Parents house is 9 degrees

[rottencabbage]

My parents think it is perfectly normal to have a house this cold. They have one very small room that they heat up to a good temperature and then the rest of the house is absolutely freezing.

Does anyone else have parents like this?

Mine aren't quite as bad. They'll sit with their jackets and hats on in the day until the heating comes on in the evening. They do heat the rooms they're in, but probably have the radiators turned right down in the spare bedrooms.

Yep my dad is exactly like this. Keeps just the living room warm ( wood burner stove). Puts the heating on for 15 minutes before a shower but that's it 🥶🫤😳

Brrrr 🥶 ❄️

It used to be normal in houses with fires - one half boiling room and the rest freezing - how old are they? Perhaps it's what ghey grew up with and didn't feel the need to change ?

Yeah that's cold

It was 18 in ours yesterday and I felt really cold

9 is bad

My MIL who i will add is absolutely wonderful and I love her to bits, also has a very cold house.

It's completely open plan so there's no door downstairs and it's always cold. The radiators do come on but they're always luke warm.

When we visit I make sure I take slippers and extra jumpers!!

9 degrees good god how miserable !

Blimey that's so cold! Is it a very old house?

I wish! My DM used to keep her house a toasty 23 degrees, and then complain if I let the door to the lounge open. It was awful, hot and smelly.

I only really notice it’s cold when it gets down to about 11. But do turn my heating on when I feel cold.

Is she having money problems?

I remember having no central heating or electricity for 4 days in November a few years ago following a named storm. The temperature got down to 6.5°c in our bedroom. It was thoroughly miserable trying to get dressed and undressed. We luckily had an open fire in the living room so could at least keep warm there but leaving the living room wasn't pleasant.

My parents have a toasty house but we do this.

Two years ago our boiler went on the blink. It was 8 degrees and miserable. We bought an electric heater but even that wasn't suffice. I went and stayed at my mum's until fixed.

I don't know how anyone would willing choose this.

I accidentally turned off my heating last night and nearly froze to death going for a wee this morning. When I went downstairs the thermostat was at 13! So no, I couldn't cope with 9!!

Oooo that’s awful. I once spent Xmas at my dads and the house was 13-14 most days with just the living room warm with woodburner. Their bedroom was above the woodburner so they were toasty but I slept in guest room with 4 month baby and no heating on and it was horrible

Unless they genuinely can’t afford it then that’s a bloody miserable way to live. So unwelcoming and uncomfortable.

Probably a similar age to your parents, I grew up in a house with no heating apart from a coal fire in the living room, and as an added bonus an outside toilet. But I would never willingly live that way again, it was freezing unless you were sat right by the fire. Maybe they never got out of the habit of being cold or is it a money problem? I'm definitely too old to be cold these days.

I did growing up. You could see your breath.

My inlaws are like this. No central heating. Just heat one room daily with a plug in heater for another room if really cold outside.
Baby boomers. They find our house (16-18c) too warm.

eta: I do remember having ice on the inside of my bedroom when I was a child in the 80’s. We had central heating, but it was strictly rationed due to sky high inflation causing my parents financial issues.

No, my mum (till she moved into a home) was the opposite. Her house was unbearably hot, even unused rooms. One year we took a Christmas cake to her house and the icing snowmen on it melted!

Yes, My Mum and her partner are the same. They heat only one room with a halogen heater. They may if it is really cold put the heating on for 30 mins -1 hour this is strictly timed.

Mum's partner also checks daily with their every supplier how much gas and electricity they are using.

i find it truly baffling because they are okay financially- they have separate finances however, because Mum's partner is tight and mean with his money.

Their house is freezing and I hate to see mum sitting in the cold, as she is disabled and not in the best of health.

I personally could not put up with being cold and miserable, nor with a man who is tight with money. Life is too short !

My house is like this. Wood burner in living room. Other heating goes on for 20 mins in the morning to take the edge off. Bathroom window is open 24/7 too.

The room above the living room gets naturally warmer, we have hot water bottles for bed and once you're in the duvet it feels toasty.

The only people I know who are like this are, for want of a better description, monumentally tight-fisted. They take parsimony to an Olympic level and seem to get some sort of bizarre thrill out of it.

Unless it’s intentional, I would have her system checked and bleed the radiators .

I grew up like that. A coal fire in the living room with us all huddled round it. No heating upstairs. It was dire.
I now have a very efficient central heating system and it is 21 degrees throughout. The heating goes off between 11-7.