Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

aimeelister

We aim not to put our heating pn until Nov. I was in At Home on Sat and picked up a 10.5Tog duvet kingsized for £9.99. Im now sitting wrapped up in that in the evenings.

needmoney

foreverskint wrote:

It is a bit annoying though is it not, that this is the sort of conversation that someone on a pension might be having.......not people on a reasonable salary?

That's what shocked me when I read this thread. It is bad enough for some of us pensioners but not that families ahve to suffer this way too.

Rage_in_Eden

i know exactly what you all mean - whenever I hear something in the press about "average earnings" and they're always something I've never known anyone get my blood boils.....

sammy_kaye18

Agreed

Its bloody ridiculous. Im only 22 and becasue of all the boosted prices and whatever bleeding else me and my bf can barely afford where we live now and we are in a council flat and we have a 2 year old.
They told us we need home security in the area we are in becasue of the amount of robberies and murders etc! so we brought a dog! they suggest a £1000+ security system!!

Also it really piddles me off when i get tarred with the same brush as everyone else.

Everyone thinks that because im 22 , a young mum and in a council flat that im scrounging every bit of my money off the government when i dont. I work 16 hours a week (2 nights a week) not including any overtime im offered, my boyfriend works 50+ hours ( days a week from 9 - 5.30/6) Im on £5.21 an hour and my bf brings home just £210 a week. (£4.11 an hour for a 27 year old)
Granted i do claim child tax credit and child benefit - but i am entitled to these seeing as i have a young child (2 years old) and my bf claims working tax credit but only recieves £20. We are entitled to alot more but we dont claim it as we have enough to get by. My bf also has £13,000 of debt to his name too - thanks to a devious ex girlfriend and his own carelessness.

I wish that they'd take everyone into account because not alot of people do have 'average earnings' for whatever reason.

Its actually to the point im considering befriending an elderly customer in the shop where i work (local coop) and giving them a gift jar (you find a jar and put all your spare change into it then give it as an anonymous gift at Xmas) purely so they have a littel bit of extra help over Xams be it with gas/electric/ food etc

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.. sammy-kay18.....

you mention that your bf is only on £4.11 an hour and he's 27..... if that is correct.. he is being paid under min..wage... which is against the law...or do you mean it works out at £4.11 after he's paid his taxes... etc...

sammy_kaye18

Hi Cooltrikeechick

No he is paid cash in hand by his boss, he doesnt have a wage slip , just an envelope with his name on it. I dont know his tax code number for him workign there as ive never seen it.

moggins

sammykaye what his boss is doing is highly illegal and I'd be very careful because if his boss decides to get rid of him then he probably hasn't paid his national insurance either and wouldn't be entitled to any unemployment benefits.

bud-miser

Anyway, returning to the utilities usage, one of the simplest, scarcely-mentioned ploys is:

K E E P Y O U R D O O R S A N D W I N D O W S C L O S E D !!!

It's amazing how much warm air most people lose just by opening their front door more often/longer than they need to. You always hear folk going on about how important it is not to leave the fridge door open. Well, that argument applies just as much to the warm air in your house.

[Deleted User]

but don`t forget to ventilate your house otherwise damp problems can occur

nicki_2

Even ventilating our house doesn't stop the damp :mad: If I don't have the heating on the lowest setting during the winter then our house gets so damp that DD ends up ill. I'd rather cut back on other things than risk my daughters health. Having said that I do try to layer and have it off as much as I can when she's not around;)