Anyone else stressed and terrified by all this? I'm avoiding the news but it's inescapable. A friend from work has confided they're not eating as they've had to spend their money trying to sort the issues with their work visa (they're from NZ) & they can't afford food rn
The Winter of Discontent #3 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing, cost of living etc
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Diesel is at 1.60 and Petrol 1.71 here (West of Ireland)
Have searched for a thread on the cost of living but couldn’t find a specific thread so hope this isn’t a duplicate? With food prices rising and reports that energy prices are set to soar we can use this thread to discuss our thoughts, fears, maybe even share tips to save money where we can and any good offers and deals in supermarkets etc.
My post makes no sense now
I had started a new thread and it got moved to this one. Hi everyone!
There's also the "Budget and Money Saving" thread in the Advice section. Come, join us and our frugal ways
I will do, thank you xThere's also the "Budget and Money Saving" thread in the Advice section. Come, join us and our frugal ways
Virgin have just increased my broadband only package (well I think it includes phone but don't have a phone.) They only say it's gone up by £5 in the letter. But that pushes it to over £70!
My own fault for not phoning up to threaten to cancel and paying for the fastest I can get (which doesn't make much difference to the broadband that I used to have that was 20 times on paper slower. I guess the limiting factor is more the networks you connect to than your broadband speed and the super high one is only needed if there's a handful of you streaming 4k.
My own fault for not phoning up to threaten to cancel and paying for the fastest I can get (which doesn't make much difference to the broadband that I used to have that was 20 times on paper slower. I guess the limiting factor is more the networks you connect to than your broadband speed and the super high one is only needed if there's a handful of you streaming 4k.
Im with virgin and pay £37, i double checked and my contract ends in August. I've had this deal since middle of lockdown though as they wacked it up to £60 odd. Iv got the tv, phone and the internet, 200mbps i think.. but i dont use the tv or the phone. Its cheaper to have the package tho than just the internet. Unless your a new customer of course. My kids are both pc gamers and Im always streaming so cant be having that 50mpbs speed they offer lol
We cut off Sky nobody was ever watching it, with that went the TV licence. Honestly, just don't have the time to watch TV. Not like when we were younger and we'd all gather in the living room to watch the soaps with the rest of the family in the evenings. Kids are busy in their rooms gaming and chatting to friends. I pay £22.50 for internet and phone but we never use the phone. I got a deal with a newish company, fully expect it to go up after the initial 12 month contract. Speed isn't great but it's the best I can get in my area, we have no complaints 6 months in. My brother is with BT and pays 3 times as much and his internet is awful so I'm happy with ours.
Other than that a full tank of petrol used to last me 4 weeks (around 70 miles a week) now, I'm just about getting 2 and half weeks with a full tank, down to price increase and change in unleaded.
Other than that a full tank of petrol used to last me 4 weeks (around 70 miles a week) now, I'm just about getting 2 and half weeks with a full tank, down to price increase and change in unleaded.
We just received our electricity bill and it is almost 700€. Which is insane!
Half of our house is made of floor to ceiling glass windows, which means that we almost never use the heating. Not only that but we have underfloor heating which only activates when it is really cold. Since it was incredibly sunny here we benefited from a lot of natural sunlight which brought the temperature of the house at 21°C.
This heating bill that companies are sending must be a scam. I swear that I have never seen such high bills in my life.
My roommate and I are incredibly lucky to have high paying jobs. But we were absolutely stunned by it.
Half of our house is made of floor to ceiling glass windows, which means that we almost never use the heating. Not only that but we have underfloor heating which only activates when it is really cold. Since it was incredibly sunny here we benefited from a lot of natural sunlight which brought the temperature of the house at 21°C.
This heating bill that companies are sending must be a scam. I swear that I have never seen such high bills in my life.
My roommate and I are incredibly lucky to have high paying jobs. But we were absolutely stunned by it.
Has anyone here got an oil boiler/heating? We’re looking to move and the type of properties we’re looking at largely have them. How is it living with one & organising the oil? I’m scared of not realising it needs replacing/forgetting and having 2 weeks with no heating and a toddler, are there safeguards in place to stop this?
Have there been shortages due to brexit/the pandemic? I know the price of oil has risen but my gas bills have doubled so it feels much of a muchness!
Have there been shortages due to brexit/the pandemic? I know the price of oil has risen but my gas bills have doubled so it feels much of a muchness!
We are oil and honestly right now I wouldn't recommend to anyone. I've made previous posts in this thread about how the prices have changed during the pandemic and it's utterly harrowing and still seems to be getting worse!Has anyone here got an oil boiler/heating? We’re looking to move and the type of properties we’re looking at largely have them. How is it living with one & organising the oil? I’m scared of not realising it needs replacing/forgetting and having 2 weeks with no heating and a toddler, are there safeguards in place to stop this?
Have there been shortages due to brexit/the pandemic? I know the price of oil has risen but my gas bills have doubled so it feels much of a muchness!
Other than prices, living with it isn't a huge deal. We have an oil tank in the garden with has a gauge on showing the remaining level and you just keep an eye on it and order oil when needed. Then they come, deliver it without even needing to come to the door and they are on their way. We use a company called Boiler Juice and it's so easy, you just pop in a few details and they give you a quote. Once you have an account you can just keep re-ordering in minutes. There are no safeguards on running out other than you checking I'm afraid. You do get used to this though and after a while, used to your own frequency so you will have a good idea of how long it lasts you. One tip if you use Boiler Juice - never pay for expedited delivery! They pretty much always deliver within a few days of your order, I've had no exceptions to that in the 7 years I've used oil, even if their website might suggest otherwise (it's just to get more money out of you lol).
We haven't had any shortages since the pandemic, just the price increases.
Yes, there's one in a holiday let I look after. Just arranged a fill up, 1500 litres (1800 litre tank) at 59.5p a litre plus 5% VAT came to £937.12 and that'll last about three months in winter.Has anyone here got an oil boiler/heating? We’re looking to move and the type of properties we’re looking at largely have them. How is it living with one & organising the oil? I’m scared of not realising it needs replacing/forgetting and having 2 weeks with no heating and a toddler, are there safeguards in place to stop this?
Have there been shortages due to brexit/the pandemic? I know the price of oil has risen but my gas bills have doubled so it feels much of a muchness!
Ordering is fine, nearly all new tanks now come with something called a Watchman - there's a little sonic thing fitted to the tank which keeps an eye on the level and reports it back to a receiver which you plug in inside. I usually reorder when it gets down to about 3 bars, because it can take the local oil company anything up to a fortnight to be passing that house. If the Watchmen senses the tank is emptying faster than normal or if the oil gets very low, it'll sound an alarm. If you let it get too low, there's a danger that any sludge in the bottom of the tank can get dragged through into the boiler's pump and kill it stone dead, but with a new system that shouldn't happen.
EDIT: Sorry, just re-read and seen you're moving rather than looking to install one - you can get Watchmen fitted retrospectively if the tank doesn't have one.
I have oil heating with the Watchman device mentioned above. We have a local oil club that we buy through which means we get a better price than buying individually. We last filled our tank up in December at 48p a litre. It’s a 3,000 litre tank so it takes some filling but we only fill it once a year usually.Has anyone here got an oil boiler/heating? We’re looking to move and the type of properties we’re looking at largely have them. How is it living with one & organising the oil? I’m scared of not realising it needs replacing/forgetting and having 2 weeks with no heating and a toddler, are there safeguards in place to stop this?
Have there been shortages due to brexit/the pandemic? I know the price of oil has risen but my gas bills have doubled so it feels much of a muchness!
We have underfloor heating as most of our floors are tiled and the house is pretty big at 4,000 sq feet, so while it seems a lot of money it’s actually not that bad considering. It is a smart house too so each room has its own temperature settings that we can control according to which rooms we are using at the time.
Thank you so much guys! 
This is really helpful and means I have more meaningful questions to ask estate agents, I’m scared of taking on even more admin on top of motherhood and work and the oil thing has freaked me out a bit!
@Falkor I won’t be as remote as you (is anyone?) but we’re looking at a rural location, how are the vehicles delivering at navigating it? I assume it must be fine as it’s the nature of the beast, like I’m assuming oil based properties are more likely to be rural than urban?!
@prozacprincess did you fit a smart device to your oil boiler? This was funnily one of the very first things we discussed, we both agreed we’d be too scared to f with it! We’re currently in London with a smart home tho. We never bothered with the individual radiator controls purely as we have a toddler so want a warm house, but in the properties we’re looking at we definitely would want to tailor it more. We’re using tado on our heater now, what do you use for the boiler and your rads pls?
I’m so glad I asked here thank you so much, at least I can trust you guys I know I can’t trust EAs
x
This is really helpful and means I have more meaningful questions to ask estate agents, I’m scared of taking on even more admin on top of motherhood and work and the oil thing has freaked me out a bit! @Falkor I won’t be as remote as you (is anyone?
) but we’re looking at a rural location, how are the vehicles delivering at navigating it? I assume it must be fine as it’s the nature of the beast, like I’m assuming oil based properties are more likely to be rural than urban?!@prozacprincess did you fit a smart device to your oil boiler? This was funnily one of the very first things we discussed, we both agreed we’d be too scared to f with it! We’re currently in London with a smart home tho. We never bothered with the individual radiator controls purely as we have a toddler so want a warm house, but in the properties we’re looking at we definitely would want to tailor it more. We’re using tado on our heater now, what do you use for the boiler and your rads pls?
I’m so glad I asked here thank you so much, at least I can trust you guys I know I can’t trust EAs
xThey have various sizes of tankers, so they'll send one out appropriate to the property - same thing with septic tank emptying, if you're considering one of those as well. The Scottish Water one that comes up here drags a second tank behind it, so you'll quite often see the second tank left in a layby while the tanker goes somewhere slightly less accessible to empty a septic tank and then hooks back up and pumps from one to the other. If it's one of the old concrete-style pits, it may never need emptying, they just look after themselves for the most part as long as you don't put too many chemicals down the drains. That said, I need to find someone with a digger to come and excavate the end of my outflow pipe because it keeps blocking and I'm getting grey water spilling over the top of the tank into the field, which is a bit niffy (but the grass is looking FANTASTIC!)
BEWARE!!
If you are on an old EE plan, plus are out of contract, they are now automatically moving people onto new plans. New plans that offer no EU roaming, plus CPI + 3.9% increases. EE are moving people across before the end of March, thus meaning you will be subjected to the more expensive price increases in your April bill.
The text received today:
If you are on an old EE plan, plus are out of contract, they are now automatically moving people onto new plans. New plans that offer no EU roaming, plus CPI + 3.9% increases. EE are moving people across before the end of March, thus meaning you will be subjected to the more expensive price increases in your April bill.
The text received today:
Not happy about this.
Is anyone else with Eon and had an email to say your account is being moved to Eon Next but with no explanation as to why? It says my DD and plan will stay the same I'm just a bit baffled as to why I'm being moved..
Yes I had this
Has your fixed rate come to an end recently?
I logged in and it said I was switching to e.on, not sure what that was about
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