A mum-of-three has been forced to ration cups of tea - due to the soaring cost of living.
Asda worker Michelle Rutter Hughes, who works between 20 and 40 hours a week, admits she can't afford to boil the kettle to make herself a cup of tea - as her kettle is too expensive to use.
Instead, the mum-of-three uses the kettle just twice a day, storing left over water in a flask in order to keep electricity bills down.
And since Friday, Michelle’s electricity bill has gone up from £120 a month to £300. Her gas bill has increased to £145 a month whereas before it was £50 a month.
Michelle, 33, who lives with her full-time council worker husband Jonathan, 37, and their three children, Lucas, 12, Jessica, nine and Autumn, five, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., told Fabulous this is the hardest the family has ever been hit financially.
Michelle told The Sun her family are living hand-to-mouth.
She said: "We’ve had to cut back on everything. My kids love fruit and their favourite is strawberries. I want them to eat nutritious food.
"But it’s £5 for two punnets of strawberries and 25p for tinned carrots so I know what I have to choose.”
"I’ll only boil the kettle twice a day and all the family will have a cup of tea. Excess water will be stored in a flask-style mug."
The family are also turning off all plugs in the house as well as the wireless router and frequently sit in the dark at night.
Michelle says the house is so cold that her kids put on their dressing gowns on over their clothes and has even stopped baking as it costs too much to use the oven.
It comes as Martin Lewis has shared ten things you should do now to help you survive the cost of living crisis after April brought in a raft of bill increases.
The energy price cap, which limits how much households can be charged for each unit of gas and electricity, has risen by £693 for those on a default tariff who pay by direct debit.
Council tax bills have also risen by 3.5% on average for a Band D home, while water bills have gone up too, along with broadband, mobile and some mortgage payments.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation has just surged to 6.2% which means we're all paying more for goods and is expected to keep on rising this year.
