I know I have been naive - big shock when opening the post today

I don't dread the post but I do think about people with bigger mortgages than MrSun and I have. There are a lot more repossessions on the market around here recently. Where will it end? I'm finding it all rather depressing.

I don't dread the post arriving, as me and H are quite comfortable at the moment and have quite a bit of savings behind us and we don't have any credit cards or an overdraft facility on our account. We live within our means and if we want something we save for it.

We live in a very rural area and have no gas supply so we use heating oil for the heating and hot water. When we moved in, in april 2007 we got 500 L oil for £175 or there abouts. Ordered 500 L last month and it was £320!! We no longer use it except in emergencies - we both shower at work and boil the kettle to wash up instead of turning on the hot water!! I've had a significant pay rise in the last year and OH was promoted, yet we are worse off at the end of each month, quite frankly I can't see how half the population of this country are keeping their heads above water!

That comes across as a little po-faced, especially as the OP was talking about utility bills!

I'm sorry, your point being? That because you have enough to live on, others should? I'm pretty sure Sherry wasn't asking for sympathy, merely commenting on the general financial climate. I think your comments are rude and pointless.

Do you know how sanctimonious that sounds?

I was stunned when our Gas and Electricity bills came as well. I've really noticed the rise in food prices. My H has been working away from home for a few months and I still spend the same amount on food as when he was here full time. He's recently been at home for a couple of weeks and I've really noticed the amount we've spent on food.

The price of diesel is hitting us hard as well, due to the travelling that H does for work.

I have just switched fuel suppliers and I am selling my car on Saturday. I don't have to sell my car but it is an unneccessary expense that we don't need.

I feel your pain Sherry.

I don't dread credit cards and the like, as I never go OTT. I am talking about prices going up that you have no control over like gas and electricity and the interest rate and petrol. It's just shocking how quickly and how much things are going up and I do feel for those who are less fortuante.

Smug much?
I fail to see how dreading how much your mortgage/utility bills may have gone up by equates with not living within one's means?

L
xx

I've not noticed on the power bill but then it would have been lower as heating not needed, etc. The cost of petrol is so obvious anyway. I am starting to notice the difference on the weekly shopping bill though. Mortgage has gone down as we're on a tracker but that runs out this summer so we'll need to have a look at that or it'll shoot up (on the SVR).

I still love getting post though!

Do you know I feel your pain too!

We turned out heating down this winter just gone, changed lightbulbs to energy saving ones, turn anything off that we can and still our DD for gas and electric went up! Not loads but enough

Our food bills same, though lately we are trying to shop around more this really does help abit and I try to cook everything from scratch.

As for living beyond their means...I don't think that was implied at all, simply stating a fact that prices have risen. Are you saying that using basics such as food and heat are living beyond your means? I would say they are eesentials!

Bet you don't have any friends though, with an attitude like that!

Good for you. Sounds very patronising.

My H earns a good wage be we are really struggling. "Live within your means". We try our very best. With bills and two children it's bloody hard. We have barely nothing left over for anything after our bills. It's not a case of living within your means, everyone has to eat and pay bills and it's not easy to do lately. What are we supposed to do?

Well bully for you, maybe you'd like to share with the group the shops you go to and energy suppliers you use, since prices where you are clearly haven't gone up at all.

There was a couple on the telly the other morning, they were saying that they were coming out of their fixed rate mortgage period and were worried. If it went up more than £200 then they would have to sell, they just couldn't afford it. They said they'd cut back as much as they could but it wasn't enough. I can quite believe that. Wages just aren't going up (well in my case they aren't) to match the inflation on everything. It's ridiculous.

Sherry, Martin Lewis on moneysavingexpert is recommending fixing your gas/electricity price if you can. I'm not sure any suppliers are actually offering that service though. Maybe you should have a look through the site, I ought to aswell, H and I need to tighten our belts.

Know how you feel between our 2 gas and electric this month before we pay anything else we have 510 just on these 2,

we have energy saving light bulbs, we turned our heating down, only boil enough water in the kettle for what we need, yet ours has gone up also, i to dread it when the billssd rop through the door,

I share your pain. I actually am dreading our next gas and electric bills. They were huge last time. I keep saying I'll switch but H is dawdling about it<gah>. Due to these hikes, I have to go back to work (sooner rather than later).

I hear gas/electric is set to rise a further 40%?

It's horrible isn't it? i'm scared too. i think so much of it is that it feels so out of control, there's absolutely nothing you can do about the rises on certain commodities.

?

oh, and LynneF - WEES. you sound smug and condescending.

