It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Siebrie

We use a bucket with a pouring lip in the bathroom, to easily pour the bathwater into the toilet. I can only do this until the evening, because husband likes a shower in the morning and the bath needs to be empty.

Tahlullah.H

Luckily, I am not on a water meter and this conversation has convinced me to never accept one when offered!

Broomstick

newlywed said:

That’s the thing though isn’t it… everyone has something they can’t sacrifice.  So we find other areas to give so that we can keep the things we really want.

A couple of months ago, I made three lists:  1) what I was cutting down on at that moment or what I'd already done; 2) what needed to go next; 3) the 'rock-bottom' list.  It made me feel a bit more in control because it made me conscious that I still have choices and it has helped me choose my own priorities.

I intend to be implementing some of my 'rock-bottom' list in May/June because I plan to switch the freezer off again then and just live on fresh, mostly cold food through the summer months.  I did this for several months last year and it was fairly straightforward.  I'm vegan and I haven't needed to use the fridge since last autumn when I started living on my own again. I only bought food that I could store safely out of the fridge.  My soya milk lasts fine unchilled.  If I used something like tofu, I'd cook it all and have half the meal for supper and the rest for lunch the next day.  I wasn't hanging onto left-overs.  Fresh greens and salady stuff can often be kept longer by popping the base of the leaves in water. I'm intending to have a weeks worth of emergency tinned and packet meals in case of trouble but I won't need more than that.

I'm lucky at the moment that I live somewhere with small local food shops within walking distance.  The local wholefood shop told me that they knew of several households who had stopped using their fridges and were doing something similar to me.

London_1

Just had a long chat with one of my grandsons he house shares with three other lads in Colchester and has only three more months until his Uni degree course is finished. He is really struggling at the moment, and their utilities bills have shot up to £350.00 a month between the four of them His maintenance grant is not a great deal, and he works all weekends washing up dishes in a local cafe.
He was saying the bus fares to get to Uni have gone up from £1.00 to £2.50 and he's been walking to and from around two miles each way to Uni. Consequently he now has holes in his shoes,:( its snowing there at the moment but I have sent him some cash to get some shoes bless him.
 I normally send him by standing order some cash every month but I've just doubled it so he will be able to get some food as well tomorrow. He's a good lad and doesn't go out doing normal student things as he really cannot afford to, plus weekends he spends working his part time job. I
 feel for him, as its hard for any young man to be in this position. His university  experience was marred by lockdown anyway and a lot of his work had to be done via zoom, lectures etc so the normal three years has been marred by the pandemic, and now with the cost of living shooting up its again messing up the end of it He was going to stay on the do his Masters, but said he just cannot afford to. So will come home in June and hopefully get a job.

Our young people are doing their best as well as young families and everyone will be affected by todays rises.Tomorrow the 54% increases start, how on earth are folk supposed to pay them.

Young families with children must be dreading it.
 I am an old lady now, and know how to get the best I can from my cash and do, but I've had a lot of practice over the years in streetching my cash out .

The thought of one of my grandsons in the 21st century having shoes with holes in, and doing without food, appalls me    what is the world coming to. 

Life certainly is getting harder for so many people 

JackieO  

Brambling

Tahlullah.H said:

Luckily, I am not on a water meter and this conversation has convinced me to never accept one when offered!

The rule of thumb used to be if there are less people than bedrooms in the house water meters saved money.  We didn't have a choice here and water meters were fitted where possible to everyone in town over 10 years ago.  As a single person my bill is less than £10 a month and I have a very quick shower ever day (we benefitted from our water company getting fined and having our bills reduced) I don't save water indoors for the garden unless it's from washing vegetables but i do have a water butt for the garden.  I also tend to follow  'if it yellow let it mellow if it's brown flush it down' also easier as i live alone although I do flush if i have visitors coming   

My sister knows a man who is very careful with his money and washes in the water butt but he also goes to bed when it gets dark or goes visiting to avoid putting the lights on

[Deleted User]

I have two young children, both at primary school, and cannot work due to chronic illness. I am only in my 30s.

I don’t run a car, I have a PAYG old phone, we don’t switch the gas heating on as we can’t afford to, we don’t eat out or have takeaway food at all. Now the fire is lit in our little living room and it’s so cosy, all foraged wood that I spend my time chopping. We’ve had heavy snow overnight here.

I am truly not sure what else we could cut back on. Our one ‘luxury’ is Netflix which is £6 a month. Given that we don’t watch live TV or I player therefore no TV licence, or have Sky etc, and don’t go out much this is our treat but could go if needs be. The internet is my window to the world and I would honestly rather go without running water than internet! 

My annual £3,800 budget for everything excluding mortgage and council tax is going to be pressed to its limits this year. 

I really feel for your GS @London_1, what a wonderful grandma you are. I was raised by mine and she’s no longer with us sadly, I miss her and her wisdom every day. Your family are lucky to have you. 

London_1

I too have a water meter and my bill is £9.70 a month whereas before it was £32.00 so well worth getting one ,but then I do my best to treat water as another commodity to use with great care. I hate waste of any kind whether it is food water or any of the other services.

Wednesday2000

Brambling said:

My sister knows a man who is very careful with his money and washes in the water butt but he also goes to bed when it gets dark or goes visiting to avoid putting the lights on

OMG, that really tickled me! He would be going to bed about 4 in the winter months.

EssexHebridean

We can't have a water meter fitted although I would happily do so if we could. We have an assessed bill instead so pay around £33 a month - not sure what the full whack of water rates in properties like ours in our town would be at the moment mind you. 

Brambling said:

My sister knows a man who is very careful with his money and washes in the water butt but he also goes to bed when it gets dark or goes visiting to avoid putting the lights on

That bit amused me - so he goes and uses other people's electricity instead!  I think there is a fine line between "careful" and "tight" here, and he may be straying to what I would consider to be the wrong side of it! 

Brambling

EssexHebridean said:

We can't have a water meter fitted although I would happily do so if we could. We have an assessed bill instead so pay around £33 a month - not sure what the full whack of water rates in properties like ours in our town would be at the moment mind you. 

Brambling said:

My sister knows a man who is very careful with his money and washes in the water butt but he also goes to bed when it gets dark or goes visiting to avoid putting the lights on

That bit amused me - so he goes and uses other people's electricity instead!  I think there is a fine line between "careful" and "tight" here, and he may be straying to what I would consider to be the wrong side of it! 

 He's a very caring man but 'tight' sums him up those were just two examples   he really doesn't like to spend money (not because he doesn't have it and he will admit that) but he will give a lot of time and energy on people who need help including spending a lot of time with my late uncle so my aunt could have a break, he was one of the few people my 96 year old uncle felt comfortable with when his dementia was at it's worst.