How to not have the heating on all day?

Have you calculated the cost though?

I was shocked at the cost of a small oil filled heater compared to central heating when I got smart meters.

It depends on the house tbh - some houses will become damp if not heated (and in some cases dehumidified) properly.

Do bear in mind in mumsnet world a six figure salary means you live in poverty.

oil filled heaters, electric blankets/throws, fan heaters etc will cost more than central heating to heat one room.

false economy.

This is what I do, it works well

I often read on MN about all the holidays people go on, the expensive cars, houses and food and yet mention heating and it’s always the same. I do think some people enjoy not putting it on in some weird poverty virtue signalling way.
Buying heaters, electric throws, cashmere socks, Uggs, specialist thermal gear… just put the fucking heating on if you’re cold or life isn’t worth living.

I have our heating on a lot. Tbf this house is very naturally warm and only having the heating on to 19 degrees doesn't cost that much. I don't like being cold. I barely wear a jumper, I do like a very thick blanket though. And I don't like wearing lots of clothes. The thought of wearing loads of layers, fingerless gloves and a hat to work like a pp, is something I'm not prepared to do.

I have a heated pad on my lap, then just trousers, a t shirt and this and I'm plenty warm enough

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-borg-throw-on-cardigan-smoky-blue/p112018318

Because that requires sitting under it which is not healthy, and I get nothing done. I can’t be sitting on the sofa all winter because it’s too cold to move 🤷‍♀️

I had one of those oil filled radiators for a bedroom over the garage. It cost a fucking fortune. Something like 80p and hour, and when the teen had it on constantly it worked out much cheaper to have the heating on. I just turned off the radiators we didn’t need.

Mine is on all day , it's miserable being in a dank cold house . I'm just retired and at home more so when I'm home the heating is on . I don't think extra layers makes a jot of difference if you're environment is cold .
I just have to accept the costs but I'm lucky I can afford it .

You can buy small electric blankets to put on your lap - I got one very cheap from Amazon, lovely and soft too. So much cheaper than heating the whole house!

If you are WFH put the heater under the desk, it warms up your legs and not the whole room so you use less energy but stay toasty. I have a glass panel heater and it is great at keeping me warm.

Sounds like a fire hazard if people are living under a mountain of blankets and then start lighting multiple candles around the house.

If I'm having a lazy day, heating is at 20 degrees and on for an hour in a morning, an hour at lunchtime and then 3 hours in the evening. I'll wear warm pj's and an oodie with thin socks under fleece socks. Will be perfectly fine.

If I'm doing chores etc I'll be in leggings, vest, cotton top and jumper and same socks but I'll probably end up putting heating on for an hour midmorning as I get cold flitting in and out of different rooms.

There's a hack I've never tried it but involves a tea light and an upside plant pot or similar to emit heat , I'm sure it's online somewhere if you google .

I'm sorry but sitting in your own home with multiple pairs of socks and layers on rather than pop the heating on?
The typical demographic of MN that seems to comment on posts of their very comfortable mc life's yet nobody can afford heating 🤷🏼‍♀️
Your home needs to be heated or you'll end up with frozen pipes, damp, mould, even if you're warm in yourself it's not ideal to be. breathing in cold damp air.

Yes, that's a good point. I live in a relatively new house so it isn't drafty and it is a very small room as well. So the fan heater heats it up really quickly and stays warm for hours.

Also there are two of us in the room with computers so the so the laptops help keep the room warm as they obviously generate heat as do our bodies.

I just keep the heat on a timer, it keeps the heating to 18 degrees during the day and comes on a bit higher for the evening, then its off at night. Gas and electric is £129 a month for me in a two bed townhouse style.

I spot heat the room I am in using a Calor gas cabinet heater.

I wear my long fleecy dressing gown over my clothes (not for video calls…). I may look like Arthur Dent but I’m lovely and cosy.

We have the heating on in the office and living/kitchen/diner only. We put the towel rail on for about an hour a day to dry our towels/the bathroom.

I notice I'm a lot warmer when I go out for a walk daily! I walk the dog twice a day and I'm fine in a jumper and jeans. There are days where I lug around a hot water bottle or make lots of cups of tea though!

It doesn't help that our flat is North facing and our EPC is D!

Ah lots of hate for oil filled radiators here, sorry OP! I think in my specific situation it worked well but clearly not for everyone, worth researching a few options maybe. In our house I WFH in a poorly insulated but small room, so the oil filled radiator worked well because it took no time at all to heat the room and the residual heat meant it wasn't actually on all that much, so no hefty bill.

We have smart TRVs. An initial outlay but it reduced our gas consumption a lot so we've made it back now.They allow you to heat individual rooms on various schedules and to different temperatures, without manually titting about turning radiators on and off and adjusting the temp on them all day. So we have certain rooms heated at different times. Eg today kids are at nursery/school during day so we just have the offices heated until about 3ish when the other room schedules kick in.

I have an electric fan heater on me in one room rather than heating on unless drying clothes

We did have the heating on very sparsely in 2021 - result: huge elec cost as we stupidly used oil filled heaters and mould on walls/windowframes (we were constantly wiping it away). Would have been much cheaper to keep gas heating going on an even temp rather than whack it up for 30 mins to warm up the space and switch to oil filled heaters.

Oil filled radiators cost an absolute bomb to run! We got hugely caught out by that!