It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

rachbc

yep it's terrifying - we sat in the dark and didn't use the oven for a month when we first got the statement - i've used the tumble dryer once since then and felt guilty! Our usage averages 15-20 units a day which shoud be around £80 a month just for the usage which is less scary

mardatha

I'm with you Redlady, I HATE using DDs for anything and totally refuse to pay over my money so they can keep it in their account and get interest on it. I read so many stories on here about stupendous rises and also people in credit who cannot get their money back. Its totally stupid. And re discount - we checked with Scottish Power how much we would pay if we went over to DD - and she gave me a figure that was £5 more a month than I spend already! I said that to her and she said "oh well we need to overcharge so that you're not in arrears" !! I said well what's the bloody point of it then? God.

mardatha

I use the Remoska instead of the oven and I never buy food that takes hours in an oven to cook. We have our useage down to 4/5 units a day but thats because we have Calor for cooking and (usually) coal for heating. If I could just get rid of the RV's telly I would be using practically nothing!

Gigervamp

We pay £100 a month for electric. I thought it was just us that paid that much. Too many X-boxes and pc's in the house!

Our oil is also £100 a month. It was only a year or two ago that we paid 27p per litre for oil. The last delivery we had a couple of weeks ago cost 57p a litre! We used to order 1000 litres at a time, but now only order 500. It won't be long before we won't even be able to afford that and as 500 litres is the minimum you can order, we'll be scuppered.

ginnyknit

We rang Scottish power the other day to check our payments and they were fine for now, next day they rang and wanted us to put it up to £75 from £51 :mad::mad::mad: as Oh had a graph they e mailed us showing our drop in usage he rang and told them to bu**er off, as they could see we had a huge drop in usage as kids had left - they give you the information then don't blooming use it :mad: We too are very very careful with how we use the leccy'

mama67

HariboJunkie wrote: »

'Tis emptyish now.


Edit: Hands up to having a darning mushroom too. :hello:

I have one as well

oldtractor

Wish I had a darning mushroom.

oldtractor

GreyQueen wrote: »

Greetings from the Sunny Side, where it touched 28 degrees yesterday. On the second-to-last day of September, can never recall seeing the like and I ain't no spring chicken.

Felt too hot and too whacked to cook yestereve so the last portion of Mr Pumpkin is saved for tonight and I just had fruit and a sarnie. I've been going to bed at 9 pm for the past fortnight, just shattered.

Softstuff, things are getting baaaad in Blighty at the moment. The Lithuanian m@fia are in P.C. and are trafficking sex slaves and kidnapping people (mostly other Lithuanians) and beating them up.

In my hometown (dozy little market town) there are squatter camps in the woods and commons where destitute european migrants with no work eke out an existance; churches are doing soup and sandwiches and they troop into town for these. In winter in the past years there have been deaths in these camps from hypothermia. Hello, 21st century.

These encampments are totally in breach of the law but the police seem incapable of moving them out. Some of the camps have been there more than a year. No EU national has (currently) any right to be in the UK for more than 3 months without being subject to immigration control unless they have one of 3 statuses; financially independant, full-time student, a worker. If they've never worked in the UK they currently have no rights to benefits and no rights to apply for social housing or to be accomodated as homeless in dire emergency.

In theory, these unemployed and destitute europeans should be deported. In practice nothing happens. Heaven help us all if what is being threatened comes to pass- that they acquire equal rights with UK nationals as soon as they set foot on British soil. There's no way that the social housing sector can handle this, never mind how the rest of us can hope to pay enough taxes to fund the benefit bill.

I do benefits stuff at work among other things and talk to people every day who've lost ESA and are appealing- some will suceed and some will be on JSA, with chronic illnesses and/ or disabilities which will mean that they are probably going to be at the bottom of the pile for any kind of job they go for. I can handle a desk-based job for a few hours a day but there's no way I could handle anything manual like I used to do on production lines, or driving gigs, or even be on my feet for hours like shop-work, waitressing or bar-work. Watch GQ go white as a sheet with exhaustion and collapse on the job- it has happened before and scares the sh*t out of employers.

People on benefit who rent privately get Local Housing Allowance and as these are coming up for renewal (it's annual if you stay in the same address) seem to be ending up with less LHA as the rates for each tariff of home-size are lower than last year and they have to make up the difference themselves. People say, "How can I manage?" to me and mine every day of the week.

