Pensioners...new Energy Prices, And Cutting Back

[pastafreak]

This is really for anyone on a fixed income.
Do you expect to be cutting back in order to pay for fuel price increases?
What will go...days out? Clothing? Food?

[davebro]

//People are still buying physical newspapers? Why?//

Some on line are behind a paywall so you have to buy a subscription when you might not want that paper every day.
I get Sat Times & Sun Express mainly for the puzzles.

[pastafreak]

How much are physical papers now? I subscribe to the NY times for £8 per month. I suspect UK dailies are similar?
...or maybe not. I see both the Guardian and Telegraph are £12.99 per month.

[rowanwitch]

I don't know what else I can cut back on, my only other 'non essential' is broadband

[pastafreak]

I'd never consider broadband as non-essential. It keeps me sane.

[barry1010]

Can you get a cheaper deal, rowan? For example, 3 is doing a SIM only deal of 100GB for £12 a month. That might be enough for all your internet usage unless you have connected devices such as security cameras

[rowanwitch]

Btw Not on state pension but a reduced employers pension as I took early retirement to care for Dave, I think it has gone up by £1.23 . My rent has gone up by £4 pw, and my fuel bill is going up around £50 pm I will be stuffed until I reach state pension age

[dannyk13]

Agree with Pasta, Broadband would be the last thing I would consider losing.Being housebound it keeps me in touch with what is happening in the world'Also doing the crosswords available keeps my brain active.

[jno]

Hopkirk, I think the BBC, Guardian and Mail are the only newspapers that put everything online for free. I don't actually mind subscriptions (I have one paper and several magazines) but if I want to read something in the Times I'm out of luck - in print, I can buy today's paper, online I'd have to subscribe for weeks/months.

[Hopkirk]

Daily Telegraph £2.80.
Out of date as soon as it is printed.

I subscribe on line for a little over £90 a year.

[barry1010]

rowan, could you do any kind of paid work?

[tiggerblue10]

I'm very lucky I don't have a mortgage and my monthly income usually exceeds my monthly outgoings. I really feel for those on a on low fixed income. Hopefully we get warmer weather soon and can turn the heating down but that won't solve the problem in the long term and when it gets colder again.

[jno]

sure, but if you only want to see half a dozen stories a year. In my case I read the features and reviews and so on more than the news. The Guardian suits me fine for most of this, and I send them money voluntarily because I don't believe I should expect people to work for me for free. But wild horses wouldn't get me paying Murdoch a penny.

[bednobs]

i dunno your circumstances rowan, but why can't you work? that would help tide you over till state retirement age.

[StyleMonkey]

Food! Thankfully summer is coming up so the heating won't need to be on as much but if I cut back on clothing I won't be able to keep warm.

[ladybirder]

bednobs // in all honesty, pensioners have consistently got a better % increase than my wages! //.

But 3.1% increase of very little won't compete with your earnings increase I bet.

[bednobs]

but you probably dont have a mortgage and school age children to support lb?

[ladybirder]

Been there done that on my own with 4 children to support.

[barry1010]

bednobs, pensioners may still be paying rent and extra costs associated with being older. My house has to be kept heated all day and night because my infirm oldsters feel the cold to the point of physically dithering.

Many older people simply can't do the jobs they used to do around the home and have to pay others to decorate, clean, do odd jobs.

[bednobs]

ok, but thats not your situation now. if you want to compare your payrises when you were doing that to mine now im doing that, that's fine (but slightly pointless!)but we were not doing that - we were comparing pension % increases to wages % increases.

[bednobs]

i'm not saying pensioners are better off, or i am better off, i'm saying that increases in prices affect EVERYONE not just pensioners