Sorry for no photos on this one, it's more about keeping records!
In our first year in the house we’ve used 4500 litres of oil
and it cost us £1402.02 plus £50.97 in additives for the oil. There’s enough in the tank to see us until
the end of Jan and maybe beyond but as we moved in on 15th Jan, this
will balance out. I shall compare usage
and cost with 2017. I do love doing
things like that.
We bought coal, which I didn’t keep a record for, so have started
for 2017. However we use wood which is
free for the most part.
Electricity we used £438 and are just in credit so our
monthly payment is about right.
Water was £322.
The septic tank was emptied at a cost of £145.
On top of that we have the usual bills, all of which I knew
what the cost would be through the year, so could plan for those. I am pleased that we forecasted appropriately
and things came in on budget. This year
I want to decrease our use of electricity and oil, however will increase the
oil savings as we’re just on par with what we saved v what we used and I can’t
see the cost of oil going down. Water is
needed. We’re on a metre and it is for
the animals too. That is what it
is. We waste very little I think.
The groceries came in on budget for the most part of the
year and December went right up which I can handle but need to plan for if it
is to happen again. It was out first
year celebrating in this house and I refused to scrimp on things.
Hopefully with the plans I have for veg for 2017, our
grocery bill will be right down, even further in 2018 when we have more of our
own meat on the table.
We’ve also spent a lot to get up and running. That will continue this year as we continue
to get set up in all areas. 2016 saw
expenses on things like: fences, wood,
veg beds, an auger, hens, eggs, poultry essentials, decorating, field gates, 3
geese, 3 ducks, 3 sheep and our first cockerel J
to mention a few. This coming year we
are putting up more fencing and gates, buying 2 pigs (weaners), automating
water supplies, buying more poultry housing, buying dairy goats, creating a new
raised bed area and putting up a polytunnel.
That’s what we’ve already thought about, there will be SO much more
comes to mind during the year as always!
Just a few things then J I wouldn’t have it any other way.
We are hoping to make a small income from egg sales, geese
and turkey at Christmas (just a few), selling surplus veg and fruit and even
veg plants. Enough to cover the cost of
feed maybe? We’ll see.
it's all trial and error, with the hope you get more things right, also on the plus side there are some wonderful blogs to follow, people with a wealth of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteYes as long as we get at least the same amount right or better each year, that's a great thing. It all came in on budget for year 1 so I am not worrying :) looking forward to learning more.
DeleteOh My Goodness,we are moving to a house with oil central heating for the first time - that's a lot more than I thought it was going to cost us. Thank heavens we'll have a woodburner in the living room and free wood
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. Our aga runs on oil and is on 24/7 plus the water and heating is oil too. So it gets a good run for its money. If it was just the heating it would be a lot less. :)
DeleteIts only by recording things that you have a starting point. I did a spreadsheet when I was thinking of retirement. It helped control spending and look for deals because I had the evidence written down.
ReplyDeleteYes good point. I followed you and you did amazingly with preparation 😊
DeleteGood work on this chic! It always helps to write things down. If you have plans you can budget and then know what you can do when. We had our septic tank emptied just after Christmas and it cost us £240! Won't be using THEM again! Expense seems a lot sometimes, doesn't it but when you are buying things like the pigs to ultimately feed yourselves and saving money at the same time then yay!
ReplyDeleteI have realised even when I wrote stuff down I still missed out some detail, so that is important this year and moving forward. Oh my goodness that seems a lot for a septic tank, though I haven't compared others just yet. Hope it is cheaper for you next time. Yes you madecide me smile saying that re the pigs. In the long run, it's going to pay us back and I love that.
DeleteOur water bill we have brought down each year, we are metered too, we have just got it reduced to £7 a month, hope next year to have it lower, we used IBC tanks for water catchment for all the livestock and now poly tunnels.
ReplyDeleteThat is am amazing amount dawn. We're going to be looking into it this year and making plans. Let's see what happens :)
DeleteTracey, have you thought of rain water storage? We store our in UV resistant tanks which keep the water algae free. The tank(s) may be an initial additional cost but thereafter your water will be freeee 😄
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add the rainwater is for your veggie garden and for your animals 😉
DeleteHi Dani, we do have one which we used for the greenhouse mainly but not for the animals water. We have a man made pool for the geese which it fills but of course that means it empties so quick. Wbased on your and dawns comments it's definitely worth looking into taking the hit of the upfront cost for the long term reward and of course we have this year to compare it against now. Thanks
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