I do sympathise with those who are struggling. I retired in 2014, earlier than planned due to a very stressful job impacting my health and no support whatsoever from my employers following a diagnosis of heart health problems. I have my state pension and two other tiny pensions, the sum total of which add up to less than £11,000 pa. Due to divorce in my 50's I have ended up in the rental sector and am lucky that I was allocated a one bed council flat when I was 60. I pay very little rent/council tax and I shall get the Warm Home Discount from my energy supplier, this year, for the first time, being over 65 and on a low income. I can't do holidays or evenings out, but do sometimes have a coffee in town with a friend and I do a little voluntary job on a Friday afternoon, which gets me out. Clothes come in the main from charity shops or Primark. In the summer I do try to have a couple of days at the seaside, using my bus pass, or the car, depending on the cost of parking! I have worked all of my adult life, paid all my tax and NI comtributions and so forth, however here I am, scraping by in retirement. My car is 20 and I do hope that it will stagger on for a while longer as it does at least mean that I can get out a bit, to see family and to volunteer. I do owe about £1200 on a credit card, plus I have a bank loan of just over £2000. I am paying these off at more than the minimum required just to try to be rid of them as soon as possible. Life is not all cruises and golden days...for many of us it is just a question of getting by somehow and hoping that things get no worse. I have my family and a few close friends locally, so I am fortunate in this respect, if not financially.