I am noticing it in the food shopping - even with just the basics it's working out more and more each time. I do ours online and so mostly use the 'Favourites' options so it isn't like I'm buying different things, yet the basic shop has risen by about £20-£30 which means the 'luxury' items are being missed off more and more.

My post wasn't meant to be very patronising at all, and neither was it meant to come across as sanctimonious either. I am having a bit of a bad day and didn't read before posting. Sorry if I offended anyone, it clearly wasn't my intention, but in future I will be very careful what I post on here. I am actually going through a rough time at the moment and don't need people jumping on my back.

Zebra - for your information - I have plenty of friends - thank you very much for asking. I really don't think that there was any need to psot that - do you???

Once again, sorry for offending anyone with my post it wasn't intentional, I don't often post on OT and now I know why, I certainly won't be posting again. You have all made me feel quite unwelcome. So thank you very much for that.

£510 on gas and electric? Is that per quarter? We pay monthly, to be honest I don't look at the actual amount we use, I just want to know how much the monthly charge is going to be ?

We're starting to make small adjustments in our house too. A few examples - we've cancelled our insurance for Woody after the Kennel Club hiked the price from £31.95 a month (which was pretty ludicrous anyway) to £44.95 a month - and we've never even claimed on it!!! We're going with Petplan now which is far more reasonable.

Even though we still do the majority of our shopping at Waitrose (because it's our closest supermarket and we can walk there and back), H has been encouraging me to shop a bit "smarter" - like choosing own brand goods, bagging up fruit and veg myself rather than prepackaged stuff and now we only ever buy meat or fish that's been reduced at the end of the day. We're starting to notice a difference already.

As far as possible, we'll get the bus into town because it's cheaper than petrol and the cost of parking. We do need to work on our utility bills now but to be honest, other than not turning the heating on until we're blue with cold, there's not an awful lot we can do to get these bills down.

Oh feck off with your guilt trip. Don't start slagging off OTers just because you didn't think before you posted.

Maybe take responsibility for what you type before going on the defensive.

It is getting ridiculous! I've just paid a £500 gas and electricty bill so we spend around £1800 a year. They don't seem much cheaper in the Summer!

I am very worried about my OAP Mother this year. She struggles already with heating her home. We all help out but a lot of people don't have that option.

It worries me that nothing seems to be being done about what's happening. It's nothing at all to do with "debt", it's the day to day stuff like bills, food, petrol. We don't have children but I'd really worry if we did, I'm not sure I'd sleep.

But your post was very much about you living within your means and therefore you came across as saying everyone else who felt a rise in such bills (petrol, glas, elec etc) weren't.

Fox-in-socks - I am sorry if I come across as smug and condescending it certainly wasn't my intention, because if you actually met me you would know that I am least the smug and condescending person you could ever come across.

As for the rest of you, coming down so hard on me has actually upset me. I struggle with money just as much as everyone else, but I am careful with what I do with my money.

Oh for goodness sake Lynne, how is anyone to know you are having a hard time?

Sherry - I wasn't implying that anyone else wasn't living within their means at all, but if people want to read my post wrongly, then that is entirely their perogative. I feel the pinch just like everyone else, especially as my H has just been laid off and we are down to one wage.

If I didn;'t think it was necessary I wouldn't have posted it.

If you make nice posts, then you'll find that OT is perfectly welcoming - given there was a unanimious response to your post, perhaps the issue is with your response rather than the whole forum?

To recap the thread: Sherry pointed out that she was shocked at the price rises, you said it wasn't a problem because you were well off and were careful with your money. How on earth could people take it other than smug, patronising, and rude?

You're not smug at all are you?

We live on the poverty line and although we're not having to worry about credit card bills or overdraft (we got rid of those 9 months ago) we are paying them off. I do worry every week about whether there is enough food in the house or whether we'll have enough money to cover the mortgage payments.

Thankfully we don't have a car, we use public transport. There have been a few days recently where one of us had to stay home as there wasn't enough money for both of us to get to work/college.

We did have savings but due to me having an accident and loosing my job almost 2 years ago they are all gone now.

I've been quite depressed recently as it looked like everyone around me could afford holidays. However, last week we were given a small amount of money to use for a holiday, Christians Against Poverty (who we are going through to pay off our debt) have very kindly let us have reduced rates at a log cabin in Wensleydale for two nights next month which I am really excited about now. (Although I do feel embarressed that we can't afford to pay full price)

The implication being that the rest of us are not careful with our money?

You're annoying me now.

I was about to write exactly the same thing.

Why post that you are well off and have quite a bit of savings? If my H had lost his job i'd be saying I was worried with all the price hikes [shrug]