How to keep the house warm?

[OneOfTheTwo]

It’s absolutely freezing and we’re skint. How can we keep warm in this absolutely freezing weather with no heating?

Luckily we have an electric blanket so that’s on along side hot water bottles and warm socks. Our downstairs doesn’t have any doors, separate rooms but all open plan so we can’t block bottom of doors to keep heat in.

Any ideas? I can see my breath in the air as I’m typing.

Can you cut down somewhere else and actually turn the heating on? It’s really bad for the house if you don’t heat it up. I teach students and one of them told me that he and his housemates made a pledge that they’d have the heating on instead of nights out and that he was really happy they’d decided to do that.

On a side note it shouldn’t be like this. It should be cheap to heat your home, not a luxury.

Layers.
Thermal underwear (tights and leggins under trousers)
Woolly jumpers from the charity shop. (Doesn't matter what they look like) Tuck your top into your trousers to keep your middle warm.
Scarf, snood or cowl
Hat and hood.
Several pairs of socks and slippers.
Wrist warmers or fingerless gloves.
Sit under duvets and blankets.
Keep well hydrated.
Use hot water bottles to keep warm.

Hot drinks, hot food, exercise.

Is it rented or owned house? Seeing your breath means you are losing massive amounts of heat. It's not really keeping much in at all.

Fix drafts. Draw curtains. Curtains over doors. Rolled up towels work fine near doors.
If wooden flooring/ tiles- rugs.
Warm shower morning and night - then dress warmly for bed / the day. Dont leave hair wet. Dry it.
Slippers - not just socks
Hat
Layers on chest- gilet great as not so bulky. Can also pop water bottle under here.
Exercise- brisk walk outside during daylight. In evening, standing star jumps etc

During day, try library, shopping centre, large supermarket- cafe and pub (but can work out more expensive than turning on heating....)

If you can get hold of a dehumidifier this will help warm the room too by taking some of the cold damp moisture out of the air.

What type of fuel do you use? We have oil and one year we couldn't afford a tank of oil so used a calor gas heater to warm a room until we could get oil.

It’s rented so there’s not really much we can do about fixing it. The house takes in whatever is outside. If it’s hot then the house is hot, if it’s cold then the house is freezing.

In the summer our thermostat will reach 30 degrees even though we have every window in the house open. I woke up this morning and our bedroom said it was 6 degrees upstairs, warmer than yesterday morning!

We will look into getting a dehumidifier on pay day.

You need to keep your windows closed with curtains drawn to keep the heat out in the summer, OP.

Is there anywhere warm you can visit during the days, like the local library?

We never have the curtains open! Closed in the summer to keep the heat out, closed in the winter to keep it in! The windows let a draft in, it’s so much worse with them closed in the summer. You can’t breathe.

I WFH so unfortunately have to sit in. Currently in bed with my dressing down on, fluffy hat and electric blanket. Unfortunately can’t wear gloves a I need to type and I’m too clumsy to type with them on.

Unfortunately no. Our letting agency upped our rent by £250 just before Christmas, so the worst time of the year. Hoping we find somewhere new ASAP but in the mean time we need to survive this awful weather!

We had the heating on few times in December as we had some credit on the account but regretting it now and wishing we saved it for this month.

Have just ordered this!

Fingerless gloves are your friend, OP

You have my full sympathy OP my old creaky rented flat is absolutely freezing with no central heating.

Electric blanket in bed with 2 x big fleecy blankets one under duvet one on top, fleecy pjs and fluffy socks, if it’s really cold I wear my snoodie on top. I also bring my DS (2) in my bed so we can cuddle up together and share heat 😂

I have a blow heater for my open plan living room kitchen which I put on for a little bit which helps take off the chill, then a heated blanket on the sofa for my legs and a little fleecy one over my shoulders.

Also once you’re finished using the oven, open the door and let the heat out into the room. You’ve paid to heat up the oven already so don’t waste the heat!

Lastly me and my DS try to sleep over at my DM house once a week, so that’s one night of not using any electric so I save a little bit.

Sending warm hugs 🤗

Last night was -5° outside. Now it's 0° but due to reach a balmy 1° for an hour at lunchtime.

I put the central heating on for a couple of hours yesterday early evening for the first time in days. I haven't had it on since.

I heat me, not the house. Even for those who can afford to heat the house 24/7 i say: we've been told by the government that power cuts are going to become normal in the not to distant future. Wise to build resilience now & to work out a personal system for dealing with the cold so we can cope when that eventuality arrives.

I shared a house with a girl who jammed the heating on full in Winter & wore hot pants & a tee shirt as standard aound the house. Paying half her bills despite being away looking after a terminally ill friend for the entire winter one year was just peachy. I've never lived like she does. Then again I grew up in a house with no central heating so learnt how to cope with the cold months as a kid.

Tips for staying warm in a cold environment:

In addition to the obvious one (extra layers), i chuck bare minimum 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper into everything i eat. It's a blood mover & an absolutely superb warmer. I get through a teaspoon full every day, sometimes more.

Eating even just one hot meal a day & having an occasional hot drink throughout the day is like having inner central heating. I've found if i skip that one hot meal per day i get really cold.

I keep active as much as possible & find it useful to intersperse activity tasks with sitting tasks because sitting relatively still for hours in one go at my desk makes me feel cold.

Re layers: personally I don't like bulky clothing. I find getting swaddled up in cumbersome gear slows me down & can get in the way of activity. So i keep my clothing slim & streamlined but warm.

I wear base layers throughout the cold months. Merino is the best but any leggings & long sleeved tee under the clothes makes a huge difference.

