Posted in anger, Business, economy, elderly, emotions, family, finances, future, Impact, life, MONEY, news, tagged agreement, anger, budget plan, Business, costs, dangerous, Difficulties, fall, financial crisis, fixed incomes, future, gamble, gasoline, home heating, locked in, news, oil, predictions, propane, suffering, Summer, Winter on October 16, 2008|
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Here is something to think about with all of the financial crisis making the daily news. Have you signed anything legal agreeing to rip yourself off financially? Many people probably haven’t realized this aspect of the times yet…but, a normally smart thing to do each summer is to sign up for a budget plan with your winter heating fuel supplier…agreeing to “lock in” a price when the prices are low during the summer…just in case the price of heating oil/gas goes up, like it normally does in the fall and winter months.
This year…against any predictable reasoning…gas prices have fallen, sharply. Still, once people sign on the dotted line to lock in a heating source price…they truly are locked in at that price. I think as people discover this situation for themselves…there is going to be alot of anger of being caught in this situation. Some say, that most years it makes sense to lock in and it works out to their advantage…but, this year has really challenged that theory.
Locking in makes sense usually; the agreement is usually accomplished in mid summer. Well….if you remember correctly, in July…gas prices were sky high. In my neck of the woods…gasoline prices have dropped from an all time high of approximately $4.25 down to now a $2.88 cents a gallon. If you apply that thought process to home heating oil/propane….you can just imagine how much money that people are loosing.
With the rising cost of food, rent/mortgage payments, health insurance, and other necessities…people can ill afford to pay extra when they don’t have to. I, for one, am glad that i didn’t lock in my propane prices; like i was advised to!
Did you get ripped off by signing an agreement to lock in your heating costs this year? If you did…you are not alone…and personally i don’t think anyone expected such a situation…but, it really is a gamble trying to predict the future with heating costs. I am pretty sure that, next year, companies will have a hard time getting people who were burned this year, to sign on the dotted line. Just stop and think about how many people are living on fixed incomes…i almost hate to see winter arrive because…we will see more people suffering and living in dangerous conditions, in colder climates, because of this.
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Where I live in Michigan, winter weather gets to be a little overdrawn. Winter seems like it is never going to end. My way of coping is to dive into seed catalogs and gardening magazines. It is like feasting on dessert after you have been on a starvation diet. All of those plants with their lovely greenery and colorful blooms just lights up the soul and lifts the spirit. Not only that, but when you are trying to buy fresh produce you quickly realize the high cost of fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter. Cold frame gardening can help relieve the burden on your wallet if you build a couple of frames to supplement your produce needs.
Write where you are 