Dial 211 from any phone for assistance.
If you have a child and it’s winter I’m not sure that they can shut it off have you talked to them?
I would speak with your electric company usually if are struggling especially during the winter they can help you get into plans/programs to help you lower the costs
Make heat with bricks and a clay planter and a candle… look it up…
Contact your suppliers. Its possible to get put on safe mode where your power doesn’t get cut off. They will set up a payment plan to deal with bills …pay by direct debit rather than power cards /keys because its cheaper and what you pay in summer should cover your winter bills.
Contact citizens advice for hints on saving power and what benefits you can claim to help.
Contact your benefits office and ask about crisis loans.
Layer up on clothing and blankets . Sleep together if possible…he will settle again …buy thermal floor length curtains when you can afford them.
Make sure all doors and windows are properly fitted and use newspaper to block any gaps .
Theres no shame in asking for help and claiming all the benefits you’re entitled to. Good luck
There’s programs to help you. Call your local social services. Or even electric/gas company
Dial 211 there is electric and gas assistance especially for those with small children. The electric and gas company will also know of places that assist with heat. Do not be stubborn, everyone needs help sometimes, please call
Hang up curtains to separate off different rooms. Lots of snacks, your bodies will need for more energy to keep warm.
Ask for help. There’s no shame in that.
… I’ve seen ppl put up a tent in their front room… like camping indoors. It works.
Churches and charities in your area too may help.
as many said there are programs to help you, plus no power can be turned off (in the United States) during the winter months. Your son will be fine, let him dress for his comfort & put on heavy blankets, He will be fine
Turn your oven on & open the door. Works wonders honestly
Call your local churches. Even if you are not religious or apart of their church. They will help. Some pay your bill, some offer valchuers to hotels.
Get on a budget plan if available
Health and human services. Andvstay with a friends or family. And sleep in liveing . And shut all doors. Sleep on the couch. With lots of blankets. I know what your going threw. Ww lived in a house that head ice inside the windows. And iceing floors. Got dressed in bed. There was 6 of use. And 3 to a bed.
You can go to Walmart or Meyer in the camping section and buy a heat thing that goes on top of the propane tank! They have a little green propane tanks that are usually like three bucks apiece or they’re like two or five or you can go get a medium size tank and also put the heat blower thing on top of it! It works wonders I’ve had use them before! And it keeps your house warm!
I would check and see if they have leap(or something like that) where you live that will help pay your heating cost in the winter
Put plastic in your windows to block any drafts, put towels at the bottom of doors to block drafts, open the the blinds and curtains during the day to let sun in and warm the house and close them at night to keep warmth in. Put extra blankets over the windows at night. Hot hands, sterno cans, candles.
Some energy companies offer a budget plan where you pay the same amount every month regardless of how little or how much you used. There are also energy assistance programs for lower income families. If your looking to only get by for a week or so in milder winter temps, you could buy a heated mattress pad and/or space heater but be aware they can be a fire hazard.
Terracotta flower pot(s) and tea light candles. The candle flame will heat the terracotta which absorbs and radiates the heat.
Apply for Energy Assistance at your local Department of Social Services.
Please call your local social services office. They can help with emergencies like this.
Where do you live???
You can close off rooms/halls/areas that you don’t use as much with a door/blanket It will be really cold in those rooms if you go in them but it will help keep the areas you choose warm with the heater or fire or what ever you have to keep warm.
If you do laundry in your place do it before bed time and put the warm clothes in the bed to warm it up before sliding into bed. That way the bed is warm and you don’t have to put on cold clothes in the morning. Electric blankets can also help just let them warm up the area right before bed then turn them off. So you don’t have to worry about it being unsafe while sleeping.
I read a suggestion of sleeping in a tent on their bed with a blankets over them. This makes them very warm and toasty and you will have yo leave it cracked a bit for airflow.
We would always close off hallways with big blankets. It helps a lot!
I invested in electric blanket’s. Electric lot cheaper than gas.
Call you local churches and ask for help. It’s okay to ask for help. If your area has a local page, get on and ask if anyone has a heated blanket they aren’t using. Even if you just ask to borrow one for a couple days.
