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I've been trying different things to see if I can get electricity use down. My husband doesn't care but I'm doing it any way. I hope I'll see a decrease in my next report. 

Same here, Margaret P. My husband doesn't worry about electricity use for electric lights left on in empty rooms, computers left running, or long showers. However, he regularly points that I boil the kettle quite a lot ;) 

Now that the weather is cooling down here and we have our wood stove going,  I'm giving the stovetop kettle a clean and bringing it back into use.  It whistles when the water is boiled, which reminds me of the kettles when I was growing up, before they had automatic shut-off.

Those old electric kettles were a good example of how things should be made to be serviceable and, as you said Grandma Donna, how parts should be easily available. People might remember the ceramic element, wound around with a fine coiled wire, that was held inside the kettle by little nuts at the top of two pieces of wire.

If it needed replacing, you could always buy a new one cheaply at the hardware or local shop. It was a simple and satisfying job. I think the only specification was whether you needed a long one or a short one, depending on the depth of your kettle. No need to buy a particular brand, and the part, with its simple design, remained unchanged for generations. 

GDonna, Your posts are always so inspiring. Kellie O and Margaret P, my husband does not care about the electricity either. Sure, he would not complain about a lower bill, but he is not interested in doing things as in days past. Also, GDonna, how do you get so much done in a day? I feel like outside of work where I sit at a computer all day, and then prepare dinner, clean up after dinner, and do a few things around the house, I can’t get much else done! There is so much I want to learn and do; I hope I can start making some changes

What an inspiring post! Like you I am grateful/happy to be married to a man who shares my outlook on old ways, thrift and frugality. I guess it helps he's a Yorkshire man lol! Short arms deep pockets as they say. 

We have just this week we have passed along our large tv. We haven't watched tv for years so it made sense to get rid of it and I cannot tell you the positive effect it has made to our home not having this ugly black thing just sat there, our home feels so much more peaceful. We do however "watch" things (youtube) on my husbands computer monitor. All creatures great and small, Heartbeat, that kind of thing, gardening/gyo, off grid/frugality, informative kind of things relevant to the Lancashire and Yorkshire, where we're from.

Thanks to my grandma, I have had one of those clothes pulleys for most of my adult life and you can't beat them in my humble opinion. 

I was born in 1965 and we lived next door to my grandma & grandad (my mum's parents) and what a difference there was in how both homes were ran. My mum had debt all her life because she got every new fangle thing that came out. First on the street to get a phone, tv, fridge etc new furnishings every year. Redecorated the downstairs of the house regularly to keep up with the styles and fashions. It was awful because things felt chaotic all the time with the constant changing of things and my parents were always fighting because of debt and having no money. 

My grandma and grandads home however was the complete opposite, comfy old fashioned sofa and armchairs they'd had for decades with pretty arm covers and back covers to protect them, that grandma had croched. Their "knick knacks" as grandma called them were few and far between, a beautiful wooden and brass inlaid over mantel clock with a little brass key to wind it up, a pair of shire horses pulling a cart with barrels on, either side of their fire hung black leather and brass horse straps. They had a standard lamp (floor lamp) solid carved wood with a large floral shade with gold tassels. A washtub with a mangle. A washing line and clothes pulley in the kitchen for finishing off line dried clothes or for when it rained. A treadle sewing machine. Chamber pots under the beds, we had outside toilets/coal sheds until the houses were modernised in the 70's but it took her a very long time to stop using these. Same thing when central heating and double glazing replaced the coal fires and single pane wood windows, she refused for years to use the central heating saying it got too hot and cost too much lol. There is so much I could continue with, like her baking/washing/mending/cleaning/crocheing/knitting/cooking and daily routines etc but you get the idea...they never had debt, they never had a lot or kept up with anyone, they lived quietly, frugally and simply but their home was a home and I feel so blessed to have had the childhood I had being raised next door to them because as I raised my own family I implemented so many of her ways. 

I do find as I am getting older, I am naturally returning to living how my grandma did, in all areas of my life, well,  apart from gardening, they weren't gardeners at all, whereas we grow quite a lot of things. It feels like muscle memory has somehow fully wakened and I am now in a place to pull it altogether and make the shift, if you know what I mean......my grandma was born in 1912 and my grandad 1907 :)

Hello GDonna,

I admit I could do more than I am. I still use my dishwasher but only  run it once about every three days. I most often use my clothes washer for my clothes but if the loads are small I will do them by hand. My clothes washer is super quick even on the eco-cycle and uses little water. It’s a Speed Queen “commercial” type. My dryer is quite lonely. I’ve had it for many years but only use it when the weather stays wet for days or an item is too thick to dry before souring in our humid heat. I think I use it about four or five times a year. I use a clothes rack and clothesline normally. 

I had a deep sink installed in my utility room when we built this house and it came with a slanted washboard as its front side, which has been handy. I also use a (new!) toilet plunger that has holes I drilled in the cup as my agitator when washing by hand. I invested in a clothes wringer and use it when washing by hand. 

I lowered my heat these last couple of winters to 69 in the day and lower at night and began dressing with more layers. I keep the air conditioning on 78 downstairs and 82 upstairs in the hot weather, which is six months of the year here.  Like GDonna I also will get sick if I stay overheated so that’s as warm as I will go in the hot weather. Another thing is, during times when my air conditioning has been out of service, my refrigerator and freezer run much more and still my food goes bad more quickly. My fruit in the bowl on the table goes bad and attracts fruit flies really fast without a/c. I struggle more with mold and mildew as well, due to the combination of heat and high humidity.  So there are costs to going without a/c.

I cook from scratch and thankfully my grown kids do as well. I have a garden going and both of them garden a little at their homes. I know how hard it is to garden when no one is home all day, so I admire them for doing what they can since they work outside the home.

I’m lucky in that I live on an acre and have room for fruit trees, vines and raised beds. But things can happen and I don’t get my money’s worth from my efforts every year. So optimizing my grocery money is also an important strategy.  

Oh, and I wear my clothes and shoes forever and buy 95% of them used. I also sew some and I’m learning more.