For saving money around the house!

[ina]

I've spent a lot more on food than before lockdown. The local Coop is around 50% more expensive than where I usually buy food, and of course prices have gone up quite noticeably, too. So far I've not been wanting to use the bus, but I think I will have to do so soon.

[Weedo]

Clothes for us can be up to 3 sets per day - one for the office, one for around the house etc. and one for the farm in the cow poo, mud, grease, oil and so on. They don't all get changed each day but business shirts, farm stuff (depending on the job on the day) and two pairs of socks do. During lockdown the office stuff wan't used.

As with Flo - I went into batch (&bulk) shopping and cooking - probably used less fuel for cooking in bigger batches but we changed suppliers during the lockdown so costs etc. changed.

[Flo]

I've spent a lot more on food than before lockdown. The local Coop is around 50% more expensive than where I usually buy food, and of course prices have gone up quite noticeably, too. So far I've not been wanting to use the bus, but I think I will have to do so soon.

Yep the Co-op is not the cheapest of friendly local food shops on the smaller high streets. And it doesn't help if you are shopping for one. Locally it doesn't do free local delivery either any more which makes it even less economical as you can't bulk buy anything that you can't carry or porter on the bus if you don't drive.

I wouldn't say prices have gone up - rather more that sizes have gone down. Which is even more sneaky. Thank heavens I've been brave enough to do major shops on line for a number of years. Handy when the knee was recovering and even more so as the village shop would only keep me in dry bread and water because I'm not your common garden omnivore (it's more newspapers, fags and beer type shop). But the beauty of shopping online for me has been that I can't be tempted to wander round the more expensive shops to top up on fripperies (fancy vegan chocolate, extravagant teabags ....)

[ina]

They are just starting the local deliveries here now! What a joke... And of course, it's basically the only shop in town. (Well, village. 2000odd.) There's a baker, but I don't really like their stuff. There's a paper shop, with fags and lots of sweets (and some useful items like paint brushes and shoe polish). And a post office with gifts etc. And now a farm shop, which I've only visited once. Almost half an hour's walk...

[Flo]

Blooming heck Ina - you just don't know how well off you are. We have the traditional corner shop and nothing else within a couple of miles - and all of it really needing public transport or a car.

[ina]

It's all relative, isn't it! :) Yes, it could be worse. And I've managed to survive without going anywhere else since the start of lockdown...
Some traditional corner shops can be better than the usual Coop, though. I used to live right in the country, nearest little shop 4 miles away, and they ordered in stuff that people actually wanted - like organic milk for me. Whereas the Coop back then, when I asked about organic milk, said - we only get half a dozen every week, and they just fly off the shelf! I then suggested they order more of it, which earned me a look as if I came from Mars...

All in all, it's not been too bad. You learn to buy things when you can get them, not when you want them.

[Odsox]

For some unfathomable reason our shopping bill has gone way down.
Since we self isolated on the 16th of March, our granddaughter has done our shopping and (of course) just bought the stuff on the list. But our weekly bill has at least halved, but we are still eating and drinking exactly the same as before.
Granted our chest freezer is only about half full, but it's consistently half full, so no different to if it was consistently full up (as it used to be)
So no idea why our bills from the same shops are about half what they were 3 months ago.

[ina]

Another reason my food bills have gone up - I always buy a few things for the food bank. So sometimes half what I just bought goes straight into the bin outside the shop... Our local food bank is doing great work, especially at the moment.

[Flo]

I don't have a dishwasher - collect a sink full then wash up. Don't have a tumble drier - there's a washing line in the garden for bigger stuff and a clothes airer next to the radiator (good in winter).

[Viper254]

As somebody working at home, I've been acutely aware of increasing costs of this. Normally, it doesn't bother me too much - I make a flask of coffee in the morning, which keeps me going for the day. I am careful not to snack too much. A lot of soup gets eaten - prep in the morning, get up at about 1115 and press the button on the soupmaker. There's a gadget I'd never thought I'd like as much as I do!

What I'm worried about now is the heating. Normally I just put on jumpers but with Mrs. Viper homeworking for the first time this winter, I know this isn't going to be an option. So, it's kind of the opposite of saving cash, but I'm going to get the fireplace in the dining room (it's where we work) back to a workable condition so we can heat the room using wood over winter. If we end up running the heating all winter we're going to be crippled financially. I've done the sums and building works should pay for themselves in three years... plus it's a bit of money into the economy from my very priviledged position of not being affect workwise by the virus.

[Flo]

Do you have a supply of wood ready to use Viper - dried and seasoned? It can be a tad expensive if you have to go and buy from an empty storage space. Trees normally come down autumn and winter don't they so won't be ready till a year hence at least.

[Viper254]

Do you have a supply of wood ready to use Viper - dried and seasoned? It can be a tad expensive if you have to go and buy from an empty storage space. Trees normally come down autumn and winter don't they so won't be ready till a year hence at least.

I took down two trees last May, so my first self-cut wood is coming into being seasoned. However it's all the wrong way around in the garage so I've got the very unappetising task of having to pull all of the wood out of the garage to then put it back in in a different order in the not-too-distant future. I did a bit of a house clearance last year and managed to save a second wood stack that's hidden away in the old coal bunker, so I need to get that into the garage to burn first.

Kindling lives in a gutted washing machine in the garage, to the amusement to all that see it in there.

I think I am still going to need more for this winter - but I'm looking ahead to winter 21 to keep costs down :)

[Flo]

That's the trouble with wood fired heating. It's the planning in advance to have the wood. Mind it's the same with many ways of saving money around the house. The preparation is what counts.