F*ck it. I am not having heating on ever again....

[Flamesparrow]

"So for a home with average usage, Click Energy 5 gas prices have risen on average by 42% and electricity on average by 21%."

42%!?!?!?! They are already taking £69 a month from me for gas, which leaves us with sod all for I dunno, food etc!

We're not using our GCH this year....we've bought an oil filled radiator instead, thermostat controlled, which we put in the coldest room of the house - our lounge. Its brilliant. Economic and heats up really quickly. Reason? Cos we simply can't afford to pay any more on our utility bills....ours have gone up too (both electric and gas) by 40%. We do not have the extra coming in each month to pay out extra each month. So..the kids have got hot water bottles, warm pj's, fleecy blankets, DD1 has an electric underblanket (costs 3p per night, all night) and let's hope we'll be warm enough this year. I am fed up with paying out extra for this and that just to live, keep ourselves fed and warm. We don't have that extra income so how the hell do these companies expect us to pay it?

whispy, does that not just result in an enormous leccy bill?

Flamesparrow Does this make you feel any better ?

I feel your pain

we're planning to wrap up.

the baby's going to have to be tenacious of life, but that's what being Scottish is about - you have to be strong. what doesn't kill you just makes you tougher.

we have LPG so can't just change suppliers, there's only one that comes out here.

next year, when we move to the village we want to go to, there's no mains in most of that, either.

Scottish Hydroelectic has most generously increased its prices only 19%.

meanwhile, there's billions on top to bail out banks.

No, because it's lowest setting is 400w...the same as running four 100w light bulbs. It is thermostatically controlled so not hot all the time - it just clicks in and out when it goes below the 400w...and it is lovely and warm (hot to the touch) at 400w. And because the room we're heating is fairly small with thermal curtains we don't use it all evening. Plus!...when we turn it off because it is oil filled the oil stays hot for quite a long time afterwards.

I changed from Scottish Gas to Eon online last night.

Scottish Gas - Electric went from £124 to £148 a month

Gas went from £77 to £123 a month

If Eon are any good we will save £577 a year.

Hope i have done the right thing.

Have heating on only at night for dd's bath/bedtime.

No tumble drier on ever ever again!!

Our tumble drier broke earlier this year...the door fell off...easy to repair but I made the decision not to get it repaired because I knew it'd be too expensive to run so its been put in the shed! We had our meters read last week, with any luck without having used the tumble I hope the bills will be less.

How on earth do you afford over £100 a month for your bills? We're paying £44 for electric and £40 for gas...at the moment, although I'm sure they'll go up with the companies putting up their charges....

If we were to pay over £100 each it would leave us with nothing to live off.

Tis just bloody silly. I was panicking enough with the first price hike.

Going to go on uswitch later and check to see if I am still on the best thing

Going with the theory it will help with weight loss - the not buying food thing

We have cancelled gym/golf membership and cut food bills right down so we can afford to have heating on in the evenings/when v cold.

Just realised my council tax is £190 per month and gas and electric was going to be £271 per month!!!

Fuck me

A Gal - don't want to panic you but watch your usage and payments like a hawk. We switched to Eon because they quoted less (a lot less) and then ended up £700 in debt after a couple of quarters. I think they lured us in to change with their ridiculous payments. I would never switch again.

flame.... Must admit we're living off very basic meals at the moment. My food/grocery budget is just £80 per week...and if I spend less than that I save the difference in the hope we may get some savings together. The kids love most foods so its not exactly difficult to feed them...mash, baked beans and an egg being one of their favourites! We are skint. Majorly skint. DH didn't get a pay rise again this year yet we have more going out. I desperately need to get a job but its hard finding something that'll allow all the halfterms, inset days off....

going nearly veggie has helped us, flame!

Really Sherbert?? Shit that's something i really didn't want to hear.

We are planning to be v v careful and put aside £50 a month in case of huge bill at the end.

Expat we are trying to do the same. Making big pots of soup etc. Must investigate some veggie recipes tho and buy much less meat.

My mindees eat constantly and it also costs me a fortune to feed them.

re-discover the Scottish diet of old, agalch!

red lentils are you best friends!

I wish we only paid £69 a month.

Npower charge us £200 a month for gas and electric.

Have made lentil soup but not sure what else you can do with them

Casseroles etc?

pfffffffffft ! try £242 a month just for gas

have switched heating off two weeks ago

am getting new boiler

am making lots of soup and wearing layers

kids rooms are double glazed

have not switched as i think they are all expensive, and every time we have changed, we have ended up even more out of pocket

set up standing order for what our DD used to be and will hope new boiler helps as well as not using it !

it is farking ridicolous

I think we were lucky our boiler died a while back - that has saved us money with the new one.

Have switched tariffs to one I think works out better.

I only budget £180 a month for food - and that I often cut back on. I hate this feeling of paying so much for invisible stuff

We pay about £110 for gas & elec together atm

i use red lentils to bulk out mince and beans, agalch.

so they go in pretty much any dish with mince.

also buy cooking bacon or bacon trimmings from the butcher for buttons. i blitz them in the food processor and then fry them as a base for my soups. they add terrific flavour.

Our heating is yet to go on and would like to keep it that way.

Lentil dal is delicious aGal and very cheap.

recipe for brown or green lentils

recipe for red lentils

My favourite way of cooking puy lentils is to cook them through according to the instructions on the packet, adding a bay leaf to the water, and then separately fry 3 or 4 large onions until they are really crispy and golden. Cook up some rice, put the lentils on that and then the onions on top - it is delicious. Goes well with yoghurt and if you like spicier food as I do you can put cumin seeds, garlic and chilli in with the onions towards the end.

porridge, too. lots of porridge. scottish broth mix is great and you can add more lentils to it or a bit of mince.

mine looooove porridge. Can you do porridge in a slow cooker?

I need to do a huge veg stew again