The Retirement Thread

[pawl]

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.

Same as me.I hit the 800mark yesterday.Weather has to be right for me to complete my three rides a week on alternate days Not windy Not cold Not to hot Not raining Think I may be wimp

 

[SpokeyDokey]

'Tis very wet here.

Still waiting for the four horsemen to come riding over the horizon following the media-driven wildfire plague & we're all going to hell in a handcart few weeks of hot weather that we, unsurprisingly, managed to survive.

How I love the prophets of doom. 🙄

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Same as me.I hit the 800 March yesterday.Weather has to be right for me to complete my three rides a week on alternate days Not windy Not cold Not to hot Not raining Think I may be wimp

I think you are sensible - same ethos here.

Conditions need to be just right to properly enjoy an outdoor activity.

No kudos given in our house to those hardy Bear Grylls types.

 

[Dave7]

Wots that then?

I thought it might be something rude

 

[Deleted member 1258]

'Ti's very wet here.

Still waiting for the four horsemen to come riding over the horizon following the media-driven wildfire plague & we're all going to hell in a handcart few weeks of hot weather that we, unsurprisingly, managed to survive.

How I love the prophets of doom. 🙄

I'm glad I take very little notice of TV and media generally, my Good Lady has it on all the time and the amount of scaremongering that goes on is silly.

 

[Mo1959]

I'm glad I take very little notice of TV and media generally, my Good Lady has it on all the time and the amount of scaremongering that goes on is silly.

Totally agree. The media love to keep us all scared of the next bad thing that's going to affect all our lives.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I Trusst (sic) things will get sorted next week - at least that's the story in the media. 😁

 

[pawl]

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.

We have a slow cooker.Air fryer.Vegetable steamer.Microwave.and a toaster.Use of the electric oven is now rarely used When boiling water for a cup of tea I only put enough water in for one cup Coffee is a pod coffee maker which only uses the amount required

We recently changed to a water meter .Monthly cost has reduced by £10 pounds.Was previously £32 a month.
When Covid started we changed to home delivery A re nearest supermarket is a round trip of30 miles so a slight saving on petrol

As for DIY items if I know exactly w hat I need I use Amazon and for a variety of other things as well.I have certainly seen a drop in petrol usage

 

[Mo1959]

I think I might amuse myself by doing a jigsaw on the computer.

 

[pawl]

Totally agree. The media love to keep us all scared of the next bad thing that's going to affect all our lives.

I have just seen Sunak can’t rule out future power cuts.

 

[pawl]

Wots that then?

Actuary Oops actually I have no idea Bloomers?

 

[Dave7]

I have just tried a cost cutting idea that I thought up all on my own.
I have just watched TV for 2 hours.......with the power switched off.
Not sure it will take off though

 

[Tenkaykev]

I have a large actuary and a slow cooker. We have been putting meat into the slow cooker and cooking it there rather than the oven, then put it in the oven for the last 19 minutes to brown. Works a treat.

When we had the wood burner put in, I wish we had had one that has an extra compartment on the top where you could cook casseroles etc. It would have been brilliant for that, but to change it now wouldn't be economically worth it to have to spend a couple of thousand pounds just to cook casseroles in the winter. It is brilliant for baked potatoes though, and I have a kettle that can be put on top to heat water to nearly boiling point.

I also fancy one of the ninja thingies. Bd I go round turning everything off that I can, even the kettle

That's like going back to the cooking ranges of old. Not a bad thing in itself, when we had the new fireplace put in there had been a back boiler which heated the water.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Going back to this energy saving malarky, I fancied some cheese on toast, we've an ancient Dualit toaster but our grill is built in to our gas oven. Not wanting to appear profligate by using two separate energy sources to prepare lunch I came up with the ingenious idea of first spreading the toast with peanut butter to act as an adhesive for the cheese! It sort of worked, the cheese I was using was a very strong Cornish cheddar ( 7 on the Richter scale ) and very crumbly which helped with the adhesion. I was pondering on ways to improve the process when I realised I already had the solution to hand. I've got an electric paint stripper in the shed which has been unused for quite a while, it's even got a special nozzle to spread the heat. No more wasting gas while waiting for the grill to get up to temperature as the heat is directed exactly where needed, no needing to use peanut butter. A " win win " situation. I astonish myself sometimes, I just don't know where these flashes of ingenuity come from 😉

 

[numbnuts]

To hell with the cost I just made a cake