How will you make savings to pay for energy bills.

Chestnut

You are so easy to wind up, volver. The overreactions in some of these posts are just mind blowing. Apparently I am victim blaming, inciting hate, calling people scroungers, even inciting 'death to the enemy'. I never said any of those things! ?

I know you like winding me up Chestnut, you have admitted it before and got told by the more balanced posters on GN what they thought of you. But maybe you missed that...

But don't kid yourself. And maybe take a course in reading comprehension, and how to not feel like the whole world is out to get you?

Vintagejazz

PamelaJ1

volver I interpreted merlots post differently to you. As I see it she considered buy a TV for her bedroom. In this day and age, before this hike in power costs, a not unreasonable thing to do surely?
She decided against it.
Now with the higher costs of fuel she is reconsidering. Could be that she then saves on heating? A sensible idea surely?

That's how I interpreted it as well. I can see how it makes sense and would be cheaper than having before the heating on in the evenings.

You can read my explanation above. 10:34.

then on the next thread you demonize a young woman for painting her nails

Nice try Gill57.
Those nails weren’t painted - a blob of nail polish costs next to nowt for DIY nails. They were long acrylic talons. Salon beautiful. £35 a pop for an appointment with regular monthly infills needed for maintenance or an expensive appointment to have them soaked off.

I never mentioned mobile phones. Those are needed nowadays for job hunting I believe. That technology is therefore essential.

Well like most of us on here it's cosy blankets and fewer lights on on an evening cuddled up to the dogs! I did what I thought would never do yesterday changed hairdresser! My usual one has steadily been gearing towards the younger market lots of hair extensions and balyage colouring and with that prices have also steadily increased. So in desperate need of a cut and colour I phoned round local hairdressers and asked for their prices. Found one that's had good reviews and half the price I have been paying! Result was sat in the chair thinking Dad used to say there's only a fortnight between a good haircut and a bad one! however the end result is brilliant slight difference in colour as they use different brand but it's great! I shall be booking again.

No really, its a wind up , isn't it?



We're not so good at recognising the irony on these threads, are we?

jaylucy what you illustrate very helpfully is that a lot of our perceived savings aren’t going to make much of a dent then in our overall utility bills. They have us by the short and curlies it seems.

volver

Chestnut

You are so easy to wind up, volver. The overreactions in some of these posts are just mind blowing. Apparently I am victim blaming, inciting hate, calling people scroungers, even inciting 'death to the enemy'. I never said any of those things! ?

I know you like winding me up Chestnut, you have admitted it before and got told by the more balanced posters on GN what they thought of you. But maybe you missed that...

But don't kid yourself. And maybe take a course in reading comprehension, and how to not feel like the whole world is out to get you?

I'm not deliberately winding you up, you get yourself wound up all by yourself! Maybe you think posters who say something you disagree with are out to get you? I don't know.

I quoted things people actually said in response to my post. Overreactions or what?

I have a desktop computer and I unplug it every night now as well as my TV because every little helps.

I live on my own, no cat any longer to blame but I appear to wash for my entire neighbourhood. I have never possessed a tumble dryer so the heating heats my clothes and I also hang them outdoors.

My air fryer is the best thing since sliced bread, having paid for itself since I bought it last November. I even use the hob less because of it.

Yes, I have a bottle of wine occasionally but when buying eg vegetables I buy "wonky" carrots for 29p a kilo which I cook and freeze.

Thanks to lousy TV I have been going to bed earlier so every little adds up and helps.

I am fortunate and have had solar heating, not photovoltaic, for many years so I rarely pay for hot water.

I meet friends x3 a month for coffee and have the occasional meal out. I cannot be a total hermit and want to enjoy whatever time I have left.

Parents who send their kids to school hungry should be ashamed of themselves in my opinion. Bowl of overnight oats, cornflakes with milk, bread and jam, no cooking required.

Going back to the OP original question.....
I'm thoroughly fed up hearing about high bills and economizing. Everything has gone up and it's probably not going to come down again so we're just going to have to get used to it.

Personally, after two years of hardly leaving the house I'm damned if I'm going to be told to cut down on the few comforts and luxuries we have. I'm still going to use the washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, and iron every day and our electric blanket when needed. And I simply can't be bothered to go round turning appliances off all the time. We only have our pensions and a few savings but we'll afford it somehow.

Having said that I do have a lot of sympathy for the young families who are struggling. I've been in their shoes when our kids were little - unable to pay the mortgage and other bills, hiding from the bailiffs, and living on sandwiches so they could have proper meals. Worrying and humiliating. Perhaps that's why I refuse to economize now, I won't be made to feel that way again.

