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Cost of living crisis stuff?


One 48

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Its all going up, aint it, perhaps we can share some tips to each other here, really worry about forthcoming Winter in UK where they are quite open and honest that our fuel bills are really going to go through the roof. hit 63 last week, but a fair arthritic disability too, really not looking forward to this winters fuel bills.

Nothing we can do about that, but help each other out in this crisis.

Was wondering, what cut backs if any have you good people made already? For me, its quite a few, glad to say Scale Modelling is still up there :) But this winters fuel costs are going to bite, no doubt about it.

A couple of things I have cut down on recently and were rather bloated ... my Sky package, totally bloated it was and rarely watched and I thought i was on a minimal package, cancelled it down to minimum broadband and telephone package and bought a FreeSat 4K box that I figure will pay for itself in about 5 months with no Sky subscriptions any-more.

I also pay full attention to my electricity usage now, leave nothing on stand by unless its absolutely necessary, my natural gas usage too.

Its a worry where we are going with this energy crisis, anything that dips into my various hobby budgets like scale modelling is a concern.

Please post your tips on current crisis and how to best apportion this cost of living crisis back to our scale modelling here :)

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We have a log burner in the living room. Just the two of us here (unless we get invaded by the kids) so the central heating is rarely used.

I collect wood from all over while on my travels delivering the falling down waters.

Plus broken pallets from work. It all gets cut down to size and goes into the storage log/piles. 

 

I do have Tamiya acrylic thinners, but mostly use car screen wash to thin paint/wash brushes/airbrush etc. Way cheaper.

 

I've recently got a cheap outside security light to replace the old spotlight version we've used all these years. 

Plants etc waving in the wind keep setting that one off! So that should save a bit.

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Electric has gone up 9% from the start of this month and another 7 from the first of Jan,last year after Christmas i turned off the heating and when't PAYG for the electric everything else has rocketed in price so it's just a case of cutting back where i can..

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My £0.02

 

Don't let the energy companies put your direct debit up.  Pay for what you use, when you've used it, not what they are speculating you will use.  I had our electricity DD go up by 100%, despite the current tariff only being 50% higher.

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Spend to save, if you can.  I will be having wall cavity insulation installed.

 

Turn down the flow temp on your condensing gas boiler, so it works more efficiently.  Most houses have oversized radiators, so running them a bit cooler won't be a problem except when it's really cold and then you just turn the flow temp up. Expect to reduce gas consumption by 2 - 6%.

 

Buy fewer kits and spend longer making them.

 

Don't buy etch sets. If the detail is really important scratch build it.

 

Move to smaller scales as the kits are cheaper.

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Thanks Mike for warning, please don't let this go political folks, this is not my intention at all.

It honestly is in hard times cut back times we live in just now and wondering where to shave a few pennys, ideally for my Scale Modelling new kit fix too, to help the economy that way too, please no debates about the problem itself, it really is tips to help each other in the crisis we are all in together ... much the same way we did on Covid thread.

I honestly found as a single person, could live without Sky for TV and could get just the odd TV or Documentary for free wise with my new Freesat box, it records too if i need it too, Freesat and Freeview have come a long way in recent years, whilst Sky got bloated and too expensive for what it is IMHO. That made a big saving to my monthly DD bills.

I hope we can help each other out here in cost saving tips in the inevitable hard times ahead, any costs shaved will go to our future kit stash purchases I'm sure :)

Thanks

 

Edited by One 48
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Oh, I meant to mention too, need to rely on ASDA or TESCO for home grocery delivery because of my disability and it really is quite shocking how prices have went through the roof recently this way for both of them :(

No other choice though.

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If you are using Asda, take advantage of the monthly delivery fee. It’s ~£6 per month for as many deliveries as you want rather than £3-4 each. Saves us about £10/month.

 

I’ve also switched mobile provider. Was £25 with EE now £8 with Plusnet mobile who use the same network! There are a few cheap providers who use one of the main networks.

 

 

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Looking from our hobby point of view, plan ahead when making purchases of consumables. It amazes me how many people are willing to pay postage on one pot of paint and then make another order the next week for another pot. It makes sense to look ahead a bit and purchase them at one time saving the extra postage (and all the extra delivery miles too if you are into saving the planet).

 

Duncan B

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Remember the old saying that if you take care of the pennies the pounds will look after themselves (at least to a point). It's still worth bearing in mind.

 

I have always had strong views about food waste and with prices the way they are we have set ourselves a target of zero wastage. There is a shedload of information out there about eating well on a budget, using up leftovers and freezing stuff that you might not immediately think of (chopped onions and fresh herbs being two examples). Yellow label stuff in supermarkets is an opportunity, not a source of embarrassment. Check the price per kilo or litre before buying - sometimes buying a larger quantity and freezing half is cheaper but not always. We plan our meals for the week and work out a shopping list trying to ensure there won't be anything un-freezable left over and we only buy what we need. It's simple basic stuff but as a well known supermarket says "Every little helps".

 

If you can afford it, add some extra tins, breakfast cereal etc to your shopping and donate it to your local food bank.

 

Dave G 🇺🇦

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14 hours ago, RobL said:

My £0.02

 

Don't let the energy companies put your direct debit up.  Pay for what you use, when you've used it, not what they are speculating you will use.  I had our electricity DD go up by 100%, despite the current tariff only being 50% higher.

