UK family forced to shower once a week to reduce energy bill

• Living standards in UK are currently toughest in 40 years.
• To manage the expenses and reduce energy bills, family eats limited food.
• Woman shares that family was going through depression because of circumstances.

A family in the UK has been forced to bathe only once a week in an attempt to save on their energy bill, reported The Independent.

The living standards in the UK are currently the toughest in 40 years due to rising inflation, the Ukraine war, and increased food costs.

Atmane family from South West, London, says that the cost of living after the pandemic has made life extremely difficult.

There are four people in the family. The mother, Zahia Atmane, her two teenage girls, who are 13 and 14 years old, and her husband.

Zahia said that they can only afford basic food items and have to depend on a local food bank: Dad’s House.

“It’s a big pressure for us especially when you have kids," Zahia said.

"We try to deal and manage with this crisis but the prices are getting very expensive and very high every day,” she added.

Zahia told The Independent that her husband lost his job at a restaurant during the pandemic. Since then, it has been hard for the family to survive. 

To manage the expenses and reduce energy bills, the family eats limited food and showers once a week.

“We cut down on a lot of things like buying clothes, buying branded shampoo or soap, now we just buy essential things, non-branded from Tesco or Sainsbury’s,” she added.

She said that the local food bank has been very helpful. 

“It’s been very hard for the kids, especially with this age they ask for a lot of things which I try to explain to them all the time,” Zahia explained.

The mother of two also shared that the family was going through depression because of the circumstances.

Unfortunately for Zahia, she has a back condition due to which she cannot work. Her husband is looking for a full-time job. 

The Atmane family is not the only one that are victim of global inflation in the UK. Many other families suffer from similar circumstances.