There has to be an answer to this somewhere. What about all these multi-million homes, yachts and funds that have been confiscated from the Russian oligarchs, can't they be converted to cash to help struggling families?

merlot, stop being extravagant- surely you can just take the downstairs tv upstairs when you get cold.

kittylester

*merlot*, stop being extravagant- surely you can just take the downstairs tv upstairs when you get cold.

Bit difficult in a bungalow, kitty ??

10:34

Sorry to keep repeating myself. It seems necessary, though.

We have tried to save cash for many years, low energy lighting, batch cooking, only washing full loads of laundry, wearing a jumper indoors rather than turning up the thermostat, no unnecessary car journeys, thermal linings on all curtains........all the usual stuff really. Then, this morning, I discovered OH had left a large bag of wet fish out of the freezer........we worked out that he last went into the garage where the freezer is located on Thursday! He insisted the fish would be ok to put back, I disagreed and it is now double bagged and in the bin. I reckon we have lost about £50 to £60 worth of assorted fish.........I feel quite sickened to say the least! What a waste!

Hello, I rarely comment, but felt prompted by Gagajo at 10.13.
I pay by Direct Debit. I have set my DD at £100.00 per month, certainly not the amount asked for (£230) but my reasoning and decision is based on these thoughts. I have previous overpaid my DD. It led to a seemingly comforting credit amount collecting in my electricity account. The company still requested higher DD amounts.
I have decided to pay this regular DD amount, and weekly putting a sensible amount in my own savings account. My feeling is it is better in my account!! I keep the DD for its discounts, and when the quarterly bill appears, I will then top up my electricity account to clear the bill. The increases are noticeable on the smart meter, and I cannot cut down any further.
In short, yes, pay our bills, if we can, we have no choice. But....I would not wish to give extra money to companies who stockpile our money on the basis of their estimation of our use for the next year. Too much greed on their part I feel.

Urmstongran

I bet the dads aren’t eating every other day.

What!?

It was my reply to the post above mine DA.

What's Central Heating?

Urmstongran

Yesterday on the news was a single mum, saying she was worrying about the bills. The camera panned to her hand as she was turning the heating dial down. Her hot pink long acrylic nails took centre stage we both noted.

When I was single mother in the 70s, DD had a long sleeved vest, a polo necked jumper, dungarees, plus v necked cardigan. I had ice on the inside. The TV news program I saw yesterday mother was shown with children in the background wearing t-shirts.

Forgot tights

H1954 - please rescue it from the bin!

Cook it all now and make fish cakes, risotto, kedgeree, chowder then freeze the finished dishes and simply microwave before eating!

My dad is an angler and we didn’t have a fridge or freezer so I grew up knowing 10 different ways with our fishy friends!

Also Gagajo, please don’t overpay your DIrect Debit - put it into a savings account and get some interest on it before the big bills next winter.

This is the sort of stuff we need to teach people (of all ages) not JUST throw money at the problem.

jaylucy

My son, who pays the utility bills (as he lives with me) was reading on his info from the supplier that it isn't so much the amount used that is going up, but the standing charge to get the gas / electricity to your home that has doubled in price per day !
So even if you try and cut back on how you use it, you will still get hammered!
We thankfully had our windows replaced yesterday so I am hoping that will make a big difference with at least the heating needed as the original ones had been put in 2006 and even though they were supposed to be double glazed, the seals had gone on all and Ted Moult's feather test would have failed - I had to go round taping up several to stop the draughts!

That's a very important point that you've raised there, jaylucy, about standing charges.

My fixed energy deal ends next month, so I recently started looking at how much I am likely to have to pay after that.

Off the top of my head, I think my current daily standing charge is around 23p - it's certainly no more.

When my fixed tariff ends, it will be over 50p - that's over 50p a day whether I use any electricity or not!

I hate to think how badly this hits those who have prepayment meters, but no matter how much they are struggling, and how much they cut back on their usage, they can't avoid it.

Amongst other things, this is where the costs from energy company collapses, not to mention the Government 'loan' are being clawed back - it's one hell of a hit on those who are already struggling!

Ted Moult's feather test

Thanks for the memory. ?

And Pantglas agrees!!!!

Back to the OP
I have heard tell that washing hands in cold water gets rid of just as many nasties as hot water.
I googled it and it seems it does.
Now I’m going to stop using the hot tap as much as possible.
Saves water too.