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.

My income is very low. I don't have central heating but do have a multifuel stove [only burn kiln dried wood].

In the winter I layer up with wool jumpers, put a wool blanket on top of a winter duvet. I never have and don't need heating in the bedroom. I rarely have any heating on in the daytime. If it's really cold/rainy and damp I'll put on an oil-free radiator in the room I'm in. I only light the stove at 6pm [til 10.30pm]. I've a heated throw for sitting on the sofa/watching tv or I'll hug a hot water bottle.

I'm fine with it, I'm so used to it which helps. My place is well insulated though and when the sky is clear after a frosty night the sunshine comes into the back of the house all day and warms it a lot.

Food has to be priority though for everyone. Soups [I add all sorts of chopped up veg to mine] and one pot casseroles, baked potatoes with fillings, cottage pie bulked up with veg, curries adding lentils, anything on toast, pasta dishes...all economical.

@Nohypocrate

Eating but not wasting money on crap food. I was in Aldi earlier and a couple had a trolley laden with crisps, sweets, cake and chocolate. The total bill was £80ish but I'd say £30 was crap. If they stopped that it's an extra £120 a month. People have got to change their ways I guess.

I sometimes get maybe £30 of crap/treats for DC. But I don't get it every week. That would be to last a couple of months.

@Changethetoner

Unfortunately some of us are already living like this. Not putting heating on all day until 4pm for when DC get home from school. Using blankets to wrap selves in all year round in the living room. Wearing socks, slippers, thermals, several jumpers, and sometimes a woolly hat (indoors). Going to bed early to keep warm in evening. Even rationing the hot water bottles, due to the electricity costs of boiling kettles.

So what are families like ours supposed to do? We are already doing as much as we can. At least it's normal for us, my DC are used to it.

I would suggest a little electric heater or heated throw that are cheap to run so you don't need to put the heating on atall.

[quote Chichimcgee]@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.[/quote]
Funnily enough I can only remember one time that I can honestly say that by bones felt warm for the first time ever.

It was 112 degrees in the shade.

Even when it is hot my inner core doesn’t get the same warmth.

I am slowly seizing up. The only thing that got me through the winter was a holiday every other year in a hot country and another holiday to dry me out during the year.

Really thinking about jacking it all in and going to live in a hot country. One where I can walk without pain.

Eat. We hardly have the heating on as it is. Just when we have a bath. Live in a flat that is reasonably well insulated west facing so warm when sunny. Coldest when windy. Ds keeps complaining of being cold. Yeah well that's what happens when you wear shorts and a t shirt in the middle of bloody winter child. (Teen )

I wear loads of layers. Thermal base layers (1 Merino from Aldi, one synthetic) and a couple of woolly jumpers/cardis from the charity shop and three pairs of woolly socks. I ask for woolly socks and thermals for Christmas. I have woolly blankets from the charity shop too. And a duvet on the sofa.

Also remember frost on the inside of the windows. You could make it snow indoors by gently pulling the net curtain off the frost. Whoa betide you though if you tugged too hard and ripped the nets as they were too frozen to the window.

Just had a coal fire downstairs. No central heating at all.

@HelloFrostyMorning

I don't understand this choose between eating and heating thing. You can do both. Just cut down on both. Buy cheaper food - Aldi/Iceland/Lidl etc, and wrap up in fleeces and blankets instead of firing up the heating every 5 minutes, and just have it on when it's VERY cold, or one or two hours a day to take the chill off the house, when it drops below 3 or 4 C outside.

The woman opposite me has her thermostat 22-23 C most of the Autumn and Winter then complains she can barely afford the gas bill. NO-ONE needs it that high FGS. We have ours no higher than 17-18 C - most of the time. As high as 20, maybe 15 days of the year.

And I know what I'm talking about (regarding heating and eating and not having to sacrifice one or the other,) because me and DH have been on the bones of our arse in the past, and have not had a pot to piss in barely, and we have never gone without food, or sat frozen in our house. We just cut down on everything.

If you're already using Lidl/Aldi and the food bank for food you probably can't cut back anymore. So heating has to go.

Eating. There no point in starving yourself to death in a warm house.

Plus I’m old and was brought up in a house where the only heated room was the sitting room. Obviously not ideal, but not the end of the world.

@mrsm43s

Surely it's not either or? And no one would choose NO heating and plenty of food or NO food and heating normally. Surely absolutely everyone would try to cut costs across BOTH heating and eating so that you neither froze nor starved?

So thermostat down a couple of degrees and on for less time each day, extra layers and blankets. (and also reduce other energy usage - wash clothes/bedding less often, air dry don't tumble, use recipes that don't need long oven cooking, reduce use of phones/computers/tvs etc.)
Food shopping pared back to cheapest options, whatever's in the reduced aisle etc (even if they're not your preference) in order to ensure that the was sufficient heat and food to get by.

I think people will have to return to seventies habits. Not bathing/showering daily but having a wash instead. Washing bedding and towels less often. Wearing clothes more than once. Mumsnet magic chicken... Learn to make cheap nutritious meals eating more in season. Using the car less frequently. Make do and mend. Not replace stuff as often. The average person lives a very luxurious life now compared to how we lived growing up. Yes you need some things you didn't used to...tech being one for school and benefit applications etc.

I worry about those who are already doing this and have got nothing left to cut back.

I've already had to choose. I've not had the heating on at all this winter and layer up with masses of clothes. I can't afford the eating part either so rely on the food bank and local church.

It's worse because I'm disabled and stuck at home, can't move about much to keep warm and my asthma is now awful because the house is damp.

My plan is to install a wood burning stove by next winter. I grew up in a series of houses with no heating and a mix of open fires and stoves, and despite mumsnet’s conviction that half an hour next to a woodburner will kill you, they’ve never done us any harm, and I can gather wood for free and dry it in the garden.

