We have just the TIPS for you!
Whether you own property in Southbroom or are a new or regular holiday accommodation tenant, we are all caught in the dark when the power goes out during a load shedding session.
We have to agree that load shedding is fast becoming a feature of South African life and we are by no means exempt from its effects on our beautiful KZN South Coast.
But since we’re a “glass half full” group of people at Realty1 Southbroom, we have decided to put together our own load shedding tips for you. These tips and ideas will be useful not only to home owners and permanent residents of the Southbroom area, but fun and informative for our visitors renting holiday accommodation as well.
Schedule
First we recommend that you keep a bookmark of the load shedding schedule on your mobile and/or laptop. We have used the GridWatch site with much success and would recommend it. (link http://loadshedding.news24.com/zones/201008/calendar/hibiscus-coast-southbroom )
LSK: Load Shedding Kit
Keep a load shedding kit containing candles, matches, lighters, torches and batteries as well as a few games that suit you and your family, either playing cards or board games that don’t require good lighting are excellent. Our kit contains a cylinder of 100 neon glow-sticks and connecters. Make these into circles for a night game of horse-shoe toss or just put them on the kids and watch them run around making light shows.
Fully Charged
Prepare your tech! Now that you know when the power will be off, make sure that your cell phones in particular, are fully charged. This might also be a good time to program some speed-dial numbers into your phone in case of an emergency.
Speed Dial
Now that your cell phone is fully charged, we also recommend that you program a few emergency numbers in.
Southbroom Sector Policing 039 316 6760 – Fire 039 682 5555 – EMS 10177 (or 112 from your cell phone). A full list of emergency numbers can be found on the Southbroom Community website http://www.southbroom.org/emergency_numbers.htm
Cooking
If you need to cook during a load shedding block, an outdoor braai or “skottle” meal are great fun and won’t require electricity. Food24 posted a list of great recipes to try during load shedding, check them out here (link with target=_blank http://www.food24.com/News-and-Guides/Food-in-Focus/Load-shedding-menu-top-things-to-eat-when-there-is-no-electricity-20141103 ). Dining out is another great option as Southbroom has some wonderful eateries which are geared for business during load shedding.
Saving Power
In addition to all these fun ways of passing the time when the power goes out, we also wanted to share with you some excellent ideas that you can implement to save electricity both at home and on holiday.
Tumble dryer: instead of using an electric tumble dryer, hang washing in the sun or even in the bathroom. Our summers are quite hot, so your cozies are bound to dry before they’re needed for the next swim. Use an indoor clothes rack to hang damp clothes to dry if you’re worried about the summer rains.
Turn off lights. Use romantic candles to set the mood. Be aware of fire safety at all times and keep open flames away from young children.
At home, if you’re going away for a while, consider turning off your geyser and fridge for the duration of your absence.
When you return, invest in a geyser blanket and timer switches to turn appliances off when not in use.
Light bulbs can be replaced with energy savers and consider using cold water laundry washes instead of hot as this not only saves electricity but is also better for your clothes.
With all these creative ideas, we are sure that your stay in Southbroom will be just that much more magical.
Sources: African Utility Week, Southbroom.org, Grid Watch & Eskom