How are people warm enough with their houses at 18 degrees?

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

My heating is set at 21, and I'm still cold!! But I keep reading on here that people have their heating set at 18.

I'm already wearing a jumper and fluffy socks. Sitting on the sofa with a blanket. I am OK with it at this temperature but feel that I should be trying to reduce it further.

Am I just a wuss?

You’re just nesh, that’s all.

I keep the house at 18-19. I realise at that temp that I am cold, not the house!! When I'm still I am never far from a hot water bottle, they really are a game changer and I can happily sit in 18° with one.

Our thermostat is usually set to 17, but I do feel the cold. DH and the DC do not feel the cold at all. We've not had the heating on yet this autumn, but DH is currently in trainer socks, shorts, t-shirt and a jumper and I have got normal socks, woolly socks, slipper boots, tracksuit bottoms, a vest, a long sleeved thermal top and a warm jumper on. I was cold earlier but have been moving around sorting dinner so am quite warm at the moment. Will be getting my dressing gown as well when the dog has gone to bed (he'll chew it otherwise).

Not sure how I will fare when it gets colder as DH only wants the heating on when it gets below about 7 or 8 due to cost.

I really do think it's an 'each to their own' thing. I'm anaemic, but I'm also menopausal (on HRT), and I would be very uncomfortably hot at 18 degrees. 15 is my ideal. I just stick another cardy on if I feel chilly, as I can then take it off again. However, it wouldn't be possible to heat my house to much more than that, even with the best will in the world, as it's old and leaky. I sleep with my window open all year round.

I have a small thermometer. If I put the heating 'on' it will also tell me the temperature at the thermostat.

I’m always cold but spent 6 years in a house with very inadequate heating and it was oil so we had to make it last, spent most of the time in thermals, plenty of layers and wrapped up in blankets, the house used to get to 9 degrees sometimes.
I’m in a newer build now that holds the heat and we’ve felt quite comfortable at 17 degrees, I’m still chilly so wearing a jumper and using a blanket but it’s fine during the day, the biggest difference is there’s no draughts which is wonderful!

Wearing a knitted hat would make you feel warmer. Hot water bottles too. I always run warm myself but i have friends who feel the cold and they use hot water bottles a lot.

Been an absolute gorgeous day here, beautiful sunshine around 18 degrees hard to believe it’s October

Have lit the log burner this evening as it’s dropped to around 7 ish very rapidly and there is quite a nip to the air.

Downstairs is lovely and toasty upstairs is really cool which is good as I can’t sleep when I’m too hot

I used to be the same had to have a warm house around 20/21 degrees now I’m older quite probably menopausal I don’t do heat very well at all

I am wearing better clothes than I used to, so now I will always put another layer on before going for the heating, or a throw.

My hands and feet are always cold no matter what I do, so I don’t see the point in having the heating on that high.

I’ve had it on though as I live in a listed cottage and I draw the line when I’m wearing an Oodie, thermal leggings, knee high socks and I’m shivering as the house was 15.

I was very anaemic in spring this year. I really felt the cold.

18 degrees here. No heating on. It’s fine. Long sleeve t-shirt, thin jumper, cardigan. I am moving about, however. If you’re draped over the sofa expecting to be warm I can imagine it would be disappointing. Maybe get up and move about for a bit.

I am also quite fat, which helps.

Its 21 degrees in here today and I've been wearing shorts. Put an oversized cardi on on the couch this evening for comfort but still wearing shorts.
We had the house at 23 about two weeks ago and it was uncomfortable to be in.

Ah, I used to be like this! Our thermostat was always around 21/22 but this year we’ve left it at 18. The trick is layers, warm slippers and move around enough to warm you up a bit at intervals (I’ve been spacing housework out 🤣). We have lots of blankets to snuggle under which helps. I’m not feeling that cold at the moment and I was worried I would be freezing with the heating down low.

