezer. My gas cooker can be plugged into the electrics but I don't bother, I don't need a clock in the kitchen. I switch the microwave on when I use it. In fact I don't have any clocks at all plugged in. I have a wrist watch and a wind up clock in the bedroom, that's all I need. I have a music centre/stereo/radio which I only plug in if I want to listen to something. I like quiet in my house, don't need constant noise, don't need a tele or radio for company.

I use the dyson when the floor looks a bit mucky, and have a blitz every so often on the cat hairs. I have a hair dryer but very rarely use it, always let my hair dry by itself. I use the washing machine when I have a full load, and only wash things when they are dirty or smelly. All the washing gets dried outside on the line, so I only do a wash if it's windy or sunny. I have plenty of clothes, bedding and towels so could last several weeks without doing a wash load. If it's a nice drying day I might do two loads. I use the thirty minute setting at 30 degrees for everything.

For cooking I never use the oven, I don't bake or make pies or roast anything. I use the top gas rings, usually just one as I steam all my vegetables in one pan. I sometimes use the grill. I don't fry food because it makes a mess of the cooker, and I don't like washing greasy pans. In fact I have a new system for washing up now. As soon as I have finished with a pan, a plate, a mug, cutlery etc, I rinse under the cold tap with a brush. Saves on wash up liquid, water, and heating the water. I might do a proper washup in the bowl if I have used several pans for different things. For that I heat the water on the hob in one of the pans that needs washing. Then have a blitz and wipe down all the worktops and top of cooker, and scrub the sink. I might do this once a week.

I have only one mug of coffee a day, first thing in the morning. The rest of the time I drink diluted juice or water. I have a kettle but hardly use it. I put a mug of cold water in the microwave, take it out after a couple of minutes, add coffee, sugar, and dried milk, taste it, then put it back in the microwave for another minute so that it's hot. I must save loads of money by not drinking endless cuppas during the day.

I heat a tank full of water when I have a bath. I have a good soak and scrub every bit of me. Every morning I wash in cold water, it's not too bad if you do it quickly. If I want to wash my hair in between baths I use the sink in the kitchen, for that I boil the kettle, can't wash hair in cold water, that's a step too far.

I have the computer on a lot, but have switched to using the small netbook, it probably uses less electricity than the big one. Other gadgets, sewing machine, lawn mower, strimmer, slow cooker, stick blender, food processor, battery chargers, all used occasionally.

So that's about it really, keep things simple. At the back of my mind I always think that when I switch something on it's costing me money. I am used to living this way, for me it's normal, it's no big deal.
Hope that helps, thanks for asking. And now for the question. Is there any way you can cut down on your use of gas and electricity? Winter is approaching and bills will be creeping up, now is the time to start thinking about how you can monitor the situation, be more aware of what it is costing you to run your home. The next quarterly bill for me will be in January, I will be ready for it.  

And now for tonight's simple dinner. One portion of home made veg curry frozen in a margarine tub, and a portion of frozen rice.

A few minutes in the microwave, and Bob's your uncle, instant dinner, and I know exactly what's in it, well more or less. Can't quite remember but I know it hasn't any nasties in it.

Thank you for popping in. Toodle pip

Not down the plug hole

Hiya peeps, following on from my Monday's post, Modern conveniences, there was a very useful suggestion from reader Enie Dub, suggesting saving water from my daily showers to flush the loo. Thank you for that Enie, but I don't have a working shower, it packed up years ago and I never got it repaired. 

However, I do save my bath water, it sits there in the bath and is dispensed to the lavvy with a plastic jug. Usually one slosh does the job. The toilet bowl can get a bit erm, discoloured, but a quick swish round with a brush on a regular basis rectifies that. I hasten to add that the solids get a proper flush, but this uses less water than normal because a nice man from Anglian Water came and fitted a device in the cistern to halve the amount of water per flush. 

To keep the bath clean it is important to wipe around the sides as the water level goes down, and when the level is very low it's time to let the last drop run away down the plug hole. But before it all disappears I take the cloth and wipe out the whole of the bath. Easy peasy, eh!  

So, that's both toilets covered using recycled water.
Come back later, I might have something ready to show.
Toodle pip.

Modern conveniences

Let me show you my eco friendly toilet flushing system. Here we have the very latest design, note the pan hanging from the door handle. This system is also environmentally friendly in that it uses water which has fallen from the skies. It also has the added bonus that it costs not one penny use.

It is much more comfortable and economical than the previous lavvy design of a wooden box with a round hole cut into the lid where one would perch one's bottom, with a bucket underneath to catch the unmentionables. These small brick built rooms were often at the end of a long garden, which required a torch and an umbrella to stumble down the path in the middle of a rainy night. Although these incurred no cost while being used, they did require a payment to be made to a waste disposal company who came along in a lorry with a big hose, and sucked the festering slurry into its tank.  

Thank goodness all that has changed now. My little privvy is attached to the house, just outside the back door, which is under cover in the passage. It has a modern flush system, but I prefer to bypass that by using rain water. With the recent rain we have been having I have been able to fill up the reservoir. This should be sufficient to provide twenty five flushes at a cost of 1p per flush, thus saving 25p. These figures are not confirmed, I have just made them up. 

My water harvesting system works well, it rains and droplets are deposited into the plastic receptacles in the garden. Heavy rain over two days gives enough water to fill the reservoir in the little girls room, light showers take a little longer, maybe a week or more before there is sufficient in volume.

The method of transportation from one place to another requires a certain amount of physical fitness. Basically I have to lift and carry, taking care not to trip and splash myself. Best to wear sturdy footwear for this job, and bend the knees when lifting so as not to injure the back.

And there you have it, a simple money saving solution which has the potential to save hundreds of pounds over the course of a year. That figure came to me in a flash, as an example of how much a family might save. Me being a single person on a water meter I reckon I save a bit for myself, and a bit for the planet. Why not have a go and build your own water saving system, it only takes a bit of time and effort, and you could be quids in. Let me know how you get on.
Toodle pip.

Switch it off !!!

Hello, I was wondering what to write about tonight, when KittyKittyWeaselFish came up with the idea. She asked the question :-

Hi Ilona, 
I'm massively impressed by your electricity bill - I try to be frugal but mine's not even close to that! Any tips you can share?

