Rona Dougall: For mums like Zahada, what do you cut back on when there is nothing left to cut?

There’s been a definite chill in the air in recent days, and if you look carefully, some of the trees have leaves just turning. Glorious. Autumn is just around the corner and normally I would be rejoicing at this. In the past, it’s been my favourite time of year; new beginnings, the smell of bonfires and all that. But this year? Not so much.

Because I know that the winter months are going to be cold, unpleasant and very, very expensive. This crisis affects us all. I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation with someone that didn’t at some point touch on the cost of living.

We are all making changes big and small. We’ve got rid of our tumble dryer and my husband and I actually had a lengthy debate the other day about whether it’s more economical to wash the dishes by hand or use the dishwasher. I know, the romance. It costs 44p to use the machine, by the way.

But at least we’ll not be battling over the thermostat this year, because the heating will only be going on very occasionally.

When I was a child our house was so cold there was ice in the inside of the windows when we woke up. We got dressed under the covers, and I can remember with chilly clarity the pure torture of clambering out from my cosy bed.

But I’m not sure many people had central heating back then. I can remember huddling round an electric heater in the sitting room watching telly, or rather fighting for a spot near the warmth.

The response to the constant whining about being cold was a rather unsympathetic “well, put another jumper on”. It sounds a little Dickensian but seemed pretty normal then, and our family was comfortably off.

You’d have hoped that we’d have moved on from that. Instead, we find ourselves in this dreadful situation. I consider myself lucky that we are only having to modify our lifestyle not choose between food or fuel. But that’s the awful choice that some people are having to make as bills rocket.

I interviewed a lovely woman last week who told me how frightened she is about the future. Zahada from Glasgow isn’t able to work because of chronic pain caused by her lifelong arthritis. She’s cut back so much, her weekly shop is down to £80 and that’s for a three-person family. The 51-year-old hardly uses her car now and that means she’s stuck in the house. “And what kind of life is that?” she wonders.

Zahada is already struggling to pay her bills and has no idea how she’ll manage as the prices continue to rise. Yes, she has had a pay out from the government, but where is the long-term solution she asks, as she doesn’t want to depend on handouts in the long term.

We will have to wait and see what the next prime minister has planned to try and tackle this crisis. The Tory leadership hopefuls, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, have kept very quiet during this seemingly never-ending contest about what they’re going to do – for fear of alienating any potential voters I suppose. Whoever wins will be contemplating one hell of an in-tray.

The power vacuum in the Westminster corridors of power couldn’t have come at a worse time really. During the final hustings between the two candidates on Wednesday night, the host, LBC’s Nick Ferarri, told Liz Truss: “While you’ve been on a five-week beauty parade, people in this room have seen inflation go to the highest rate for 40 years, energy bills rise to nearly £4,000, wages down. This is a zombie government.”

And it’s not just the people in that room, thousands around the country are wondering how they’re going to cope when the temperature plummets and our bills soar.