Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

My house is 8 degrees. 8 degrees

455 replies

Bonecold · 01/04/2022 15:43

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
AlexaShutUp · 01/04/2022 17:54

OP, please don't choose any of those options before talking to your local council. They may have household support fund money that can help you. You could also try talking to your local CAB/other advice centre, or contact your energy company and ask if there is anything that they can do to help - some have hardship funds etc. There are lots of charities that may know of grants that you might be able to apply for.

You and your children absolutely deserve to live in a warm house. If you can't get any help from your local council, then go and see your local MP and ask for assistance. It's likely that they will also know of local help that is available, or at the very least, they can put pressure on the government to do more.

You don't just have to accept this, it isn't right.

Paddingtonthebear · 01/04/2022 17:54

Unfortunately there are a lot of rental properties like this. I’ve lived in at least 2 rentals that could have got down to 8 degrees in same situation. Not cheap to rent properties either, and owned by very wealthy landlords, but they never want to spend any money on insulation or improvements.

FalafelAddict · 01/04/2022 17:56

I got some thermal curtains for the windows that have made a big difference.

Would also second the electric blankets - made me feel like my nan but they do make a difference and you only need them on a short time

Also get draught excluders for everywhere and I second the recommendation for loft insulation

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Cost of living
Svara · 01/04/2022 17:57

@JinglingHellsBells

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.

I'm in a new build semi that holds the heat well and it was 11 degrees this morning as the heating has been off. Rarely dropped below 12 or 13 with the heating at 15 for three hours a day. Once heating is off the temperature will drop if it's cold outside.
Scianel · 01/04/2022 17:58

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

It was snowing in parts of Scotland yesterday and absolutely freezing, temperatures were in the minuses in central belt Scotland this morning.

UsernameIsNotAvailableRightNow · 01/04/2022 18:00

I would see if you can get any free dry wood like builders offcuts etc and maybe buy a small load of dry logs and then also scavenge for as much wood as possible and stick it in the room with the fire so it can dry out.

Keep scavenging all summer too so you have a good amount for the cold months again

AchillesLastStand · 01/04/2022 18:01

@Laptopsandmouses

I’m not sure the tories are to blame for Russia invading the Ukraine. That’s a bit of a stretch
This energy crisis was in the pipeline long before the war in Ukraine. Ed Milliband warned about this in 2015. The government stuck its fingers in its ears and did nothing to invest in the sustainable energy we need. The Tories are to blame.
AlexaShutUp · 01/04/2022 18:05

The Tories are absolutely to blame for the fact that there isn't enough help in place to enable people to heat their homes properly without getting into debt or going without other essentials. They may not have created the energy price hike, but it is certainly their job to ensure that appropriate support is in place.

Thirkettle · 01/04/2022 18:05

Doesn't wood need to be dry?

NannaKaren · 01/04/2022 18:12

Be careful with the candles - make sure extinguished before bed!
Sorry you are in this position x

L0stinCyberspace · 01/04/2022 18:12

[quote Febrier]Definitely the being cold! People have lived with real fires basically forever and so long as you have proper chimney and ventilation (and quite frankly it sounds like the whole house is ventilation) it's not going to do anyone any harm esp in the short term.

I agree that the open fire is the priority now but that's not to deny the truth about air pollution:

In the UK, the single biggest source of this type of air pollution is domestic coal and wood-burning, which accounts for almost 40 per cent of the UK’s background levels of PM2.5.
This presents a major public health challenge.

www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2020/march/open-fires-wood-burners-bad-health[/quote]
When the OP and her children are in danger of hypothermia from fuel poverty I really think it's both unfeeling and inappropriate of you to post this.

Hollyhead · 01/04/2022 18:12

It’s going to be warmer by Monday if that helps your decision. Have you done all you can with draught proofing etc? Where are you? We’re midlands and our house is 16 with no heating on.

TheirTheyre · 01/04/2022 18:12

B. Definitely b. I don’t think the bad weather will last long,( depends where you are I guess ) as you say the house is empty during the day. It will heat up soon and you can save up for your oil order. Flowers

gizmo · 01/04/2022 18:13

@alexashutup has a point I think, @Bonecold. Most councils have an environmental health/private rental team who can signpost any grant support for you, plus intervene with your landlord.