Of course Kitty, only too pleased to help. First of all, there is only me here so I don't have to nag anyone to switch things off when they are not using them. The first thing that comes to mind when I switch something on is, this is going to cost me money. Do I need it, and can I manage without it. I am obsessive about checking wall sockets and light switches, is there anything on which is not needed. I think the easiest way to explain is to go through the house room by room.

I am sitting in the living room. The computer is switched on, obviously. I usually have it on most of the day because I keep going back to it in between other tasks. I have it in front of the window to make use of the daylight hours for as long as possible. It is a small net book so I imagine it takes less energy than the big computer upstairs, which I now only use briefly at odd times. It's 8.15pm, still light but it is fading. For the lighting in this room I have one of those bridge shaped Christmas lights, you know, the up and over one with seven candles on it. I will put this on when it starts to get dark. I also have a desk light next to me which I use when I can't see the keyboard or I am doing some sewing. I don't use the main ceiling lights in this room. I have a music centre / radio, but I don't put it on very often, I like quiet. I can use the cross trainer without switching it on.

The kitchen has a strip light in the ceiling, it doesn't work. Not sure why, haven't checked it. Instead I use a small plug in table lamp. That gives me enough light. My gas cooker has an electric clock on it. I don't need a clock in the kitchen so I don't plug it in. I have an old microwave that is still going strong after many years. I use that to heat a mug of water for my coffee in the morning, and to warm up the home made stew I have made. I charge my phone and camera batteries in the kitchen. I have a slow cooker which I rarely use. The fridge freezer is smallish, three drawers for the frozen food. I sometimes use the toaster. If I need a bowl full of hot water I use the kettle to heat it.

My bedroom. I don't use the main ceiling light, I have a small bedside lamp. Only on for ten minutes when I go to bed. Usually fall asleep before I have read a couple of paragraphs. I got rid of the clock radio alarm years ago, now I have an old fashioned wind up clock. Why do you need a plug in clock in the bedroom when for most of the time you are in there, you are asleep.

Appliances. I wash my clothes when they are dirty or smelly. Towels, tea towels, and bedding gets washed when needed. Only me here, and I don't do a dirty job or work up a sweat. I use the Dyson maybe twice a month, clean all carpets right through. They pretty soon get covered in cat hairs again, I just keep on top of it, not obsessive about housework. In the summer I have an electric lawn mower, and occasionally strim the edges. I have a small hair drier but very rarely use it, I let my hair dry naturally. I sometimes use a stick blender or the food processor. Sometimes I use the sewing machine. I never iron clothes, I don't buy clothes that need ironing. The only time I use the iron is if I am sewing and need a piece of pressed flat fabric.

I don't leave anything plugged in on standby apart from the fridge and the computer. I switch the computer off overnight. I only have the light on in the room I am in. I am always switching lights on and off. In the winter when it gets dark early I carry a wind up torch with me and use that if I need to get something out of another room.

I don't have a dishwasher, or a dryer, or a television set, I don't need them. I hope I have covered everything. There is probably something I have missed out, if you have any questions please ask. It is now ten past nine and starting to get dark. I will put the candle Christmas light on.

I don't need lots of gadgets, the less I have that needs an electricity supply, the better. I deliberately don't buy gadgets because of the cost of running them. Always think, plug in, switch on, and it's costing you money. I think it would be difficult with teenagers in the house, because they love their gadgets, but that's another story. I can only tell it from a singlies point of view. Thank you Kitty for asking.

Sunday snippets

I'll kick off with a thanks today, lots of thanks in fact, to those who read and those who comment. I am chuffed that you are interested in my travel notes. I like to share little snippets of our wonderful island. I try to capture the diversity of it but my photo's don't do it justice, it is far better in the flesh. Thank you for coming along with me, you are very welcome.

What's the recipe today, says she who doesn't do recipe's, I just post ideas, you can make of them what you like. I have an abundance of courgettes from the six plants in the garden, so it's courgettes all the way now. There are still a lot of broad beans to get through, and when they have finished there will be tons of runner beans. Along with the potatoes, these four vegetables will save me a load of money, I won't need to go shopping so often. Here we have one courgette and a handful of  broad beans softened in a drop of oil over a low heat for a few minutes. Added to this is garlic powder, then just before they are ready I added some soft cheese and garlic. You can guess that I like garlic. Served on a slice of wholemeal bread. It was scrumptious and so simple to make.   

I've started work on the picture, on the back of a piece of fabric. I will show updates as I go along as it will take ages to complete.

My gas and electricity bill arrived from Ebico last week. The amounts are pretty low, as you would expect at this time of year. I like this way of paying, with a quarterly bill, pay for the actual energy I have used, after I have used it. No penalties for paying this way, I will not have direct debit on my utilities. My bills for three months are as follows.
Electricity. 131 kilowatt  at 15.91p = £20.84 plus vat at 5% = £21.88
Gas. 145.08 kilowatt hours at 5.15p = £7.47 plus vat at 5% = £7.84
This is what I expected. I'm pleased I left British Gas and got rid of their standing charges.

I have a new brochure from North Lindsey College, they keep sending me one ever since I did a course a few years ago. I keep looking through it to see if there is anything of interest, but often the price is too high. However, I see there are some new courses and the price is a bit more affordable. There is a sewing club starting in September, £40 for six weeks. That's not bad, £6.66 a week, it would get me out, give me something to do, a cheap source of entertainment is the way I look at it, as well as learning something new. There is also an art club, upcycled textiles, and drawing skills which I will consider. Think I will get myself enrolled on something.

Right lunchtime. More courgettes and beans. Have a nice Sunday. The sun has come out here after a rainy start. Toodle pip.

Stop flicking the switch

Me and my three pusscats are snug and warm inside our cosy house. No we don't have the heating on we don't need it. They have their fur coats, and I have my layers. All the internal doors are open, I like them to have the run of the house to come and go as they please, and I am often up and down, moving from room to room. The windows in the living room have two sets of curtains hanging on each, making double insulation. It is not cold tonight anyway. 

