everything is going up except our paychecks. What are the less fortunate to do?

FitGuru

i work 2 jobs; cell phone agent and personal fitness trainer.

i live in a small town that has one of the highest unemployment rates in all of Virginia. there are store/maunfacturing/business closings or layoffs nearly every week.

most of my friends have recently been laid off (i'm not exaggerating) and things are just looking very gloomy.

so groceries are going up... electric is going up... gas goes up sporadically... it seems like everything is going up except the paychecks (for those of us lucky enough to have a job).

i have lost alot of my personal training clients due to these job losses and there has been alot of people cancelling their cell phone service also due to these job losses (putting me at risk of losing my job as well).

i have even completely turned off my heat because i can't afford to heat my very small apartment.

i live alone and trying to make it but sometimes i feel it would be easier to just curl up and die.

i feel such doom and gloom i don't even want to live anymore because it's just a miserable feeling not to be able to live comfortably when you are very physically and mentally ABLE to work and very WILLING to work but just CAN'T FIND enough work.

am i alone or does anyone feel as miserable about our economic status as i do?

Answer
I am with you!

We've been cut back to 32 hours a week in my job (construction). I've been looking for a second job since September, but can't find one around here that will work with my primary work schedule. I certainly don't want to quit, as I need the health insurance.

My boyfriend and I keep the thermostat off entirely - we use a space heater that we move from room to room (we've covered the walls in blankets on colder days, to help keep the heat in) because it uses less electricity.

Sometimes we get free wood from my parents, and then we have a fire in the fireplace.

We've even gotten to the point where we shower together or share bathwater because of the energy it takes to heat the water to a tolerable temperature.

And we live just outside DC - I can't imagine what people in this situatution are doing in places like Maine or Minnesota or North Dakota.

Hang in there - it's gotta get better some time.

Have you thought about getting a roommate?

600+ electricity bill - What do I do now?

Eliza

We have lived in our house for a year and a half now and have had no problem with our monthly utility bills. Every month we have approximately the same bill, going up slightly in the colder months (100-200 per month depending). Last month we received a bill for almost 300 dollars but decided it must have just been very cold that month. However, a few days ago we received our electric bill for November - 593.00.

I assumed this must be a mistake; a faulty reading, a computer error, something! When I called Appalachian Power to find out what was happening they instructed me to go out and check the meter. So I wandered out into the snow in my slippers and finally found the little gray meter box and read her the number on the front. She was silent for a few seconds and then said..."yes, that's the reading we have as well"..Needless to say our house was pulling enough electricity to run a small factory.
She told me that if the current usage patterns continued our bill for december would be over $1,000.

She instructed me to turn off the breakers to the heat pump because this was usually the culprit for such a large amount of useless wattage. I finally located the correct breakers and heard the fan stop running. An hour later I checked the meter again and the usage had gone down to a fairly normal (but still more than i would have expected without heat) rate.

A few days before this fiasco I had called our Landlord (Chris) to explain/complain to him that the heater would not heat the house over 64 degrees. He brought us some gas for the fireplace to keep it warm in the living room but didn't bother to check the heat pump as "Heat pumps can have a hard time in the cold weather".

So I called him after discovering the heat pump was using ~1000 dollars a month to attempt to warm a 1000 square foot space to over 64 degrees and he "explained" to me that it must be something else and that his electric bill had also doubled this month.
He then reluctantly came down to the house and brought us a brand new filter! However, upon turning the breakers to the heater back on and watching the meter, it was still pulling almost a kilowatt a minute (a LOT). Needless to say, I turned the power to the heat back off.
When I called back our thoughtful landlord had left for vacation with his girlfriend.

Here I am, two days later, sitting next to the gas fire huddled up with my 1 year old daughter trying to keep her warm.

The power company agreed to send someone out to do an 'energy audit' and check the meter again sometime next week. until then, I am stuck either footing 1000 dollar bill from the power company or not moving away from this fireplace ever again.

What would you do?

Answer
I agree with several answers here that the Heat Pump is not going to help as well at temperatures below 32 degrees. And here's why, the heat pump is only capable of raising the temperature around 40 degrees above the outside temperature. At that point the heat strips kick in to assist. the heat strips are what is causing the high electric bills. given that, you may also have a low Freon level in your heat pump. that will reduce the design temperature difference from 40 degrees to something significantly less. Possibly only 10 degrees which means the heat strips may be coming on when the outside temp is only 60 degrees instead of 32 degrees.

Other items that will help if the Freon is at the correct level:
1) change those filters
2) Clean the condenser coils
3) make sure there is no air flow blockage to the return vents

The best thing to do right now is to get the landlord to call an experienced HVAC service company to check it out.

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Title Post: everything is going up except our paychecks. What are the less fortunate to do?
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