Aaarrgghh.

We got the bills today for gas and electricity.  The gas bill is about what I expected at around £30 per month for hot water and cooking and 3 hours (total) of CH.  We have showers with the very occasional treat bath at a weekend.  The cooking is as one-pot as we can make it.  In fact we do a good line in cooking once and reheating the planned leftovers in the microwave.  We only have the gas oven on a couple of times a month and always cook as much as possible in it to make the best use of the gas.

The electricity bill says we have used £98 worth of electicity each month since the last bill.  How???  The last bill was estimated and was just a very small bit behind so I just left that to be remedied this time when it was an actual reading.  So the £98 is probably nearer to £90 in fact.  We did not start using the halogen heaters until the last weekend in October so the bill is really for appliances and lighting. 

I am already turning on the halogen heater at the last possible moment when I am too cold to wait any longer and my husband has complained too much, wearing four layers inside (I have to take off one to fit my coat on to go outside...), using hot water bottles and blankets, going round the house turning the lights off after my husband, turning the computer off if it not going to be used for several hours and any other thing I can think of.  Apart from the freezers full of homegrown (by our friends) meat, I can't think what has pushed the bill up so much. 

We finished last quarter slightly in credit so we are now in debit by 2 months payments.  That does not bode well for next quarter which is the one when they decide whether to raise the monthly payment or not. Hmmmm.  At least the money can be recouped by savings made across the board, but still it is a nasty shock to the system.

I've given in.  We had the CH on for an hour yesterday and the halogen heater on for 1.5 hours in the living room and 1.5 hours in the bedroom.  I got to the point where I had four layers on (inside the house) including my really warm gilet - and I was still shivering and miserable.  Enough is enough.  The washing was so cold that I could not tell if it was dry or still slightly damp so I put it along the radiator racks to warm up so that I could decide.  My husband says I am ridiculous but we spent the best of £1.75 on heating yesterday. When it gets colder and we need more heating and then multiply up the cost across the winter......

I've been considering the cost of retirement.  I was reading somewhere (MSE or The Motley Fool most likely) that the cost of living goes down when you stop working.  I thought that this was not true at least for us.  We still need clothes and I will continue to buy them mainly in charity shops.  I have all my "work" clothes and my "at home" clothes and will wear them out before getting more.  The food bill will go up because we won't get a free sarnie for lunch any more.  My husband has a sarnie and and apple and I have a sarnie and a bowl of custard.  The custard is filling and means that I can leave half my sarnie for tomorrow's breakfast.  So we will have to start paying for weekday lunches and my weekday breakfasts.  The heating bill will rise because on weekdays, we only need heating in the evenings if it is cold enough.  Then we would need a great deal more heating and all day in cold  That bit worries me because with the cost of heating rising, that bill is scary enough already.  Travel costs won't change much.  It is a 3 mile round trip to school each day so we might save a litre or just over of diesel per week.  I always try to go shopping on the way home from school to minimise the fuel costs so that shopping trip will negate some of the fuel saved by not going to work.  We won't pay national insurance - yes but we also won't be earning any income to pay it on.  We'll still have to pay income tax on my husband's pension.  We'll still be paying at the vet, dentist, optician, hairdresser as always.  Once past a certain age, prescription charges will go unless they decide to drop that perk of being older.  Currently, bus fares drop during certain hours once in receipt of a state pension but they are talking of stopping that and the state pension itself is getting further away.

Hmmm.  If we leave work, I think living costs are going to increase and income will plummet.  I can see lots of budgetting ahead - far more than now. Isn't it a good thing that we like homemade (and homegrown) vegetable soup!

By the way, Tesco have lots of their baking ingredients on 3 for the price of 2 at the moment.  Time to stock up on enough dried fruit and flour for a few months.  I'm thankful that there is enough in the coffers to be able to go and spend a bit more now in order to get some longer term savings.

I've just blown the food budget for April.  My farmer friends took their last year's lambs to the abbatoir this week and I have just filled the freezer with a whole (in joints) lamb.  At least I know that this lamb had a good life - and I know its mum and dad although its dad was very old and is now gone.  This lamb was dad's last season and afterwards, dad went downhill rather quickly.  Poor, old lad.  He was a lovely, friendly ram.  Their new one is a feisty fellow and I'm staying well clear!

We don't actually buy much meat, but I'm happier knowing the provenance of the meat we do have.  I have to admit, all my scruples have a tendency to go out the window on days like my last visit to Tesco when I got there when they were reducing the already reduced items to a quarter or less of the original price.  If I'm paying proper money, though, my scruples go back on duty.

I've finally got around to going through all the receipts that I had been saving since we went away in February half term.  I don't like the results of my sums.  In February we spent £170 on food/toiletries/laundry/cleaning for the two of us and the cats.  I was having a conniption fit until I remembered that the total includes buying tea for six months because I found a brand on a good offer that we like and also 4-5 months of catfood because I found their preferred one on offer.  And there were a few treats for the week we were away. And a few other things in store that were bought on offer. And a few bits for the hens and rabbits. And a few Welsh cakes and chocs brought back from Wales as thankyous to the animal sitters. But I still can't get over how high the remaining figure is.  We didn't have any steak or caviar or buy/eat anything particularly extravagant so I just can't get my head around it.  I've also been through the receipts for March so far and the totals are nothing like as horrific. 

Just shows what can happen when you take your eyes off the ball briefly.