I am becoming more aware of the consequences of flicking switches on either electrical or gas appliances. Every time I flick a switch it costs me money, so before I do it I ask myself, do I really need to. Am I really that cold, do I need to spend some money on an hour of heat. Mostly the answer is no, sometimes it is yes, so I treat myself to an hour of central heating, or put the gas fire on in the living room. Don't feel sorry for me, I am not a poor pensioner who has to make the choice between heating and eating. I can afford to do both, it's just that I don't actually need much heating because after years of working outdoors in all weathers I like fresh air, and hate stuffy rooms. Even now, tonight, I have windows upstairs open an inch to encourage a circulation of air through the house. You know my food situation, I eat well within my budget, because I know how to budget, so no hardships there.  

I noticed on my last utilities bill that my electricity consumption has dropped. Normally it's higher than the gas, but this time it's lower. That's because I have been taking steps to cut back on flicking switches. Ever since Autumn and the start of shorter days and longer nights, I have been looking at ways I can save money on electricity, and that means, looking for ways of using it economically, or not using it at all.  

I no longer boil a kettle for my coffee in the morning. My kettle has an element in the bottom, I cannot put one mug of water in there because it won't cover the element, so I always ended up with two mugs of hot water, one of which doesn't get used. I know you can put it into a flask and use it later, but I only ever have one mug of coffee, the rest of the day I have cold watered down fruit juice. So what do I do now? I put my mug of cold water in the microwave and heat it that way. The benefit of that is the mug also gets hot, so the drink stays hot for longer. 

What else do I do to cut down? A lot of people leave the TV on for background noise, as they go about their daily tasks. I don't have a tele, but I do have a radio. I only switch it on when I actually want to listen to something. There are a few programmes which interest me, and if I am doing something in the living room I will listen while I am crafting. Once the programme is over, or I move to another room, I switch it off. No point in paying for electricity if I am not listening to it. 

Let's look at lighting. These Christmas lights were free, I found them in the house clearing skip I mentioned a few months ago. They are now permanently installed in my living room. I no longer flick the switch on the wall to put the main ceiling light on. I am hoping that these small candle lights use less electricity. 

I also use a desk light. This is my table in the living room. These two lights are enough for me to see what I am doing, and it gives a cosy feel to the room. I don't need any more light than this. I also don't spend much time on the big computer upstairs in the winter. I use my small netbook. I am sure this is saving me money.

Over my clothes I wear a large, man's fleecy dressing gown, which has a handy pocket on the front. In here is my small wind up torch. When I move from room to room I don't flick a switch and put a light on, I use the torch to guide me through the dark house. I might go to the kitchen to get something out of the fridge.

 Aha, there is a light inside the fridge, that's very handy.

About three or more years ago, can't remember how long ago, the strip light on the ceiling packed up. Well I suppose it could be just the little round switch thing, or it could be the whole tube which needs replacing. I'm not bothered about it, because I don't need it. All I need is this small lamp. It gives out sufficient light for me to see what I am doing, on the area of the worktop that I am preparing my meals on. I don't need the whole blooming kitchen lit up. Just one small bulb is fine. 

So, I use the torch to go upstairs to the bathroom. The cats are all asleep so there is no danger of me falling over them. Surely everyone can spend a penny in the dark, I know where my toilet paper is, and the sink is next to the toilet, and the towel is on the stool. Easy peasy.

Here is my little torch. I take it to bed with me and lay it next to my pillow, so it is there if I need to get up in the night. When I wake in the morning I reach for the torch to shine it on my wrist watch to find out what time it is. It is so very handy, and I'm sure it is saving me money.

So, don't forget, stop flicking the switch if you want to cut down on your utilities. Every time you switch something on it gobbles electricity and gas, and it's going to cost you money. I don't have one of those fancy gadgets that tells you how much each appliance uses, I use my common sense. I don't read my meters weekly, because there is only me here, and I know more or less what I use, so no nasty surprises. My little wind up torch will stay in my pocket until the spring, when the daylight hours will be getting longer. Until then I will live in my twilight world inside my cosy house.
Toodle pip

Time for a move

Oh what a nightmare it is to compare gas and electricity prices, and to identify which supplier will be the best one to move to. I've only done it a couple of times since I've been in this house, and now is the time to do it again. I find it an awful struggle to understand numbers, oh I can do the basics, like manage my own finances, but anything complicated I stare at a page of numbers and they don't register at all. My mind goes blank. I have been reading up about dyscalculia, a form of number blindness, and I am convinced I have a mild form of that. Maths at school was a nightmare, I didn't learn a thing apart from the adding, taking away, multiplying, and dividing. I bluffed my way through, mainly copying from my friends book. Later on, when I did a transport related course I had to leave the room because I had a panic attack when it came to vehicle costings. I failed miserably, that's why I now avoid anything to do with lots of numbers.

They say they are making it easier to work out your utilities costs, to understand your bills, but looking at the reverse of mine which I have just received from British Gas, there are more numbers than ever on there. It's taken me an hour to understand it.

Anyway, I need to move from British Gas, not because of the price increases, I can budget for that, but the fact that they have introduced a 25p a day standing charge on both gas and electricity, so that's going to bump my bills up big time. 50p a day for 365 days a year, chuffin heck.

I've done a comparison on the Ebico site, putting in my figures for kilowatt hours used, and they are going to be cheaper. I am a low user so I am going to benefit because they have set their standing charges at zero. Also there are no penalties for quarterly billing, so I can keep that and don't have to sign up to direct debit which I don't want to do.

I'll wait and see what happens next. I believe it takes a few weeks for it all to go through. In the meantime I will pay this £60.81 British Gas bill tomorrow. The standing charge came in on the 23rd of November, so for four days I've already been charged £2. Not for much longer BT, I'm out asap.

Toodle pip.

Body heat

There's a lot of talk at the moment about the rising cost of gas and electricity, and with winter approaching keeping warm is on everyone's mind. Naturally people are worried about how they are going to pay their bills, and are looking for ways to cut down their fuel consumption. I think there is another way to keep warm apart from turning the heating up. We all know about insulating our homes, wearing more clothes, taking a hot bath, and having hot drinks throughout the day, but I think there is a way of acclimatising our bodies to deal with the drop in temperatures.

If you think about where people work, indoors, office, shop, factory, all these places put their heating on for the comfort of their employees. No one would be happy with sitting at a desk in an office all day wearing a coat and hat. On the other hand, they go to work wearing lightweight clothes and expect the heating to be turned up because they are cold. Surely there should be a happy medium, wear thicker clothes and turn the heat down a notch or two. I think central heating set to a tropical level is making people soft. Their body then gets used to having heat blasted at it throughout the day so when they go home, they have to turn their central heating up high because they would shiver.

If your body gets used to being mollycoddled with constant heat, it forgets how to cope when it gets cold. I expect in five hundred years time people will all have their own heated personal bubble. It will be kept inside their heated garage, it will have wheels, so all they have to do is step inside and take themselves to work, where they will park it inside an underground heated park, and get the elevator up to their heated office. They will have no contact with the awful British weather, and their skins will be a sickly grey colour and their lungs will be under used and need extra supplies of oxygen. Their immune system will be zilch, they won't have one. Fantasy maybe, but you never know what will happen in the future.

Now look at the people who have hard lives living in cold climates, those that work outside, work the land or keep livestock. Think about the intrepid explorers traipsing through miles of snow and ice, those who live in cold countries. What have they in common, they move about a lot, and their bodies generate their own heat. They get acclimatised to their surroundings, and become toughened up to cope with cold.

Now I'm not about to tell you what to do, you can draw your own conclusions, but what I will say is, you can get out of your chair and move about, at least for ten minutes every hour. All right, I will tell you what to do. Don't sit all night every night glued to the goggle box, huddled under a blanket. Get up, walk around the house, walk the dog, go for a walk even if you haven't got a dog. Get your arms and legs moving, dance and jump up and down if you can. Generate your own body heat and keep it trapped close to you underneath your layers.

OK don't jump on me, I know there are people with limited mobility, and they will have to devise their own methods for moving the able parts of their bodies. If anyone is confined to a chair but can stretch arms and legs, then do it.

I am so glad that I had a lifetime of working outdoors, doing a physical job, I now find that I can cope very well without much heating. The only time I suffer is when I spend time in a building which is centrally heated. Some of my friends houses are stifling hot, I can only manage about twenty minutes. On the other hand I visit someone who doesn't put their heating on and we both sit there in our coats, ha ha. He is fine and so am I. The library is too hot, the bank is too hot, and the shops are too hot, I have to come out. My sinuses get blocked and I feel groggy and start yawning.

I don't live much differently in the winter than I do in the summer. All the interior doors in my house are open, I like all rooms to be the same temperature, don't like shutting myself in a hot room then having to go into a cold room. I move about a lot in the house, constantly up and down, doing something or other, and keeping busy. All I do is wear more clothes. I'm about to double up on the curtains again, as I do every year at this time. Get the spare sets out of the cupboard, and hang them over the ones already up.

So are you going to give it a go, move about more, go out more, go on, worth a try.
Toodle pip    

How I keep on track

Hiya peeps, Nancy asked me a question..............

Do you write down every expenditure you make? Do you keep track somehow of all your expenses daily, weekly, monthly and annually? Or is this info "stored" in your head? Sorry in advance if you have talked about this in the past. I've only been reading your blog this year and it's one of my favorites. Thanks, Ilona.
Nancy from Northern California

Hello Nancy.
It’s easy for me, I don’t have much coming in and I don’t have much going out. As long as the outgoings don’t exceed the incomings then I know I am alright. I have been in this house for a long time, so I know pretty well how much I have to pay in gas, electricity, and water. I keep all my bills, I don't pay in advance on a monthly direct debit, I pay quarterly after I have used the services. I never get any nasty surprises like a higher than normal bill because I am always mindful to only switch things on when I need to, and turn them off when I have finished. The only exception to this is I have my computer on a lot, but communication is at the top of my priority list, so I don't mind.

My council tax is paid monthly for ten months of the year, and I pay it in cash. If anyone is struggling a bit they can spread the cost and change it to 12 monthly payments. I can manage my payments, I don't have to pay the full whack, 25% off for single occupancy and a reduced rate as I don't have any savings and a small income. I quite like the two months off in February/March.

I keep my direct debits to a minimum because I don't like the idea of money just disappearing out of my account. If I physically pay for things by cash or cheque it feels more real. I get a paper statement in the post every month which I check. I have a file of these going back about 15 years. I don't do internet banking, I don't trust it and I don't need to scrutinise my account that thoroughly. Thank goodness I am not sailing close to the wind any more, and have a little buffer if I need to pay for anything unexpected. Saying that I never take my eyes off the ball, never say oh stuff it and spend a wad of money. Everything I buy I think about first.

The direct debits I do have are broadband and landline combined. Seems the only way to pay for that these days. I have the car recovery coming out in April, and my hostel membership is £15 a year on a DD. My house insurance is on a monthly direct debit, I don't have a contents insurance. Oh, and I pay Just under £4 a year to put unlimited photo's on my blog. My mobile is on a Pay As You Go which I top it up with £10 in the local shop once every two months. I only used it for texts, and the odd emergency call.

I have one credit card. I use it for convenience, paying for accommodation on a long walk, a big shop, and petrol for the car. The bill gets paid in full every month, I take a cheque into the bank for that.

I buy more or less the same type of food on a regular basis, with a few different items thrown in for variety, but these have to be value for money. I don't splurge on fancy food, it takes some discipline sometimes, not to go mad. Expensive food will not taste any better, I will not be any fuller after eating it, and it will not make me live any longer. Nutritious food does not have to cost the earth.

I am constantly checking food prices in all the shops I go in, and making a mental note of where the best bargains are. I keep this info in my head. When I get my shopping home I go down the receipt and write the price on each tin and packet with a black marker to check next time if it has gone up.

When money was really tight I did keep a spending diary, I think these are invaluable if you are trying to budget on a small income. To read it every week and see it written down brings it all home to you how much you have spent. I find I don't have to do that now, because my discipline is so finely tuned I know I will never buy something I can't afford. If someone is prone to picking things up willy nilly while out shopping, and they are struggling to manage, they definitely need a diary.

I have enough toiletries to last me years, except toothpaste. Today I bought some, I found two large tubes of Crest for £1 in Poundland. That will probably last me a year. I had a naughty bar of chocolate today, ha ha, a rare treat. Six squares for 60p, blimey, didn't I splash out. What with chips yesterday, it has got to stop.