I spend a part of my work doing monitoring for these teams, and sadly @bonecold is not on her own with this problem. While your house may technically be over the MEES threshold (don't get me started on how easy it is to game the EPC) you are at risk with these sorts of temperatures and they'll want to know.

Environmental health may be able to provide a carrot of some funding support for your landlord along with the stick. ECO schemes have been quite good for this funding in the past - although single skin brick is hard to deal with just reducing drafts in your home can make a significant difference to heatloss.

Atomiccat · 01/04/2022 18:18

@Thirkettle

Doesn't wood need to be dry?
It does.
Ddot · 01/04/2022 18:19

A candle in a terracotta pot heats up really well just make sure you put something underneath. Go get some salvaged wood with the kids. Could you buy some fuel from a neighbour just to get you through a week or so.

Crikeyalmighty · 01/04/2022 18:23

I would say B&C combo - but you can’t be the only person in this position— as someone else said I wonder if anyone local could split a delivery with you. What a bloody situation!!

tothemoonandbackbuses · 01/04/2022 18:24

Join Freecycle and freegle and you can ask for wood/left over bags of coal for free anonymously.
If anyone near by has lots of trees in their fields they may let you pick up the wood/sticks as it makes a mess of the grass. I pick up all the wood in our fields for kindling and burning wood but if someone asked me if they could I would let them.

Pine cones burn really well.
Have you anything lying around you can chop up and burn such as old furniture?
Do you know any builders or joiners who would have any off cuts or old wood available? Not ideal if it’s been treated but I’ve burnt plenty of wood like this in the past.
If you live near the coast is there any sea coal you can gather or drift wood? It will spit though.

I’ve just turned my heating down to 10 degrees and if it the cost isn’t halved when I read the meter tomorrow it’ll be on the frost setting. I am lucky with a log burner and free supply of wood.

tothemoonandbackbuses · 01/04/2022 18:25

You can burn birch wet.

bellac11 · 01/04/2022 18:28

@JinglingHellsBells

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.

One year in around Feb my partner turned the heating off for a week while we were on holiday, we arrived back to a house which was 11 degrees it was freezing.. The cat was furious

We are a 3 bed semi in the south east so I can imagine a single skinned house somewhere else would be 8 degrees easily

Hutchy16 · 01/04/2022 18:30

Use the electric radiator, the kids need to be warm. DO NOT get a payday loan if that’s what you were thinking…not worth it at all

Firstruleofsoupover · 01/04/2022 18:37

Will it soon get to the point where it is cheaper to go abroad for half board somewhere warm and cheap and turn everything off back home. Or, if European countries are in the same or a worse position, will the price of holidays rocket! It is very shocking times. I have great sympathy for you OP. You sound a cool analyser of this problem so your ideas will be the best about how you will manage, but I just wondered if locally you knew someone you could say to, I will do this for you XYZ and you pay me in wood or coal because I'd prefer that. But I notice you work full time anyway.

LBOCS2 · 01/04/2022 18:38

@JinglingHellsBells

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.

I grew up in a Victorian house which was north facing and single glazed. It was under 10 degrees in my bedroom when I woke up frequently and that was with heating (massively inefficient clearly).

If you have an IKEA nearby you can get some of their blankets and use them to line your curtains; make sure you're not losing heat when you do have it. Keep yourself covered up - try not to get cold, if possible. Keep blankets on the sofa etc. I hear very good things about heated blankets. If you're only heating one room then use hot water bottles before you go up to take the chill off the beds.

Original poster
Bonecold · 01/04/2022 18:38

@NdefH81

You’re right I suppose i was just curious
Look…I’m not just “making a decision today”

I knew I only had inches left weeks ago. We stopped having baths 3 weeks ago and changed to showers only. I turned the heating down to 1 hr in the morning and 2 hrs in the PM.

500lt was around £800 two weeks ago, it doesn’t matter if it’s £800, £400 or £10000. It isn’t achievable. I was hoping to eek the few inches out until it got warmer. It was glorious last week. It’s cold and snowing and the oil gave up the ghost last night.

I didn’t just wake up today surprised

OP posts: