Choosing between heating and eating

[Hunger1987]

What a terrible government induced state we find ourselves in.

we have turned our heat off and hoping that until September we won’t need to turn it on again.

are you choosing right now between heating or eating? It’s a bloody disgrace

Surely if you're so poor you can't afford food then you also can't afford wifi and a device through which to access it?

If you own the phone and are tied into the contract it's a sunk cost. May as well use the phone. Also internet is pretty essential these days.

We don’t have this but do have a payment which for the lowest incomes is about the same as rise ie £1200, it is targeted to lowest which some won’t prefer but some will

Do you know how much your government has put towards cost of living crisis in total?

You might think heating as a luxury but there is a correlation between ill health and death rates and lower temperatures- it's why babies rooms are not meant to go below 18 and it's why pensioners are advised to heat to between 20 and 22

It may be a luxury to your mind but it's sad one of the richest countries in the world can't manage to give its residents the luxury of good health

Personally I'd like to see that as a right not a luxury

It's why babies rooms are not meant to go below 18

Just googled and I can't find a single source that agrees with this. 16°C is the recommended minimum, not 18.

I am one of the lucky few who is still fixed price tull may next year however from then I am completely screwed we are trying to move house for cheaper rent in a crap area, hopefully with a wood burner in so less heating costs in the winter after all current bills I have 200 a month left over for food for the 3 of us, Netflix will be going plus kindle unlimited the only 2 treats we have

I hate the rhetoric of 'if you can afford a phone you can afford heating and eating'

Spending a tenner on phone credit or phone contract so you can access the internet for benefits, work, council, tax services, a lot of GP services as well these days, school information, just everything because we need the internet for everything now, does not mean you can afford hundreds of pounds for hearing and Eating. For £10 a month I have unlimited calls and texts and more data than I can ever get through (even though I use it for tethering)
The same amount of groceries would last maybe 3 days feeding my family. The same amount in the pre payment gas meter would heat our house for roughly half a week (we've now turned the heating off, but just for hot water it's already costing a lot compared to what it used to). So it would not be economically sensible for me to cancel my phone contract, and all the masses of inconvenience that would cause. It would also make it impossible for me to earn money, and guess what lots of people who are struggling are working (I know that never fits the right wing narrative). I am not in a the dire straights to be choosing between heating and eating and hope I won't be, but if I was cancelling my phone contract would be incredibly short sighted and also a drop in the ocean compared to what it costs for heating and eating. It would not keep the wolves from the door for long.

Phones are essential as is internet. To suggest otherwise is disgusting.

It's nearly June, who has the heating on anyway?

Not anyone who even vaguely has to choose between heating and eating, anyway. Thats a no brainer

We haven’t had our heating on since beginning of Feb. We don’t plan to have it on again now the prices have risen so much.
We have oodies, blankets and hot water bottles. We have always just added layers. We have a small electric portable heater that we warm a room up with for half hour if needed, but again not been used since February.

You need them for job seeking.

The suggestion (not here that I've seen) of libraries keeps coming up. My nearest is walking distance. But I know this isn't the case for so many.

And what do you do if you've got a phone contract? You can't exactly stop paying it.

My first google says 20 to 22 for babies bedroom, higher than I remembered

Others say 16 to 22

Even allowing 16 , the point remains

It's quite possible therefore for the bedrooms to need heating as even now in the summer the day time temperature hasn't reached 16 in many parts of the uk

We should be able to ensure that all children have adequate warm enough homes

It was between 18-21 when my dc were babies.

I always feel like it’s colder than you expect to get a smile on our Gro egg

I had a look and 16 to 20 is recommended, up to 24 is ok over that is red and sad face, under 16 too cold

Right now I have to remember to open the bedroom window to get it in the warm zone

Whereabouts in the country are you? We turned out heating off a month ago, like we normally do, and likely won’t be turning it back on until the autumn either; the house just doesn’t need heating for most of the year.

I feel your pain. I am just about keeping up with the price hikes but I can not afford to fill the oil tank or save for it (over 1200 quid compared to 550 in December) I am hoping oil prices come down in the summer. Going to be freezing come Autumn.

Regardless of who is to blame (I don't like blame games, its nonsense and doesn't solve problems) we are where we are. In my house its more jumpers and less hot food. Unless one of gets a condition where being cold makes it much worse, we will just muddle through. It's what it is. Is it okay? Nope. Can I change it? Nope.

We actually historically, because of our free market, have had pretty low energy prices compared to many other countries. This has led to a "shock", as prices have risen faster and at a steeper curve than many other countries, which have been paying higher rates for much, much, longer. Our food prices are also very low compared to other countries too, again, the shock is that they are going up to a level we are, again, not used to. I think over time there will have to be a levelling off, as you can only sell at a point that people can afford to buy, but at a higher price than we have had over the last 10/20 years.

These price rises doesn't seem to be affecting anyone I know. We're all paying the same prices we always have for gas and electricity. Some items in the supermarket have gone up by a few cents, I've noticed a €3-5 rise per week in my shopping, while those I'm close to have said they are paying the same. As we buy a lot of fruit and vegetables, whose prices vary depending on the season and the harvests, these rises may be totally unrelated to any global markets.

Certainly the 'global price rises' have not touched anyone I know here in France, so they are perhaps not so global. The UK is seeing massive increases across the board, which is absolutely at least partly due to the woefully inept government.

It's nearly June, who has the heating on anyway?

I did tonight, I was bloody cold even with my fleecy dressing gown on. The joys of living in a poorly insulated flat (nothing we can do) that doesn't get any sun in the living room after 10am.

Then you're not one of the people choosing between heating and eating are you?

But if you were genuinely in a position of choosing between eating and heating, you'd try blankets, a hot water bottle, hot drinks and a duvet before putting the heating on in May.

It's not like you needed to put the heating on, there were plenty of other ways to warm up - I assume you did it because you could afford it and it was more convenient.

Have I missed the part where I said I was? I was replying to someone who said who has the heating on in nearly June. Jesus!

Obviously 🙄

My reply was to someone saying who has the heating on now, not a breakdown of what I’ve done or could do before putting it on.

It seems very indulgent to have heating on at this time of year. Mine is off between April and September as a minimum.

Seems very easy for people to blame the government for everything, but where's the personal accountability? Free education for all, free health care, a benefits system for if you lose your job etc yet still people moan and expect more.

Sorry @coffeecupsandfairylights, I shouldn’t have been sarcastic. I just wish my bloody living room wasn’t permanent cold!