The cost of living... what can we do?

Face/hand creams tubs/tubes with or with out pumps when finnished cut the top or botton or both off if it's a big tube don't just throw it as you will find there is still lots of cream in there may last you a few more weeks/months

 

I always wash out the washing up liquid bottle.
I bought a cheap one some time ago and it was rubbish, it was so thin that it lasted a week, normally a bottle lasts me about a month.

 

I think candles are a terrible idea for backup lighting. If people do that I expect we'll see an increase in house fires.

Plus candles don't give off much light.

I remember us keeping a good stock of candles when I was very young in the 1970s. They made sense then because torches weren't much better and would rapidly drain the equally rubbish batteries. But technology has moved on since then. You can get a really good range of LED torches and lamps, and even fully automatic backup lighting quite cheap. I've just bought a rechargeable lamp. It can do a thousand lumens which is enough to illuminate our living room, and apparently lasts 6 hours when on full whack, or you can run it longer on a lower setting that still gives enough light to be able to see what you're doing.

 

Rather than candles, I would go for something like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cupboard-R...sprefix=rechargable+led+lights,aps,172&sr=8-8

One in the lounge, the kitchen, the hall/stairs and the bathroom.

I have plenty LED battery lights but if push came to shove I have four of these in the garden.

Smart Garden Damasquette Metal Gold effect Solar-powered Outdoor LED Lantern | DIY at B&Q

 

Customer review:
I don't know how many lumens they are but I have 3 in my hallway and they are very bright, ideal for when the grandchildren get up in the night.

Gillian Harvey
· 10 April 2022

They don't have to be that bright. Just brighter than a candle!

 

Beware of lamps on Amazon or eBay.

You see there are two kinds of lumens. There are lumens, and then there's Chinese lumens. I have a lamp for my mountain bike that has 10 thousand Chinese lumens. It's about the same as a thousand of everyone else's lumens.

 

Protect yourself this winter.

Going out.



Blackout.

 

This is true, but I'm afraid it is a sign of the times. I occasionally get caught up in reading the comments on Facebook posts from the likes of Which? and the supermarkets.

What really stands out is that a lot of people either can't cook or believe it's their god given right to not have to. I've seen lots of comments along the lines of 'between working and raising kids, nobody has time or energy to spend an hour in the kitchen'. A few times I've been very tempted to remind people that it's possible to make a healthy meal for a family of four, using a single pan, in under 20 minutes, using cheap but wholesome ingredients, but I don't post up because I've noticed that those that do post actual advice just get ganged up on by the majority who just want to feed their families with cheap ready meals.

 

Cooks from frozen is the usual advice.
Now I don't know what happens if you defrost first but surely less energy would be needed .