How to be warm this winter

[Moodwill]

I'm dreading the cold days. Because we're currently paying £280 a month in gas and electric, in the depths of winter last year our bills were £450 and we barely had the heating on. We're moving to a detached house so I'm even more worried now.

I'm going to get Hive fitted again (as we have it here and it's great to 'boost' heating/set schedules). We all have Oodies, I bought some of those long hot water bottles which I'll put in ours and the DCs beds before we go up. We have an electric blanket for the sofa but it doesn't smell nice anymore and isn't suitable to be washed (are any?) so I'm not sure I'll be able to use it anymore.

I think there's a way of being able to heat up certain rooms rather than the whole house, I've googled but can't find what I mean. OH needs the study warm 9-5, I want a warm living room in the evenings, and DCs room from around 6-9pm.

Any suggestions welcome.

I hate being cold 😔

Make sure you have tons of insulation

Thick curtains on windows and doors ( internal ones to rooms to plan to keep warm ) and plenty of loft insulation

For individual rooms I just turn the radiator values on or off as I go and keep all doors shut - you need to radiator by the thermostat to be on

I got myself one of these last winter as a 'house coat'. It's actually a long cardigan and kept me so warm in the house all winter. They have an offer this weekend, I'm trying not to look as I love their merino underwear too:
uk.dilling.com/Women/Women-s-merino-wool-alpaca-knit-cardigan.html

Really good thick curtains or get some extra lining. Front door curtain as well, especially if it's not a new door. I've just bought extra linings for our living room for about £30.

Insulation behind radiators, insulated foil from wicked or b&q.

Draft exclusion everywhere possible. Get some of the long cushion draft excluders to use in main rooms when heating is on. Also use these on doors to garages and utility rooms as these will be a lot colder.

Close all curtains at dusk.

We spent a weekend last year making these small changes and it really did make a difference.

Get fat. I never feel the cold 😂

The long sausage draft excluders are very easy to make.

Where shouts are you?

Last yea I bought oodies, fleeces, hand warmers, heated blanket. Never needed any of it.

The bills won't be as high as last winter as the u it price is down.

The standing charges have increased too

Definitely thick curtains, we got some from a charity shop last year to go by our front door and it made a massive difference to the temperature in the hallway and upstairs landing. They’re dorma ones and cost us £10! Close them as it gets dark and leave them closed as much as you can - all day if the rooms aren’t in use (sod what the neighbours think!)

You can get thermostatic valves with hive so you can programme each one differently.

I have a portable gas heater that I kept for power outages but started using regularly last year. I have a very big livingroom and it heat it up so well for about €60 for the whole winter. I was warmer than if I'd had my central heating on round the clock. I used to just turn my central heating on for an hourish at night before bed, so the bedrooms wouldn't feel damp from never being heated.

What's your typical heating schedule to have bills so high?

Are you at home all day? Is your boiler old?

£280 is a lot in summer.

How are you paying £280 per month in summer? Are you paying off debt from last year or is that genuinely what you use?

The key is insulation, layers and lots of warm blankets and throws.

Don't assume the hive schedule from your last house is the best one for your new home. Against all the literature, it was plain using hive that we used the same amount of gas keeping the house at a moderate temp than letting it get cold and then asking it to get the house warm and it was far more comfortable.

As well as curtains, layers of natural fabrics, socks, hot water bottles, hot drinks, soups, stews, give a dehumidifier a try, we absolutely would not be without ours now and we really notice a difference in room temperature.

Presumably the op has a dd of £280 to cover the £450/ month usage in the winter.

But £450 per month winter use is huge. Unless she's got a 20 bed mansion with no insulation or a secret swimming pool.

£450 per month in winter is equally extortionate though. We paid less than £150/month last winter for gas and electric combined, and we're certainly not stingy with the heating!

She might have an electric car? We do and we're not too far off that in December.

Ours is 5 bed, detached, us small twins and a teen, and we had combined bills from £600 to £790 per month last winter.

I have a heated throw that can be washed. "dreamcatcher". Bought in on Amazon I think but the same one is on John Lewis.

@ChristmasCrumpet Thats an insane bill. 3 bed detached here spending £160 per month. What are you using all your energy on?!

Probably time to turn off the fleet of hot tubs 😁

If you can't afford to replace the curtains for thick insulated ones, you can attach lightweight Fleece throws between the window and the regular curtains. Make a draft excluder for the bottom of draft doors.
Fleece throws under the bottom sheet on the bed make the bed very toasty.

Our house has storage heaters which are a bit pants and very expensive. And the house is old-ish so not that well insulated. Hot water bottles, layers of clothes (thermal underwear, very unattractive, makes a huge difference!), thick curtains, draught excluders, wool socks, layers on the bed, flannel sheets (top and bottom), lots of hot tea. We do have an open fire which helps a lot but can't really replicate that unless you have one.

In January?