If it comes to it would you choose heating or eating?

[Tuliprain]

We were having this discussion the other night. I would choose eating and husband would choose heating - so we are already stuck. Im thinking we could warm up with blankets and hot water bottles etc but nothing you can do about hunger. He says the house will go mouldy and he’s rather be hungry than cold. Such a depressing subject to be considering.

@Ozanj it wasn't advice, I was just making comparisons to taxi fare versus delivery prices.

@Inspectorslack
That’s where everybody’s circumstances differ. Lidl is £1.50 return trip for me, and I can walk it on a good day. But it’s over a third cheaper than Sainsbury’s, which is my nearest supermarket. Any supermarket is going to have to be a lot cheaper than Lidl for me to pay for deliveries from them. But I will investigate Asda.

prices are supposed to go down in the future?

If only!

@Thethingswedoforlove

Do you mean choosing between slightly nicer food and no heating or not eating at all ans no heating? Because there is obviously a level below which you can’t go re not eating …. You can go out and about to free places like the library to get warm? But you can’t get free food as easily

Not around here you can't. They've all closed

But you said “who orders food off the internet if you’re short of money” @daisypond

Eating. I have a few thermals and some proper thick Woolley jumpers.

World prices do go up and down.

Unfortunately electricity prices don't as the regulation isn't great. However they don't usually go up so catastrophically. It's usually a gentler rise.

If you turn your boiler on and only have 2 radiators turned on out of 5 for example does it not just cost the sample as having all radiators turned on?

I thought it would be cheaper, as the boiler is only heating 2 radiators out of 5? But I may be wrong.

@Chichimcgee

prices are supposed to go down in the future?

If only!

Well according to @JustSinginIntheRain they’re up because of shortages caused by stopping production and the ensuing backlog of fulfilling demand once everything opened again. So once the backlog is cleared they should go down. I realise it’s not happening but it should be.

Such a first world problem.
As a child growing up in the 60s and 70s central heating was a luxury. And with no double glazing we often woke up to frosted bedroom windows.
We just wore more clothing. Walked everywhere and were a lot thinner as children as a result. You never went anywhere without a vest and gloves were attached to your coat by a length of elastic.
The hot water was only on for a short time and just a gas fire in the living room.
We only have the heating on downstairs in our house by choice and often sleep with it off totally. We do have a modern house which is well insulated but if anything be is cold they are advised to wear more clothes.

@JustSinginIntheRain

World prices do go up and down.

Unfortunately electricity prices don't as the regulation isn't great. However they don't usually go up so catastrophically. It's usually a gentler rise.

I see, thank you for explaining.

@Inspectorslack

But you said “who orders food off the internet if you’re short of money” *@daisypond*

I don’t understand what you mean. I see the supermarket deliver vans where I am and they deliver to the big houses. To me, it’s only something richer people generally do, because it’s only the expensive supermarkets that do deliveries, and you also have to pay for delivery on top of the expensive prices.

[quote Chichimcgee]@Inspectorslack

I’d have to pay around £25 to get the bus to Lidl, it would take 4 hours of my day travelling and I’d only be able to carry 3/4 bags. I live out in the sticks really and the only local option is the tiny co op.

Some people just can’t understand that others are in different situations I think[/quote]
I lived somewhere where the only local option was a tiny supermarket (5 miles away). Nearest big supermarket was in a town approx 21 miles away. I just built my food options around the local place. It meant I overpaid for food massively and so I economised ruthlessly on everything else.

@Angrymum22

Such a first world problem. As a child growing up in the 60s and 70s central heating was a luxury. And with no double glazing we often woke up to frosted bedroom windows. We just wore more clothing. Walked everywhere and were a lot thinner as children as a result. You never went anywhere without a vest and gloves were attached to your coat by a length of elastic. The hot water was only on for a short time and just a gas fire in the living room. We only have the heating on downstairs in our house by choice and often sleep with it off totally. We do have a modern house which is well insulated but if anything be is cold they are advised to wear more clothes.

Tens of thousands of people die every year due to cold homes. How is this a first world problem?

What can’t you understand? I was shit poor and I ordered food off the internet because it was cheaper than to go and get it.

I was living in a small house.

And I picked Asda because it was the cheapest of the delivery supermarkets.