Someone asked me about the sesame seed oil that I use, sorry can't remember who. Is it cheaper than regular oil. Well no it isn't if you buy it from a supermarket. A small bottle is about £1.40. I buy a large bottle, 600ml for £1 at the cash and carry. I stock up when they have it in. I love the nutty flavour of it, cook with it and drizzle it on my steamed veg. Soooo tasty.

I hope that's answered your questions, thank you for reading.
Toodle pip.

A £1 charity shop, now that's cheap

Right, what's been going on today. My day hasn't been terribly exciting but I'll cobble something together as you've taken the time and trouble to click on my link. I know you do the rounds because I can see where you're coming from. I do the same, blog hopping, ooops, must go and have a look over there, and there, and there. Before I know it I've got a dozen pages open on my desktop. 

I've just stuffed my face full of vegetables, mainly from the garden, with some bought broccoli. I tried growing that once but it was very high maintenance because I had to pick off the caterpillars daily. Won't bother with that again. Tonight I had a few of the reduced mushrooms in a tasty garlic sauce. Easy to do, just add some soft cheese with garlic. I always save a few potatoes until the end, and mash them with my fork to soak up the excess sauce. Don't waste anything. Twas a very nice dinner. 

As I look out of the window I can see the sunflowers getting another battering from the wind. It's a wonder they haven't collapsed, but they are holding on. A few more flowers have appeared, still more to come. Talking of sunflowers and how much they drink, I've had my half yearly water bill this morning from Anglian Water. I thought it might be a little higher than usual, but it isn't. They have used an estimated reading and calculate that I have used three cubic metres, which cost the grand total of £9.31. Then I get charged for the disposal of the dirty water which is £4.91. This amount gets passed on to Severn Trent Water, who will be sending me a bill shortly for the removal of the rainwater into the drains. It won't be much, pity I don't have a soakaway to get it down even more. Anyway, I've checked the meter, and their estimation is over by one cubic metre, but I'm not bothered about that piddling little amount. I'm not going to ring them up asking them to take a couple of quid off.  

I did a quick dash to town today, wanted to get some maps from the library. I parked close to the shops it's free for one hour. Time to look in a couple of charity shops. I always use the hospice shop which is at the other end of the High Street, their prices are always competitive with a good turnover of stock. Today I couldn't be bothered to walk that far, so I went up a side street near the market to the Age UK shop. I was surprised to see it has turned into a Pound Shop, everything is £1. Quick look to see if there is any cotton fabric for my patchwork. I found this massive duvet cover, and I mean massive. It goes right down over the sides of my double bed. It's yellow on one side and pink on the other, with a floral pattern. I might use it as a backing for my quilt. There would be enough to cut some squares from around the edge and it would still be big enough. Keep a look out at your Age UK shop, has it turned into a Pound Shop yet? Loads of chuffin bargains in ours.    

Remember the sunglasses I found while out walking? Well, a young teenager came to mow the lawn for my neighbour the other day, he does it to earn a bit of pocket money. I thought, aha, I bet he would like them, and he did. He was chuffed to bits with them, and kept them on while he finished the lawn. He looked dead cool, ha ha.

The weather hasn't been too good today so I've got on with some sewing while being entertained with catch up programmes on the computer. I picked up a book while I was at the library, it caught my eye as it was on the New Book display. 'Ausperity, Live the Life You Want for Less', is written by Lucy Tobin. Apparently she is an acclaimed personal finance editor at the London Evening Standard, and writes a weekly column, 'How To Save It.' She shares her secrets to living a prosperous life on an austerity budget. The blurb on the back cover sings her praises, so I'll have a look at it and report back if I find some money saving tips to share with you.

Before I hop off, welcome to the new readers, I see my numbers have crept up a little bit. Nice of you to drop in, I shall go and have a nosey at your blogs.
Toodle pip

The gas man cometh.

Well the gas man did indeed cometh, but he didn't create havoc like this gas man did....ha ha

He did a good job. He understood that I was not going to have a smart meter fitted, and didn't try and talk me into it. We had a long discussion on all the ins and outs of it. I had the small computer on and was able to back up my reasons for refusal to have one by showing him the web sites I had been reading up on. He explained that my meter needed changing because of how old it was. It was made in the sixties, and refurbished in the eighties, and I needed a new up to date version which would be easier to read. So out went this old one...

and in went this modern one. Definately not a smart meter.  

They don't call them gas men any more, as you can see from the customer checklist, they are now called Smart Energy Experts. Fancy name, eh! My expert was a qualified electrician. Now that the dual fuel is an option they have to work on gas and electricity meters. My reading is set at zero, the meter will still be read in the same way, either by the meter man who visits, or by myself. It will make it a lot easier, I could never understand those dials.

If anyone else wants to know more about smart meters, and is not sure if they want one or not, take a look at stop smart meters then make your mind up. There are a lot of reasons not to have one. Don't be bullied into it if you don't want one.

This will have to be a short post tonight, I've been out to the Arts Centre, and have run out of time. I'll catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip

New fangled, my posterior !!!

I am a little bit baffled about these new Google Profiles that I see popping up everywhere. When I try to comment on some blogs I get a different box open up, different to the norm. It asks me to create a Google profile, but I don't want to, I have a blogger profile, is that not enough, why would I want another one? The consequence of that is I don't comment on those blogs which have this new fangled way of doing things. I don't like new fangled, I am used to the old way. I don't want to get involved in other peoples circles, or recruit others into my circle. I don't want a circle at all. I am an independent blogger, I go where I like, I read other peoples blogs and they read mine, that's good enough for me. I don't want to be joined at the hip, afraid of missing out on the gossip, that's not my style.

I also keep getting hassled by Yootoob. I am registered on there because it's the easiest way to get my videos onto my blog. I made up a name for that account, but now they want me to change it to my own name. I don't want to, I like my made up name, I know it's me, that's all that matters. I am getting fed up of being bullied into changing it.

