Planning for a colder winter at home.

[Florencenotflo]

Like a lot of people, we're not going to be able to have the heating on as much this winter. What should I be buying now to make it as comfortable as possible? More for our 2 DD's (6 and 3). I don't have much extra money but I can buy things gradually over the next couple of months.

So far I have on my list:
Fleecy onesies to go over pyjamas
Warmer/thermal socks
Hot water bottle each

I'm thinking of killing 2 birds with one stone and putting a heated airer in their rooms. MIL has just given me her old one so I have 2 now, they might just take the chill off. I'm still going to need to dry clothes.

I wfh so I'm planning on asking a couple of family members to club together for my Christmas present and get me a heated throw. I already have fluffy slippers from last year.

Is there anything else I could do to make it easier/comfier?

I bought double sided draught excluders - which were made to measure and move with the door. Such a difference to the temperature, especially with older doors! I also used foam weatherstripping around the exterior doors, which made a noticeable difference.

Other than that - electric throw blanket for the couch, thermals, jumpers, slippers, fingerless gloves. Electric blanket and brushed cotton sheets for the bed. I haven't turned the heating on much (during the Australian winter).

Just letting people know you can buy good quality cellular wool blanket on ebay - if buying second hand can even get them at under £20.
Will keep you v warm and toasty.

People need to check the energy ratings of their appliances and think about the type of energy they’re using. An air fryer uses the same amount of electricity as an oven, so don’t go using it with impunity thinking you’re saving money.

Absolutely - it is really worth understanding what power each device uses.

An e.g. Lakeland's 3 tier heated airer uses 300w so if it takes 8 hours to dry anything, it would cost me £1.18 per use, at today's costs.

My dryer uses 1.49kwh for the average gentle dry cycle. 73p.

If I choose the intensive dry option it's 2.82kwh or £1.38.

It does not make any sense to me to spend £100 on an airer that provides little to no saving. Though I appreciate, if I kept it in the office it would provide some heat as well.

My oven costs me 98p for an hour of use.

My slow cooker costs me 13p an hour. But anything I cook in it takes at least 6 hours vs an hour in the oven, that's 79p.

At that close a saving, I need to be careful I'm not cooking things for longer in the slow oven and using more energy than putting the oven on for half an hour and using that.

Floor length curtains hung on covered wire on all door frames.

Did this cheaply with the wire kits (@£5 for 5m & 10ish mixed hooks/loops) and used curtains from charity shops. Light blankets or even doubled sheets would work too.

Takes a bit of getting used to if you have to carry big things from room to room regularly (looking at you cat litter boxes )

But it cuts down on drafts, has a similar ‘cosy’ mindset How describes candles doing (although ffs be careful if going curtains and candles <inserts disclaimer stuff>)

Because of alluded to cats and cat litters I can’t close all the doors in the house so this was a half-way house and I was surprised how much it warmed the house up even with no heating on.

I was also surprised at how much fun it is to enter or leave rooms with a dramatic swish of material.

<it is I, Michelle,>
<& the beautiful assistant disappears>
<Oh Rhett (sthg sthg old hollywood be-crinolined Sunday night tv nostalgia)

I have now started wearing long dresses/skirts and/or aprons for a fuller effect.

(and boy are long skirts handy as makeshift baskets when you want to carry stuff)

It’s win on both the warmth and the amusement factors.

This winter might be miserable enough so I’m happy to have quick bursts of childish amusement flinging myself through curtained doorways.

yes defo real wool. I got some merino wool long sleeved tops from an outdoorsy place in the sale and seem to just wear those almost the whole of last winter, I would get decent wool socks too.

I put a good wool blanket over the chair, sit on that, if needed a hottie for my feet or on my belly or back but always with a cover and not too hot as it can mark your skin. I also have a couple of proper wool lap blankets if really chilly

The other thing if you wfh is to make the effort to move around, get yourself out for a 10min walk (milk, pos box, dog whatever) so you get your circulation moving and feel the benefit when home. Also shut doors to rooms to keep heat generated in working room in. You could take that to extreme and work in a small room as well.

If its really bad we have a short burst of heating around 1-2pm then cuppa about 3.30, we tend to have stews etc and cook them in our Everhot cooker which means it is generating more heat as its working so helps heat hubbies office. The other knack is hot food at brekkie or lunch.

There is also more we can do generally to stop draughts like the old sausage dogs for the bottom of doors, heavier curtains etc especially in older houses.

Someone mentioned using heated clothes dryers but remember they put alot of moisture into a room which isn't great in winter or kids rooms - I suppose try it and see.

I'm thinking of moving my two DC into a room together, probably the smallest room as it'll be cheaper to heat.

We have thermal blinds/curtains already (not sure they'll do much though) and will be getting fleecy pyjamas for them.

Downstairs is all open plan and a real pain to heat. So I think it'll just be lots of layers, blankets, and microwave heat bags.

@ShesNotTheMessiah that's revelatory, thank you.

Oodies (massive fleece hoodies) can layer up or down underneath them easily. Don't need to be the branded ones, amazon sell them and would last ages with children.

Thermal linings for curtains and make sure you draw them in the evenings. Rugs will make hard floors warmer.

Slow cooker meals are cheaper but if you use the oven, leave the door open after to heat the kitchen.

Admittedly I'm in a different country, but we get cold over winter. Usually my internal temp without heating is 15 degrees or so. Out where I grew up, overnight temps hit negatives. That house was old old old, uninsulated, lots of gaps, only one heated room. So whilst we might not be UK temps it sounds like internal temps are similar.