 

 I cant empathise RobL's advise enough on this matter I do keep a very careful eye on my energy bills, some energy companys will load up your DD, and if you are in credit, then that cash will go to their bank accounts making interest for them, not you ... I am not suggesting pre pay card meters, those have extra costs too, but perhaps on more traditional meters its best to submit your own readings and keep a record of them, take a pic too.

As regards my own energy usage and since this is an independent advise thread, do highly recommend Octopus energy company, but that could change, its a very dynamic thing ... but please at least monitor your energy usage and stay on top of, it my monthly DD is maybe a bit low just now but I always top it up if need be after my monthly meter reads, D amounts can be adjusted and I like DD's. because you can budget for it on a monthly basis ... Oh and submit your own meter reads at least once a month ... used to do it three monthly, monthly at least is best I think ... oh and i often forget, its a good idea to take pictures of your meter reads for your own records.

Take care folks, hard times ahead for sure, but hope this has been of some help and more cost saving tips will follow too :)

Edited by One 48
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Forward plan . As said before plan meals well in advance. Make a list of what you need when you go shopping. The number of people I see not doing this when in Tesco, Aldi etc  is unbelievable. 

The freezer  is your friend.  Frozen is often cheaper. Don't  forget tins. Veg are cooked in the tins themselves  so do not loose nutritional  value. 

 

Dick

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2 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Looking from our hobby point of view, plan ahead when making purchases of consumables. It amazes me how many people are willing to pay postage on one pot of paint and then make another order the next week for another pot. It makes sense to look ahead a bit and purchase them at one time saving the extra postage (and all the extra delivery miles too if you are into saving the planet).

 

Duncan B


 Have been very guilty of this behaviour in the past Duncan :)

 

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During the main pandemic I did a major  stock up of everything modelling wise. Really glad I did. Now acting as a buffer financially.   Make the stash work for it self.

Dick

Edited by jenko
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Stop spending large amounts of money on overpriced model kits will save a few quid. 

 

And to raise some cash if needed try selling off some of those huge stashes of models that some folks seem to own. 😉

 

The Economist.

 

 

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If you are able now is the time to get fitter. Walk more, use the car less. Visit the mother-in-law  once a week  rather than twice. This will also help your mental health.  

 

Dick

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17 hours ago, jenko said:

Visit the mother-in-law  once a week  rather than twice

I do, but swmbo told me that it's not nice to dance on her grave.

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1 hour ago, jenko said:

If you are able now is the time to get fitter. Walk more, use the car less. Visit the mother-in-law  once a week  rather than twice. This will also help your mental health.  



Appreciate your help thogh :)

Dick

You obviously dont know my Mother in law :)

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Not really an expense caused by any current world problems, but a great saving, none the less. Earlier this year, I really got the ache with the insurance company who we had all of our policies with. They just seemed to be trying to kill the golden goose. Our house, gite, caravan, two cars and health care were all with a well known French insurance company who seemed to think that it was OK to up the payments by just plucking numbers from out of the air. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had been reliable when it came to making claims.....but they weren't. So a friend put us onto the company that he uses. Long story short, our annual insurance payments went down from just under 7000 euros a year, to 3500 euros. Methinks that someone was taking the urine!

 

John

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Good for you Bull, fair saving there.

I think its a pity we have to ask each other money saving tips, was wanting to buy a members Tamiya 1/32 Mossie yesterday, but had to let it slide, these are difficult times indeed.

Glad of no political comments so far, thanks Mike.

 

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18 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

Spend to save, if you can. 

 

In inflationary times like these, it might make sense for a person with long term savings to spend them on items which will only be going up while the value of the savings can be thought of as declining.

 

I've got some money in the bank earning very little interest and mostly live on a couple of index linked pensions. I'm thinking that now is the time to buy those tools, books, kits I've been wanting. I'll trust the pensions to catch up sooner or later and enjoy myself while I can. A new car would have been a worthwhile 'investment' but unfortunately I missed that particular boat.

 

It sounds very reasonable and provides me with a perfect excuse to treat myself. Maybe you can try it on the SWMBOs but beware - you could end up with a new kitchen and a mink coat.

 

 

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5 hours ago, jenko said:

plan meals well in advance. Make a list of what you need when you go shopping

 

Excellent ideas. I always do this and am currently adding "only buy food", meaning I'm avoiding buying things that I eat for entertainment, like snacks, 'sharing' platters and so on. I'm also losing weight!

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2 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

Excellent ideas. I always do this and am currently adding "only buy food", meaning I'm avoiding buying things that I eat for entertainment, like snacks, 'sharing' platters and so on. I'm also losing weight!

Time out for this one. Try the Fast 800 diet for loosing weight.  Fully recommended.  Over  6months lost 2 stone.

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Buy an electric slow cooker. Not for now but for when it gets  colder. Brilliant  for cheap cuts of meat. Great for stews .. meat and veggie ones. The ultimate one pot cook.  Prep and get it ready before going to work. By tea time all the work is done . The smell when you walk through the door is lovely. Cost to run... a fraction of what your oven costs.

 

Dick

 

Ps plenty of recipes  on line

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