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The zero-bills home: how one family is beating the energy price hikes
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2026
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I get being on a budget, but I think it’s kind of cruel to have kids in a home and then need jumpers with hot water bottles to be warm
Cruel would be not keeping them warm, or exposing them to danger
Giving them warm clothes and hot water bottles is not any form of deprivation. It's just a different way to provide for them, one that sounds super wholesome and cozy to me
Their thermostat was set at 18C (64F). That's not really that cold.
Yea, slippers and a sweater (jumper) through the winter period and a thermostat at 18C seems like a perfectly reasonable way to save energy to me. That's not an uncomfortable situation at all.
No, but it's not a comfortable indoor temperature. That was the temperature in my house growing up, because it was an old, poorly-insulated house, and we couldn't afford to keep it any warmer.
It was tolerable, but in the winter, my hands would get so cold they'd stiffen up. Can't really wear gloves or mittens around the house and actually do anything, either.
Yeah, that's actually my preferred temperature for indoors.
Same, best comfy temperatures. Add partner, a couch and a blanket and it's absolute heaven.
In honor of your comment, we're going to do just that after a bowl of some hot soup with oven-fresh bread.
Found Walt Disney
Was that a thing about him, liking colder temperatures?
I think it was a joke about his head being frozen for future reanimation or brain scans or something.
Oh, ha ha ha ha. That's funny. I'm definitely not a head in a jar with an internet connection
Are you or someone near you also definitely not a crook?
Now listen here you drugged up commie, I paid for this body and I’d no sooner return it than I would my little cocker spaniel Checkers.
My house is set to 62° all winter
I think you need to recalibrate what cruelty means. plenty of kids out there without enough to eat, or even a steady place to stay, these kids are fine.
One can have levels of cruelty perhaps. It's just a word that you can apply meaning to. Especially a subjective one like this, which, as you mentioned, needs calibrating. So highly subjective.
inb4 down votes because people don't like how language is a constantly moving and evolving thing.
I mean everyone is entitled to their opinions and a childhood of nothing but adverse cold would be miserable. I grew up in a highly varied series of environments ranging from trailer park poor to middle class, I'm not trying to shame anyone. But cruelty in this context to me would be keeping ONE kid cold, or denying someone dry clothing - abusive.
good luck.