What can we say? The benefits assessors are applying rates set by central government in terms of what is humorously-called "excess income" and the LHA rates are set by the Rents Service. Either way, we ain't got no flexibilty. More and more people are applying for Discretionary Housing Payments (a top-up of a few quid a week for a few weeks on your benefit) but even if they get it, it only postpones the crisis. It's a finite fund each financial year and when it's gone, that's it until the next year, no matter how needy the applicant.

I've often thought that it is ONLY the benefit system which has stopped there being blood on the streets over the terrible levels of pay and conditions for the employed (i.e. top-ups via tax credits) and the unemployed and sick alike. Take those away and the Gubment could be in for a very bumpy ride.

Mind you, it's about time that the Powers-that-Be were made to face the music over what their policies (or lack of them) mean for the rest of us. Perhaps rioters need to be a bit more specific and find out where the beggars are living and head there, instead of down to the shops to do a bit of retail therapy. Ahh, but that would suppose that they were politically-motivated, and most people seem so ground-down and dispirited that we can't muster the effort.

Sorry to be a moaner, I've had a helluva week of it at work with a lot of callers waiting about half an hour and quite a few of the usual colleagues seeming to be MIA. Don't know whether the temps have been sent away as they never tell us anything but it's been insane.:(:o

Anyway, on happier thoughts, my folks are coming up tomorrow and we will use this lovely sunny weather to play in the sun on the lottie, and Mum has promised to bake Ch*colate C*ke today and bring some up for us to share, nomnomnom. And there will be time with friends on Sunday......good thoughts.

((Hugs to all today and nobody is to get sunstroke OK?))

ETA Ceridwen, the UKIP candidates that I have seen appear to have escaped from secure psychiatric units. Perhaps they're better where you live.

Brilliant post.

Fruball

oldtractor wrote: »

Wish I had a darning mushroom.

H0bbycraft sell them at a reasonable price - I saw them in there a few days ago whilst I was buying my winter craft fabric. I would have no idea how to use one but definately saw them in there

Rosanna79

OH and I insist on paying our utility bills quarterly after horrendous problems with D/D years ago. We feel more in control of the situation and are currently on a fixed tariff for both with British Gas. How things will change next year when that ends remains to be seen.

I was up very early for a morning swim so I could spend the morning with my little cat rather than the regular walk I do with the group on Fridays. Having just received a plan from my dietitian , based on my food/ exercise diary I found myself feeling really awful- low blood sugar etc but I Must tighten up my intake to kickstart the rest of my weight loss.. Unfortunately I found having to eat a sandwich without any low fat spread at lunchtime vile and could only manage this with a load of chutney. I've always gagged with dry food and even as a child all attempts to force me to eat before having any liquid made it impossible for food to go down. I always need a lot more gravy and sauces than anyone else . and probably this was not the time to do this plan as I was facing taking little Jennicat to the vet with OH this afternoon.

She could hardly walk by this morning and so we knew that it was high time for her to be put to sleep. She went peacefully just after 3 this afternoon and our lives will be that bit emptier for want of such a chatty liitle friend . Our vet and the vetinary nurses were brilliant as they have been over the years.

Henry Hoover has not been miaowing at the back door since yesterday but leftovers have been disappearing so he must be around somewhere. It's almost as if he knew that little Jenny needed her last hours to be peaceful and retreated a little distance.

We are both gutted and can only take whatever time it is to get used to the fact that she's gone. She and her brother who died 2 1/2 years ago we think were simply abandoned by the relatives of their owner who died. No one ever claimed them and they chose to move in with us in East London.. I never really wanted pets but I grew to love them very much. Jenny , like her brother is being cremated and her ashes will be scattered at the bottom of our garden where Jasper's were. My SIL was saying what a wonderful life both these cats enjoyed with us , being treated right royally and living in the lap of luxury- spoilt rotten- almost like children I suppose.....

We met a couple at the vets with a little puppy. They said they swore never to have another dog but after 9 months of being petless had to get another animal.. Perhaps that will be OH and I further down the line. However it seems that vets fees and the like are getting increasingly expensive so it'll probably have to be a kitten, insured from the word go... It's just too early now to contemplate such a scenario.

((((Hugs)))to all those currently struggling in any way and after all I should be taking more notice of people's problems rather than those of our pets.. it's a just a bit raw at present...