Plastic for the windows, heavy curtains Body heat
You have a 6 year old. If you live where it gets below 50°F and have a cold winter, you need to have hear for your child. You can even just heat one room, the main room, a bedroom, but you need to have at least one room with heat (and hot water) for your child to live, play,and sleep. You can block the doorways off with a sheet of plastic and a heavy blanket and just tack it up so you can move it to get through, and just heat that room, move your kid to sleep there or heat their bedroom. The very last thing you should should worried about is your child getting spoiled to sleeping on the couch…they NEED to sleep where it’s warm. If you have an electric stove only, NOT A GAS OR PROPANE STOVE, you can turn your electric stove on heating pots of water and the over can turn all the way up to 450 and leave the door open. It will raise your electricity bill but it’s better than letting your 6 year old sleep without heat in freezing Temps. You can buy a cheap electric heater, they cost $20 and they are not too bad on tbe bill. Close rooms off and use heaters only when your in that room turn it off when your kids at school or in the living area in the evenings. You can buy a propane heater and a propane tank. But yiu have to have heat if you have a minor living in your house. You can get help to pay the bill or get oil. Make calls. You can not keep your house unheated. Not to mention your pipes will freeze and burst. Always keep tge cold water running a light drizzle to prevent pipes from freezing up. I know alot of ppl face this situation but you must heat your child’s living space. Cps will remove children living in homes without heat in cold areas.
Go on to a free site and ask for heated blankets or mini heaters etc. I’m on about two free sites and they’re really helpful. I have a mini heater you could have if your close by?
Get a sleeping bag , put his clothes in the bottom . Let him get dressed before getting out of it. Do lots of baking , biscuits in the morning. Roast, fish, baked beans in the afternoon. Bath while you are cooking, hang out in kitchen after bath .
Check w ur utility provider. In some states its illegal to cut off during freezing temps.
You can also fill a pillow case w rice & microwave. Will hold heat for a while. Great to sleep with &/or slide between sheets to warm bed before entry. JUST MAKE SURE NOT TO OVER HEAT OR WILL CAUSE BURNS.
Contact LIHEAP if it’s available around you
Put socks on, dress in layers, you can block off rooms you are using either by closing the door or putting up a sheet. You can put plastic over the windows to help keep the draft out. You can roll up towels and put them at the bottom of your front door and back door to help keep air out. If you can go buy a small electric heater and you and your baby can cuddle up on the couch and watch movies. Hope this helps
You can get emergency assistance mama. Talk with your local Human Resources.
At one point when my kids were younger we didn’t have money to fill our propane tank for heat. We used the living room hung sheet and Blankets and set up the ultimate slumber party in our living room. We used candles and clay pots to get as much heat as we could into that little space. With the candles and our body heat we were able to stay pretty warm. Sending you love and good wishes. Hoping for a Christmas miracle for you and your family.
Get energy assistance…from your gas & or electric company.company…!..Call them !.
Get a halogen heater, you can get one for about £20 or less and the heat they throw out is unreal
Where are you located? It is illegal for utilities to be shut off during cold weather. You need to reach out to someone, even your local authorities, they will help you find adequate shelter. You and especially your child will be in danger in freezing Temps. If you don’t want to call, dm your address and I will call your local authorities for you!
What area, do you live in?
From my understanding, utility companies cannot shut service off at this time because of the pandemic. If you live in Ventura County, you can get utility assistance at Community Action/HEAP 805-436-4000. They are located in Oxnard and help with Gas and Electric bills
A hat , scarf and socks help a lot . Plus extra clothing .
Plastic over the majority of your windows , you can call your gas company and they should be able to help weatherize your house !
Use oven to cook more, microwave rice in a sock or small fabric pouch, keep candles lit for a while, plastic over windows and draft protectors for under doors. If you have a dog let them cuddle up together
If U have a fireplace or small heater - close off every room but one with blankets covering door - just heat the one room
Can this page get an anonymous drop of her Venmo?! I’d be 100% willing to help get some heat in her house!
I bought an infra red heater . It costs very little to.use. I put it in the room.i am in and close the door to the room.
Try contacting any United Methodist Church, Salvation Army can help
I pray that GOD Blesses you and fam with what you need.
