The Winter of Discontent #3 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing, cost of living etc

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We’ve just bought a dehumidifier, £119 from appliances direct. Doing a decent job so far! Not had the tumble dryer on yet either.
 
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We’ve just bought a dehumidifier, £119 from appliances direct. Doing a decent job so far! Not had the tumble dryer on yet either.
Do you put it in the room when drying your clothes. Do you think it helps?
 
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Heat the person not the home? Oh do duck off! Not anyone here obviously, the whole concept is incredibly insulting, like that £200 loan-not-loan which will barely touch the sides of anyones energy bill. This government has done nothing useful to help us during these energy price rises. When you look at what governments in other countries are doing to help their citizens, it makes our government look so weak and pathetic, they do not give a single duck. I’ve heard people saying we should be grateful for things like furlough, sorry but that is the bare minimum that this government should have done during the pandemic. If they didn’t society would have collapsed due to millions becoming jobless overnight. They had no choice. They do have a choice when it comes to energy prices and they are choosing to do nothing.

I’m staying in a hotel tonight and am making full use of the heating. Currently got it set to 21°C. It’s going to stay at 21°c all night right up until the second we leave tomorrow, and I won’t have to spend a single second worrying about the cost. It is glorious. No having to get dressed in the cold for us tomorrow morning, true luxury living right here.
 
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Heat the person not the home ... so we are now living like the homeless but with a roof over our heads that we have to pay for. Millions spent on boiler grants and now people can't afford to use them. But no grants for replacement double glazing for those who have a draughty home. People are now cutting out life's little luxuries like a cheeky takeaway or night at the pub in order to pay for their energy bills. It will have a huge impact on already struggling businesses 🥺
 
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Heat the person not the home ... so we are now living like the homeless but with a roof over our heads that we have to pay for. Millions spent on boiler grants and now people can't afford to use them. But no grants for replacement double glazing for those who have a draughty home. People are now cutting out life's little luxuries like a cheeky takeaway or night at the pub in order to pay for their energy bills. It will have a huge impact on already struggling businesses 🥺
It will indeed have a huge impact on struggling businesses. I’m fortunate and historically I would’ve classed us as financially comfortable. I live in a fairly affluent suburb as do a large number of my friends but we’re all changing our spending habits. I’m an antisocial bugger anyway, but friends are stopping going out to socialise. These are high middle earners who bought all the ‘eat at home’/‘drink at home’/fakeaways from local businesses during Covid to keep them ticking over when they couldn’t open due to restrictions. I can’t see many of these businesses being able to sustain it in the current climate.

As for the ‘heat the person not the home’ thing. I get the sentiment behind it from Martin Lewis but it’s head fuckingly depressing that this is the choice for so many people.

One thing I’ve found a bit strange (bizarrely linked to your glazing comment) is doors. We’d ordered replacement French Doors as our old wooden ones are way past best and were damaged by an attempted break in. Got a local highly rated company out the next day who secured temporarily and we ordered replacements. The initial order said 12 weeks tops. Then it increased to 20 weeks. That should have been next week but we’ve recently been told that they’ll be another 12-15 weeks. I rang a few other companies and was given equally long lead times. I get that there’s supply issues but 30 odd weeks to properly secure a house is crazy. They’ve had a large chunk of our money for months now while we’ve had a constant draft and worry of leaving the property. Not to mention the damp we’ve now got on the wooden floor that runs next to it. I’ve now cancelled the order and spent the weekend replacing/repairing/reinforcing the existing ones instead. I get to wait another 7-10 days for a refund.
 
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Do you put it in the room when drying your clothes. Do you think it helps?
Yes it definitely does! It’s got a laundry setting. My daughter is away this weekend so I stuck the clothes over an airer in her room with the dehumidifier, shut the room door and clothes were dry in a few hours. 😊
 
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Yes it definitely does! It’s got a laundry setting. My daughter is away this weekend so I stuck the clothes over an airer in her room with the dehumidifier, shut the room door and clothes were dry in a few hours. 😊
Can you share which one you've got? I'm very guilty of using the tumble drier and could probably do with trying to stop relying on it.
 
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Can you share which one you've got? I'm very guilty of using the tumble drier and could probably do with trying to stop relying on it.
Same here , during the winter I use my drier a lot and I like the idea of the dehumidifier if it’s going to be cheaper .
 
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It will indeed have a huge impact on struggling businesses. I’m fortunate and historically I would’ve classed us as financially comfortable. I live in a fairly affluent suburb as do a large number of my friends but we’re all changing our spending habits. I’m an antisocial bugger anyway, but friends are stopping going out to socialise. These are high middle earners who bought all the ‘eat at home’/‘drink at home’/fakeaways from local businesses during Covid to keep them ticking over when they couldn’t open due to restrictions. I can’t see many of these businesses being able to sustain it in the current climate.

As for the ‘heat the person not the home’ thing. I get the sentiment behind it from Martin Lewis but it’s head fuckingly depressing that this is the choice for so many people.

One thing I’ve found a bit strange (bizarrely linked to your glazing comment) is doors. We’d ordered replacement French Doors as our old wooden ones are way past best and were damaged by an attempted break in. Got a local highly rated company out the next day who secured temporarily and we ordered replacements. The initial order said 12 weeks tops. Then it increased to 20 weeks. That should have been next week but we’ve recently been told that they’ll be another 12-15 weeks. I rang a few other companies and was given equally long lead times. I get that there’s supply issues but 30 odd weeks to properly secure a house is crazy. They’ve had a large chunk of our money for months now while we’ve had a constant draft and worry of leaving the property. Not to mention the damp we’ve now got on the wooden floor that runs next to it. I’ve now cancelled the order and spent the weekend replacing/repairing/reinforcing the existing ones instead. I get to wait another 7-10 days for a refund.
Oh wow lead times for French doors are nothing like that in my area.

From initial contact to install less than 7 weeks.

I had mine done last year and recommended the company to my best friends MIL who had hers fitted in the week
 
Oh wow lead times for French doors are nothing like that in my area.

From initial contact to install less than 7 weeks.

I had mine done last year and recommended the company to my best friends MIL who had hers fitted in the week
I'm in the South West & have been waiting 20 weeks for some new windows to be fitted. 16 weeks was leadtime on the windows, plus 4 weeks & counting as the installers can't get their act together! (Work being done under NHBC warranty so can't do anything about it).
 
I went out to eat yesterday and noticed the restaurant was quiet. Hospitality will surely be the first hit.
 
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