The cost of living... what can we do?

It seems us older retired folk are going to get £500 winter fuel allowance this winter. Maybe more depends on your age.

 

Agreed clueless, it's a stitch up. When the petrol pumps ran dry and prices rose last year we still hadn't reached the high oil prices of a decade or so ago. We are being manipulated by the wealthy.

 

Some sensible proposals from the boss of energy firm Ovo

Energy boss's plan to stave off bills crisis - BBC News

He makes 10 good proposals such as this

Seems sensible as in the past when energy was cheap we didn't bother much about cutting down. This idea would provide an incentive for all to turn the thermostats down a touch etc.

 

Maybe a £1,000 for me, then

 

Saw an interview with him. It seemed quite logical.

 

But he's always been a whiny little gobs***e. Easy for him to redistribute others income while his is safely in the bank!

 

I think the very first step that we all need to take is to pause and try not to panic. The government are not going to do or announce anything until after next week when the leadership elections are over. Indeed, I believe the energy companies are yet to confirm what their prices will be from October, presumably they are waiting to see what the government will do.

Martin Lewis posted this:


The key elements are understanding how much energy you are using, of what type and where. One of my colleagues was being quoted over £700 per month for his energy and whilst he does use quite a bit (he has four kids) there is no way in hell that he is using over £8k of energy every year. The energy companies are taking the pee with some of their direct debits and won't even budge when it is pointed out to them that they are taking too much (even with evidence) so a lot of folks (myself included) have cancelled their direct debits and are paying bill upon receipt each month - - this hinges on making sure you submit up to date meter readings each month, keeping an eye on your own readings through the month and estimating your costs (I have a spreadsheet that calculates costs based on meter readings)

It is also tempting to switch heating off completely to save money - but, that may cost you in other ways as the building itself can suffer.

This post is getting long, so I will be back with more in a mo...

 

I am currently in the process of sealing up holes (still have a couple of holes to fill where cables come into the house), then I need to replace some of my door/window rubbers as they are old and leaking. I've installed thermal blinds in the front bedroom which is the cold bedroom and will be installing a curtain (possibly a dual one) in the doorway between living room and unheated kitchen. We will be investing in duvets that we can sit under when watching TV of an evening and these can double up as additional layers on beds if things get really Baltic. Sweaters/jumpers/jogging bottoms etc will give us additional layers to let us turn down the heating a few degrees and hopefully that will mean that we can be comfortable enough without either spending a fortune or freezing to death.

We are considering (only thinking about it at the moment) investing in electric blankets but I am not sure how much we would use them as we are the types that quite like a cool bed.

 

Can't say I blame him to be honest. Anyone with eyes could see that it wasn't the time to go gunning for his head on a plate, yet they couldn't help themselves.