I have an oil radiator on in my room. I turn it on superlow if i need to retreat to warmth during periods of bitter cold, especially when I've been outside. It's rare i put it on overnight unless it's supercold. Tonight the forecast is -5° so i will have it on superlow overnight - literally the lowest thermostat setting it can go, so it kicks in only when the temperature drop badly in my room.

During waking hours, if I'm sitting still for a while in an unheated room & begin to feel cold, i switch to a physically active task. If I need to stay focused on the sitting task I get up, jump around waving my arms for a minute to warm up & get my blood moving again. I don't think it's great for health to sit inactive for hours anyway (whether you're cold or not) - always aim to keep the blood moving.

Today I'm wearing the usual merino leggings, then trousers on top. As its extra cold, on my torso I'm wearing the usual merino long sleeved base, then a vest (this is extra), then a wool jumper, then a wool poncho (also extra).

Losing heat via the neck & head is a major one to take care of. I wear either a hoodie, or a hat & snood on colder wool jumper days.

For feet I reverse the base layers idea & wear warm top layers throughout the cold months. Over my normal thin socks i wear very thick wool hiking socks. The wool socks take literally days to dry, hence keeping the thin easily dryable layer next to my skin. I then don't have to wash the wool socks daily. I have two pairs so i can rotate them, wearing one pair while the others take eternity to dry. On top of the wool socks i wear wool, leather soled moccasins that rise above the ankle. My feet are never cold.

When my hands are cold after being outside, i fill a hot water bottle with boiling water & hold it for a while. Indoors my hands rarely get cold but if thet do it's a hot water bottle again.

Preparing for power cuts: I bought a great little 'Flare' solar charger & battery from Alpkit & rechargeable hand warmers from elsewhere. I already use the solar charger, directly plugging in usb chargable items. The hand warmers & battery pack are being kept in reserve until power cuts make it necessary to use them. I'm seeking to avoid wearing down the battery capacity with unnecessary cycles of charged/empty.

If you've already got a powerbank then I'd be looking at getting a heated hoodie or heated gilet.

I've got a silent night hoodie and it's boiling, the good thing is the heat moves with you rather than have heated blankets that are wall socket powered.

I believe tesco have some at £20 clubcard price at the moment. My mum has a gilet it was from wowcher and they are on the small size but are warm.

If the windows are single glazed bubble wrap - preferably the large bubbles - is your friend. Ask if anyone local has some free or buy on payday. https://glassdoctor.com/blog/diy-project-insulate-your-windows-with-bubble-wrap

Viking Direct sell a roll for £20 or if you are buying other things from Amazon possibly less.

If you receive any of the benefits listed and there is no loft insulation encourage your landlord to apply for a grant https://freeinsulationscheme.org.uk/insulation-grants-for-landlords/#:~:text=However%2C%20as%20a%20landlord%2C%20you,bills%20and%20reduce%20carbon%20emissions.

Can you tack up sheets/duvets/blankets in doorways, and on your windows for another layer to keep the heat in? Check charity shops for cheap heavy curtains to add to your existing curtains?

There are some good tips on here, I love a heated throw but have found that all the ones I have had have all broken eventually and tend to heat up unevenly. What stands out for me though is that so many people can't afford to keep warm (me included) and I think that this is scandalous

Sounds absolutely miserable, I’m so sorry OP

Gas is much cheaper than electricity, but if necessary you can heat just one room, and a small oil-filled radiators is IMO the best choice.

It will not get hot enough to scorch anything or start a fire, and gives a fairly constant level of heat.

I keep an 800W one, which is very small, for use in the bedroom in case of illness or a boiler fault. Depending on draughts and insulation in your home, it may be enough. A larger room needs much more so uses more power.

Larger ones usually have a three-position switch so you can set them to low power. This winter, I think electricity costs about 25p per kWh. So a 3kW fan heater would cost 75p an hour, and an 800W heater 20p. Of course, the thermostat would turn them off once the room was warm, so neither would run constantly, and you need less heat when in bed.

In cold weather, shops sell out fast, but I think Aldi has some this week.

As soon as winter is over, they will be marked down for clearance.

This is yet another reason to never live in an open plan home.

Can you get some film to stick across the window openings? Most big box hardware shops sell window insulation kits.

Check under your window sills for small cracks between the sill and the wall and caulk them.

Cover up outlets with duct tape.

Fish out your wool clothes and wear them.
Dress in layers.

Wear a hat and fingerless gloves indoors.

Don't sit huddled up on the couch. Get outdoors and get your circulation going, maybe twice a day.

YYY to the big bubble bubble wrap for the windows.

We never have the curtains open! Closed in the summer to keep the heat out, closed in the winter to keep it in! The windows let a draft in, it’s so much worse with them closed in the summer. You can’t breathe.

The previous poster is correct - in summer window and curtain closed tight and open and air house as soon as the sun goes down and air starts to cool.

We got a self standing awning that sits in patio doorway and keeps sun out the south facing room and makes a huge difference - big self standing umbrellas could also help - keep sun off windows.

For winter - if you can make open plan break up helps - curtains over doors and thermal curtains otherwise as as PP say go into smaller rooms you can heat with something or heat the person - so heated blankets clothing or thermal under ware - though below certain room temps it get hazardous to health more so older you get or if you have asthma.

You can get old fashioned temp double glazing - even one these day held up by magnets - thermal curtains also help a lot - also old fashioned home made draft excluders.

Also making sure air isn't damp also helps.

Dry robe or similar, I love mine as a dressing gown, and a Black Yak woolly hat with two pairs of leggings, hiking socks and regular hot water bottles. I always make a flask of hot water for tea and top up frequently along with soups and cosy things like crumble.