Useful money-saving tips for Winter 2022

I’ve decided not to buy any new clothes for the next 6 months…maybe longer.

I apologise for mentioning Christmas in August but how about families agreeing to just buy presents for the children and not the adults?
That way every adult in the family saves money, quite a lot in some cases.

Christmas could still be enjoyable with home cooked food, games with the children, lovely country walks.

Now dare I suggest it to mine ?!

If you can - forage. I have already picked and frozen over 10lbs of blackberrys and intend to pick many more. I have yet to see or hear of anyone else doing it in our village. I have a very good cookbook called The Hedgerow Cookbook

We live in a rural area and lots of people have apple trees and are putting surplus apples in boxes on the road side. I have also seen courgettes and other veg placed out for anyone to take. As well as blackberries there are sloes hazelnuts, walnuts, greengages all available for free.

Even in towns there will be areas of rough ground with blackberries. The more adventurous can also gather elderberries (makes lovely red wine) and rosehips.

I plan to make apple chutney tomorrow, later when my crab apples ripen I will make apple jelly, bramble jelly and herb jellies. All these make lovely stocking presents, or presents for people.

This morning I was out picking balckberries in the sunshine and also not only enjoyed a pleasant walk I also stretched and bent as I reached and hunted for blackberries. A hint: always take a pair of secateurs with you to cut back big looping lengths of bramble that come between you and your potential bramble jelly.

It is a good idea to be prepped for power cuts as well as trying to reduce energy use. Thermos flasks are always useful. They can be filled and then used to fill hot water bottles

JenniferEccles

I apologise for mentioning Christmas in August but how about families agreeing to just buy presents for the children and not the adults?
That way every adult in the family saves money, quite a lot in some cases.

Christmas could still be enjoyable with home cooked food, games with the children, lovely country walks.

Now dare I suggest it to mine ?!

I suggested similar several years ago and there was such a big sense of relief all round

freezer tip: empty spaces use up a lot of energy so fill them with containers full of water, they will also help to keep food frozen when we have power cuts

Plainly my plan for this winter of wearing a vest for the first time since I was 11 is not going to be enough. Turning down the thermostat doesn’t seem to work but, like Maw, starting later and finishing earlier will be essential, as will not wasting hot water. The very thought of all this depresses me beyond belief but will investigate heated throws as a last resort.

The very threat of power cuts is alarming since electricity is essential in this house - heating and gas hob depend on it and I have no alternatives. All suggestions welcome!

You did well MOnica. I always seem to be a bit too late trying to pick blackberries as someone else has always beaten me to it!
I have noticed though that the few I have seen on walks have been very small, due to the lack of rain I’m sure.

You are right about foraging though. There have been people on tv who are very knowledgeable in this respect.
It amazes me just how much that is growing wild up and down the country, is edible.

When the conditions are right I would love to pick wild mushrooms as I’m sure they would be bursting with flavour.
I wouldn’t risk it though as I’m not knowledgeable enough to know which ones are poisonous!

we have already got two zones for heating within our house; bedrooms/bathroom and kitchen/living room. We have already turned the thermostats off in the unused bedrooms, but do throw the doors open every day to avoid the rooms getting musty. We shall try putting the heating on for less time rather than at a lower temperature, and have good quality wool blankets as throws if needed.

Not everyone’s choice but we do get free oysters and muscles and a few clams.
Non of these are on licensed beds.

karmalady

freezer tip: empty spaces use up a lot of energy so fill them with containers full of water, they will also help to keep food frozen when we have power cuts

I’ve been filling my empty freezer space with bread, it’s going to get a lot more expensive this winter, and I know it will definitely be used. You can also freeze flour.
My meanest tip is to always use the charging power in your car, I recharge my phone and iPad on any car journeys.

Oh thank you, I was looking at the Dreamcatcher. It seems a resonable price and does get good reviews. I think I will get that one aswell.

1summer

Oh thank you, I was looking at the Dreamcatcher. It seems a resonable price and does get good reviews. I think I will get that one aswell.

Sorry response was to @Mayal. Thank you

Apparently it can save quite a few £1s if you take out the bulb in your fridge (no good for sneaky midnight feasters though)

We might have to give up our midnight feasts bikergran ?

As well as bread, buy seasonal gluts of vegetables, or even veg marked down in the supermarket. prepare and freeze them in empty spaces or make soup and freeze in the container sinstead of water.

