Saving money in 2008. October review. Battling with the cold.
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Save Money | 24 comments
drying by the stove
“Have you got fingerless gloves too?”
I’d unearthed Danny’s thermal vests, inherited by proxy from my uncle. Also I’d located his beanie hat (stored on a shelf beside his computer when the weather warmed up in the Spring). Delving deep in his cupboards, I’d found a good cashmere scarf that he had enjoyed opening one Christmas and would now finally appreciate. It’s tough working in an unheated house, when the ground is frozen outside. Especially if you are a fresh air freak and sit below an open Velux window.
Consequently, the door to The Rat Room is sealed. Closed 24/7. It would make a great ‘suck it and see’ test for anyone who is considering holidaying in the Antarctic. The rest of the cottage is chilly but closeted in the kitchen with the wood burner, it’s fine when I return after dark. As long as I stay in the kitchen – a clever device that guarantees that I will volunteer to cook every supper.
We have had the oil fired central heating switched on for an hour a day for the last three days. After half an hour is the moment to take a shower. We waited until the first frosts before our fingers searched the back of the airing cupboard for the switch. It was a painful challenge. Suddenly I remembered the ten years sitting out in the cold in Covent Garden market winters. We used to wear ski suits but even the most deluxe garments allowed the cold to seep through eventually. The only remedy was a long hot bath at the end of the day. I didn’t wear fingerless gloves so had none stashed away for Danny’s chilled fingers.
For the past two days we have lit the wood burner at breakfast time. This is not one of those state of the art A rated £2,000 gizmo stoves that burn three logs in 24 hours and heat an entire six bedroom house. This is a rather eccentric stove with loads of gaps around the doors. So we sealed these with aluminium foil and, hey presto, we had a stove that ticked over so slowly that it was hard to discern that it was alight until we opened the door to the rest of the house.
Suddenly we realised that our stove can be efficient with a few Heath Robinson tweaks. The foil looks unusual but the effect is superb. D has a warm room to retire to, every now and then, and it runs on a small log or less and hour.
Back in my Covent Garden Market days there was a wood burning stove in the large toy making workshop. I’d spotted this stove discarded in my local wood yard. I bought it from them for 20 quid, took it to a guy who repaired iron (10 quid) and installed it in the chimney place. We used to light it using the off cuts from the dental plate repairers that worked out of a neighbouring workshop. The pink off cuts from the plates burned for ages and were perfect for getting the stove going. A half centimetre piece will burn for far longer than a conventional firelighter. Last night I remembered that the workshop stove ran efficiently on wooden toy off cuts covered with a thick layer of sawdust. It worked like a dream.
We have half a bale of woodchips that have got damp. I threw two large shovels of this onto a lively fire this evening and it damped the fire down but not as well as the sawdust. A trip to our local builder’s merchants might produce a bag of proper sawdust which would do the job much more efficiently.
We’re waiting for the oil price to drop before our tank is topped up and then we’ll treat it like gold. Our pal Tessa advises that the drop would take six weeks to filter through to the domestic oil suppliers. Only two more weeks to go!
Meanwhile our washing is usually dried on our radiators during the winter. So I slung a piece of old washing line under the mantle piece and we have clothes that dry far more quickly and have the extra bonus of the smell of wood smoke.
Our weekly shopping bill is now on average at least 50% lower than last year. We look for offers, base our weekly meals around these and we are eating better than we have for years.
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HI THERE,
DOES ANYONE HAVE A PATTERN FOR FINGERLESS GLOVES (THAT HAVE SHORT FINGERS KNITTED) WHERE THE KNITING IS VERTICAL?
I HAVE A PAIR BUT HAVE LOST THE PATTERN AND WOULD LIKE TO KNIT SOME MORE.
HELP PLEASE.
THANKS.
PAM
Hi have been unable to do more than quickly scan your blogs (ususally in several sittings) over the last week, but was going to suggest a wheat bag – 2 squares of cotton material (or any heavyish material – possibly old curtains) any size but 35cm square is quite good & 1/2 – 2/3 filled with wheat (bought in a biggish bag where u get the chicken feed). Sew up 3 sides fill with wheat & stitch 4th side. Microwaved for 3 – 4 mins they’re brilliant – u probably want 1 for your lap, 1 for your feet, 1 for your back…….
Also the oil prices are quite unpredictable even following trends – I followed a graph on ‘boilerjuice’ for a couple of weeks and after falling steadily they just tipped upwards as the credit crisis started to bite so worried they might shoot up I rang around got a good bargain & saved £50 by waiting & watching. Then they started to drop again & if I’d waited two more weeks I could have saved another £50!! C’est la vie.
