help with heating and energy costs while on JSA?

[Deleted User]

don`t rise to the bait duchess. Ladygaga has obviously never learnt empathy

good luck with the job interview

joyfull

Sorry to hear of your difficult situation duchessP.

Cannot answer your specific questions but I live on a very low income and like another poster pretty much live in one room which I heat. I moved my bed into it which was the best thing I did. I struggle with health probs and have a low body weight & just adding an extra layer becomes pointless when I'm wearing 7 layers & am still cold.

Just wanted to support you really, hope you get a job soon and hope you get the heating thing sorted. Oh, I often stick a hot water bottle up my many jumpers & that helps!

duchesspink1

kittie wrote: »

don`t rise to the bait duchess. Ladygaga has obviously never learnt empathy

good luck with the job interview

Thank you Kittie, I appreciate that.

duchesspink1

joyfull wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your difficult situation duchessP.

Cannot answer your specific questions but I live on a very low income and like another poster pretty much live in one room which I heat. I moved my bed into it which was the best thing I did. I struggle with health probs and have a low body weight & just adding an extra layer becomes pointless when I'm wearing 7 layers & am still cold.

Just wanted to support you really, hope you get a job soon and hope you get the heating thing sorted. Oh, I often stick a hot water bottle up my many jumpers & that helps!

thank you joyfull, a hot water bottle is fab, I had one glued to my feet last winter. I find when my feet are warm, then I feel warm too.

I do appreciate that many are much worse off than me and I know that i'm lucky to have family nearby etc that help out when they can.

thank you.

HappyMJ

You have a credit card... You will not get a crisis loan for anything ever. You are expected to use the credit card first before using a crisis loan.

duchesspink1

HappyMJ wrote: »

You have a credit card... You will not get a crisis loan for anything ever. You are expected to use the credit card first before using a crisis loan.

I have a credit card that I don't want to use to get into debt if I can avoid it. I won't be disclosing that i've got one if I apply for a crisis loan. That is If I apply for a crisis loan, I only found out about them here today and it is amongst a few of the options i'll be considering.

KxMx

We pay for our energy the old fashioned way but it really works for us on a low budget. We have quarterly bills, and in between the bills we load up money onto a Post Office Budget Card to pay the bill with when it comes in. I don't believe in DD's, the fuel compaines set them as the amount they think they can get away taking off you, not much of a reflection of actual usage!
Might be better for you for the electric.

[Deleted User]

duchess, why don`t you pop over to the winter thread on the os board. There are several posters there, living on very little and most are managing to get some winterproofing done eg pinning cheap fleece throws to curtains, putting bubble wrap on windows and so on. Living in one room is the best idea and then you won`t need to heat the other unused rooms. I hope I am not teaching you to suck eggs, just trying to help a little in what is a terrible situation

horsechestnut

Sorry, I can't help with your heating problem, but do you do surveys?
There are various suggestions on the "How to increase your income" thread. They don't pay you a fortune and some pay in vouchers not cash, but can be very useful if you need to buy things that have worn out or broken.

duchesspink1

horsechestnut wrote: »

Sorry, I can't help with your heating problem, but do you do surveys?
There are various suggestions on the "How to increase your income" thread. They don't pay you a fortune and some pay in vouchers not cash, but can be very useful if you need to buy things that have worn out or broken.

Hi, i've done a few surveys before but have been doing car boot sales and ebay as i've got a lot of bits and pieces from when i was working and spending on things I didn't really need or use. They've come in quite handy and its actually nice being out at the boot sales etc (when its summertime lol) I may give more surveys a go to help towards things a bit

kittie wrote: »

duchess, why don`t you pop over to the winter thread on the os board. There are several posters there, living on very little and most are managing to get some winterproofing done eg pinning cheap fleece throws to curtains, putting bubble wrap on windows and so on. Living in one room is the best idea and then you won`t need to heat the other unused rooms. I hope I am not teaching you to suck eggs, just trying to help a little in what is a terrible situation

I bought silver foil things to put down the back of the radiators, the house is well insulated and double glazed etc so I don't really get any energy loss with that. I am lucky Kittie in that I'm only stressing over the oil refill, the electricity thing I can deal with and was wondering this last week if there was any other benefit that I hadn't put in for re winter fuel costs due to not being aware. I didn't get benefits for the first few months after finishing work as I lived off what I had in the bank, looking back now, I should have kept some of that aside and went onto benefits sooner however hindsight is a great thing and I thought i was doing the right thing not signing on and hoping that I'd get a job fairly quickly. Once I have the oil sorted out, then i'm ok. I don't live the life I used to, I've cut out most of the things i'd have spent on before as I simply had to cut my cloth and one thing this has taught me is that I can live on relatively little when I need to.
I will be using the old fashioned moneysaving boards a little more though. I've found them quite useful since i registered on here.

KxMx wrote: »

We pay for our energy the old fashioned way but it really works for us on a low budget. We have quarterly bills, and in between the bills we load up money onto a Post Office Budget Card to pay the bill with when it comes in. I don't believe in DD's, the fuel compaines set them as the amount they think they can get away taking off you, not much of a reflection of actual usage!
Might be better for you for the electric.

i'm def getting in touch with the electric people tomorrow to see what I can do there. I'm reluctant to put the oil refill onto my credit card as that combined with the £117 i still owe the electric board will give me debt that isn't affordable to repay until i'm working again. you're right about the companies taking more than you use when they set amounts to pay. I'll have to stay with the meter until the debt is cleared to the electric company and once I have the oil minimum refill in my tank then i'll look to do a £20 a month direct debit for top ups etc as needed.

thank you.


I'm away for dinner and i'll check back in later. Thank you all for your advice and help.

x