Finding the chase and cutting to it

We’re doing a little renovation (replacing the stair and landing carpet) and remodelling (moving my husband’s office upstairs) which has allowed me access to that room’s thermostat. The self-builders we bought from put underfloor heating downstairs with individual room thermostats – really old, mechanical, set the temperature but no other functionality, type room thermostats and […]

As I sit here, in my comfy home, lit by LED bulbs, lightly heated by timed, thermostatic controls, I’m thanking my efforts over the past 10 years to make my house as energy efficient as possible. I was lucky in that we wanted to change energy supplier relatively shortly after moving into our current home […]

As is my wont on a Sunday, I’m drinking a hot cup of Earl Grey (black), watching the leaves drop from the trees (it is October in the UK), putting off my set of chores. I’ve been doing this for the past 24 hours, like most weekends, and the grey sky outside is not inspiring […]

Actually, if you’d ever heard me sing, this statement would induce horror, but the sentiment is there. Everything is ticking along nicely. 10 years ago, next year, we moved house and increased our mortgage. We reached a milestone this month on our mortgage this month which is definitely cause for celebration. When we had our […]

Microwaves are often scorned in cook books and recipes but I’m a huge fan – I got my first one when I was 19 as a grown up, but I’d grown up with one in the house. My dad was keen, cooking meat, fish, and egg dishes (seperately, not combined) and his favourite dish was […]

During lockdown, I started to make fresh pasta.  Which is great from a taste and cooking point of view, but not great from a food waste point of view unless you make use of this handy tip. Oh yeah, one word from the wise, eh? Hey, enough of that.  Collect knowledge. Several sites spoke of […]

Today is likely to be one of the hottest days in the UK and at 11:28 the temperature in my lounge is around 24.8°C, and that’s with the south facing windows protected by closed curtains.  I know as while the boiler is off, if it’s not burning gas it’s not getting hot, the room thermostats […]

What? That’s not practising what you preach! You’re right and I’m not: in fact I’m multitasking.  Well, I hope. I thought I’d share my first go at microwaving (or at least partially microwaving) a roast chicken. What on earth for? Well, I hear many people saying they cannot afford to cook given how high energy […]

We buy our gas and electricity from Ovo and our water from Anglian Water. Nothing unusual about that, but like many, I am paying close attention to our bills as they come through. Many are struggling and all my energy company seems to want to do is put me on a fixed tarrif that is […]

I don’t normally use capitals in titles, this isn’t a tabloid newspaper, after all, but proper nouns need that distinction… Eh? What? The Micawber Principle is this: expenditure less than income gives happiness, expenditure greater than income is penurary, as per https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Micawber_principle. This is a universal truth no matter religion, upbringing or income. Living within […]