Tips for staying warm and saving gas/elec please

[Twatterati]

I've become really worried about the price increases of gas and electric, so I'm hoping you'll be able to share some things that you do that will help minimise use and/or help stay warm this winter.

I'm on a much lower income than pre-Covid so am getting increasingly anxious, and I'm sure a lot of us are too, so I'm hoping this will help!

@poshme
I think you might have mixed up the carbon monoxide alarm for something else. It would only go off if you have carbon monoxide escaping which is an odourless gas and lethal.
Heat sensors shouldn't be installed in kitchens but are lifesaving in the event of a fire. Maybe switch them back on and have the one from your kitchen moved to the room next door to it or atleast one on each floor of your house.

@Sh05 that wasn't me.

@Sh05 it was @SoloISland

I'm sorry @poshme!

My house is a cold house no matter what I do
But the game changer for me when we had that awful,snow icy weather earlier this year was I got a fleece bedding set with a fleece sheet
It is amazing! I was warm in bed for the first time in the winter since moving here and I always spend the winter going to bed in fleece pjs and big thick dressing gown and thick bed socks.
The fleece bedding actually warmed me up as soon as I got in
I cannot believe the difference being warm at night has made to me over the winter I really recommend it

Go through the menopause...

Other than that:

Warm socks, with wool if you can get it. I wear three layers of socks. Slippers. Lovely warm ones.

Base layer: either Merino wool if you can afford it or tights and leggings under trousers. I wear two base layers. Tuck the base layer into socks.

Woolly cardi from the charity shop.

Lots of layers.

Make sure you have no gap around your middle. Get layers that tuck into trousers.

Fingerless gloves or wrist warmers when typing.

I have a woolly blanket from the charity shop to sit under and sleep under.

In really cold weather I wear a scarf and or snood and hat.

Home: shut curtains as soon as it starts to get dark.

In summer I used an old duvet cover and old sheet as an extra layer of insulation with tabs sewn in corners and middle and hung on tacks into the window frame (wood) will use in really cold weather as well.

I hope to get a door curtain

Use a pair of old school tights stuffed with old clothes as a door draught excluder.

Turning the thermostat down a couple of degrees can save a bit of money.

Thermal socks
Wristwarmers
Legwarmers (hideous but really warm your ankles)
Wear a gilet
Sometimes I wear a scarf round my neck if I'm feeling the cold inside

Can't tell you the difference lining all my curtains with thermal lining. It's relatively cheap and even if you haven't got a sewing machine you can fix it with iron-on curtain tape

If you are in a vulnerable group or on a low income, check your council website. A lot of them offer an energy check and will bring things like draught excluder to fix on for you.

but if you have double glazing do you still need thick curtains?

@whatsthestory123

but if you have double glazing do you still need thick curtains?

Adding thick curtains will increase insulation and help keep the warmth in. It will make a bigger difference if you have poor windows/doors but will help no matter what

Dry washing on spare room, if you have one, on a clothes airer with a dehumidifier in the room.

I grew up in a house with no radiators and only a single coal fire to heat the whole house (which we often couldn’t afford coal for anyway). I always feel hot in other people’s houses, I do think you acclimatise to the cold.

Layers are key to keeping warm. You especially need to cover your head. I wear a dressing gown with a hood. Get a hot water bottle or wheat bag and some sofa blankets. Drink hot tea. A laptop is also good, not only does it get warm but it also means you can watch Netflix with your head under the blanket.

Pick one room to heat such as the living room. Turn off the radiators in the other rooms. People won’t like not being able to sit in their own rooms but it’s tough. Turn off the heating at night! Put extra duvets on the bed, wear socks and pyjamas. Put a woolly blanket under the bed sheet so you’re insulated from below. As long as your house is above freezing to prevent pipes bursting then you’ll be fine. In the morning open the windows for ventilation while the house is cold and you have no heat to lose.

Also - you need a bed hat. It makes the biggest difference to staying warm at night.

@LadyofMisrule

To reduce oven use, I also did loads of batch cooking. That way, the oven only got put on once, and I'd spend the rest of the week reheating stuff in the microwave or on the hob (which is much cheaper).

But when you do use the oven, then leave the door open!

Heatholders socks, M & S brushed thermal leggings & long sleeved top, in winter I wear these with a jumper & a pinafore dress on top with Ugg boots or lookalike slippers. I have a heated fleece blanket I sit on, uses less than 1p an hour electricity. Use a slow cooker instead of the oven, again only 1p per hour. Lots of hot drinks, make home made soup in your slow cooker at night, leave on low overnight & then fill a flask to drink during the day, freeze some in mug size portions to warm up in the microwave. I used to use my vented tumble dryer without putting the pipe out of the window, why waste the heat it produces, just slightly crack open a window to avoid condensation.

You can turn the radiators off that you don't want running, think only my living room is turned on right now. Keep doors closed always, it'll help trap the heat in each room.

