Can't afford oil?

falko89

Our oil is just about finished and well we can't afford any more, We both work min wage but we recently prices 300 litres which is a quarter of our tank was £270, That would probably do us until Jan so not great really and can't afford it anyway, the emergency drums are £20 and would last us almost a week, but can't survive on them. We have a fire in our house but it only heats the one room as we have no back boiler,

Any advice?

macman

About the only short term solution is cheap panel heaters, but bear in mind that oil, though expensive, is still a lot cheaper per kWh than any form of electric heating.
Personal loan to purchase a tankfull?

Swipe

I live alone and generally only heat one room. If necessary, you can get away with little or no heating in a bedroom. In the depths of winter I use two duvets and wear a sweatshirt and jogging bottoms and even wake up too hot. The coldest temp I've woken to was around 6C in the cold spell a couple of years ago so it's definitely do-able. I wouldn't go taking out loans on heating oil, just tough it out like everyone had to every winter in the old days.

suki1964

You do really need to budget all year for the oil - even as little as a tenner a week will help pay for it

Go over to the old style board. Theres a lot of help and advice there on how to insulate your house as cheaply as possible and lots of advice on how to keep warm through the winter - fleeces on the beds under the sheets, hot water bottles and fleeces on the sofas etc

It is does get so very cold you may have to consider living and sleeping in the one room. Hard I know when you have wee kids but because they are so young it could be more like an adventure for them - camping in the living room. Giving them strip washes in front of the fire wont kill them either - be better then going into a freezing bathroom

falko89

suki1964 wrote: »

You do really need to budget all year for the oil - even as little as a tenner a week will help pay for it

Go over to the old style board. Theres a lot of help and advice there on how to insulate your house as cheaply as possible and lots of advice on how to keep warm through the winter - fleeces on the beds under the sheets, hot water bottles and fleeces on the sofas etc

It is does get so very cold you may have to consider living and sleeping in the one room. Hard I know when you have wee kids but because they are so young it could be more like an adventure for them - camping in the living room. Giving them strip washes in front of the fire wont kill them either - be better then going into a freezing bathroom

If we're living like that when working you have to wonder what the point is.

savemoney

I agree with what others said and like wise you have to put money aside for Winter its no different than using gas/electric for heating I over pay for heating in summer so it lasts us for many months over Winter. Sometimes its worth paying for oil in Summer if its cheaper. Have you got a open fire so you can maybe forage for wood/pallets etc? I do to supplement my log burner and I pay £130 for logs each year plus GHC on top which last year paid £622 on gas for heating and some cooking.

Make sure you wear plenty of light clothing as it traps the air so keeps you warm rather than thick jumpers.

It didnt do me or many others harm to not have much heating, I lived in 70's as a kid with very little heating and thats when we had real winters

Andy_WSM

falko89 wrote: »

If we're living like that when working you have to wonder what the point is.

Whilst I agree with your sentiments, it doesn't help the situation that you haven't been saving anything through the year to pay for Winter bills. Winter happens every year at about this time, always has done & aways will do...

fishybusiness

Whilst I agree with your sentiments, it doesn't help the situation that you haven't been saving anything through the year to pay for Winter bills. Winter happens every year at about this time, always has done & aways will do...

Come on, I'm sure the OP knows that. If you live week to week, it can be difficult, sometimes impossible to put money away for anything, let alone winter heating oil.


Perhaps two or three oil filled radiators bought on ebay will see you through. Not cheap to run, but as others have suggested, keeping one room warm, and perhaps your bathroom would work for minimal outlay.

When I had similar problems, I kept the living room warm, and when it was really cold I slept in the living room. I also made sure I cooked a meal of some sort twice a day as it kept the kitchen warm.

suki1964

falko89 wrote: »

If we're living like that when working you have to wonder what the point is.

Actually I work for my own sense of worth, even though I earn minimum wage and only work 16 hrs

Husband has had perhaps 4 months work this year

Neither of us get a single penny in benefit or tax credits

We budget for oil all year, same as I build up coal and logs when I can in the summer

The oil is used very sparingly in this household cos it has to last..the ch is on just to keep the house at a level you wouldn't want to be sat in with out a good few layers and even a fleece. The coal is used to keep the sitting room to a liveable heat

We don't heat the bedrooms nor any room that's not used to live in

Here where I live there is so much fuel poverty that the council started an oil stamp scheme where as you can buy stamps from £5 to save for fuel and a few oil companies will allow you to spread the cost with their own schemes.

Dunroamin

falko89 wrote: »

Our oil is just about finished and well we can't afford any more, We both work min wage but we recently prices 300 litres which is a quarter of our tank was £270, That would probably do us until Jan so not great really and can't afford it anyway, the emergency drums are £20 and would last us almost a week, but can't survive on them. We have a fire in our house but it only heats the one room as we have no back boiler,

Any advice?

We have oil fired central heating as well and this amount of oil would last us far longer than two months. Do you actually need the central heating on at the moment?

suki1964

falko89 wrote: »

Our oil is just about finished and well we can't afford any more, We both work min wage but we recently prices 300 litres which is a quarter of our tank was £270, That would probably do us until Jan so not great really and can't afford it anyway, the emergency drums are £20 and would last us almost a week, but can't survive on them. We have a fire in our house but it only heats the one room as we have no back boiler,

Any advice?

And who ever quoted that price is chancing their arm. Looking at cheapestoil Northern Ireland 500 is showing an average of £320 for Belfast - cheaper in Derry - so that's around 64ppl not the 90ppl you are quoted