Hi
Let me know the paper log maker works? I am a bit sceptical but would love to get a recommendation to buy one. Even if they make good kindling rather than sustainable logs that would be a good buy
Rgds
Sam
Thanks Fi
I’ll check out the ski clothes,.
Rgds
Sam
Hi what a great tip to put alluminium foil in the gaps on the log burner i shall try it i love my log burner we live in an old cottage and use it all the time £99 of the internet in fact it has reduced my oil bill by half so a great saving i also cook on it to save even more the kettle is permanetly on and at the minuite i am making the pumpkin soup with bread rising at the side i cant wait till tea time. also saving money we as a family got warm by collecting our apples in the orchard and a curently making 10 gallons of cider that are keeping their temperature under our sons bed next to the chimney where the log burner is situated underneath in the snug (cats room) warmest and cosy
Rachael
Hi Fiona – Cliff has been monitoring the heating oil prices for his Oil Syndicate: http://theoilsyndicate.wordpress.com/
There’s link to a graph of prices on the web site under ‘Price Trends’. You can see the prices have started to rise slightly after reaching a low around the 20th Oct. So maybe waiting for two weeks won’t be such a good idea?
Celia
How very Canadian, Danny, to raid neighbours’ recycling boxes! My friend always used to return from walking her dog with magazines that had caught her eye and it always struck me as the best kind of recycling.
Fiona, I think that using the ashes to bank up the fire works so well because they are hot and don’t take all the heat out of the fire which means you could bank the fire up earlier and save fuel while still keeping warm until you retire for the night. I’m thinking of making a wheat bag to sit between my shoulders, I’ll look on the internet tomorrow for a design as I’m sure there must be one. I have been buying pillow cases from the local charity shops to make shopping bags for Christmas presents.
Hi S.O.L.
This is a good idea and I think that I’ll do the same. We have a bursting larder and two mini freezers bulging with stuff. I do cook and freeze stuff for my mum but there must be ingredients and cooked food waiting in the wings that we are ignoring. It could mean a few instant meals ?
Looking forward to enjoying your posts!
Hi Syvie
We are very lucky that we have a wood burner and chimney. Thanks for the tip about the hottie. It could be the friend that D needs in The Rat Room!
Hello Sam
I don’t envy you with the cold in the Farmer’s Market although I’m delighted that you are out and about selling stuff.
If you are standing in a market in the cold thermals are a must. Plus good boots and if you can stretch the budget ski clothes. TKMaxx always seems to have a good selection of these during the winter. I did ten years in a market and the little hand warmer (bought from a camping shop) gave me enormous comfort.
Hi Maria
You are not alone.
Gong to bed can be a bit of a challenge if you are not heating upstairs. We have small miniature pincher dogs who prefer to retire before we want to ( as long as hot water bottles are filled for them. An hour before we retire they happily snuggle around a hottie under the duvet and we join them an hour later.
All is well until the alarm clock rings and you have to step into an icy room!
Hello Pamela
It must be very tough to fall on hard circumstance through ill health. I always admire your grit when you comment on the blog.
I agree, the thermal vest and leggings work very well. I’m wearing the vests and the leggings and socks are the next step. Ten years ago I considered throwing all these away. Glasses up to those who keep stuff just in case!
Your idea of using the ash from the fire is wonderful – thank you so much for sharing this great idea.
Hello Wendy
In the summer, I’m sure that your house is all that a house should be! Ours is easier to heat – 17th century with low ceilings etc. Our cottage is cute and picturesque and your house has style!
We’re worried about the damp and the mildew too.
Hi Jules
I think that you are right. It was freezing when my present clients were away but when the returned and switched on the central heating, I began to wilt. When they left for the afternoon I asked them to turn off the heating!
It’s cold here. I’m sitting at the laptop wearing a jacket and scarf (plus thermal vest, tea shirt and sailing jumper).
Hello Mandi
Thanks for this. We bought one when we had loads of newspapers knocking around. Now we have very little fuel for the gizmo. But we’re planning to try it this weekend. Watch this space.
Thanks, Mandi. You were right about our spam filter but it saved it for verification rather than deleting it.
They are also avilable on eBay. We bought one last year and we are planning to raid our nighbour’s enviro-bins every second week!
More anon 🙂
HI I tried to give you the link but i think your spam bot won’t let me
They have them on ebay and amazon for under £20 and you can find them by searching paper briquette. All these search words are in the title
Briquette-Recycling-Newspaper-eko-mania. Hope its a good idea.