Reply With QuoteSavings in travel costs will negate that for many people.
Having spoken to a few people it would seem many are going to get hit with much higher energy costs than is normal.
Kids off school and adults furloughing so heating on all day whereas it would of been off for long periods and loads of electricity being used.
I imagine when the bills start arriving there will be a few shocked homeowners.
We need (especially the old :) ) someone to campaign for energy costs relief, any footballers got a little spare time on there hands ?
Savings in travel costs will negate that for many people.
Savings in travel costs will negate that for many people
Not to mention the fact we’re not going out to eat, shopping as we would normally, no sporting venues etc etc
agree that travel costs alone ( train tickets are around £10 per person per day in london )savings will more than make up the extra costs of heating and lighting. petrol costs to take the kids to school also
Yep, key worker here, so no travel savings, but with a teenager at home all day, massively increased heating and electric costs ☹️
Foggy
One of my daughters and her husband are still working but both kids at home all day, so heating on and when the kids are at school they walk the four mile round trip to school most days so no money saved there, she thinks her heating bill will be scary.
Originally Posted by Foggy
Well, better off than some who have become redundant and are home all day.
Don’t forget you can claim some money back via your tax return.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-em...orking-at-home
Not spending £200 a month on diesel so there’s that at least... I am dreading the energy bill though whenever it does finally land!
Saving money on travel along with other stuff but wouldn't have the heating on all day anyway. We put it on for half an hour 2 or 3 times per day then have it on as normal in the evenings.
Work would normally pay my motor mileage so I’m losing at the moment, which is why I use coats instead of the heating during the day. Gets pretty cold though just sat there though.
No travel card - £7.20ish
No Starbucks (other franchises are available) £3
No itsu £6 ish
No afternoon Starbucks £3
Conservative estimate is I’m not spending £20 a day on the above...wife likewise. Call it £50 for both of us on average inc additional drinks or snacks etc. So £1000 a month. I don’t think our costs have increased that much with additional food/electric/gas at home.
We are very lucky that we have been able to continue to work from home.
Jeeeeeeeze
I think savings like that together with less evening-out costs, and holidays are what are driving peoples’ extravagance in other areas - new cars, and more expensive foodstuffs.
Some might not have figured on bigger energy bills as well.
Pretty much this, also work clothing etc.
No different for us as somebody is here all the time and we do like a warm house.
Cheers,
Neil.
Tell the kids to do what skint pensioners have to do in cold weather and wear another fleece/cardigan. .
£6 per week is all you can claim
Link states can claim more with receipts and bills.
I'm a skint pensioner and no way am I going to be cold so the heating stays on, the day I have to be cold in my home is the day I give up for good :)
This is the real world. £200pm travelcard (was £335pm in Hertfordshire) with 5x bog standard Pret meals for £6, a daily morning coffee for £3.30 and maybe an afternoon treat for £2 or so, add another coffee if it's a long day. Add on a few Friday lunches at about £15 and some after work drinks for socialising and you're spending silly money, which is totally normal in the city.
The money I'm saving at home is huge which is why I don't care about buying my own complete WFH set up or upgrading the internet. I could have the heating on 24/7 and still be massively up but my Irish blood won't let me.
It's not an on/off scenario wrt home heating, you can lower the temperature by a small amount and the savings are significant.
*Unless you are my wife that is, who is completely unable to grasp the concept of what a thermostat does, believing them to be no more than an overly-complicated on/off switch - albeit with a clock that tells her what time it is.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Steptoe's right, wearing extra clothes indoors is a great way to save cranking the heating up.
As is:
- Heat only one room in the house
- Turn down the heating by one degree
- Making sure drafts are kept to a minimum - use a heavy blanket as a door hanging to keep them out
- Watching TV? Snuggle down under a rug or blanket
- Socks!
- Drink plenty of warm tea or coffee
- Hot water bottles
- Make sure everyone closes doors and switches lights out behind them
- Use a clothes horse rather than drape wet clothes over radiators
- Let the sunshine in but close curtains at dusk
- If you can use two sets of lined curtains even better
Remember that there are often grants available from councils or devolved governments, for home energy improvement schemes. Loads of them have targets to meet.
So comparing year on year - our energy bills are down overall - Electricity is up a trivial amount (people overestimate how more power modern PCs use) but gas usage is down.
The only way I can work it is out is that now there are two of us working in the home office with the door shut and two PCs in there. We tend only to notice how cold the rest of the house is when we get up at the end of the working day. I suspect that would be different if there were multiple people in different rooms trying to keep warm. Also I think overall as a modern house - our place is fairly energy efficient to start with.
