My house is 8 degrees. 8 degrees

[Bonecold]

Heating oil ran out yesterday. I have £200 in the savings pot with boiler juice. For a minimum order I need 500 litres which is £468.

So I’ve left the heating off until either the price per litre drops, the weather gets better, or my savings pot reaches the amount needed to do an order (£65 DD a month).

In the meantime I have a fire place so I can heat one room (but no wood so have to outlay for that).

I can’t work out if I should:

a) remove the £200 from the savings account and spend it on wood/coal to get through to warmer weather. Pro - would be warm now, Con - even further away from filling the tank

b) heat one room with wood, live near a wood so could scavenge enough wood weekly to do this?

c) plug in electric radiator. Pro: heat, con: eats electricity

D) small loan for £300/400 and top up oil. Pro: heat, con: small loans have huge interest and would be another bill each month

I’m at work all day and kids at school usually so it’s not like we would be freezing all day and can boil water for cooking and have electric shower for washing. But it’s Easter holidays here so they’ll be home for the next two weeks now

What would you do?

Just a tiny tip but if it's sunny, sit by the window wearing dark clothes. The dark colour will warm up more than a light colour (I'm sure my physics teacher once explained why) and you will briefly have some comforting free warmth.

It's miserable though, let's all hope better weather is on the way very soon.

I have no central heating, although I do live in Cyprus, but this winter has been absolutely Baltic. It snowed 12 days ago. Again. My bedroom has been 8° for the last 3 months. Getting out of the shower and getting dressed is the worst. I lay all my clothes out like I used to put out the kid’s school uniform. We have two oil radiators and a fire. We also have a stupid big dog who hates the fire, so it’s a constant battle of having to shut the door as he goes out. I wear 3 layers, and have a massive Wolfy throw that I use on the sofa, plus the fire and the radiator. Two duvets on the bed, one thick, one slightly thinner.
Thank god it’s warmed up this week. Bedroom now reading 16°. Whoop, whoop.

Feeling your misery - I’m also in a single skin brick house (part inherited and will be on the market this time next year).

I know a couple of people laughed at the candle suggestion, but a gardeners trick can help. A lit candle in an upturned terracotta plant plot is often used by gardeners to take the chill off an unheated greenhouse. You need to melt the end and stick to a plate, then put the upturned plant pot over the top. Needs to be at least medium sized and have a hole in it. The heat from the flame will heat up the terracotta which will radiate out and cool down slowly once the candle has gone out.

Just use your fireplace and scavenge for wood. The weather will heat up soon. Save up what you need for the winter…some people share oil deliveries - are you able to to do that?

Oakleaffy, spot on.

my house had no heating for a month and only got to 12!! So that is bloody cold OP. I would be tempted to use some oil money on electricity to run heaters plus the fire then let the oil account build back up over summer.

My DD bought a hot water bottle with a waist holder (for period pain) from Amazon. It works a treat. It means you can walk around your house with your hot water bottle in a little pouch either on the front of you or the back. It keeps her very toasty and was pretty cheap, around 15-20 I believe. It also has a little pouch in front of where the hot water bottle goes so you can slide your hands in to keep them warm too. It's all plush fabric, so very soft and cozy.

I'm sorry you are going through this OP!

Speaking from experience, beware the bottom of the oil tank - sometimes it can accumulate sludge, which will block your pipes and you'll need to pay for a clean. Depends on how old the tank is though -take a look in with a torch to see if anything is lurking.

You might have problems with your heating system if the tank has run dry. The crap from the bottom of the tank needs to be flushed out of the system.

Ran out yesterday?

How come only making decision today?!

Get some electric blankets, they are God sent and they don’t used to much electricity, I always have mine on as I work from home and I can’t afford to have the hearing on all day

Our boiler died this morning and I've spent all day utterly miserable, ours is a super 13°. I don't cope with the cold well at all. Thankfully dh is a tradesman and therefore has lots of tradesmen pals, got one here the now to see what needs fixed.

Pick up wood from local woods and let it dry out - it will come in useful.
That’s great you’ve found a bag of coal - as a pp says, coal gives off a lot of heat so maybe buy a couple more bags.
A heated throw is also a good idea.
Hopefully the weather will warm up soon - it was snowing earlier here in the SW.

@NdefH81

Ran out yesterday?

How come only making decision today?!

She maybe thought she could manage without for a bit, and when the temperature dropped today realised she couldn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

what sort of house do you live in and where for it to be 8C in April?

Even when our boiler broke and it was a really cold day one winter, it was nowhere near that temp.

It’s awful that this is happening to so many people. My friend and her two children are coming to stay with us over Easter if it gets cold as she can’t afford to heat her house. Our house is generally warmer so we are hoping that works.

Electric blanket
Wear a knit hat. Having your head and feet covered keeps you warmer.
Sleeping bags.
Hot water bottles

This is the link to it, hope it works:

www.amazon.co.uk/Bottles-Rubber-Bottle-Relief-Shoulder/dp/B099X78XBC/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1ZE4GSILTQ53W&keywords=hot%2Bwater%2Bbottle%2Bpouch%2Bwaist&sprefix=hot%2Bwater%2Bbottle%2B%2Caps%2C449&th=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSE9aNFNUUkhXNTlRJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTg3NDM2MlZJOFAwQTZCOUVMSSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTQ1NDU0OVNDMkdWNkxYTlJUJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1648831633&sr=8-2-spons

It’s just that in a single parent
So constantly planning is just so important
And the idea of completely running out of oil and not giving it thought until the day after… is just baffling to me

We don't have heating, just gas fires in two main rooms. I've seen my breath in the hall sometimes.

@NdefH81

It’s just that in a single parent So constantly planning is just so important And the idea of completely running out of oil and not giving it thought until the day after… is just baffling to me

We’re all different.

Our local asda and the range sell smaller bags of coal, actually works out very slightly cheaper than from the coalman, we bank up the fire at night so keeps house warm, just needs raking in the morning. Hope you can get something sorted out.

You’re right
I suppose i was just curious

Heat one room with wood. Electric throw or hot water bottles if sitting still. I wouldn't try to heat the air with electric heaters.

If you have olive oil then keep it in the warm room, mine 'froze' at single digits one winter.

@CannibalQueen

We don't have heating, just gas fires in two main rooms. I've seen my breath in the hall sometimes.

Our bedroom registers 10 degrees most nights then we boil in summer and can't sleep. It makes visiting homes with CH quite difficult as I'm sitting in shorts and a t shirt while everyone else is in their normal clothes.