Sienna Hoodie Blanket Ultra Soft Sherpa Fleece Warm Cosy Comfy Oversized Wearable Hooded Sweatshirt Throw for Women Girls Adults Men Boys Kids Big Pocket - Charcoal Grey www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0851KN668/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_0WCN01ECRTN7N7PEP8X7?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21 this hands down

@RosyPoesy

I grew up in a house with no radiators and only a single coal fire to heat the whole house (which we often couldn’t afford coal for anyway). I always feel hot in other people’s houses, I do think you acclimatise to the cold.

Layers are key to keeping warm. You especially need to cover your head. I wear a dressing gown with a hood. Get a hot water bottle or wheat bag and some sofa blankets. Drink hot tea. A laptop is also good, not only does it get warm but it also means you can watch Netflix with your head under the blanket.

Pick one room to heat such as the living room. Turn off the radiators in the other rooms. People won’t like not being able to sit in their own rooms but it’s tough. Turn off the heating at night! Put extra duvets on the bed, wear socks and pyjamas. Put a woolly blanket under the bed sheet so you’re insulated from below. As long as your house is above freezing to prevent pipes bursting then you’ll be fine. In the morning open the windows for ventilation while the house is cold and you have no heat to lose.

Amen to this - and esp the hooded dressing gowns (taken as red and def consider doubling up), hot water bottles, leaving oven open after use - these are all easy/vital.

In terms of energy saving, basically things that heat are what’s expensive, I lived in an old building once with an old skool spinning meter and it spun (used electricity) the fastest using the hairdryer and kettle and so I’d recommend not using/minimising use of hair dryers, tumble dryers, boiling kettles eg … anything high velocity where a natural alternative is freely available is where you can save.

Agree strongly with utilising any ancillary heat, from the oven to the dog/cat, to the partner to using the log burner to heat water. Cook big soups/stews (also simmering pots give off heat).

If you’re really cold then running your wrists under hot water will warm up your whole body quickly, or if desperate get in the car with the heaters on if necessary as that also works quickly. Wriggling your (surely already multi-sock-clad) toes regularly etc. This all sounds worse than it is as you just adapt like pp says and it’s second nature, it’s just being more in tune with the seasons in some way and just layer up basically.

You do quickly realise how stuffy, warm and close it is in some other houses as a bonus though!

I agree with pp who said you do adapt. We're (obviously) soft southerners as, when we stayed in Fort William in Scotland one snowy February, we were amazed that nowhere had any heating - pubs, cafes etc - and people weren't overdressed. Our hotel room only had a 2-bar fire and we put every item of clothing on and burrowed under the duvet for the first day, windows tightly shut.

Agreeing with everyone else so far.

Teddy fleece bedding made a huge difference to winter sleep for me (I was already doing all the other tricks like under balnkets/duvets), and once I put it on it's very hard to shift the cats from it in the day time (bonus pre-sleep bed heating!).

I sit on a sherpa fleece blanket on the settee in the day time and that makes a huge difference. (and I pre-warm that for the cats overnight )
I also have some very heavy, hooded, cardigans lined with sherpa fleece that function like an oodie but look good enough for work calls.

A dehumidifier is essential in my town if you want to take the chill off the air (after a sunny day with all windows and doors open it was still 76% humidity in my front room the other day). It delays putting the heating on in winter, and makes it more efficient when it is on.

I already had door curtains. But having thermal black out blinds over the glass in the front and back doors has made a huge difference in winter (and summer). You can feel the blast of cold when you open them in the morning to let the sun in.
I got easy install ones from amazon. If we have the budget I want to install them on all our windows. Until then, proper thick net curtains we'll bunched up (not voiles) help take the chill off the windows very cheaply).

Our front room and dining room were knocked through (by idiots who also bricked in the dining room door) so I installed a curtain pole and heavy curtains to get back to two smaller rooms in winter.

My biggest block to saving money on energy is my husband, who when home alone is very quick to turn it on, then forgets to turn it off when he gets warm, and ends up in a t shirt and opening windows however, divorce is also expensive (not sure how to fix that problem as he's a member of the Green party so really should know and do better).

We don't have a thermostat,

We should probably get one

Don’t forget to get a jumper for your dog as well, and a fleecy jumper for yourself. Those Oodie things are great. I don’t recommend electric blankets though - you’re basically wrapping yourself in a big magnet which doesn’t seem safe to me.

I use my pressure cooker to cut down on cooking times.

Make sure your thermostat is correctly working and set at 18 or even 17, wear jumpers in the house and slippers/socks on feet. Batch cook meals you regularly eat with long cook times. Shorter showers. Always do a full wash load/dishwasher load. Avoid tumble drying (racks/line on good days).

Check out charity shops for curtains or perhaps we could have a curtain swop here! I have 5 pairs that don't fit my new house - all lined etc. we have narrow windows here, modern house

X

Those that say don't dry your washing indoors - where do you dry it please? I try to limit/not use at all the tumble dryer unless absolutely necessary. I normally just use the airer in the conservatory. Is this not ok?