Preparing for Winter

miserly_mum

Churchmouse wrote: »

Good post miserly mum. Poor Ken!:D I don't recall him saying he was on a good occupational pension, but he did point out he gets £250 towards the heating bills, plus other bits and bobs that help. I don't think anyone is complacent about pensioner fuel poverty, but many that I know are like my Dad, who gets these payments, but doesn't want to spend them!!!! He's lucky, lives in a modern mid terrace that never seems to get very cold, but hardly has the heating on. He's turning into his mother who wanted "to leave money behind" for her children. Well his children don't need his money and would rather he spent it on himself, but he won't be told. He insists he can't afford this and that, while he has cash lying around the house in various hiding places:rolleyes: He is only on basic state pension too. In my experience he is not unique. maybe this attitude is what Ken was alluding to

Churchmouse reading your post about your Dad .....it could have been written about my late Mum. When I left home she lived in an old house with no heating. I badgered the council to get her moved near us into a house with central heating......then she refused to use it??

She had heating that ran off a coal fire.....the fire was always lit anyway but she wouldn't put the radiators on and wore about 4 layers of clothes instead.:rolleyes:

Wouldn't use her fuel allowance to fill her coal bunker when she got it every winter either...... then moaned constantly about the price of coal.

mardatha

We are on pension credit, we find it ok but I think a lot depends on your house and type of heating. Coal is £15.50 a bag and we use just under 3 bags a week...but we have tons of hot water and a cosy house. Depends on your priorities...
I feel the people who suffer most are those on a very low wage, who have no children. People who earn just above the nat min wage. They have to find the petrol to get to work, they have to pay full rent and CT, and they get no help at all.

zarazara

I agree, mardatha

moneysavingfamilycomp

mardatha wrote: »

We are on pension credit, we find it ok but I think a lot depends on your house and type of heating. Coal is £15.50 a bag and we use just under 3 bags a week...but we have tons of hot water and a cosy house. Depends on your priorities...
I feel the people who suffer most are those on a very low wage, who have no children. People who earn just above the nat min wage. They have to find the petrol to get to work, they have to pay full rent and CT, and they get no help at all.

i agree completely my sis lives 4 doors away from me in an identical house but where as i work part time and support my son on just above min wage i am entitled to claim tax credits things are tough but i manage ok. she is single is on a nursery nurses wage and has to run a car for work ( no bus from where we live) she isnt able to claim anything and is really struggling. our parents are both in there 70s on basic state pension and able to claim relevant benefits fuel allowence etc. they are managing better than both of us. i know its not always the case but alot of the time pensioners wont use the help available to them or wont admit that they are struggling.

Caterina

Another little step towards winter preparation, and a great satisfaction too: I put the last stitches to the cardigan I have started knitting two years ago, and it fits, and it is sooo warm!

Just started the next one, wonder if I manage to finish this one before 2010!

Caterina

10past6

mardatha wrote: »

We are on pension credit, we find it ok but I think a lot depends on your house and type of heating. Coal is £15.50 a bag and we use just under 3 bags a week...but we have tons of hot water and a cosy house. Depends on your priorities...
I feel the people who suffer most are those on a very low wage, who have no children. People who earn just above the nat min wage. They have to find the petrol to get to work, they have to pay full rent and CT, and they get no help at all.

My OH and me (not married) have been together for 18 years, we're on just above the minimum wage, as we are both classed as single we get no help from anyone, we work because it keeps us motivated and gives us a purpose in life.

Our electric DD has just doubled from £60.00 pm to £112.00 pm, I'm worried sick about how were going to manage, we shop at the cheapest places, I do all the cooking from scratch as it's cheaper, but it is becoming a strain wondering what the next 12 months have installed.

poorbabe

sammyjig wrote: »

I notice that woolies are selling faux fur throws at half price at the moment.
http://www.woolworths.co.uk/web/jsp/product/index.jsp?pid=50933827

They are £25 which I know is a lot but we got one 2 years ago (half price as well) and it is the warmest thing ever!!! If it's the same as the one I got (looks the same) it is fleece on one side and faux fur on the other. Ours gets used on the sofa and sometimes gets taken up and put on top of the duvet when we go to bed. It is soooo cosy. I notice thay have other sorts of throws too at half price.

Just thought this might help someone.

Hi Sammyjig, I went to Woolies yesterday and bought one of these (chocolate) for my sofa. The website did show some for £20 (reduced) but my local shop didn't have any. I needed two for my sofa but couldn't justify spending £50. What I did, as a compromise, was to buy one of those (microfibre?) throws for £9 (reduced) that I'll use at one end of the sofa

Just need to find some cheap blankets and a kingsize duvet set or two and winter clothes, undies, long socks, candles, windup torch, floor lamp, hurricane lamps(?) and I'll finally be ready for the winter :rotfl:

bandraoi

Don't know if they're selling them in the UK, but Penny's in Ireland (Primark) are selling fleecy throws for E3.

I've just used three of them to make a blind/extra insulation layers for my two single glazed sash windows.

I cut one (in a contrasting colour) in half and sewed it to the bottom of a cream fleece. I put two eyelets in the top, and have hung them off the hooks that were there from old net curtains.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi all

I have been sat working on my 1st crochet blanket I started off sat snuggled under a fleece blanky..soon realised I was roasting as more of my blanky was lay on me as i worked -so I think its looking like my blanky is going to keep us warm this winter :T -well once its finished:rotfl:

Still need to make draught excluders for the front door and basement door that comes up in the hall ... I have allready fetched a rug down as its a tiled floor and rather cold on my little trotters in a morning (can't wear socks/slippers)
The excluder across the patio doors is doing a fine job -hubby couldn't see why we needed one as its a double glazed door -I got him to put his hand behind the excluder the other day and he couldn't believe how cold it was

We keep our bedroom window open at night (I can't sleep with it shut)-but now the rule is that we shut it first thing in the morning and keep the bedroom door shut so the cold doesn't spread into the rest of the house

I have had my remoska a few days now and have cooked all sorte in it -I reckon that the amount of gas I will save by not using the gas guzzling gas oven will cover the heating when it goes on (or at least contribute)-we are waiting for a statement to see how much fuel we have used in the last year -we are in mod housing so it just gets taken out of hubbies wages every month... hoping for good news on how much we have used -fingers crossed we have paid too much :rotfl: a girl can hope
I think im about sorted out now..just a couple of bits n bobs to sort then we should be ready.... :T

Charis

miserly_mum wrote: »

Why was Ken's post met with such hostility?

Please read my reply to Ken again. There is no hostility in it. I would genuinely like to know how anyone can survive on a basic pension-credit level pension and pay all their bills, especially if they are not fit and nimble enough to dig the garden and hop on a bus to town to visit the library and hunt for bargains, or they have a spouse at home who cannot be left for more than a short time due to health problems, dementia etc.

Those who own their own homes are not able to claim any kind of housing benefits although they are liable for every bit of home maintenance. The general attitude is that they must be well off to afford their own place. To which I would say you can't eat bricks and mortar.

People like my neighbour, for example, who has just had major surgery for breast cancer and feels the cold. She has only two nephews and they both live hundreds of miles away. She's just had to pay for roof repairs. How many more are tucked away behind closed front doors without access to the information they need and just the TV and media hype for company?

If there is no problem, why are Friends of the Earth and Age Concern spending good money taking the government to court? Charities have to raise every penny they spend on legal fees, unlike the government, who just help themselves from the various taxes we all pay. We need to make sure our elderly relatives and neighbours are not sitting in the dark for fear of the bills, not just adopt the attitude 'I'm all right Jack'.