Not everyone has access to aldi or Lidl within walking distance.

AutomaticMoon. The prices will stabilise but I doubt anyone will get refunds.

I have chosen eating over heating. I generally never put the heating on but do sometimes to get the washing dry. I am very lucky to have a heated throw that I use at night as I have an underactive thyroid and get very cold. Also lucky to have an electric heater that we use downstairs if needed. We all have a blanket we can use when sitting on the sofa. The DC have hot water bottles and heated cuddlies for bed.

I think it is better to provide them with adequate food especially as my eldest is a teen and forever hungry. I have started to use the food bank sometimes but aside from that shop mainly at Lidl with a Sainsbury's shop now and again to get things I can't get at Lidl. I always make sure my DC have a good breakfast and dinner. I sometimes just make dinner for them and eat my DD's leftovers. She is really fussy so if I've made something veg heavy I'll eat all the vegetables she's left!

Such a first world problem.

Starving and freezing to death, such first world problems.

I can totally get why someone would use delivery if couldn’t drive and hard to get to shop whether by bus, and bus fare cost may be more the delivery

Plus even if did get a bus unlikely to take you right past the shop you want

Eating. And I hope that one day such decisions are not a reality for so many people....

@daisypond

Either I spent £50 on bus fair to get 8 bags of shopping from Lidl a week. I also spend 8 hours of my week travelling.

OR

I spend £1 on delivery and get as much food as I can, let’s say 8 bags from Asda.

I save £49 on travel. Asda price match Aldi and can be super cheap so say at a top estimate my Asda shop is £20 more than if I’d gone Lidl.

I’m still saving £29 plus 8 hours of my time.

Do you get it?

@bitemyarsenic

Where has anyone been gleeful? No one is suggesting a return to the middle ages. There was heating but we dressed warmly and blocked draughts/ reduced waste. Your Dad was in charge of coal and no one would consider lighting the fire until it was really needed. As a nation we are extremely wasteful Fuel, energy, food, clothing. You name it we chuck it away!

Thats what I was referring to.
The idea if people cant afford heating they will just freeze.
Jesus hopefully common sense and dressing warmly might make a come back !

I am presuming you weren’t in a slum single skinned council house which the pointing kept falling out from between the bricks and you could see outside so you stuffed it with torn up newspaper and flour and water paste We had one fire but sometimes no coal. We would burn broken furniture we found or anything that was to hand. Outside toilet and a tin bath hung on the wall it was really grim

My childhood memories are of being cold.
This house reminds me of that house. Including ice on the inside of the windows.
No amount of layers of clothing is going to prevent ice forming on the windows or keeping your face warm.

The only way I work now is to go out in my van till the heating comes through and then sit and do paperwork parked up outside the house
My house just doesn’t get warm.

@daisypond most supermarkets price check against Aldi or lidl and their own brands are comparable in price so if it was a choice between a saver slot at sainsburys for £1 when my shopping basket this evening for 2 weeks of staples is £49.30 or go to lidl tomorrow, spend 30 minutes walking there, 30 around the shop, then book a taxi for £6 to bring the lot home with the taxi jacking it up to being more expensive only by £1 I’d choose the home delivery and make use of the extra hour of time.

Being poor it’s not just about money. Being poor takes a lot of time too.

I’m a step or two away from being as poor as I was but I can remember spending hours every day walking to and from school to drop DC off, walking an hour and a half to get the food shopping done. Another 45 minute round trip walk to go to our local pound style shop for the stuff that was cheaper there than the supermarket (bar soap for example) the time spend repairing and making do because you couldn’t afford to replace when it really should’ve been replaced.

Money and time. The poorest never have enough of either.

@Kennykenkencat

My granny used to say don’t let the cold get into your bones because it never leaves. Some people have never felt that and can’t understand what it means but it’s physically painful and impossible to warm up when you’re that cold.

My parents made similar choices (due to slightly different push factors - unemployment, inflation, mortgage rates) when I was little in late 80s early 90s - with a coal fire and no heating. And I have fond memories :)

Still lentils. Not the worlds biggest fan… but they were a large part of the solution. 20% protein. Used to get them by the sack from a local shop. So many lentil based meals. Though meat used to be way more expensive relatively.