[Wanted] Hot Tips for Living Without Heating this Week

[NameChangeDayNov]

Our heating has conked out - hot water is still working, and plumber/gas engineer is booked for Thursday.

It's a bit chilly around here (about -1 at night, and 6 degrees during the day).

Here's the plan (what are we missing)?

Keep internal doors shut.
Keep front door curtain closed.
Put towel rails on high (they are run off the hot water not the central heating).
Cook stuff in the oven.
Tumble dry clothes more often (both because they won't dry inside in the cold, and because the tumble-dryer heats the kitchen up).
We have a heated throw - use that on the sofa and to pre-warm beds.
We have a fan heater - use that if necessary.
Wear jumpers and thick socks.
Stop moaning.

It's not a big deal, it's fine really, we live in a reasonably well insulated house, and it's not arctic conditions.

But is there anything else people would suggest to keep the house a little warmer?

Can you buy or borrow a calor gas heater?

Lots of warm drinks
Hot baths

We had no boiler at all for several weeks in the late winter. Keep one room toasty - we had a gas fire, thank goodness, and bought two cheap fan heaters for dining room and to put upstairs. Wheat bags in the microwave. Extra layers of clothes and on beds. It was absolutely dire. Boiling kettles to wash. Good luck.

We don’t have heating so this is our norm.

Wear layers.
Wear socks, hats and gloves.
Hot water bottles.
Oil filled heater that you can move around (although we are saving this for when we get desperate).
Heated sheets rather than heated blankets.
Lots of blankets!
Move around!
Don’t forget to air the house.

Buy more heated throws

Hot water bottles on sofas, in beds and on knee when sitting anywhere at all.

Get out for a walk to warm up

My grandmother always said "if you're cold... work". So strip and change beds (strip the bed, that is... keep your own clothes on!), clean skirting boards with old cloth and Cif, clear out kitchen cupboards. Anything physical.

Good luck getting the boiler sorted.

If you already have some fleece throws then put them on your beds under the bottom sheet, they make the mattress feel warm even without adding heat.

We had a couple of winters a few years ago with no central heating (and no fire) in Scotland! A diy project that went a bit haywire timewise (don't ask). We did buy a small plug in radiator for one room eventually.

But mostly we relied on layers, blankets, scarves and hot water bottles. I wouldn't like to repeat it for a whole winter but we do often get power cuts as we live rurally but not so bad when its not for too long.

Do you have spare duvets for guests? Get them on the sofa with a hot water bottle underneath (and a couple of bodies) and it can get quite cosy.

Don't underestimate the power of a good moan though. Teen ds and I will testify in court that wandering about muttering under our breath "its fucking freezing in here!" really helped 😅.

Heated throws - oil filled portable radiators - thermal clothes - I go out for walks then it always feels warmer when you come back in

The thing that puts me off hot baths is getting out of them. But, the bathroom could be one of the warmest rooms (with the towel rail on).

You poor things, in good news, we still have hot water.

But you're right, we need to focus our energy on keeping one room warm and cosy. We have three reception rooms, conservatory (cold), dining room (cold because it's next to the conservatory), and living room. We have double doors between each room, so we're keeping those closed, focusing on warming up the living room, the kitchen is fairly self-warming (due to cooking etc.).

I had literally forgotten about the existence of hot water bottles, I have two (and not old, so I'm not worried about them having perished).

Good call - I'll get those going now!

We do have spare bedding, I've doled it out across the beds!

I'll also raid the vac-pack which is labelled 'blankets etc.' (I don't know what the 'etc.' is).

Your grandma is right! It actually felt fairly okay when I was nipping around with the hoover earlier!

We don’t have our heating on yet and the house is 11*. We’re surviving by having lots of blankets on the sofa, lots of layers, hot water bottles, and an electric under blanket on the bed. At the moment I’m actually pretty toasty.
Oh, and fingerless gloves.

I'm a complete fresh air freak but also we have cats and I refuse to have litter trays in the house until cat bedtime which is about 6pm. Until then all doors stay open so they have garden access all day. My bedroom window is fully open all year no matter how cold it gets (in fact the colder my room is the better)
We have fur throws everywhere, hot water bottles, and of course you can't be cold with three cats fighting for space to sit on you.

Wear merino wool as underwear

If you put a blanket over the top of your heated throw it will keep you much warmer.

Go out as often as possible and for as long as possible.

Be active to keep warm but only moderately. If you get sweaty you'll end up colder with the moisture next to your skin. In fact be very very wary of being wet at all. If anyone is particularly vulnerable consider getting a hotel rather than tough it out.

Focus on one room, but also heat the person. Hot water bottles, hat and gloves, thermals

Is it worth getting one of these plug in heaters?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8736637?clickSR=slp:term:ceramic%20plug%20in%20heater:2:7:1

Do you have Oodies? They keep me toasty in our cold house.

Thermal leggings and thermal tops. T shirt then fleece or jumper.

Heated drying rack doubles as a radiator in the room you use it in and drys clothes. Also hot water bottles and blankets that move from sofa to on top of bed at night. Exercise at home as well to warm up ...kitchen disco time 😊

Do you not have home emergency cover in addition to your home insurance? Ours is £3 a month. Someone might have come out sooner if so.

Cheap Oodie from Amazon, I wfh and this is a godsend, keeps me really warm.