If things get tougher?

mardatha

Looking forward to the elect costs, that will be very useful to a lot of us, thank you .

affordmylife

i definitely think practical and useful are very acceptable presents.

i have five children and every christmas they all get pj's, nighties, socks, pants/knickers, smellies etc. along with some of the things they have asked for too.

my christmas list is compiled during the year and this years so far i would love to recieve a lightweight dressing gown (so i can stop wearing my husbands) a super duper tin opener (cos i have a rubbish 99p one) a vinyl tablecloth (because i cant justify spending £25+ on one i like) and a potted lavender plant for my garden. those things would make me very happy.

personally perfume, smellies etc leave me cold and i wont use them. its just not me. i do usually get clothes and stuff which im also happy with cos i never have much spare money to treat myself with after sorting out all the children so im basically grateful for anything i recieve (as long as it is useful and practical).

brixtonian

I already started..using my food containers! cutting off in eating out when in the office does make a difference.. I try to cook every two days so i can bring my own food to work and invest those pounds in the shopping list.
I recommend too buying those snacks we all need during the day from the supermarket to avoid the rip off of the vending machines..

Gigervamp

I'm worried about our heating costs this winter. We're on oil and still in debt from last winter's oil costs, even though we've upped our DD payments to £75 a month. We used to be in credit by this time of the year.
We have a fireplace in the living room, but were told that we can't use it because the chimney needs relining. Apparently smoke comes out in the bedroom above.
We do have a portable calor gas fire, so I think we'll be using that a lot.

However, what worries me more, especially after yesterdays announcements about gas prices, is my mum. She's on the basic state pension and only just gets by as it is. Her supplier told her she needed to increase her DD payments a couple of months ago to an amount that she couldn't afford, so she managed to get them to agree to a slightly lesser amount. I dread to think what's going to happen now.
I've been reading Martins advice and I'm going to get her to ring Staywarm for a quote and then I'll have to check the price comparison sites (she doesn't have a pc) for her to see if we can find her a capped rate that she can afford.

sammy_kaye18

Gigervamp wrote: »

However, what worries me more, especially after yesterdays announcements about gas prices, is my mum. She's on the basic state pension and only just gets by as it is. Her supplier told her she needed to increase her DD payments a couple of months ago to an amount that she couldn't afford, so she managed to get them to agree to a slightly lesser amount. I dread to think what's going to happen now.
I've been reading Martins advice and I'm going to get her to ring Staywarm for a quote and then I'll have to check the price comparison sites (she doesn't have a pc) for her to see if we can find her a capped rate that she can afford.

Gigervamp

Have you reread the saving gas and electric thread that is lurking on the forums front page?? There are alot of useful tips in there for keepign wamr and saving electric and gas that you may be able to do for your mum to help her reduce her costs.

Minor things like - lining the curtains with old blankets to help retain heat, a hot water bottle or rice bag to take to bed, warm pyjamas, slippers, a light weight but warm dressing gown, putting an extra duvet under the bottom sheet of her bed will help keep her warm in bed so she may not need the heating on all night. fleeces for her to put over her whilst shes watching tv etc, plenty of wamr drinks available. Are just a few ideas

If you havent read it yet i would advise looking at that thread as well as contacting stay warm and see if she is eligable under stay warm to have cavity insulation done free of charge.

Gigervamp

Sammy Kaye, yeah I have, but thanks anyway.

With regards insulation, she's in a mid terrace ground floor flat which is rented, so she probably doesn't need cavity wall insulation, and if she does, she couldn't get it done anyway. The other problem is that she lives in London and I'm here in Wales, so I have to tell her about things and hope that she will follow up. We've been trying to get her online for years but she refuses to have anything to do with computers! It would be sooo much easier if she was online so that I could send her links to all the helpful sites!

Valli

Hi gigervamp

Can you not point her in the direction of her local library where she could go online and the lovely librarians would help her?

And no, I'm not a librarian!

Maybe then she'd be more comfortable, with support

Gigervamp

Valli wrote: »

Hi gigervamp

Can you not point her in the direction of her local library where she could go online and the lovely librarians would help her?

And no, I'm not a librarian!

Maybe then she'd be more comfortable, with support

You can lead a horse to water....

There's a library just a few hundred yards down the road, but she has a real aversion to computers. She says it's because she had to spend hours in front of one when she worked years ago.
We've tried to get her online (oh, how we've tried!) but she'll have none of it!:rolleyes:

sammy_kaye18

gigervamp

do you have or do you know someone who could lend you a laptop with internet access?? that way you could maybe take your laptop with your next time you visit her and show her this fabby site and a few others or be conveniently be sat on it and maybe she'll ask then.

off topic slightly - where in south wales?

ceridwen

Gigervamp wrote: »

I'm worried about our heating costs this winter. We're on oil and still in debt from last winter's oil costs, even though we've upped our DD payments to £75 a month. We used to be in credit by this time of the year.
We have a fireplace in the living room, but were told that we can't use it because the chimney needs relining. Apparently smoke comes out in the bedroom above.
We do have a portable calor gas fire, so I think we'll be using that a lot.

However, what worries me more, especially after yesterdays announcements about gas prices, is my mum. She's on the basic state pension and only just gets by as it is. Her supplier told her she needed to increase her DD payments a couple of months ago to an amount that she couldn't afford, so she managed to get them to agree to a slightly lesser amount. I dread to think what's going to happen now.
I've been reading Martins advice and I'm going to get her to ring Staywarm for a quote and then I'll have to check the price comparison sites (she doesn't have a pc) for her to see if we can find her a capped rate that she can afford.

When you say she is on "Basic State Pension" - I dont know the exact figures involved - but I have an idea that Basic State Pension is about £89 per week - but State Minimum Guaranteed Pension is about £119 per week. As I understand it - everyone whose only source of pension is from the State gets the State Minimum Guarantee Pension (but you do have to specifically claim it - its not automatic). I myself will only get Basic State Pension come the time - but thats because I will have an employers pension in the first place - so my employers pension and Basic State Pension between them will come to more than the State Minimum Guaranteed Pension.

So - as I said - if your mother is ONLY getting State Pension - check that State Minimum Guaranteed Pension out (not sure if that is the exact name its called - but you get the idea).

Second thought - one can get a reduction in Council tax payments if on a low enough income and its a higher-level reduction thats available to those in the 60+ age group. Get her to check that one out too. (NB: One has to have less than £16,000 savings to be able to get this help with Council tax - so if she has more than £15,999 savings then she will need to spend the rest of her savings first before she can claim this - but I doubt she is in that position LOL!).