What's the big deal about heating???

[2boyzNosleep]

So, NOT including financial issues, why is putting on the heating a huge issue?

After reading some recent threads regarding heating, it's got me thinking.

If you can afford it, why do people refuse to put heating on as long as possible? Why purposefully suffer in a freezing cold house? We all know that living in the cold is detrimental to our health, so personally I'd rather stick the heating on and be comfortable and healthy and an higher energy bill, than save money, freezing & be more susceptible to illness.

I'm on a fixed tariff so I pay the same amount each month for energy based on an estimate. Usually the estimate is well over what we use and we end up getting money back, so we're not shocked by a massive quarter bill to try and pay. Not sure if that's part of it?

Again, just to be clear, I'm not talking about people who are really suffering with paying bills, cost of living etc.

My mother doesn’t like to put the heating on or admitting to feel the cold, it’s not financial, it’s a weird flex about how hardy and strong she is I think, she sees feeling the cold as some kind of weakness (especially as it’s usually women complaining of being cold and my mum doesn’t like women or their “weaknesses” - period pains and PMS don’t exist according to her.

I think the vast majority of people who don't put the heating on are worried about the cost - it's not cheap.

However, everyone has different tolerances for the cold - I've been told before on here that I'm giving myself health issues because I don't put the heating on above 18 degrees, lol. I just don't like it hotter than that - it dries out my skin and gives me a headache.

I guess it also depends what you're used to - my parents could well afford the heating but we never had it on full-blast growing up - about 17-18 was normal so I guess that's the temperature I see as normal.

I remember threads when the price rise kicked off and people were paying 150dd a month but having heating on 1 hour a day because they were worried about cost. Quite a few of us tried to explain that there really is more than 1 hour a day in the 150dd they paid on gas.
There must have been incredible number of people freezing their arses, ruining their houses and then having several hundreds in credit.

On the other hand some people think their 150dd means they can have it on all the time, but many, many more thought the former.

I'm not a person to sit in a freezing house or say things like 'no heating til November' but I could afford to have it on for longer or at a higher temperature than I actually do.

I don't like the feeling of the air being too hot so I'll definitely stick a couple of warm layers on before turning the heating up.

Money and resources aren't unlimited so no point in wasting either of them.

I think my FIL was representative of the kind of old person who sits in a freezing house with £000's in the bank. Extreme frugality was just part of the way he was. Upbringing I guess.

I do find there are people that wear it like a badge of honour. They ask people in the office if they have their heating on yet and will make statements like “it’s not x date yet so it can’t go on” I don’t come across many people like this but it always confuses me why using the heating is an odd competition

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

"I'd say in 99% of cases reluctance to put on the heating is due to financial concerns"

This.

I mean nobody actually wants to sit in a cold dark house. Given a choice I would rather be warm than cold and say 5 years ago I wouldn't hesitate to put the heating on.

But in 2022 the average energy bill went up from £1000 per year to £3500. OK it's now dropped back to around £1800 but when the average take home salary is £2300 per month (£27k per e) then that is a lot of extra expense.

As a result UK electricity demand has dropped 11%.

I think there are plenty of people who claim they can't afford to put the heating on but in reality don't want to spend their money on heating because you get nothing tangible to show for it. There's a difference between being unable to the heat the house and being unwilling to heat the house because you think fuel is too expensive and a waste of money.

I do find there are people that wear it like a badge of honour. They ask people in the office if they have their heating on yet and will make statements like “it’s not x date yet so it can’t go on” I don’t come across many people like this but it always confuses me why using the heating is an odd competition

I think a lot of people say stuff like this to try and make themselves feel better about not having the money themselves, if that makes sense. It's the whole "misery loves company" mindset.

If they know that there there other people freezing as well, they don't feel quite so guilty or miserable.

With me it's the dry heat that takes the moisture out of the air, dries my skin and makes my hair all fly away. I don't like feeling too hot so if I do put the heating on I have the thermostats low. Unfortunately DH is always "freezing" so we have a battle every winter.
I'd rather just have the heating come on twice a day, low, and wear a big jumper.

No, I know people who can afford the heating, just so it as some sort of personal challenge or something.

