I live at home with my mother and I know many people here will probably look at me badly on that. I am paying the bills with her and this summer I was forced into picking up the remainder of the mortgage on the family home.
She has little comprehension on the energy crisis. I suggested ways to be mindful of energy consumption and reduce energy but she didn't take it well and viewed it as me bossing her.
- she's doing 60 degree loads in the washing machine every day. She's paranoid on germs.
- she fills kettles to the max for one cup of tea
- we have a clothes line outside and an indoor rack. She uses the tumble dryer every day to make sure clothes are dry. 20 minutes here and there. She also likes to have warm clothes to put on every morning so she puts an outfit in the dryer every morning to warm them up. The same thing happens again at night time to warm her pyjamas. She's doing this now in September and we're not even in the depths of winter.
Our energy provider announced another hike from October.
The bills are going to get high and she doesn't care. She can't comprehend it. She might understand something when she sees a bill but not til then and more than likely, if there's a high bill she will only blame me for charging a phone every day. For having my bedside light plugged in but often not used. For charging my toothbrush once a week. She's only just going to be blaming me for a high bill. Even though many days I am out of the house for over 12 hours and then sometimes I am not even at home.
I'm just wondering how can we conserve energy at home or is this a lost cause because I can't control my mother?
Is there ant other way I can help her? Is there any way I can help her warm her clothes in the morning and at night without her using the tumble dryer.
Or will I just unplug the tumble dryer at the back and pretend nothing, that it broke down or something.
I'm dreading the winter. It actually generally fills me with sick to my stomach at the very idea of what's in store.
I am a big fan of wool and wool being an insulator. I thought about knitting her a shawl so that she could wear it around the house but she probably won't like it or find fault with it. I wear wool shawls and I love them.