Jack Monroe #190 The sloppening

[L3moning]

My electricity direct debit has just gone up to £215 a month from £195

That does sounds very expensive. Especially considering I pay £38 a month combined for electricity and gas at the moment.

 

[indigomoon]

My electricity direct debit has just gone up to £215 a month from £195 - old electric heating systems can be ridiculously expensive to run. But I seem to remember she said she was on gas? Or are all utilities interchangeable as well as herbs?

Ouch! That seems expensive. I have managed to get mine down from £180 to £110 a month, despite us both working from home over the past year and having the heating on at times 24/7. (Scotland)

 

[Veronicaaa]

How old was she when she wrote this book? I had loads of second hand furniture given to me (gratefully) right up until my early 30s (not a piano though) We decked out pretty much our entire house in hand me downs and sub par furniture we bought from an auction (total cost £1000) and lived with the majority of that until we were close to 40. We were both working professionals. I am literally this week smashing up 2 god awful pine sets of drawers, that never opened or closed properly, we got in that auction haul 20+ years ago. I’m guessing she was in her mid 20s at this stage? Ffs, check your privilege witch! Also stop “perching” on the chest you twit, you has a sofa someone gave you!

So much this! Also your 20s are when you're moving around a lot so why buy furniture even if you could afford it? All my rented houses came furnished, I think I ended up having to buy a bed for one but that was it. Even now, as I look around my flat, I realise I've not really bought any of my own furniture save for an ikea table (and things like lamps, cushions etc). Everything else is either from my mum downsizing (and tbf she's got really good taste) or has been left behind by the people I bought the flat from.

 

[Billybellend]

Yeah, I have literally never heard anyone refer to the size of somebody's TV when introducing them. What parties is she going to?? Maybe it's a posh thing, idk. "Hi guys! I'm Jack - I'm a famous chef, activist and writer! I don't have a 3D TV or a fancy car but I do have a million tin cans, some lovely Cotswold sideboards and a designer scarf that I found in a puddle!"

Don’t forget the Omega....oh.

 

[LavaFlake]

I've always felt that anyone who could shift over £3k (or whatever it was) at a second hand sale in their early 20s has spunked way too much money up the wall.

 

[Billybellend]

Ouch! That seems expensive. I have managed to get mine down from £180 to £110 a month, despite us both working from home over the past year and having the heating on at times 24/7. (Scotland)

Energy is energy is energy

 

[JuliaGulia]

So much this! Also your 20s are when you're moving around a lot so why buy furniture even if you could afford it? All my rented houses came furnished, I think I ended up having to buy a bed for one but that was it. Even now, as I look around my flat, I realise I've not really bought any of my own furniture save for an ikea table (and things like lamps, cushions etc). Everything else is either from my mum downsizing (and tbf she's got really good taste) or has been left behind by the people I bought the flat from.

I'm in my late 40s but have moved a lot over the years with jobs and relationships which has made it hard to retain 'stuff'. I have a lot of second hand furniture currently, but I love it so it doesn't matter to me that it has belonged to other people. Surely that's the aim, not to have everything new and expensive for the sake of it?
(I also RENT!)

 

[Veronicaaa]

I'm in my late 40s but have moved a lot over the years with jobs and relationships which has made it hard to retain 'stuff'. I have a lot of second hand furniture, but I love it so it doesn't matter to me that it has belonged to other people. Surely that's the aim, not to have everything new and expensive for the sake of it?
(I also RENT!)

Yeah my sister semi-recently moved into a new flat, much larger than mine, and she's been going to the sales rooms / auction houses, where you can buy lovely stuff for the same price you'd pay for something from Ikea. And a couple of weeks ago she scored a lovely sideboard and table from one of my mum's friends, who's moving. My mum's friend got them a few years ago from the Salvation Army! But they're proper lovely, certainly more FANCY than a Cotswolds sideboard imo.

 

[Mr Krabs]

She's hyacinth bucket. This my sister violet, with mercedes, swimming pool and room for a pony.

But because she's not as classy it's all about the size of the telly. This is my mate beryl she's got a 50 inch telly, 5 cotswolds and the drives a car with the same reg as the queen.

I've compared her to Mrs Bucket in previous threads! For someone who is a 'poverty campaigner' or whatever tit title she's given herself this week, she certainly seems to want all the trappings in life. Also, its been pointed out that she has sort of weird, old-people taste. I'm about the same age as Jack, and I've never even heard of stuff like Cotswolds, and the kitchen stuff she buys is the sort of stuff my granny would buy and only use for Friday night dinners.

If it weren't for her mAscUliNe AsTheTiC I'm sure we'd see her wandering around Southend in a Boden dress, matching hat and (filthy) white gloves.

 

[indigomoon]

If it weren't for her mAscUliNe AsTheTiC I'm sure we'd see her wandering around Southend in a Boden dress, matching hat and (filthy) white gloves.

There's time yet.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

Baby’s asleep on me so actually reading Jack’s book now, so many things feel a bit

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this feels..... weird? Like your friends surely know a general jist of your circumstances so wouldn’t say this? It feels cruel. Defs didn’t happen as we’ve seen there are no friends other than PR Vix who’s probably just after the consultancy work <candy man.gif> she’ll be here in five after that

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£390 feels like it would be close to a year of arrears? Feels too high...?

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this is big Tory energy. How would you even know what year reg most people’s cars are...?! Or type of telly?! Give me strength!

This part is just bonkers.

I can’t hear the phrase “in a world“ without hearing it in the movie trailer man’s voice.

Plus this, “my world is defined by the love and generosity of my friends, and the contents of my bin shed”. Bin shed? WTF?!

 

[colouredlines]

"I'd like you to meet my friend Jack. She owns the world's most terrifying rug."

 

[Captainmouse]

"I'd like you to meet my friend Jack. She owns the world's most terrifying rug."

Maybe that’s why she has no friends she introduced them to her rug

 

[indigomoon]

"I'd like you to meet my friend Jack. She owns the world's most terrifying rug."

Snort!

 

[Dogmuck]

Oh come in come in, this is my friend Jack she has a mountain of spoons in a dirty cutlery drawer.

 

[indigomoon]

Oh come in come in, this is my friend Jack she has a mountain of spoons in a dirty cutlery drawer.

This is my friend Jack, she hasn't washed her fingernails in a while but her lip fillers are a distracter.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

“Meet my friend Jack. She used to own a Tile.”

 

[L3moning]

Oh come in come in, this is my friend Jack she has a mountain of spoons in a dirty cutlery drawer.

But all they need is a knife

 

[indigomoon]

But all they need is a knife

That was what sprung to mind too! lol

But who would have seen... her knickers....

 

[Falkor]

Ouch! That seems expensive. I have managed to get mine down from £180 to £110 a month, despite us both working from home over the past year and having the heating on at times 24/7. (Scotland)

We're on the old THTC system that was put in throughout the Highlands years ago. It stands for Total Heating with Total Control, we have two separate electricity meters on two separate rates, one has all the storage heaters/panel heaters on it and the other has everything else. I can turn the heating on or off at the wall and set the storage heaters to boost us in the morning or the evening, but other than that, SSE has control of that circuit and they choose when power is supplied to it depending on the forecast for our area. We get between 5 and 12 hours a day of power to it. The other circuit is unrestricted, but it's charged at a higher rate than their standard rate, while the heating circuit is supposed to be at a very low rate, but it was 7.65p/kwh when we first moved here 13 years ago and is now up to 16.73p/kwh for the heating circuit, 20.6p/kwh for the other circuit and 27.49p per day for the standing charge.

Until recently it was impossible to switch away from without getting your circuits rewired because no other company would touch the two meter system, but they've recently managed to overcome that, so I can have a look at switching - but they're ending support for these meters soon and will be swapping everyone over to a single meter system, so I might as well hold on and get them to do the work (plus we're hoping to do a lot of work on our house early next year, including getting an air source heat pump and full central heating fitted), although goodness knows what they'll switch me to, as I'm in an area where smart meters don't work (no signal). The meter at my holiday cottage down the road is an old key meter I've been trying to get swapped out for three years, it broke over Christmas and I'm now getting free electricity there while they try and figure out what to do. They do have a small stock of old meters, but their protocols say I can't have one of those unless the power goes off and five months later, the power still hasn't gone off! According to a friendly SSE engineer I spoke to, I've done my bit in informing them of the problem in the first place and all they can legally bill me for is the daily standing charge when they finally sort it out.

Sorry, off-topic rant about ancient Highland heating systems over...