Overview
- Julie Prince, 52, earns about £27,000 a year yet reports that roughly 80% of her income goes to her mortgage and household bills.
- She says switching on the heating would double her monthly energy costs, so she keeps it off except briefly last winter to protect pipes.
- Living in a rural area without public transport and unable to afford a car, she relies on her mother for a grocery trip roughly every five weeks.
- To work from home in the cold, she wears multiple jumpers and fingerless gloves, uses hot water bottles, and once received a tealight heater from her boss.
- She says she is ineligible for benefits such as Universal Credit because she has a mortgage and full-time job, and has asked loved ones for thermal clothing as Christmas gifts.