The Retirement Thread

[numbnuts]

 

[Tenkaykev]

Good morning folks, woken by the bread machine chuntering away so I’ve taken myself off for a read of the forum. Thinking ahead to winter preparations, we have a coal effect gas fire which hardly gets used, when it’s windy you can hear it down the chimney though there’s no strong draught. I see that you can get wooll “ chimney sheep “ to temporarily block the hole to reduce draught, anyone use one of these?
Must go for a run this morning, had a lazy day yesterday after our Dorchester excursions on Friday. Nearly time to put the coffee machine on☕️☕️
Have a peaceful day folks ☀️🛫

 

[Mo1959]

Morning. Just about light but there is heavy rain due by 8, but looking at the sky it might arrive earlier. I’ll risk a walk and hope I don’t get drenched. I had thought about an early bimble but thinking about it seems to be as far as it goes these days. I’ve only done a pathetic 800 miles this year. Doubtful if I’ll even make 1,000.

 

[rustybolts]

Heavy rain about so, its coffee and toast and watch Channel 4 Dutch GP qualifying which I recorded yesterday evening . Can feel a lazy day coming on ! Stay safe folks

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Good morning from a damp looking Coventry, we've had some overnight rain, knackered this morning, though we had a good morning yesterday, they have a market on Saturdays, its smaller than it used to be but our favourite cake stall is still there, getting there by bus, my Good lady can't climb into the car, is a pain, takes almost an hour each way.

 

[Dirk]

Morning all

Someone coming around at 10am to view our place.
Sunday lunch booked at the Crown, West Down.

I see that you can get wooll “ chimney sheep “ to temporarily block the hole to reduce draught, anyone use one of these?

An old pillow in a black bin bag does the job just as well.

 

[PaulSB]

When I was speaking to my daughter yesterday, she said she just ordered a Ninja grill and air fryier as it is supposed to be more economical to run than a cooker and with good results too. Has anyone have any experience of these?

We've discussed how to cook more economically and perhaps buying some of the new cooking appliances. We reached the conclusion it would be worthwhile if one already owns one but the likely savings don't justify the purchase price. We will stick with what we have which is a gas cooker, microwave and slow-cooker. We've always batch cooked but I think this will increase, especially with the slow cooker, and we will eat more casseroles, stews etc. While I'm not keen on micro-waving veggies this will happen and I'll have to learn to do it better. When a pan of boiling water is needed then boiling a kettle and emptying this into the saucepan is cheaper. After cooking potatoes, past etc. I started retaining the boiled water in a small pan for cooking, usually steaming, the veg. Myself I feel the biggest savings will come from the slow-cooker, the results are always good and very easy.

I think we have at least two years of these prices ahead of us and possibly they will never return to what we think of as "normal" levels. It's be interesting to learn how many people retain their newfound love of energy efficiency? I've never been so careful, to my shame, hopefully we will keep it up. An awful lot of people changed lifetsyle in lockdown but what I ssee day to day suggests all that has gone by the wayside.

 

[PaulSB]

At my age I won't be spending any money on new gadgets to save money as there will be no return, OK if your a young family

Correct in my view. See above.

 

[PaulSB]

Good morning from a dull, windy, drizzly and cool Lancashire. Rain, we want and need, for one thing my water butts are empty, the village well has dried up. Currently I'm trudging to the lodge above my allotment for water for my tomatoes!

Yesterday was ferociously busy, started doing stuff at 6.30am and didn't sit down till 7.15pm. Absolutely knackered so bed by 9.30 and slept till 4.45. Result. It's Mrs P's birthday on Tuesday so we have all the family home for lunch today which means another non-stop day for which will probably end around 6.00pm after I take #2 son back to his house. Having to drive means I don't get more than one small glass at lunchtime.

My boys lost again yesterday. I'm not happy. Our new formation is brilliant when it works, yesterday we were appallingly bad. I wanted to leave but can never do that. Miserable afternoon. Even closed my eyes for five minutes at half-time!!!!!!

Right, I can hear Mrs P moving around upstairs, I will take her coffee and start cooking.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Morning all

Someone coming around at 10am to view our place.
Sunday lunch booked at the Crown, West Down.


An old pillow in a black bin bag does the job just as well.

Aha! I’d considered a cushion but not wrapping it in a bin bag. That way Mrs Tenkaykev won’t complain when I put it back on her armchair 😉

 

[welsh dragon]

Coooooooeeeeee. Very misty here and heavy rain as well. Its been raining since about 5 am here. We need loads more though to make up for the lack of rain all year never thought I'd say that.

Stay safe peeps

 

[PaulSB]

When I was speaking to my daughter yesterday, she said she just ordered a Ninja grill and air fryier as it is supposed to be more economical to run than a cooker and with good results too. Has anyone have any experience of these?

Just returning to this. Overall I doubt much of what we can do is going to have a real impact. Firstly the standing charge is around £1/day so £365/year. Our total bill used to be +/- £1100-1200! My economies are to cook more efficiently, stop using the tumble dryer, knock the CH down to 19⁰, reduce the hours in use by two, switch off anything on standby, shower for less time, switch off lights, increase the use of our multi-fuel burner, only fill the washing up bowl to one-third. Beyond this I can't see what else can be done. How much real difference will it make? No idea.

The other is the washing machine. We already wash at 30⁰, have done for years. The machine has an eco function which halves the wash time on all programmes so I need to investigate this. I already use it for sportswear of which we have a lot, run the 30 minute programme on eco mode and it reduces to 15 minutes.

Right must go.

 

[Mo1959]

Back from a very overcast and humid 5 mile wander. Met office said rain by 8am and sure enough the first spits arrived within yards of getting home so well timed for once.

A lazy day now I think. I watched 2 episodes of the new Lord of the Rings thing on Amazon Prime. Not bad. Looking forward to the next part of Ridley this evening.

 

[Dave7]

At my age I won't be spending any money on new gadgets to save money as there will be no return, OK if your a young family

Yep. A crystal ball would be handy wouldn't it.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Just returning to this. Overall I doubt much of what we can do is going to have a real impact. Firstly the standing charge is around £1/day so £365/year. Our total bill used to be +/- £1100-1200! My economies are to cook more efficiently, stop using the tumble dryer, knock the CH down to 19⁰, reduce the hours in use by two, switch off anything on standby, shower for less time, switch off lights, increase the use of our multi-fuel burner, only fill the washing up bowl to one-third. Beyond this I can't see what else can be done. How much real difference will it make? No idea.

The other is the washing machine. We already wash at 30⁰, have done for years. The machine has an eco function which halves the wash time on all programmes so I need to investigate this. I already use it for sportswear of which we have a lot, run the 30 minute programme on eco mode and it reduces to 15 minutes.

Right must go.

We have a dishwasher that goes on when it's full. That has a setting that reduces the program time. Mrs tenkaykev set it going a couple of days ago and when she came to empty it noticed that the dishwasher tablet was still on the worktop, she'd forgot to pop it in the dispenser. All but one bowl was still perfectly clean. I've put the TV / Network switch / Router onto a programable timer plug that switches everything off at bedtime and back on again in the morning ( it also shows energy consumption ) With regards to heating, It's inactivity that makes you feel colder. I've got back from a run, walked indoors and the house felt really warm, whereas it felt chilly before I left. Agree about the standing charge, it's sneaky and insidious, the energy companies have been slowly bumping it up, as you said it's about £365 a year before you even start paying for energy consumed.