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.

I don't debate with idiots who think what they read in the media is true.

Some things need to have the unit price dictated

I don't read the daily mail usual and I'm not an idiot and haven't been personally rude to anybody on this thread. You are behaving like a school bully.

married are you Xenia? Possibly with a little more time on your hands to punctuate?

.

So report me,Married.

The OP is worried about keeping warm and all you care about is discrediting her and everyone else who is struggling

Well done.

@married's posts.

We are very, very lucky in that we can afford the heating for now. But in this day and age people should not be in a situation where they can not. Just what has become of this country? The MPs are so out of touch it is unbelievable, my MP claimed £4.5k for his energy bills last year!

I looked at some old bank statements the other day. In 2001 we were paying £26 a month for electric and £22 for gas, we now pay £100 for electric and £89 for gas. It is no wonder people struggle wages haven't risen by anything like a similar amount.

FYI married, our gas and electricity payment was the same over the summer as in winter so no savings to be had there.

Btw, you sound so smug it's unbelievable. That probably why you are getting the responses you are.

I don't know why you're all giving marriedinwhiteisback such a hard time - I would much rather take advice from someone who can afford to spunk £1k a quarter on heating bills and who has Valuable Insider Knowledge gained by a six-week temp assignment at British Gas 40 years ago. She even knows about poor people because she sometimes sees one of them as she is driving down the road in her Porsche (with the windows up, natch).

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/About-us/The-Foundationwww.poverty.org.uk/80/index.shtml

homeimprovement-quote.com/what-is-the-most-cost-effective-way-to-heat-a-home/

There are plenty of ways to help cut costs. I'm not saying the rises are a good thing but as I have said earlier I also remember when interest rates were 15% and I believe it really is a matter of all swings and roundabouts.

I am also aware of another thread on here where people are complaining about feeling cold when heating is set to 22 degrees and also complaining about the cost.

When I was a child the heating did not go on until 1st December although admittedly there were complementary fires before then but it still meant getting up in the cold. Here we don't have the heating above about 16/17 unless it is bitter - I can't say for sure because we have recently moved to a very different house than the old one and are likely to be much better insulated.

Overall I just think it's unreasonable for any home to have a 24 hour temperature of over 20 degrees day and night and we all have to manage consumption in accordance with our means. I fully accept we could have it on 24 hours a day at 24 degrees if we wanted but we would never ever be that wasteful. We put on a jumper rather turn up the heating or even turn on the heating.

Ultimately, it's all relative. The homeless people for whom I cook every 4-6 weeks would find an unheated flat luxurious, throw in an electric blanket or heated throw and they would be think they were in heaven.

I have never said that I think people deserve to be cold.

I will admit that having googled copiously in the last half hour prices have risen more than I thought they had but I'm not convinced the UK would be in a better position if we had government controls over the market or if we had maintained the nationalised industries which were uncompetitive, inefficient and leeching money.

Iaminvisdible exactly!!!, i was earning 12k then, and my income isn't far off that now!

for similar type work. nothing fancy. like most people. basic.

Wallison* and where have you gleaned the information that I drive a porsche? I don't mind being attacked about factual matters but I do mind being attacked on the basis of made up facts. I would never do anything so destructive in relation to the environment. Plugs in car for tomorrow because DH has mine.

OP what job do you do? Can you get a better one which is actually full time?

yes but some people are heating to 20 or above degrees and it's all going out the roof, they are in a situation where they can't better that situation.

rented
low income.

what they are actually paying for energy is a revolting amount.

I pay for gas all through the summer in order to build up credit for winter. It's still stupidly expensive compared to a decade ago.

Nice that British Gas also profit from the interest on the money they get from people like me because I am on a normal meter. Win win

There you go ,OP.

Put a jumper on,problem solved.

I got the inside gen on your Porsche from the same memo you got that told you all poor people spend their money on booze and fags and sitting on walls at 11 am in the morning.

People keep mentioning about interest rates being 15%. I remember that too. Our house was £37500, we bought it on DH's wage alone. The mortgage payment was around £285 a month. The council take was £33 a month.

Nowadays, 2 people need to be earning a good wage in order to by a house, housing costs are a massive proportion of a families income.

Wages have not risen inline with everything else. That is the problem.

(As an aside, I never realised before that sitting on walls cost money - who knew?)

'There have been many many suggestions on this thread about how people can make their situations better but rather than take them on board it's a constant whinge against the government because everything is the government's fault. Not everything is the government's fault or the fault of private enterprise. If it weren't for private enterprise do you think that clothes (Primark, Matalan, etc) would be so cheap? Do you think that Ebay would exist? Do you think you would have Poundland? No you wouldn't you would have the state dictating the unit price of everything'

FGS! Energy is NOT an aside you can do without. It is a necessity and the government has allowed rampant profiteering at the expense of the populace, in large part with complicity from sheeple who believe not being able to afford the very basics of survival are a personal fault and failure in those who cannot.

They are manipulating private enterprise and do so whenever it suits their needs.

Who CARES what it was like when you were a child, I was a child, our grandparents were children!? It is the PAST.

I grew up in a hot climate. Shall I use that as leverage whenever someone complains about heat?

My dad grew up dirt poor. He thinks it was shit. He can't understand how some people seem to be in a race to the bottom, there is nothing good about that sort of poverty. Having lived in places with very large gaps between have and have nots, I can see why! It doesn't make for the most stable of societies.

'The homeless people for whom I cook every 4-6 weeks would find an unheated flat luxurious, throw in an electric blanket or heated throw and they would be think they were in heaven. '

Are these the ones next to the estate full of pissheads? I work with homeless people all teh time, too, they would like a roof and to be able to heat the place, too. They are just spoilt and over-entitled homeless. I'll send them to your lot so they can learn the meaning of gratitude.

I think it's interesting that I am turning into my Dad with the, "FFS it's like Blackpool illuminations upstairs!" comment yet my "poor pensioner" father is able to heat a three-bed open-plan house with storage heaters on all day and night plus an electric fire and a window open in every room

See them poor people,they should be grateful for a cardboard box.

Heating? Pah,big old softies.

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If the homeless would find an unheated flat luxurious, I am sure those who can not afford heating would find your lovely, warm, heated house positively palatial, Married!

Who CARES what it was like when you were a child, I was a child, our grandparents were children!? It is the PAST.

Exactly, who cares. Things were different then houses were built better, most had fireplaces and people were tougher.
Having heat is not a luxury it is a basic necessity, stand outside for 5 minutes and see how you feel.
If young people on MN are unable to heat their homes imagine how many OAPs out there are unable to heat their homes, its just disgusting.

So, are you suggesting then expat that I stop giving time and money to the homeless because you disagree with my philosophy? There are plenty of people in shoes like mine who actually don't give a flying fuck you know and who would rather those people froze in a doiorway because they would then be less of a drain.

Is there now some hierarchy of help to be provided. Oh, Married can't do that, because actually Married doesn't really understand. Who precisely do you think that is going to help? And actually, there are plenty of pissheads on that estate whether you like it or not. Perhaps I should avert my eyes and not look at the reality around me and pretend it doesn't exist. Would that be better? Perhaps I shouldn't notice the Polish girls in the morning taking their children to school who don't seem to sit on the same wall as the indigenous population but who live in the same place.

'I also remember when interest rates were 15%'

That makes it okay for the Big 6 to have hiked prices well into the double digits in just 13 years.

I remember when interest rates were 15%, too. Who fucking cares?!

That does not make it okay for the costs of basic needs for survival to be allowed to rise so sharply in relation to wages.