A pensioner with leukaemia has trained herself to withstand the cold and only eats one meal a day over fears she won't survive the rising cost of living.
Leeds woman Maggie Stead, 67, says her pension doesn't cover her rising bills and it has forced up take extreme measures to cut down her costs.
As well as only eating one meal per day, the Headingley resident sits at home in her hat, scarf and gloves to avoid having to put the heating on, according to Leeds Live.
The former school teacher, who retired in 2020, also collects her own wood from a nearby forest "just to save a bit of money", stuffs bubble wrap in drafty places throughout the house, and scours supermarket shelves for reduced food items to save money.
"In every room, I always have a blanket handy," she said.
"I normally don't turn the heating on until about 6pm or 7pm - and only for an hour. I have central heating, but I never put it above 15 degrees - even when it's zero degrees outside.
"But if I’m a bit chilly, I put a blanket over me. I just wrap up well. Hats, if I have to. Scarves, gloves. The whole caboodle."
Maggie added: "Everything's increased. When I retired and I realised that a lot of my money had gone, I knew that I had to start being careful. I was terrified.
"I noticed before the pandemic came, prices were nudging prices up. I used to pay £1 for that, it’s now £1.50. So I voted with feet and thought I'll do without it. I'm just being extra careful.
"I've started just trying to live more off yellow label food. I'm exhausting myself because I have to go around four, five, six places sometimes just to get the deals, but you can end up saving yourself £7 or £8 by doing that and all that counts."
Maggie's financial struggles were made worst two years ago when she was forced to fork out £8,000 for emergency dental treatment when an aggressive infection eroded her gum and facial tissue, leaving her requiring surgery.
Just months later she learned the devastating news that she was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia - a blood cancer which attacks her white blood cells and makes her more vulnerable to infections.
A poll of almost 2,000 people in the north of England by campaign group 38 Degrees found one in five households are going into overdrafts, borrowing money, skipping meals or falling behind on other bills to afford rising energy prices.
While three in every four people surveyed said they are turning their heating off more regularly to keep costs down.
Earlier today money saving expert Martin Lewis made a public plea on TV to Rishi Sunak and the government to help the poorest Brits as we face the biggest cost of living crisis in 22 years.
Maggie has also warned the chancellor to "be careful" ahead of his Spring Statement this Wednesday.
She said: "You need to stop. People are not going to like it and they're gonna rebel.
"It makes me so angry because people are suffering. The energy companies are just taking liberties everywhere and I don't want to be paying for somebody's superyacht or champagne.
"It makes me furious. Absolutely furious."