Really? How odd.

I hate having heating on. It brings me out in eczema and I have to keep using eye drops too. We only have it on to help dry washing. Also, the cost. It just seems a waste of money to me

Thanks for the insights.

In response to some questions & comments:

Yes I am British. However, recent threads have made me wonder why those that can, choose not to.

I'm not bragging- this morning I had to do weekly food shop for family of 4 + pet with £30. That's the last of my money for 7 days. Not using the heating won't make a difference to my finances until our tariff contract runs out in July. By then we won't be paying as much childcare so will luckily be in a better place.

Our fixed tariff- yes I know it's not unlimited and yes it is based on precious years usage. I've found that over the last few years our usage hasn't significantly increased and the supplier tends to overestimate energy costs.

I'm not talking about blasting the heating out at 25C all day from now until spring.

Obviously I know financial worries are the biggest factor, our energy bill nearly tripled a few years ago when the energy costs up.

I don't put it on cuz I can't afford the bills with it off

It feels colder earlier this year. I had not had my heating on for 2 years apart from 2 days. This year I have an oil filled portable radiator in my living room . And electric blankets for the kids in their rooms .

My bonkers (ASBO type) downstairs neighbour stopped putting their heating on after I was winding them up saying I never needed to put mine on when they were at home as the insulation in their ceiling was so poor they were heating my house for me 🤣.

Reality - if I'm cold, the heating goes on.

Going back 30 plus years it wasn’t the norm to have your house tropically heated and walk round in shorts and tee shirts all day

it seems an alien environment not to be constantly heated nowadays to the younger generations

my mums in her 80’s comfortable but realistically what money she has has to last her no chance of saving so I think there always an element of rainy day fund for new boiler and in case the roof blew off

Because one person cold is another person's comfortable.
And I unless I was un endingly wealthy there are always better ways to use kiney than literally burn it to overheat a house.

They mean it's a fixed direct debit and they always use less than they pay for so are in credit at the end of the year. We usually are too, it is nice to know you aren't running up a big bill if you turn the thermostat up a bit when it's cold. On the other hand you are making an interest free loan to your provider.

It's the cost. I grew up in a cold house with a, necessarily, frugal mum. The heating was on a could of hours a day and never above 20.

As an adult, we had a glorious 10 years or so, in a small 3 bed, 70s insulated semi, where it heated up quickly and stayed warm.

Then we moved to a bigger, detached 70s house, which takes ages to heat up and never seems properlywarm.... just as fuel bills went nuts. I could cry. Having a warm house and a holiday abroad once a year were the only 2 things I ever wanted as an adult. Instead, I'm sitting at the kitchen table this afternoon, with a pile of essays to mark, with heated gloves and a heated foot thing. If it were February, I'd probably thing fuck it and put the heating on, but I don't know how much we're going to use if it's this bad already.

I think this is us although we don’t claim not to be able to afford it. We just resent how much it costs.
We don’t sit around shivering as a point of honour but we do try to hold off using it for as long as possible and start off using it for as few hours as possible and at a lower temperature then adjust as needed.

My own thoughts, OP.

The people who hate having heating on and find it too drying for their skin & hair ... How hot are you heating your holes when your heating goes on?
Also, what temperature is your home without heating? If it's really cold outside, my house will drop to under 10⁰ overnight (and this is in the south east).

I suspect that many people who hate putting the heating on have much warmer homes than me - newer, better insulated homes that remain at least 15⁰ with the heating off.

Surely if you used your heating less and submitted a meter reading, it would have an impact on your finances before July? Your unit price may be fixed til then, but your monthly payments are based on their expectations of your usage based on previous years. If you chose to cut down, and the meter reading reflected this, then your monthly payments could reduce.

I’m afraid I can’t separate it out from financial/waste of money issues.

Before we got a grip on the settings on our new (very old) house’s boilers (need two as there are so many rads) our gas and electric bill was £8000+ 23/24 financial year. That’s an obscene amount of money to be constantly comfortable. We’ve now got a Hive thermostat and new timers so have a much better grip on it (and bill has halved. Still £350 a month though).