@OldTinHat can you apply for PIP?

@OldTinHat

I've already had to choose. I've not had the heating on at all this winter and layer up with masses of clothes. I can't afford the eating part either so rely on the food bank and local church.

It's worse because I'm disabled and stuck at home, can't move about much to keep warm and my asthma is now awful because the house is damp.

I'm so sorry to hear of your struggles.

@Alexandra2001

I was waiting for someone to blame brexit on a worldwide energy crisis. I guess covid couldn't really be blamed hmm

Yes i agree these things are global but why isn't most of europe facing 54% energy increases?
France is an extra 4% electricity and 12% gas, Spain's has actually been falling.....

Could it be that a Govt of brexitiers (who by definition only care about themselves), embroiled in self preservation aren't bothered about the general population?

Spain has been falling? You mean the electricity prices,p. You are making this up.

Yes i agree these things are global but why isn't most of europe facing 54% energy increases?

It is…

www.reuters.com/business/energy/euro-zone-consumers-shock-power-bills-soar-2022-01-18/

So thermostat down a couple of degrees and on for less time each day, extra layers and blankets. (and also reduce other energy usage - wash clothes/bedding less often, air dry don't tumble, use recipes that don't need long oven cooking, reduce use of phones/computers/tvs etc.)

Thermostat is set to 18 and heating comes on for 1 hour a day atm. Can't use computer less as I'm working from home. Don't have a tumble dryer, try not to wash clothes too often as I can't get them dry at this time of year. Mostly use the cold eco setting. It's getting harder to see what to cut down on.

oldtinhat its people in your situation I think should have all the help diverted towards them, those who are already on the bones on their arse need it most.

The council tax rebate shouldn't have been for everyone, hell a guy I know who will benefit is a single man on 70k a year with no mortgage. It should have been income based and the money paid in over those two months should have been diverted to further help those who really need it.

I know so many people who have family members basically on 24 hour life support at home with machines constantly going and their homes need to be kept at a constant temperature. I'm seriously worried about we what they're going to do.

Eat. Disgusted that people have to think about this

[quote Aaaabbbcccc]**@daisypond* @Akire* thanks for your responses. This is awful. A lot of people don’t understand the true reality. Sorry to those dealing with this unacceptable situation, and your poor kids. We all need to act to stop this.[/quote]
I'm ok - ish. But not a high earner. My take home varies but on average is £1600pm
Which sounds ok but then you start looking at
Mortgage, council tax, ground rent, service charges, contents insurance, tv license, water, gas, electric, food, car insurance, car tax, petrol.. I'm single income so £1600 is everything (luckily I don't have DC as I couldn't afford children)
I don't drink, smoke or really do any social activities and it can still be tight

Thankfully I fixed my gas and electric so I'm fine until October. Thinking of either prepping food wise when I see stuff on offer or putting something to one side each month towards gas and electric now.

Meant to add I'm not saying I'm in the same situation as people who are really desperate but as a fairly "normal" earner, it's right
Especially if my wage drops to £1300 which is can do. I can't take on a second job as I already work 40hrs a week, am WFH and have a load of health conditions which mean I'm always tired

I think we just surely have the heating on a lot less than many people
I only put it on as and when we feel like we need it warming up a bit
Some days it's not on.
I don't tend to warm the house warmer than 14 degrees normally I'd say. (When I have it on)
When it is on it's not normally on for more than an hour or an hour and a half a day I don't think?

I do have a lot of baths to warm up. And it's hard for me in the cold as I have reynauds and a lot of the time a bath is the only thing that will work when I've got that cold.

So I would find it extremely difficult to have the heating on less than I already do.

I'm very worried

I would choose to eat. I would bundle myself and my babies in clothes. If we were frozen I would go to a library. If there were no libraries I would go somewhere else with heat

It's interesting that this question is being asked in a so called first world country.

Trevor Philips made me and my kids laugh today by pronouncing Aldi as 'urldi' ....he's clearly never had to say the word in his life. Sounded like he'd never heard of the place. Admittedly it was him saying he'd talked about Waitrose but most poor people use 'urldi' 🙈 so he should have used that

HelloFrostyMorning
I don't understand this choose between eating and heating thing. You can do both. Just cut down on both. Buy cheaper food - Aldi/Iceland/Lidl etc, and wrap up in fleeces and blankets instead of firing up the heating every 5 minutes, and just have it on when it's VERY cold, or one or two hours a day to take the chill off the house, when it drops below 3 or 4 C outside

I already use Lidl and myself, Dd and Ds are Vegan/Vegetarian. Dd and I are both on ADHD medication which has a side effect that it puts you off eating so I don’t think we can cut back anymore on food.
We don’t have central heating. Just electric radiators in each room so 9 radiators.
Having the house heated for 2 hours per day would cost us
9 radiators x 58p/hour x 2 hours per day x 30 days for a month = £ 313.20 per month just on having the heating on for 2 hours per day.

The woman opposite me has her thermostat 22-23 C most of the Autumn and Winter then complains she can barely afford the gas bill. NO-ONE needs it that high FGS. We have ours no higher than 17-18 C - most of the time. As high as 20, maybe 15 days of the year

Your neighbour probably has lower bills than us

And I know what I'm talking about (regarding heating and eating and not having to sacrifice one or the other,) because me and DH have been on the bones of our arse in the past, and have not had a pot to piss in barely, and we have never gone without food, or sat frozen in our house. We just cut down on everything

What do you cut when there isn’t anything to cut.

After you've factored in the costs of getting a taxi to Aldi it's not really worth going there for food.
As opposed to delivery from Asda