Our heating is off and I’m really warm

@FivePotatoesHigh thats your clue! No heating & you're really warm, YOU run hot!

another poster has heating & layers on, but they're still Cold. They run cold.

I'm weird, I run hot, but once I'm cold , that's it, my arsed is like a frozen carved object! My nose is frozen and my fingers coukd be snapped off!

It’s 13 in my house at the minute and I’m wearing pyjama shorts and a sports bra.

I've just turned our heating off as it was getting too hot (19 degrees). I think so much depends on the individual. When we moved back to the UK from Portugal DD spent our first winter here absolutely freezing. Now she is used to it she doesn't feel it nearly as much.

I used to be a very cold person all the time. Menopause has done wonders for that!🙄

Ours is 22 we are both elderly and dh aged 86 is always cold even with a jumper and a blanket. Heating on 7-10 am and 5-10 pm but I can switch it on in between if I want to.

18 is a perfectly comfortable temperature. 20 feels far too warm. We haven't switched on the heating yet this year but I will when it dips to 16 or below regularly. Wearing lots of thin layers is best for retaining your body heat. People did survive without central heating for thousands of years before the modern age. Obviously I understand that old and frail people need more warmth but the rest of us need to keep hands off the thermostat and put a vest on.

My heating isn’t on
I’m wearing my oddie and ugg slippers and im plenty warm
DH has his Oodie on and a heated throw
its not cold enough to put the heating on but the heated throw is fine and cheaper

I’m a cold person too.
I spend the summers in Florida and this is where I’m most comfortable. When everyone else is sweating, I’m completely enjoying myself. I even enjoy the humidity.

Today in the UK was freezing.

Currently 16.5 here, blanket over my feet but just pyjamas on otherwise. Feels a comfortable temperature.

My house gets as low as 5 degrees overnight through winter as it’s usually empty because we’re a house of night workers and I haven’t put the heating on through the day as everyone’s asleep. It’s quite weird to see your breath when you’re walking around the house 😁 I don’t put the heating on then though because then it gets too hot to sleep so it’s just a blanket over the duvet until we’ve warmed up.

The maximum I ever turn my heating up to is 19, anything above that and I’m too hot and stripping layers off which feels like a waste of money. The house is a new-ish build (under 10years) so heats up fast and holds the heat well. Half an hour to get it to 19 and it will stay at that temperature all evening.

The inside of my house is never below 12, even if there's a foot of snow outside so the heating would never come on at 7!

No idea what temp it is in here but I'm in a vest and DH has a blanket. No heating on. He feels the cold, I don't. I'd have the window open if I were here alone!

Different people experience temperature differently. It isn't any more complicated of bewildering than that, and I don't really understand why every single MN thread about heating or temperature descends into some sort of pissing contest.

It's currently 11 degrees in Edinburgh and I'm sat in knickers and a tee with the window wide open. Windows have been open overnight since about May and it hasn't occurred to me to go anywhere near the central heating controls yet this autumn because I haven't once felt cold. I'm usually comfortable with the room being 14-15 degrees ambient, but going by mumsnet that's far below where most other people would be comfortable. Consensus seems to be most people are comfortable around 18, but there will always be outliers where some find that either intolerably cold or far too hot. There's nothing odd or weird about it, it's just another aspect of human physiology being different from individual to individual.

There is possibly something to being 'acclimatised' to certain temperatures and that becoming a norm for you. I grew up in a freezing cold house with no heating, so it seems more than coincidence that I'm comfortable in lower temperatures. It would be interesting to know how many who feel cold below 18 degrees grew up in houses where that temperature was the norm.

OP I’m with you. It’s some sort of contest on these threads, who can feel the best at +16. I’ll tell you something, people feel temperature differently. I love heat, in +32 I’m still happily gardening and going on as usual. If it drops below 20 in the house I instantly feel it and my fingers and knees get cold and and stiff and I hate it. 21-22 is the optimal for me in winter.