To be sick of not being able to afford the heating on

[KeepMeCalm13]

Thankfully no children involved.

We are yet to have any form of heating on this autumn/winter as we just cannot afford the bill. We only have central heating, no fire. I'm currently sat in a t-shirt, thick jumper, dressing gown, jeans, 2 pairs of socks, and slippers and I've got a hot water bottle and I'm frozen. The thought of another 4 months of this makes me want to cry.

Is that about £10 a week they got through, Love? I totally agree about oil being a bit inefficient. However, I rent, so it's that or the woodburner.

I admit, should I ever come into an unexpected £100 I'd be buying logs for the woodburner rather than putting it towards an oil fund. Scrumping is all very well, but sometimes you're just tired and wobbly and don't feel like scrounging around the countryside for dead wood!

I live in a flat. walls can not be insulated unless everyone has them done (which thankfully they did)

we are not allowed gas fires for safety reasons.

Shit! After yesterday's 'is it begging/isn't it begging' thread I just realised my last post could sound a bit... pointed. It wasn't! It really wasn't!

I have my eye on some potential extra income in the New Year, and at least one of my bills will drop come April, I'm fine!

Athel , I'm with you on the heating oil misery . We're not badly off by any stretch of the imagination , but we've just had to have the damaged tank replaced ( just the £800 then ) without actually putting anything in it . Then it cost us £290 for the minimum amount we could order which is 500 litres , which we will eke out till February and try and get through the worst months . I have just changed oil supplier , who will do a monthly budget account , and give you 4 x your monthly payment as credit once you've started paying , but I just hope we don't need to buy any more oil in the coldest months . I remember last winter the price of oil going up to £1.20 a litre , literally doubling overnight . Frightening . It would have been cheaper to burn the pound notes. And we're relatively fortunate . I shudder to think how people without the ability to save for oil get by . It's got that bad that our village petrol station actually sells it through the pump so people can buy enough for a weeks worth , which is apparently very popular . But again more expensive .

I shall be keeping my eye out for useful keeping warm things in the charity shops now , in case I can find anything useful I can pass on to someone who needs it . I feel I have to do something , because it isn't right in this day and age , that people are freezing through no fault of their own. I've been there , with a bin bag taped over the hole in the back door because we couldn't afford to replace it , and I wouldn't wish it on anyone .

Athelstane I wouldn't worry. I didn't read it like that at all. Lots of people are struggling. I'm glad things will be looking up for you in the new year

Ahhhh! Were Thank you!

Yes, Plom, I've tried to negotiate tiny monthly payments for oil, but the minimum delivery thing is a bugger.

Now wood is another thing ! We're quite fortunate round here , inasmuch as the council appear to be quite switched on . If there's a crew out chopping bits of trees off , they chainsaw them into wood burner size lengths , and then leave them by the side of the road , as they know someone (me) will squirrel them away for the next year . I've begged old pallets , bits of fencing cutoffs ( not the creosoted ones ) and one neighbour turned up with an entire oak tree for us one year . DH is working for a company that has a landscaping business , and apparently has the next lorry load of wood with his name on . It's the one thing that keeps us going all winter .

We only used one gas bottle over the whole winter, but we didn't have the heater switched on every day, only when it was really cold and our woodburner didn't manage to get going. We also used it now and then to warm up the bedroom a little. So I can't really say how much you would spend on gas but I am sure it is a lot really a lot less than on heating oil, because that is just a nightmare.

Our wood disappears, Plom! There's so many people struggling around here, and so many farmers with the useful equipment for a bit of tree surgery, that a tree only need look a bit limp and it's gone the next morning.

Oh, and here's a poverty marker for you - a few years ago there were many, many freecycle adverts giving away old wood for burners (pallets, broken up sheds, dead trees etc). Less last year, and I haven't seen a single one this year.

I also found that with a wood burner you get more heat if you add some coal (although not sure if you are supposed to do this).

If there is no wood, cardboard boxes (ask supermarkets/village shop) but the huge drawback is that you go through lots of them and they leave lots of ashes and you have to keep clearing out your woodburner. But better than nothing.

We collect the odd pieces of wood from woods and stuff - because free fuel is a good thing - and where we are the woodland management people just burn it on bonfires anyway. But we live in a semi-rural, prosperous area - it's more like a hobby - you can't do this if you live in an inner city, without a car, and you don't go on rambling dog walks like I do.

Beer, a good log goes under the arm quite easily - I walk the dog every morning -or I have been known to carry a shopping bag for the kindling - small twigs etc are abundant but cost a fortune in shops.

One time there was a load close to where I'd parked - just went to and fro.

Under the arm

I tend to be dragging fallen branches and trunks behind me...

Sawing it all up is a very warming activity however, so win/win.

Pine cones are also good in the woodburner.

Athel could you bantar for wood with your wine?

my sister is very rural nearest village a mile away only has pub she has a wood burner and used to her free wood from framers etc but not so much this year

No, people are holding on to their wood this year, stars [ sad ] and [ unintentional fnarr ]

I could barter, but we're all quite... traditional... around here. There's beer, and there's stout, and there's the local breweries. Anything with a raspberry in it would be feared. (I make from my own raspberries, strawberries and elder trees).

Yes! Yes, you are, Were. A fire is good for the soul, as well as corporeal warmth. Buggers up the complexion, mind.

The thing is, most people can't do what I do. I live in a Kentish village teeming with wood to take, so I do. But you have to drive there, that is out of the realms of so many people - it's ridiculous. How many rented properties have a woodburner ffs?