I've always liked playing with numbers and recording unnecessary bits of information. When we were younger and money a lot tighter I used to work out our spending and income each week ( remember when we were paid weekly in cash !) This extended to monthly accounting in a blue ledger book I still have for posterity. I moved on to Microsoft money in latter years but now in retirement thankfully I just spend !
I don't record all spending on Percy just fuel ( more for how much is left in the tank) or how many hours I have done since last fill up etc.
One stat I'm pleased about is the number of posts I did last year - I smashed my Percy blog record by some margin.
Never hit over 100 before and my 113 for last year was 2.17 blog posts a week
It was 20% more than my previous best year in 2013 - the first full year we had Percy
It was a splendid 135% more than my worst year in 2014.
Ironically it was the lockdown that gave us the opportunity to use Percy more and did those two long planned trips the four counties and the Llangollen and back. The blogging each day no doubt helped plus I had more time to blog about other stuff during the year.
Hopefully this year will be more blogging about Percy and a few jobs I need to do.... the next blog will be just that !
Reverting back to house stats that got me thinking of this post in the first place.... Today I upped our electricity direct debit as we are using more electrical heat sources as this is renewable ( remember my pledge to change here)
I initially was a little annoyed as this was mainly due to Rachel working from home.... but then I realised she had not been doing the 50 mile a day 3 days a week commute to work.
Look away those of you that live aboard or have a thermally efficient home. Our energy use is reflective of us living in a cottage over 200 years old with single glazing and three bedrooms so not too tiny. Also I do feel the cold - could be called a wuss lightweight etc but I can afford not to be cold and have always said I'll pay what it takes to be warm. Having said that we are looking at using more renewables and will be spending on double glazing this year to reduce heat loss. (Plus we have two wood burners now and each walk I bring back a chunk of blown down wood for next year)
Reviewing the info it's interesting how over two years we used a difference of just 21 litres of oil. The savings was on cost with the pandemic dropping the cost of oil to a very low price. Savings on fuel for commuting was impressive even if we did have to heat the house more.
When all combined we were a decent chunk of cash for Motorcycle spending up on 2019.
Anyhow better get to the vets with a wee sample from Leia. Poor Leia is getting old and had started with kidney failure, the vet suggested a choice of quality or quantity of life left sadly. I opted for quality as I would want myself, no point her living longer in pain and discomfort.
As Forest Gump advised "My Mom said life is like a box of Chocolates, you never know what your gonna get" Leia and me are both heading for the coffee cream !
6 comments:
Have a look at an air source heat pump system Nev. Our new house has one and it really is excellent - and I think there are still government grants to be had too.
If *when) we move i would consider a ground source heat pump if possible along with solar pv
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/air-source-heat-pumps-vs-ground-source-heat-pumps/
TBH i'm surprised that more boats don't use something similar instead of diesel heating
Hi Carol & Dave Thanks for the comments. We did get a quote for an air source heat pump but there was a question over our radiators (they are designer one not fitted by us but we like them) Seems air source pumps need more radiator size plus we did not have anywhere for a hot water tank - easily to locate. We also had a quote on solar and the payback was 18 years. Double glazing and an electric car i think would deliver more bang for our pound. Waiting for car tech to allow the car battery to be a battery bank ... maybe a couple of years then all electric cars will be part of the grid, meaning when not used to drive they are boiling my kettle after being charged with cheap overnight electric !
I always used to leave the coffee creams when offered a chocolate because I thought everyone liked them and it would be wrong of me to always take them. I was astonished when I found out I was apparently the only person on the planet who actually liked them!
You've put me to shame with the blogging stats - I set off with GOOD intentions and really enjoyed it (still do when I've something to write about ) but life can take over sometimes and before you know it, writing stuff down becomes either a chore or a cathartic experience lol.
That said, I'm determined 2021 is going to be more productive with at least 1 - hopefully 2 posts a week like the 'old days'.
You did well with your 113 posts for last year, Nev. I managed a meagre 23, the lowest yearly total since I started blogging. I'm afraid the pandemic took away all my enthusiasm.
Post a Comment