Anyone else still not got their heating on?

[GeorgeandTimmy21]

It's soo cold and I'm struggling to dry the washing. But only ds3 and me are feeling the cold, everyone else is fine.

I would find 18 too hot. It would make no sense for me to have the heating on and sit around in a T-shirt.

Get a tumble dryer the fabric of your home is very important. Martin Lewis says warm your body not your home!

Anyone else still not got their heating on?

Unless you really can't afford it this is an unreasonable question to ask when it is only 4 degrees outside.

Ours has just gone off for the night, but it has been on today.

However, threads like this always bring out the competitive underheaters who get rather morally superior about heating the home.

I’m not overly stingy with my heating, it kicks in to heat to 18c for an hour in the morning and a few hours at night. I flick it on if I get cold outside of that. Use a heated airer and dehumidifier too
but I’ve seen people’s gas and electric bills of £300-500 on social media
mine is £120pm through winter and less than £50 in summer (gas and electric combined)

Thank you for your sympathy, but I promise it really isn't too bad! When they installed my smart meter they set it to go into red if I go over 89p per day and if I use the microwave or kettle or air fryer in a day it pushes it over so I really can't right now.

What frustrates me is that I have been paying down the debt since April so they know I'm trying my best and not trying to avoid it. Therefore I don't see why they won't just accept that in winter usage will increase and therefore there will be a smaller amount towards the debt and it will take longer to pay off? They'll still get their money eventually! One customer service agent I spoke to told me that it's the law that I have to have 2 months credit by the end of March, which I'm just not going to achieve, but they still keep harassing me to up my direct debit so that I'll get there. Citizens Advice told me that isn't the law at all and it's just the company's policy, but I'm not in much of a position to argue with them about anything until the debt is cleared so I'm just having to suck it up and deal with it for now.

Of course we have heating on. We have two young children and I’m not going to neglect them by keeping them cold. It’s going to minus 2 here at night this week.

@AppleCrumbleBubbleBath you might be able to get a discretionary grant or similar from your council. You could also ask for a repayment plan for the debt and then agree a price per month for normal usage.

Jesus you make me realise how soft I’ve gone. It drops to 17-18 degrees during the day when I’m working from home. I have layers and layers on, warm socks in slippers, blanket over my knee.

17 degrees is the absolute bare minimum and 18 is only tolerable.

I run hot. I marched to the shops earlier, and had a little fan on when I got home.

You are not soft. We are all different

Yes, this is a great idea. I can't think of @AppleCrumbleBubbleBath sitting in a freezing house not able to even have a cuppa or warm food, it's horrendous 😔

I’m like that. I don’t own a proper winter coat, just a very light rain mac type thing. If I wear anything heavier, I get too hot. If I put a jumper on, it has to be really quite cold. I’ve always been like this, even as a child.

We may be all different but the science says otherwise
it says heart problems / attacks are much more likely in cold houses, coughs and colds last longer, children are - from memory 4 - times more likely to
develop lung problems

stop pretending people who want basic warmth are being soft

I too get warm when walking fast for any length of time
I also know the same walk can kick the asthma off

We havent.
We have 18-19 C indoor at the moment and the winter will be costly enough in heating.

18 is quite fine for health - guess you don’t live near me !

19 for me would be miserable because I'd be absolutely boiling. I put my heating on yesterday for the first time and set it to 14. I cannot bear warm air around me.

stop pretending people who want basic warmth are being soft

Thank you.
It isn't a moral failing to want to be warm.

DH is terribly underweight and really feels the cold. Our thermostat is set at 20 degrees, but sometimes I boost it to 20.5. He has heart failure so I won't reduce it for people who run warm.

When SIL visited recently she complained that the house was too warm so I said she could take her jumper off. The silly woman wasn't wearing a T-shirt under it so she couldn't, so she sucked it up because she understood that the house has to remain warm.

Fortunately our solar panels pretty much cover the cost of our heating bills.

I would be in my coat, hat and gloves at 14 degrees if I was sat still. Surely, you must realise that 14 degrees really isn't an optimum room temperature for most people?

Have you had your blood pressure checked recently?

Are you struggling financially? If you can afford to put the heating on, put it on!

Me and one of my DC feel the cold so ours is on permanently. We are still sat in jumpers whilst DH and my other DS are comfortable in t-shirts. You don't need to wait for everyone to be chilly to the decision, it's enough that you and your 3 year old are cold.

Mine has been on a few times since the start of the month. I have an electric airer for drying clothes , which is a lifesaver because I don't want the central heating on more than it needs to be.

Ours has been on since September I refuse to feel cold in my own home. We do only have it on downstairs as upstairs is quite warm with the heat rising.

I don’t care what my smart meter says I’m not being cold.

Do you wear a lot of layers? If you are genuinely warm dressed normally at 14, I think it warrants a trip to your GP (though lots of medications can have this effect, including some common antidepressants, which could explain it).

The optimum indoor temperature for me seems to be 19. I don't move around too much though so it's not as if i'm generating much heat. If it drops to 18 or below , I feel cold.

Really surprised that some people feel hot at 14. I would be shivering.

Edited to say I do dress for the winter with layers and a jumper this time of year.

Before moving to the UK I had never encountered any sort of competitiveness about not turning the heating on.
For me it is a fixed cost, non negotiable, you want your house to feel warm, not just bearable.
Of course we wear jumpers and slippers, but I don’t want to have to wear many layers or wear a coat inside

Of course I realise, I'm not fucking stupid but I was talking about what works for me, not other people.

Why on earth would you jump to some weird conclusion that I'm on anti depressants? That's a really strange leap. I'm not on any meds. I'm just a 55 year old woman who doesn't feel the cold.