Anyone trying not to have heating on

Good for your mother! My childhood home was much the same, ice inside the windows, a tin bath brought into the scullery after tea on Sunday. There were coal fires downstairs, replaced with gas fires eventually, and unused open fireplaces in each bedroom, and at some point during my primary school years came the luxury of electric under blankets.

But gathering wood isn’t a hardship. Wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and again when you burn it. The dogs and cats are as mesmerised by the fire as I am. Three sheets of the local free newspaper, plus some dry twigs or chopped pallet wood are enough to start it, and they’re free. What’s not to like?

ETA I do have oil in the tank for the central heating, but more often than not I only want to take the chill off the bathroom, the other nine radiators will still be turned off!

I’m 61 and was brought up in cold houses. The memories are still there.

Thats why l like mine nice and warm.

Yep and those bills were so low with the Tory’s in 2022/23/24 - it was the Tory’s who got rid of all the gas storeage containers around 2017 , as a ‘waste of money ‘. -short memory’s!

As children the frost on the inside of windows was great fun. We'd warm coins and press them up against the frost. I remember 62-63 being fiercely cold the loos froze and the taps. Our school was shut for a while we had coats on top of sheets, blankets and the feather comforter. Outside there were embankments of snow either side of the paths. Now we all got fed up with that in the end

exactly
it is ALL to do with saving money.
being brought up in cold houses and adding layers means this is how i behave as a 59 year old

they came to put the heating on at work,
i had to open a window and someone turned on the fan
so stuffy!

Until you mentioned the cat and your age I could have sworn you must be my Mother.. it’s a running joke in our family if we see a fallen branch or tree being felled that it’s a good job Nanny isn’t around.
She often walks her dogs dragging a fallen branch behind her or has a basket on wheels with twigs etc in.
She has a wood burner, that she says heats the whole house sufficiently, to me her bedroom often feels freezing and damp as it’s the furthest room away from the kitchen where the stove is.
My Mum grew up in poverty 70 odd years ago, shared tin bath in front of the kitchen and ice on the inside of the windows so I genuinely think perhaps she doesn’t feel it as much as others because, compared to previous years she’s toasty.
There is much I admire about her, although I have to say I’d rather she didn’t go collecting wood and just stay home with her hardly used central heating on, I hope you genuinely don’t feel cold rather then are worried about the cost of heating.

You are not doing your house much good, it sounds cold and damp and very miserable.

Got up this morning - it was 5 degrees, heating went straight on. We live in a stone Irish cottage so if it gets too cold the thick walls tend to make it a bit cave like. We have to keep the house warm in the winter. People say to just put on an extra sweater, you can't let your house get to cold or it will get damp.

Are you willing to say how you voted?

I was as mad as a wet hen this morning. the towel I used from yesterday morning was carefully spread out over a chair to dry out. DH as usual stuffed his over the bathroom ladder radiator. Well this morning mine was missing, he said I've hung it on the bathroom radiator. Like buggery. He'd found his sopping wet, used mine, stuffed that under his so this morning two soggy towels.

Now I don't mind not turning the heating on, but how on gods earth will towels dry stuffed badly over a non operational radiator.

Jumpers and heated throws don't stop damp and mould. If it's under 20° inside then my heating kicks in.

I’ve not tried yet no, it’s not cold

We probably couldn't drill enough. And if we did so it would run out even faster than it is and also be more expensive than other sources.

That said we are not managing the transition to net zero well in this country.

Oil/gas production can't be started on a sixpence and we aren't investing anywhere near enough to produce a managed decline rather than a cliff edge in production drop off.

This is really going to bite us hard at some point. Unfortunately the people not managing it probably will probably be dead or at least out of office by the time it completely screws us up on energy prices.

I blame all those people who voted Labour and meant we are stuck with their crazy net zero policies. Why can’t we drill for our own North Sea oil instead of buying it from Norway? No wonder heating prices are so high.

If you've got an open fire then you are heating the house, and it's not likely to feel so cold!

There's a 'genuine need' if it's cold!

If it’s on a thermostat it won’t come on if the temp goes up again though. Mine is never ‘off’ it just doesn’t get cold enough to come on during the summer.

Im just glad I live down south as I don't plan on putting my heating on til November!
Nothing to do with being competitive or smug, it's just I know my leccy bill will double over winter and my current credit will cover me from Nov til march.
I think that's probably why alot of people talk about themselves into not needing heating til as late as possible!

A couple of days it's been below 18 degrees on the monitor inside, I put it on just until it gets to 18. Double quilts on the bed now too. We have attic insulation but otherwise it's not very well insulated.

That sounds unspeakably miserable. We are only a year or two younger than you and our parents used to hang it out until the clocks changed. Always with a fire in the sitting room and in my bedroom.

Our heating is always set to a few hours first thing and a few hours mid evening. In summer it's set to 15. I think I turned it up to 16/17 the other day. The heating has come on in the mornings regularly since about late August. I can't stand waking up to cold.

We aren't particularly chilly mortals and the heating is never up high but with a cardigan, and warm slippers, neither will I feel cold. If it's particularly chilly, usually at weekends, we light a fire in the hall and turn it up in the rooms we are using.

I put my heating on for the morning ie 8 till 10 ( so it's warm for getting up) and then if a throw isn't enough in the evening watching TV I'll put the heating on for an hour or so. I'm in London and although it warms up in the afternoon I find the mornings quite cold. I can't stand being cold, I'd get nothing done either. I'd rather cut back on something else and be warm.

Don't think anyone looks down on anyone, but it's become as certain as sunrise - every autumn this thread appears. I deliberately look out for it, and MN wouldn't be the same without it.

Yes I'm exactly the same! It's been really cold these last few evenings but I'm frightened of turning the heating on as the bills are so high. Everything is so expensive from food to utilities to clothing. I don't know how they expect us to live at the moment. It's only going to get worse when Rachel Reeves raises taxes as predicted in October's budget. We won't be living we will just be existing.!

I put the heating on when I feel cold and I’m already dressed appropriately in a jumper etc. I don’t understand keeping the heating off until an arbitrary date because the temp is so changeable here (south east). Last night it was down to 4, but the day before it was quite warm.