We have a big old house with a huge big brick chimney stack going up the centre of the house. We know from experience that if we have our wood burner in use for three or four days in a row, the whole stack heats up like a huge storage radiator and is sufficient to give us background heat, not just over the whole of the ground floor, but for the upstairs as well for another 2 or 3 days, so in the really cold weather, we will use a mix of the stove and the storage radiator capacity of the chimney to not need to use the heating at all, or at least only the occasional boost.

bread has a low thermal capacity, very much lower than water so bread would be useless in keeping the freezer cold in a power cut. Soups are a very good idea as is meat

My neighbour and I have all our solid fuel in and stashed, I reckon enough for two years. It will skyrocket in a couple of months

I have a good store now of unscented stearin candles. I have such a well insulated house that I can keep my living room warm via a candle

I have been busy for months, making layers for myself to wear eg warm tunic over leggings and with warm woollen socks. I can add under layers and top layers to that. I make warm layers from sheeps wool not acrylics

Tbh, I am fully prepped and am not going to bother with camping stove or gaz

Tuesday at Iceland is 10% off
sustainability.iceland.co.uk/news/iceland-becomes-the-first-uk-supermarket-to-offer-special-discount-for-over-60s/

Nadhim Zahawi suggests that we should think about using less power ?. Never thought of that, guess it must be the fact that he's Chancellor that he comes up with such brilliant ideas.

If you’re on Facebook, selected Oodies are currently BOGOF. I bought a couple last winter, they are amazingly warm. I already had a cheaper version, but the Oodie is far superior.

A second vote for air fryer - the one I have is more actually described as a mini oven with two compartments.

I also use a faux fur heated throw - a bit like an electric blanket. Was a real boon during the last two winters working from home, kept me lovely and snug at my desk for pence per week.

karmalady

bread has a low thermal capacity, very much lower than water so bread would be useless in keeping the freezer cold in a power cut. Soups are a very good idea as is meat

My neighbour and I have all our solid fuel in and stashed, I reckon enough for two years. It will skyrocket in a couple of months

I have a good store now of unscented stearin candles. I have such a well insulated house that I can keep my living room warm via a candle

I have been busy for months, making layers for myself to wear eg warm tunic over leggings and with warm woollen socks. I can add under layers and top layers to that. I make warm layers from sheeps wool not acrylics

Tbh, I am fully prepped and am not going to bother with camping stove or gaz

But you wouldn’t totally fill your freezer with bread, it’s just a way of making use of the space whilst saving yourself money on something that we know is going to get more expensive? If there is a power cut, unless it’s for days, you would just keep your freezer door shut and it would be fine anyway.

Depends of the freezer casdon, chest freezers normally ok but not so all upright freezers. Mine has fronts on each drawer so the cold air will not fall out. Any chance of a power cut and I will ensure that it retains its proper freezer temperature. Naturally it is only scientific fact and anyone can do anything they want

I am concerned about turning the heating much lower. When I first moved in, I had terrible problems with damp and black mould on walls in my wardrobes and in the corners of two of my bedrooms. My lounge always felt cold, I even had complaints from visitors!

My boiler was inadequate for the size of the bungalow, I was told this by the surveyor so always planned to replace it. My bungalow is built in an area that used to be boggy farm land and underground water seeps into the floor space after heave rain - it was designed to do that.

Once I replaced the boiler and also installed a positive air exchange unit in the hall, the damp disappeared and has not been a problem since. But obviously I don’t want the problems to reoccur so am reluctant to drop the temperature below 19 degrees which I set last winter. I did reduce the time it was on, from 8 am to 9 pm but did not vary the temperature when I went out as it takes a while to warm the house up again - I don’t have a gas fire, just the central heating.

So I’ll be looking at other ways to reduce energy use if needs be, like not using the oven unless I fill it, less washing, double spinning clothes and trying to dry outdoors every time.

TeacherAnne I am surprised that you need your heat on all day. We have a big old house and only have the heating on from 6.00am-9.00am(I am an early riser) in the morning and 5.00pm-10pm in the evening, Yes, the temperature in the house will gently drop but between 9.00am and 5.00pm it rarely drops more than a degree or so.

We live in a listed building so there is a limit on how much we can do in the insulation line, although we have done a lot and have partial double glazing.

How well insulated is your house? Do you have the recommended 12 inches of insulation in the roof, double glazing and cavity insulation or other wall insulation?