Overall I've saved bags of cash - from travel, commute costs, nights out etc - all into pensions and investments.
Edit:
Thought I'd log onto my energy account - maybe time to reduce the direct debit...
Last edited by Alansmithee; 22nd January 2021 at 21:45.
A very rough estimate:
* No season ticket - £2000
* Generally have three holidays a year - £6000(ish)
* I like eating out - £3000(ish)
That's before sundries. I've also bought no new clothes, no shoes or watches (for what purposes?).
Like you I did upgrade the home office a bit:
* Built two PCs -£1000 in total
* New Ultra-wide and standard monitor for my pc - £520
* Other office stuff - £300
Plus upgraded to 1gig internet.
Last edited by Alansmithee; 22nd January 2021 at 21:51.
We have saved over £12k on holidays/travel alone.
As posted earlier, next to no eating out and no casual store browsing expenditure are also decent savings.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Congratulations its good to know at least your not one of the skint pensioners !! :)
I wish I bought an ultra-wide. The 27" with a portrait 22" on the side isn't cutting it, neither is QHD.
I did spend more than is reasonable in watches however and no doubt that's down to a lack of holidays and all the rest too.
Well it's an example of what people are going a K shaped recession - some people have been wiped out by c-19 but other people (and I'm in this group) have jobs we can do from home so our income has either remain steady or gone up but we have nothing to spend it on and our expenses have gone through the floor.
Admittedly I have no kids, expensive car on finance or mortgage so...
Define skint John.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Only having one grand seiko in the safe ;-)
Along with all the vintage Seiko stuff......
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
The pandemic has certainly made me and my Mrs realise how stupid we were with money also. Sandwich here, coffee there. I have lost weight and saved a fortune. Every cloud ☁️
Define all :)Along with all the vintage Seiko stuff......
Do you really consider buying a sandwich/coffee as stupid?
It's a pleasure to be enjoyed in better times - you will be telling us next you go around with a sandwich box and a flask.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Probably more a throwaway line than starting to look at the price of a sandwich in M&S or a deli, and thinking “I could make that at home for 50p” - and there are such people.
Jeez.....
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Actually Chris, that’s what I do as a matter of routine! Flask and sandwich box always accompanies me on a day out. I prefer it to buying overpriced coffee and sandwiches that I won’t enjoy, I prefer my home- made stuff and it does save money.
Are you from Yorkshire by any chance?
That’s why we’re so busy at work!! The U.K. has gone mad for new kitchens, we can’t build or deliver them quickly enough, volume up 60 to 70% and as we were as a group the biggest kitchen manufacturers in Europe to start with its manic. Big problem is white goods, just can’t get the volume as the U.K. stock is seriously depleted and we’ve used most of our brexit warehouse stock. Week on week we’re about 400 units down.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Both me and my wife work from home ( no kids ) and we never put the heating onjust wear thick socks and a jumper
I've handed the company car back and we must be at least 500 quid a month better off plus no holidays or eating out etc, already dropped some of it on a watch.
Heating on all day blimey
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
When I gave up smoking years ago I put the saving away so I could build up a large amount of money to see what I’d been wasting and hoped it would encourage me never to start again.
Reading this thread it makes me wonder how much I’ve saved on Starbucks and Costa Coffees!
As for holidays I had some big ones booked for my 50th, though I’m hoping they are just delayed.
Em... I do take a sandwich box in to work...
(Coffee I have a filter machine in my office so make my own and I work my way around the independent coffee makers of the UK).
Sandwich box brothers, we need our own forum
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
EFITIGH (Eat from it in Good health)
We live in a household of three, all retired including one who is 86 so home all day. Hard frost this morning and yeaterday, heating on 18° overnight, only because we have a new kitten that must be kept warm, normally it's down to 15°. In the daytime when we're up and about we set it at 19°, and about 22.5° in the evening if it's cold then back down at bedtime. Our bills are reasonable, are people having their heating on all day full blast?
Yes, full blast but open a window when it gets too warm.
Blimey, I mean out house is small and modern so well insulated , even in winter couple hours in the morning then on at 3pm, in between its wear a jumper and it's ok
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
You have missed the point. Buying a £1000 pounds worth of unhealthy snacks and over priced coffee is stupid. One of life’s pleasures for yourself and you won’t be alone. I respect that, but stupid nonetheless.
I bet many do just that!!!
Posting Permissions