Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post with sympathy and good wishes. I really appreciate it.
To be honest the medication is making no discernable difference to how I feel but I am learning to stop and rest when the dizziness hits me. This morning has been good and I've caught up with some jobs which I've been putting off over the last week.
DD and the family were on a visit yesterday when G rushed in, in a total panic because the energy monitor was flashing. It had changed from showing just over £2 to £14.75 😱 It was flashing a warning that we had gone over budget for the week. I had no idea that we had actually set one. G thought it was one day's useage and nearly gave us all heart failure. Luckily DD played around with the buttons and she re-set the budget to a more realistic figure. Today this is the total for the week.....
I sometimes feel like throwing the monitor through the window as G is becoming obsessed with the figures 👀
Frugal things I've done over the weekend:
- Fed the family yesterday on hot dogs and onions instead of Son-in-Law paying for a takeaway curry. Sausages £1.50, rolls 75p, 2 onions 26p. Total spent £2.51 as opposed to almost £30 for a curry. I already had cake in the house.
- Listed a few things on eBay as it was offering reduced selling fees. 3 items sold within hours netting a total of £27.55 which will not only buy my brother's birthday gift, but a 10% donation has gone to British Red Cross for the Ukraine appeal.
- This morning I have done 2 loads of washing and it's drying beautifully in the sun.
- Lunch today has been a leftover crust of granary bread , toasted, and topped with the last bit of cheese which was melted under the microwave grilly thing (cheaper than the oven grill)
- Pulled some home grown radishes to have with it. They are growing in a little trough which hangs on the bit of side fencing so that the creepy crawlies don't share them too. Delicious !
April Food Budget: £173.93 /£200.00
I'm so glad I've resisted having a smart meter so far. As I told the lady on the phone last time "it doesn't save money - Only using less electric saves money and I don't need the hassle of it going wrong".
ReplyDeleteHope the dizziness fades away soon - sounds horrible
Thank you, Sue, it is :/
DeleteI'm not sure who sets the Budget bit on the smart meter - mine said I'd exceeded it too at first.
ReplyDeleteJust an arbitrary figure at the top of the dial by the look of it.
Mine sits on my windowsill and I like to see how low I can make the rate per hour go.
Also, if I'm leaving the house for the day I like to check it isn't showing a high rate per hour because I've left the iron on or something.
They can make you a bit paranoid but you've found a good use for yours Anne :)
DeleteWe have one of those smart meters too. It gobbled batteries like there was no tomorrow and it seemed a bit pointless to have to connect to the mains to check our usage. So now it is just decorating a shelf!!
ReplyDeleteHope the dizziness starts to ease soon.
Have a good week x
Thanks Beverley :) x
DeleteI don't think we have energy monitors like that, over here. What does one do if one goes over the budgeted amount? Reset the amount?
ReplyDeleteI think it's simply an alert, Bless, so that you can try to reduce daily useage. We have reset the budget to a more realistic amount of £4 per day for both gas and electricity. Of course, we do endeavour to use much less than that so that our direct debit will cover useage. We have only had this monitor for 7 months and managed perfectly well without one for 50 years! technology isn't always a blessing is it :/
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