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.

And use a hairdryer to warm your clothes before you put them on - toasty socks keep your feet warmer longer.

If we need to choose between the two then we’ll just do both in moderation, it’s not ideal but buying cheaper food (may not be the healthiest but it’s food) will help and only putting the heating in for an hour a in the morning and an hour at night.

Unless the temperatures got freezing or lower, I can easily cope without heating. I only put it on for the kids...I quite like being slightly cooler than warmer.

Eating, but as long as I had a dehumidifier to prevent a mouldy house (they only use about 125W compared to 1000W per hour for a small single bar electric fire), merino base layers, big jumper, fingerless gloves & woolly hat and a laptop to keep my knees warm. We only have the heating set to around 17 - 18 C for around 4 hours per day anyway for ecological reasons, so I'm used to a house on the cool side.

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?

Food obviously

A body has to eat

You can layer up. Duvets on sofa etc

@Cyw2018

I hope Tesco repeat their offer of kids eating for free in their cafe during school holidays. As this is going to be desperately needed.

I don't really get how this helps? I didn't get it first time round either. If your budget is that tight, how are you going to afford £3-£5 for an adult meal at a cafe to qualify for a free kids meal? £3 can cook a dinner for a whole family. £5 can feed a whole family for a day. Why would you waste that on 1 meal for 2 people?

I have to admit i know people who are moaning about the rises and how they will cope but still use their kitchen appliances continuously and are going out for meals and ordering takeaways or planning summer holidays.
I don't think they understand a world where they can't have it all.

Heating, I have fat stores.

When I had to I chose eating

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.

I’m already making this choice and I’ve chosen to eat.

We quite often wear oodies and use blankets in the living room to save on heating. It isn't a big deal. I would think not eating to be a huge deal though eating cheap food like potatoes, carrots, peas and sausages is again not a big deal for us. So I would definitely choose to eat. I think when you have kids in the house that has to be the choice.

@BobbleAlong

I've just popped on to MN to see what if anyone was discussing this. I have tried to ignore what is happening because I am in disbelief. We are set to experience the largest fall in living standards since comparable records began. I work FT as a single Mum after 5 years of HE and there is no way I can afford this.

So in answer to your question...I won't eat, my children will and the heating will be on low. I'd rather go without food.

But you do know you can't actually go without food?

Definitely eating.

When I was younger I used to just heat one room of my flat for a couple of hours and sit on my sofa wrapped in a duvet. I also slept wearing 2 pairs of pyjamas and socks under a duvet and a blanket. It wasn't so bad really but I wouldn't want to live like that with children.

We're in the lucky position now of having a wood burner and we own an area of woodland. So we can switch off the heating and live in the living room if necessary.

What strange times we are living in to be having to contemplate such things.

From my experience of people who already face this dilemma, they choose to eat. People use resourceful ways to stay warm such as spending time sitting in public buildings, railway waiting rooms and so on. We are regularly approached for food vouchers, but have to explore utilities issues, as people often don't even mention their lack of heat and light. The drive to eat is powerful.

The truth is, it's not a choice.

By the time it gets to that, you're already heating the house as little as possible and eating a cheaply as possible. So you continue to eat as cheaply as possible and do without the heat.

It's not a choice, it's poverty. Plain and simple. People are already doing this now, before the fuel price rises have really taken hold. Next winter is going to be fucking horrible for a lot of people.

@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?

Unfortunately brexit has absolutely poisoned politics way beyond trade, immigration and our relationship with our former partners, and reduced the UK to the appalling situation where we need Boris Johnson to stay in office because the alternatives are actually worse. Everyone sensible in the Conservative Party has been cleared out. Those left are either stupid enough to think brexit is a good idea or dishonest enough to pretend it is for a chance of power. We're in a pretty bleak place at the moment because of the abysmal quality of politicians, and energy policy is only one facet of that.

@Shuffletime - I was exactly thinking that! .... how can people possibly think a "free" kids meal is worth paying for an adult meal in a cafe???

I would pick eating we have started using one room for us all to be in which has been swings and roundabouts- lots more family time as well as more arguments.

We have adjusted our shopping though and are now sticking to Aldi and cutting down on meat.

It's so worrying with two kids who pick up on things - I don't want them to worry.

Work have been great and have been letting us go to the office instead of wfh so we can be warm and not heat during the day

I would question the intelligence and sanity of someone who would choose heat. As cold as it will get overnight unless you are very old, you'll survive the cold. It's britain, not the north Pole. However no food and 2-3 weeks later you're dead. So your choice of paying the heating will cover you for less than a month. Good choice..

I hate being cold but of course, it has to be eating. What pisses me off though is that companies (or councils in my case) are saving money by forcing their employees to continue to WFH, yet it’s costing us more and more to do so.

@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.

I'm assuming that you and your DH have never found yourselves completely penniless, perhaps due to an jnsolvent employer not paying wages due to you, or a delay in your benefits being paid, of having to flee your home with only what you stand up in, or having your only money stolen from you, and then found yourself with empty cupboards and a prepayment meter that's run out.

@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.

Does the fact that other people can be worse off than yourself really not occur to you?!

If it really came down to that, it'd be eating. You can always layer up at home, do exercise in the house to heat yourself up, you'd hot water bottles etc.

Or be like mt neighbour and stay in bed all day and rely on your neighbour to warm you house up a bit through the party wall you share. Although on extremely cold days he dissappears in his jaguar and goes someone from dawn to midnight so he can avoid heating his home.. most people would sell the car so he can't be that hard up.