An elderly woman has spoken of her only method of keeping warm and fed in the winter as he cost of living continues to skyrocket.
Linda Foster revealed that she has been forced to use her free bus pass to keep warm in the winter and has had to scour the shelves for yellow sticker food in order to survive.
The 73-year-old’s heartbreaking story is one of many instances where the consequences of the crippling cost of living crisis are laid bare.
Ms Foster says she had "pulled herself up" to make a good living for herself and her children but in later life has suddenly been confronted with tough decisions to keep food on the table.
She told Lincolnshire Live: "Well, all the food has gone up tremendously and when you live on a pension you've got to take that into consideration.
"It's getting to the point now where you used to be able to move down a level in food, down to the supersavers, but now you're at the bottom level. You can't move down any lower."
Ms Foster, who grew up in Carlisle but now lives in Skegness in the UK, says she's had to change her spending habits including cutting out all name-brand items.
She added: "I don't buy any propriety brands anymore. I buy the supermarkets ' own or even lower than that."
Ms Foster says she is buying the 'yellow sticker' food "all the time."
She added: "I've always been a canny shopper, but I have to be cannier now."
Household energy bills have skyrocketed by 54 percent in the UK in April 2022 and are likely to rise substantially again in October.
Ms Foster said: "I'm not only worried about the incoming increase in bills, but I'm also worried about the state of the government.
"How can a government, that is at sixes and sevens, run the country correctly? How can they stop this increase, increase, increase all the time?
"I know they are supposed to be giving us money, but then are you borrowing money from other countries? We'll be in a recession before we know where we are.
"Then people will start losing their jobs and things will get even worse. So, it is a worrying time."
Ms Foster says she is already saving for more expenditure in December, saying: "The way things are, how am I going to afford to give my grandchildren Christmas presents and birthday presents and things like that? I'm already starting to save up for Christmas so I can give them all a present."
Ms Foster says she is also considering selling her car, as petrol costs so much, she doesn't see the point of keeping it.
She added: "I lived in a family where there wasn't much money, but I think it's sad that I've managed to pull myself up.
"I own this house, I brought my children up properly and I think it's sad I'm going to have to live the way I lived when I was a child when there was no money about for anything."
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