I seen a post somewhere where a lady has put fleece blankets on the backs of her curtains to create thermal winter curtains - I’m sure there’s a way you could clip them on so you don’t have a permanent hot house lol
Churches usually can help with this. Give some a call if you don’t have one you attend. Most are very helpful.
If you have a heating pad you can put it under the fitted sheet on the bed on high and let it warm the bed like a heating blanket would
Get in touch with Texas Rent Relief they will help with utilities
Put a tent in the room n sleep inside of it
Call 411 and ask for resources or even your county building they may be able to help you… also most places in winter they can’t turn your heat off if there’s a child or a senior citizen living in the home.
A tent in the closet too or call a local agency to help get your heat paid. I know In my state the electric company is not allowed to shut off your electric in the winter
Hot water bottles (they will keep your hands warm)
Use the smallest room you can to sleep in and take the tv into the room with you and make it a snuggling movie night. Close doors to any and all rooms and close the vents in rooms not being used and then use blankets to help shut off open rooms as well. Put towels and blankets or whatever you have at the bottoms of doorways to help prevent drafts, and the same with windows- close the curtains at night to help keep the heat in and open them during the day to let the sunlight in to help warm the place up, and use plastic or bubble wrap to cover the windows so no drafts get in. Only heat the room you’re in and using. Bundle up by wearing layers of clothing as well as socks and layer your blankets as well. Once your child is off to school start calling around for assistance. Call the electric and gas company and explain the situation, and also contact social services and explain your situation. Call churches. Call whoever you need to, but don’t give up and definitely don’t feel badly for asking for help. It’s better to ask for help than to risk freezing to death or getting sick or having your child taken because you don’t/won’t ask for help. But in the meantime, you do what you have to do to stay warm and minimize using utilities and trying to warm the entire house. Unplug anything that’s not absolutely necessary to be running and shut off all the lights. Unplug microwave, game systems, anything on standby like tvs, unplug lamps, unplug your stove if it’s electric, anything that uses a source of power is always using electric even when it’s not in use. And rather than trying to heat an entire house only heat the rooms you use. Shut off any rooms and close the doors to rooms not in use and bundle up more and turn the heating down lower so you’re still able to stay warm and save a little on heating. It’s hard, I know, but it does help with expenses that you don’t realize are driving your bills and usage up. If you can, stay at someone else’s place and spend the night if possible too, but also try to be out of the house during the day so you’re not having to use the heat or electric as much also. It’s not easy and not ideal, but it’s some tips to help save money and still keep warm. Also make and heat up rice socks or pillow cases, or water bottles, if you can make some before going to bed. Hope everything works out quickly for you, but definitely call and ask for help and assistance. Sadly I’ve been there, done that except stuck in the over 100+ heat with oppressive humidity levels and my ex nicely left me stuck with months of unpaid bills and on the day they were due to all be cut off. He’d carefully planned it so I’d have to beg him back. I didn’t. I found a way, which literally included begging friends and anyone I could for help to keep them on. We have assistance programs but because the poverty level is so high where I live, it’s first come, first serve, so when the program runs out of money, and it does very quickly too, you’re just out of luck. But you do whatever you have to do for as long as you need to to keep your little one warm, even if it means constant snuggling for the rest of the winter or until things get better and improve for you. Use it as bonding time, and be thankful he’s still small enough that you can do this rather than him being older and not wanting to or being able to because he thinks he’s too old to. But please reach out for assistance in your area through those places, including the churches, even if you’re not a member there or don’t believe or have the same faith. Most churches in most places can and will help, or help you get the assistance you need if nobody else can or will.
There are organizations that can help you. Praying for you.
This is what we’ve done in the past. We spent years in upstate NY (The arctic tundra from October thru May). One year we lost power for like 3 days and that meant no heat. We put blankets up in doorways and used this. It worked amazingly! I’d highly suggest everyone who lives in a colder climate to keep these supplies in an emergency kit in the event of a power outage or heat loss in the winter.
Thick blankets, thermal clothes, flannel sheets, socks,
It makes me happy that people are being helpful on this page instead of being a Karen. Prayers to you lady! But yes they shouldn’t be able to turn off your heat with a child.or senior citizens in the home. A lot of places will work with you if you call and just explain to them what’s going on!