Advice on how to handle- dds housemates at uni want to out heating on overnight

[Thethingswedoforlove]

How can we convince them that it really isn’t cheaper to keep the house at a constant temperature?! They want to have it on at a ‘low’ temp of 17 degrees! It’s a huge house with 6 people and most students don’t even have it on during the day let alone at night. I’m at my wits end. How can we afford that bill? I told her that she should say that those that want it on overnight need to pay and she won’t pay a share of that but clearly that is a bit confrontational and doesn’t lend itself to harmonious living. How can we convince them?! It is utterly nuts. Some are saying things like my dad knows about heating bills and it is def cheaper etc.’

Don’t be silly, it’s not a competition. But there have been some odd comments about how monstrous it would be to not have heating on overnight. Plenty of us, past and present, have coped with that.

We don't have the heating on overnight either.

What is "your generation"? How do you know what everyone else did?

My cohort then. It’s just a term. I can’t speak for everyone, never claimed I did. I know how my cohort lived, and of course I have friends and colleagues of different ages and DC, and we occasionally reminisce about our university days among many other topics. I don’t claim to know how cold it is in every part of the country too, in case that’s your next question. I can definitely say East Anglian winters were the coldest I’ve ever experienced.

You seem very cross. It really isn’t worth getting upset about.

You are actually claiming that you know what everyone did if you say your generation or your cohort. I'm not sure East Anglia would be the coldest part of the country. I'm not "very cross" either. 😂

Ours comes on overnight if it's below 16.5 degrees. If one bedroom is too cold, then that room will start to warm up. It's miserable having a freezing cold house and we found that it took ages to warm up if it was off overnight.

I think they could compromise and turn it down to say 15 overnight. Not sure it would make that much difference. But in subzero temperatures there maybe problems with burst pipes if heating is off.

I’m really not. I’m sharing my experience and that of people I know. Cambridge is freezing cold in the winter but I’m sure there are other places which are colder. 🤷‍♀️

Iived in a house with no central heating as a student. We had colder winters than now. I hated being cold all the time.

So yes, I survived but it was really miserable.

It isn't a moral failing to hate being cold.

You said "your generation" which implies everyone your age, not just the people you knew. FYI, my DC went to Cambridge and always commented on how warm it is compared to the North.

I’ve just set ours at 16 overnight instead of 7. I’d started to wake up cold at 5am (with winter duvet etc) so I looked at our hive thermostat and what the temperature normally drops to in the winter when I’m not cold. 16 seemed to be the sweet spot. Once it drops below that I wake up cold. However, even with these very cold nights it’s only coming on for three 20 minute bursts during the night (although ours is set to go to 19 from 6am normally anyway)

Have your children got properly warm bedding? There is a massive difference in warmth between a good quality down filled duvet and a synthetic one and, while there is also a significant price difference, duvets are one of those items that can be found on sale if you hunt around. There are all sorts of self-evident reasons why it is better to sleep without the heating high.

I went to Cambridge and lived in a building with no heating at all, we used to get ice on the inside of the windows.

My experience is that it’s much less rainy than the North but being inland, it gets very cold.

I must admit we have ours on overnight. If I get cold then I really struggle to sleep and also warm back up, and can cause joint issues. I've had to have baths to get the circulation going again. I've been like this most of my life.

Oh I remember houses like that up in Dunfermline,