I don't use heating. Too costly. On very rare occasions I will turn the reverse cycle air con on to heat up for a little bit. I just find the air gets stuffy with heaters on.

Personally I prefer feather doonas as they are light and toasty. I change the weight of doona covers depending on the season. Winter heavy jacquards etc, summer light cotton. Given our warmer temps across the year, mine is 50/50 feather and down. Higher down content is warmer. For feathers to work, they need to be as close to your body as possible. If you want additional layers (I would recommend wool) they go on top of the feathers, not under. I visited home recently, a brisk max 10 during the day. I was warm in bed but the blanket combination was so heavy I was pretty much pinned in place all night. Definitely prefer the feathers!

You can also do flannelette sheets (I'm not a fan, I get too hot), flannelette pjs and socks. Tuck pj pants in to socks to stop drafts. A singlet / thermal top under the flannelette top could also help if cold overnight.

During the day, I dress for the temps. Nothing too heavy though. A pure wool jumper if I get cold, but normally two fairly light long sleeve tops and not overly thick pants. Warm socks - wool or bamboo, again tuck pants in. Inside temp is a pretty constant 15 during the day.

I always have a blanket on the couch - I'm under it as soon as internal temps are below 25. I've had two blankets over winter - they're synthetic and not very thick. Wool would be much warmer.

We're prone to drought over here so conditioned to short showers 2-5 mins max. It's tempting to stay longer in winter but hot showers dry your skin out, so it's best to be quick.

Pets - ever since my staffy rattled through the night on wooden floors (he was shivering), the pets have pjs. They get a choice on or off but pretty much come running as soon as they hear the rip of the velcro. They have lighter polar fleece for day time. Depending on temps, they may keep the day pjs on and get a second coat over the top at night, or just get a single warmer coat at night. Pjs are on once outside overnight temps are single digits.

Food wise I'm going to try and get back into batch cooking and reheating in the microwave. Costs no more to make 3-4 portions instead of one and then pennies to reheat.

Plus using the InstantPot, which is surprisingly cheaper than using an oven. Probably wouldn't save enough for it to be worthwhile buying one, but seeing as we already have one it's worth using.

Can you explain the instant pot to me please? What kind of meals do you cook in it and I'm assuming it's just an electric pot doing the opposite to the slow cooker, it cooks a meal quicker?

@StillMedusa Was going to suggest thick lined curtains too. We've put a full width curtain across the bottom of our stairs and the difference it makes is amazing. You can actually feel the temperature difference on each side.

If you have spare duvets, even summer weight ones put them on the bed. You can use one under your bottom sheet and one over the top of your normal duvet if it is really cold. The under duvet makes the bed really snuggly, well worth a try.

Brushed cotton bedding is warmer than normal polycotton or smooth cotton. Fleece too but there are environmental concerns.

Try to get wool vests if you can. I got one from MandS about 30 or so years ago. It's as thin as gossamer and you can see through the patterns (and holes now though I still keep mending it) But do you know it's as toasty as anything and more than many so called thermal items which are made from polyester. These don't allow moisture to be absorbed or evaporate so after a while there's a 'dampness' Wool and silk are the way to go. Wool blankets are also extremely effective. Explain to me someone, how is an electric throw better at saving energy than a blanket and hottie bottie when watching TV?

Make snake draft excluders.

You can do nice ones that match your soft furnishings or if you want a cheap option use anything you have around the house. If your sewing skills are limited the leg of a pair of tights or leggings works well as an outer. Stuff it with scrap fabric, or wadding from an old pillow.

Great project for kids too, especially if they can manage some simple hand sewing.

Put a pet jumper on them.

Just don’t use the camping stove indoors. It’s not safe - they give out too much carbon monoxide.

Get outdoors and go on a brisk riot. It will keep you warm and put pressure on this government of millionaires to do something about the gross inequalities of income and assets we have in this country.

@ResteRestedDevelopment Thank you - am in a similar situation with cat/doors. Now I have an answer. Plus a reason to swish dramatically whenever the mood takes me.

I'm laughing my head off at the of trying to put jumpers on my cats 😂

Dog might tolerate it but he'd not be happy about it. Tried cool vests this summer and he was disgusted!

For the kids, bed socks and even bed cardis, fluffy sheets, blanket to go over the duvet and a warm mattress liner under the sheets.

SLippers and dressing gowns around the house etc

@CrystalCalm

Yep, so ours has pressure cooking (fast) and slow cooking options.

You can cook a lot of things from whole chickens, cakes, porridge, chilli, pasta (from raw), risottos in it.

On pressure cooking most things cook within 30 minutes. The amount of energy saved depends on the meal, if you're cooking raw meat you can save quite a lot compared to cooking it in the oven.

@k1233 that's adorable. A velcro fleece might work for dog, I could run one up too easily enough if I can't find one to fit, thanks!

Any recommendations for 12v pet beds?

I am fortunately able to run my wood burner on 100% foraged wood. I invested in a moisture meter and it is amazing how much of it is already under 20% moisture (the recommended cut off point - anything over 20% is too damp). Anything over that i chuck to the back of the log store - greener wood dries surprisingly quickly but I tend to go for the old fallen branches and trees - plus I burn a lot of old pallets which are bone dry (just make sure they are the heat treated ones and not treated with any chemicals) but do burn quickly.

I invested in a battery chainsaw and have spent time this summer filling up my double log store. But I am very lucky to live rurally and have the permission of a landowner to forage in a wood where I keep my horses.

Central heating will stay off till November and will only be on a frost-free setting when I do use it. Hot water bottles for my old dog when I go to work and possibly a fleece coat. Two duvets on the bed. Thermal base layers. I grew up without central heating so I am not too worried.