Anyway, that's got that off my chesticles. Not a lot to report tonight. I've been doing more sewing, done some litter picking, watered the veg garden, and had a bath, haven't I been busy. A man is coming from British Gas tomorrow to change the electricity meter. They rang me eventually when I couldn't be bothered to ring them. I told them on the phone that I didn't want a new fangled Smart Meter, because it says on the paperwork that I don't have to have one. If he brings one, I shall tell him where to stick it. I don't want my electricity supply hooked up to a computer, don't want them spying on me. 'Oooh look, she's switched the kettle on'. Nosey beggers. The old meter has worked perfectly well for the last 17 years, I want to keep it.
Toodle pip     

Analysing the bills

It was a miserable start this morning, raining and dull, so I stayed indoors and got on with a bit of sewing. I haven't been very productive just lately, making the most of the sunshine, outdoors in the garden and gallivanting off out and about. I'm making some more bags, because they are easy to do, and I still have some strong fabric left which needs using up.

This afternoon it brightened up a bit so I went a walkabout around the village. We have a very nice caravan site here, and there are often people about that I haven't seen before. I came across two ladies walking their dogs and stopped to chat, they live not far from my home town, that was a coincidence. They asked me about the footpaths, so I was able to tell them where the nice walks are.

What's hapenning with the sunflowers? Here they are, the biggest one is 11inches tall. I have been keeping them indoors at night, if anyone spots them through the front window they will think I am growing illegal substances, ha ha. I take them outside in the sun in the mornings. It was a bit windy one day and they got a bit bendy, so I moved them to a sheltered spot. I am not sure at which point I should stick some canes in for support.

They are in quite big pots but the roots are not showing at the bottom yet. I have nowhere to plant them in the ground, so if they need a sunny spot I will have to put them in bigger pots on the decking against the side of the garage. I'll give them a few more days before I transplant them.

My lunch today was one chopped onion and five sliced mushrooms, cooked in a little oil, with a dollop of garlic puree and a splodge of wholegrain mustard. Added to that was some cream cheese, and just before serving I stired in two teaspoons of plain yogurt. Eaten on a bed of raw spinach.

My half yearly water bill has arrived from Anglian Water. I am pleased to say that my water saving has paid off. This bill is £32.66 compared to £38.70 for the same period last year. A saving of £6.04 yippeee. Every little helps. We get two bills, the other one is from Severn Trent Water, and that is for surface water drainage. The cost of that is £29 per half year, so not too bad at all. I will carry on flushing the toilet with the bath water.

Another bill I have recently paid is the quarterly gas and electric combined. There was a slight increase there due to the very cold weather we had earlier in the year. British Gas compare year on year, and include the figures for the same period a year ago. My gas consumption this time went up because I put the central heating on a few times, but my electricity went down. It pays to be careful, and the more they bump up the cost, the more careful I will have to be.

I had a phone call yesterday from Orange, I have my home phone and broadband from them. I am on quite a good package, because I limit my phone calls to off peak times, or should do. Sometimes I sneak in an odd one or two here and there in the daytime, and accept that I will be paying for them. Anyway, they have noticed that my monthly bill has crept up a bit and have offered me another package to include unlimited phone calls whatever time I make them. Of course they will charge me quite a bit more for that, which I thought was too much. The sales lady seemed a bit peeved when I said I didn't want it. She couldn't grasp the idea that if I wanted to keep my bills low, all I had to do was to stop phoning during the day. This is the exact same reason why I will not go onto an all inclusive package on my mobile phone, I prefer PAYG. I don't want to spend hours on the phone, landline or mobile, and I certainly don't want to pay more for the privilege.

Well that's about it, we've had a lot of rain tonight, bucketing it down, I hope it's all gone by tomorrow. If not, more sewing I think. Toodle pip.  

A decision, a cheap fix, a disaster, and two more winners

Thanks for all your comments on yesterdays post about BG and Smart Meters. I think most are in agreement that the best course of action would be to do nothing. After reading the bumph they sent me, and perusing the Smart Meter frequently asked questions and answers web page, I hereby declare that I will do nothing. My decision is based on these points.

From their web site.

Do I have to have a smart meter?

No. Smart meters are progressively replacing traditional analogue meters, which means that from 2014 to 2019 they will be rolled out as standard across the country. There is no legal obligation on individuals to have one, but anyone refusing would miss out on the benefits. Suppliers are required to install smart meters, and in fact at British Gas we are committed to upgrading all our customers by taking steps to reach everyone. (miss out on what benefits exactly? I can't see any for me at all)

Will the upgrade to smart metering make meter readers redundant?
Smart technology transforms the way we take meter reads and will mean an end to pedestrian meter reading. However, our dedicated Smart Team are hiring around 2,100 people to install our customers meters and we will continue to conduct periodic safety inspections of all meters. (of course they will be made redundant, eventually, when all houses have the meters. Also, meter readers retiring or leaving to go to another job, will not be replaced, so jobs will be lost)

A bit taken from their leaflet.
Once you've got a Smart Meter you can still change supplier, your rights haven't changed. Not all suppliers use Smart Meters yet so your new supplier may not be able to support some aspects of it. You won't need a new meter, it would automatically change back to a 'standard' meter and work in the same way they do today. (I think this is going to create a great deal of confusion if all suppliers are not moving forward with new technology at the same time. I can see this making it even more difficult to change suppliers, and creating more problems)

We're committed to giving you more choice and control.
If you don't want to have a Smart Meter installed yet, just tell us. (thanks I will, when you ring and ask me)

Right, moving swiftly on, I have no more time for this topic. Noodles, what do you think of them? I used to like Super Noodles, I think they were a well known brand, but they went up in price so I stopped buying them. Also, they are not a particularly healthy type of food, so consumption should be limited. I popped into Aldi the other day for some fresh veg, and picked up a packet of their super cheap Instant Noodles, 18p I believe, thrown the till receipt away.

I had them for lunch yesterday, took a photo of the meal, but I seem to have deleted it  :o( Anyway, I had them with watercress and raw mushrooms. I must say, they weren't too bad, as a cheap and quick to prepare filler. The seasoning wasn't very tasty though, a bit wishywashy, so I added some of my own to perk it up a bit. I will get them again, just as a standby in case I come in late and want something to eat quickly without too much messing about in the kitchen.

Here's what happens when I multi task, ha ha. I zip around the house like something demented sometime, six jobs going at the same time. Half a tin of rice pudding in a mug, zapped in the microwave. I never set the timer, always just guess how long it needs. Got distracted, oooops, scrape half of it off the glass plate, ha ha.

Now what have we got here? Yep, two more shopping bags made. So if you thought you missed out on the first lot, you were in with a chance for these. No need to comment again to win them, I used the names still in the basket and pulled out two more.

I will not put you through the same agonies as before, so drum roll please, here are the winners.

 

Congratulations. Please send me your postal address and I will get them off to you. You can email me, or put it in a comment which I will not publish.

I sent two bags off yesterday to Jess and Markdebby, but I have not been able to send the third, because I don't have an address. So, Elaine near Philly, you requested yours to go to your friend in Lincolnshire. I have sent you two emails, but not had a reply. Perhaps you could put the address in a comment for me. Thank you so much. A note about postage. If I say I will post anywhere in the world, I mean it, at my expense, I budget for it. It's very kind that people offer to pay for postage, but, don't send me anything, not a bean. Too much hassle, I don't do Paypal, and I don't need it. I just enjoy giving.
Toodle pip.

I can't be bothered with all this.

If I can't moan here, where can I moan? What's got my back up, what's bugging me, and what's stopped me from going about my daily business until I get this off my chest? There's steam coming out of my fingers as I give the keyboard a bashing.

Chuffin British Gas, what a chuffin pain! I've been plodding along with them for years now, everything running tickety boo. Meters are read, bills are accurate and get paid when they arrive, no need to upset the applecart by changing suppliers, if it aint broke then don't fix it.

Now they want to change my electricity meter for a new all bells and whistles, smart meter, apparently they can read it remotely. They try and make out that it will benefit me because I will have more control over how I use my electricity, it will help me monitor how much I use. They don't know that I am not thick. I know that when you flick more switches the little wheel whizzes round faster and faster, and before you know it you can wrack up hundreds of pounds on the next bill. I know all that, that's why I am careful not to leave things switched on. I don't really need a new meter, the old one works perfectly fine.

They sent me a letter asking me to ring and make an appointment for the exchange. I did, and was put in a queue by an automated voice. I got fed up of waiting and hung up. I tried again a couple of days later, another queue. I have got better things to do than to hang around here, another aborted call. Then another letter arrived reminding me I needed to contact them. Another try and another 'give it up as a bad job'.

At the fourth attempt I got through to a human voice, albeit a foreign chappie who I could not fully understand. Not his fault he is in another continent, he needs a job as much as anyone, I just wish they could bring all these call centres back to Britain. I struggled on with him, gave my details to confirm who I am, and managed to pick a few words out and get the gist of what he was saying.

Then it transpired that he was not the one who could make the appointment so I was put on hold, while he contacted the department dealing with meter exchanges. He got back to me in a couple of minutes and gave me another number which I should call, and said that department would be ready to take calls in a couple of hours because they were not ready yet. So I washed the pots while I was waiting.

Then I had a phone call from British Gas Customer Service, an automated call, asking if I would give my opinions on the previous interaction with them. Wanting to give them a piece of my mind, my chance to say what I think, I agreed to take part in their survey. What a waste of time that was. Another machine asking the questions, I am supposed to press the buttons on my keypad on a scale of 1 to 10, the first question I pressed 5, and then the robot asked why I had chosen that response. From then on I was flumoxed, I hesitated and it spewed forth a load of letters, I didn't know what to press after that. I gave up. Are there any humans working for British Gas???

I have just been onto the Brit Gas web site to register a complaint there, and guess what,

Oh, chuffin heck, what a palarver. Will my meter be changed, or not. At this point in time, I don't give a stuff. I might try ringing the new number that the foreign chappie gave me, or then again, I might not. Depends if I've got time. Toodle pip.

Uses for second hand water

Here I go again, banging on about making the most of the water that comes out of your taps, not wasting any, using up every last drop. I have posted before about using the rinsing water from my hairwashing. In between baths, I wash my hair in a bowl in the kitchen sink. It's a shame to let it run down the plughole into the drains, there are lots of other things it could be used for. As well washing the kitchen floor with I've been thinking about other ways of getting more use out of it.

It's not only rinsing water from hair washing either, if you do some hand washing there is also the rinsing water from that which could be reused before it is thrown away. If you are on a meter like I am, making the most of your water can save loads of dosh. Here are a few ideas for using ever so slightly second hand water.

1. Get down on your hands and knees and wash the kitchen floor. Use an old rag cut up from old towels or sheets. You don't need to add any cleaning chemicals, unless you have a particularly greasy patch around the cooker. If you do this regularly, your floor will never get filthy.

2. You could wash the car with it, but if you only have one bowlful you will need to rinse the car with another bowl of water out of the tap. At least you will have saved on one bowl of water. If you have a motorbike you could wash it with one bowlful.

3. Wipe around the paintwork inside, or outside the house. Doors and skirting boards, window frames..

4. Wash the cat litter boxes. Empty them completely and give them a good scrub outside on the back yard. Use an old wash up brush kept outside for this purpose. Make sure they are completely dry before refilling with litter.

5. If you have any outdoor garden furniture, plastic or wooden, give it a good washdown. You can use old rags for this, or any soft brushes you have.

6. A well known use for second hand water, flush the toilet with it. I now have a big bucket next to my downstairs loo, any spare water goes into that. A small old saucepan hanging on the door handle makes the job easy.  I can easily transfer rainwater into the bucket as well.

7. Use it to water your outdoor plants, but only if it isn't too soapy. Don't want to kill them. I often put near clean water on my big outdoor pot plants.

8. Wash your wellies in a bowl of water. Outside of course, not in the kitchen sink :o)  Keep an old bowl outside for dirty jobs.

9. Give yourself a foot spa. Lay a towel down on the floor in front of your favourite arm chair. Gather together your soap, pumice stone or whatever you use for exfoliating, nail scissors, and body lotion. You will need to warm the water slightly for this, so put a cupful of fresh water in the kettle to top it up to a comfortable temperature. Get yourself a drink and read a book while your feet enjoy a nice soak. Very relaxing.

10. If you have any glass light shades, take them down for washing. It's amazing how dusty they can get. That reminds me, I must wash mine.

11. Wash the top of the cooker. Get into the habit of mopping up spilled or splashed food as soon as it appears. Keep on top of the job with second hand water. I hate cleaning cookers.

12. Wipe around the inside of the fridge. Take everything out, take the shelves out, wash them and put them back. Wash inside the door compartments.

13. Rinse through a few smalls. If they are not in need of a full wash, and want merely freshening up, hair rinsing water is ideal for this. Line dry them or hang them over the bath.

14. You can use hair rinsing water to wash other bits of your body. I've already mentioned feet, but don't forget that the other smelly bits might benefit from a wet sponge with a dab of soap.

15. If no other use can be found, add your bowlful of second hand water to the water butt outside. Any soap in it will be diluted by the rain water already in it.

Looking at this list, anyone would think I'm a domestic goddess, ha ha. Not true. I just hate waste of any kind. Just because it is freely available at the turn of a tap, doesn't mean that it isn't precious. Some people in the world don't have any, we should be mindful of that when we splash it about everywhere.  

I'm sure there must be many more uses, this is just a few to get you thinking about how you use your water. Be aware that the less chemicals you use, the more uses you can find for it. Heavily soaped water is best used in the toilet, or for dirty cleaning jobs outside. Don't poison your plants or garden animals with it. Feel free to add your own ideas.
Toodle pip.     

Taking water saving to the next level

Sometimes I think people forget that water is a precious commodity, without access to clean water we would die. Think of all those people in the world who don't have any clean water, all the diseases they risk catching through drinking dirty water. Think of all those people who have to walk miles carrying their buckets of water back to their humble little houses. All we have to do is turn a tap and it's there instantly. We take it fior granted and we shouldn't.  

Years ago I remember using water willy nilly, it felt like it was free, but of course it wasn't, we paid for it through our household rates. Nowadays most people have a choice how they pay. Whether to continue to pay the set amount according to the rateable value of the house, or to change to a water meter. For me as a single householder, the best option was to get a water meter fitted. My bill went down considerably, now it is in my best interests to be very frugal with my water usage, because I am paying for every drop. 

There are some properties which are not suitable for meters, if you live in a block of flats for instance, or if access to the property is difficult. If you are a single occupant and you are unable to have a meter, there is a lower tariff that you can go on. Your water company won't offer it, you have to ask for it. Some people are afraid to go onto a meter because they think it's going to increase their bills, especially if they live in a house with several other family members. It is not necessarily the case, because you become more aware of  how you use it, and can make simple and common sense adjustments to your lifestyle, which will help to reduce your bill.

Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, a man from Anglian Water was coming to check out how I use my water, and help me to cut down my usage by fitting some bits and bobs. Ian the friendly plumber came and did the biz. First of all he checked for leaks, there were none, then he checked my meter and took a reading. He put the information into his computer gadget and was amazed that I had used only £300's worth of water in five years since the meter was fitted. That was the first of several surprises I had for him. He joked that I could probably tell him how to save water. I said follow me.

We then moved to the downstairs toilet. It's got an old fashioned cistern high up on the wall, it works perfectly. I decided there was no point in him climbing up there to fit a gadget inside to convert it into a dual flush. I mostly flush this with rain water, with the ocassional scrub and flush when it needs cleaning.  

Next to the kitchen, here Ian is fitting a new insert into the tap. This mixes air into the water and it comes out in a spray. You don't need to turn the tap on so far, because it comes out a lot faster giving the impression that far more water is coming out. I've always wanted one of these, I thought sprays were for posh houses and public toilets, ha ha.  

Next was the bathroom, Ian was amazed that I hadn't let my bath water down the plug hole, and was using it to flush the toilet. I explained that I couldn't have a shower and pointed to where the edge of the bath wasn't sealed against the wall, and besides, I don't like showers anyway. He said judging by the amount of water that was in the bath (recent bath), and the fact that I am not a frequent bather, I hadn't used any more water than I would have done by showering every day. That was good news for me. I always knew that my fortnightly bath didn't cost any more than a daily shower, in terms of amount of water used. I'm glad it has been confirmed. So I will carry on as I am, having a wash in the sink in between baths.

I thought it would be a good idea to have the dual flush converter fitted into this cistern, as this is the toilet I use most. I am hoping that my morning solids will disappear down the pan on the short flush, thus saving 50% of water each day. It takes Ian less than a minute to fit it. 

Ian rather sheepishly said that he would have to flush the toilet several times to test it, he apologised for wasting water, ha ha. There you are it works perfectly. I already have one of those plastic bottle water savers in there, and by using the short flush it will save me more water, and more money.

There were two other free gadgets on offer, but I didn't need either of them. There is an adapter which can be fitted to the shower which gives a constant 7.6 litres of water per minute, that sounds like a lot to me. I can wash my whole body in that much, in the sink. You'd have to be quick to take a shower in that time. And there is a free digital shower timer, which I also don't need. 

Ian is off now, to his next appointment. I think he enjoyed his visit, he did say that I was the most interesting person he had come across. I was chuffed. I thought it was funny that he called me an Eco Warrior. Thanks Ian, you made my day.  

He left me with this gift, no it's not chocolates, more's the pity, ha ha. Inside are two sachets of water storing gel. You mix it in with compost in your pots, containers and hanging baskets. It swells to absorb more than 400 times it's own weight in water, thus reducing the frequency of watering. There are also a couple of rain mats, which you put in the bottom of a container or basket. They hold the water so it doesn't run out of the bottom, then you only have to water every 7 - 10 days. Sounds good, watering pots is such a chore in the summer.

Anyway, I am quite chuffed with my freebies supplied by Anglian Water, and the nice young man who came to fit them. Here is a little bit more information about the scheme. I don't know if any other water authorities are offering the same service, you will need to check with your supplier.

If you are in the Anglian area and want the free water saving kit, go to their web site. Go there anyway if you are not sure, and put your post code, it will tell you if they can offer you the deal. You can apply online
http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/environment/using-water-wisely/we-products/
or you can ring free 08009755 567

This is not a promotional post, I am not endorsing this service for money or gifts. I sincerely believe that we should all be a little more carefull with our water usage, then there will be enough to go around.
Toodle pip.