We had a terrible fight this evening

The charges for the electricity itself has gotten so high! The last guy that came promised it would be a fraction of a penny, laughing how we were being charged $.08 per kilowatt; now we're being charged $.17888-more than double! He pays the bills, but I only agreed to have the utilities in my name if he allowed me to handle in the home. I try to keep things unplugged, and keep the heat low each night, but he gets so angry because he's 'inconvenienced'. And our heaters can't be turned off in three rooms-our landlord's fault, since he's so cheap. I'm just scared because the bill keeps climbing...and now it's going to be shut off. I'll have to try to speak to them on Monday and hope for the best.

I'd do that, except that he still owes from his last house-and doesn't plan on paying them. He's so far behind on all of his bills, it's terrible. I can only do so much with what we have. I did figure out a way to keep our power on-with a massive amount of moving around payments, I'll have the money due. I switched suppliers again (I thought the last one was bad, but this one is even worse!), and spoke with the electric company for nearly an hour-she's sending me all sorts of energy saving tips, and I did sign up for the budget plan. We might have to give up our cell phones temporarily...at least until I start growing some of our food. Or I find someone that will pay me more than I earn here!

Well power is probably more important than phones. Glad you could work out a payment plan.

Unfortunately, here in the United States, that isn't the case. When I moved in with him, I had a job and my own car; he only had a job. I'm seriously concerned because we seem to be on different levels when it comes to financial responsibilities. I was raised to pay my bills on time; I don't know how he was raised.

hi scorpio, so that is probably the reason why the electricity shoots up. I guess this is what we do not have... even in summer we can just go for fan instead of the aircon. So we can manage our bill and limit our usage. i wish really your bf would help you with the bills by yes putting on more sweaters than turning up the heater like that. he sure knows you both have to limit usages and lower down the bills at least temporarily. I do think you would land a job soon enough. Just stay with the search and i know you will find a good one too. I remember when i had to find a job before and it makes me nervous each day that i am unable to land a job.. but i never lost hope and just kept sending over my resumes! =) They all came about with the offer and it was me that has to decide... its really wonderful when you are finally in that moment... Its going to happen. Just be positive. Have a great day!

Right now, it's winter and it's been quite cold. I always wear a heavy sweatshirt, pants and socks in the house; he wears a t-shirt and is barefoot. Our landlord is quite cheap-we have the cheapest windows and they leak a lot of heat. I think I'm going to have the electric company come and do an energy audit; maybe they can identify some things that we've missed. The charges on the bills are definitely ours; I just wish the boyfriend would just wear more clothes instead of turning on the heater. As for finding a job, I've been applying everywhere. Either I'm underqualified, or I'm under educated, so I'm going to see someone next week about additional training. I've been applying to two to three jobs a day since last July; I've gotten three interviews and no jobs. I hope that the job placement center can get me something-it's just very demeaning to have to start at the bottom all over again. Thank you for your prayers.

I got the bill yesterday afternoon. And I was upset when I created the discussion, but after I started it, I got to work. The worst part was the supplier charge-that was the bulk of the bill. I am a member of UPromise, and they recently sent me an email about earning money when I switched suppliers. After I got back into my account (which has taken some time), I set about switching to the new supplier. I'm guaranteed a much more reasonable rate for 3 months, plus it'll help me to start paying down my super high student loan balance ($53,000 and counting)! I spoke to someone at the utility last night, but she wasn't helpful, so I called back today. Lori was SUPER helpful-she worked with me to see if there were some ways to cut my usage; set me up on a new budget plan, starting in May; and is sending literature with tips to help us save money. I'm even set up to check out our usage on a daily basis online! I also did some fast thinking about our bills. With some creative personal accounting (LOL), we might have to sacrifice some money and have our phones turned off for a while. But I just remembered that I'm due a refund, so maybe I'll file my taxes (my refund is much higher than my boyfriend's). Heck, I might even be able to get the money back in time to save the phones! All it took was a good night's sleep, and some creative brainstorming to come up with the solution-and I swear, I didn't drink anything but water last night!

This is so hard for me-I tried to call them today, but they were closed. I left my name and phone number, with a request to call me back Monday when they're in next. I'm also going to request an energy audit by the utility company; perhaps they can give me some more options. The state provides job help; I'm supposed to go there next week. I hope that the boyfriend is still taking me-I don't know the city where it is very well, but he knows where the office is. I'm hoping that they can offer me resume help too-I had it written professionally once, but that was about four years ago. I've been unplugging what I can, but my boyfriend doesn't understand why I do it. In fact, when I started doing that in December, our power bill went up! He was also running holiday lights, but they were shut off after maybe an hour at the most. Our energy usage jumped through the roof too! I think the biggest problem is that we have four electric heaters here-and three of them can't be turned off properly! They were running during the summer months, which was really annoying. We use a laundromat, so we don't have to worry about the cost of running a washer and dryer at home. It's hard remembering that there's always a way through it-I'm terrified that we're going to lose power. I did switch suppliers again-they have a really great rate for three months-and I'll be earning through my uPromise account, which will help me with my student loans!

Are you in a n apartment or living very close like a condo? I ask becasue just this weekend my father was telling me about my sister. Their bill had jumped very high without due reason. WHen they called for the electric company to look over things it turned out that a neighbor had piggy backed onto their electric and they where being billed for his usage. We had to deal with ups and downs and on and off again jobs for alomost two years but we're on the upward swing, well minus all the tax and health care crap, and you will too.

In theory, you are correct-he SHOULD understand, but he doesn't. When I first started to have issues physically (I have multiple sclerosis, so my health isn't the best), he suggested I put my application in at the mall a few miles away. What, so I can dress up in clothes we can't afford for minimum wage? There's also a recession still going on, and the jobs are being snapped up by all the kids coming out of college. I'm 41, going on 42. I just can't afford to keep 'starting' over at minimum wage-and he really should understand that. I'm willing to start over at say, $9, but even that is ridiculously low for me. But then he's 48 going on 49, and he thinks that earning $13.40 an hour (he gets a dollar more an hour because he works overnight), and four hours, he gets an additional dollar for a Sunday premium, is 'earning a lot'. Yeah, if you were 28. But yes, if someone would hire me, we'd have a lot less stress going on here. The problem is that no one WILL hire me (I was even turned down by Walmart, and that's humiliating). Guess I'll run up some more student loan debt-and when I die, it can all be the tax payer's problem!

I've been looking for a job since early July-there aren't many. I saw on the news that the local unemployment rate is at 8.7%-higher than the rest of the state! So he really has no business giving me such a hard time. We've been talking about some things. We've got a plan to take care of the bill. But I'm still concerned-and not sure i want to get married any time soon. And next time-the utilities will be in his name, not mine!