To be sick of not being able to afford the heating on

[KeepMeCalm13]

Thankfully no children involved.

We are yet to have any form of heating on this autumn/winter as we just cannot afford the bill. We only have central heating, no fire. I'm currently sat in a t-shirt, thick jumper, dressing gown, jeans, 2 pairs of socks, and slippers and I've got a hot water bottle and I'm frozen. The thought of another 4 months of this makes me want to cry.

YANBU it's miserable.

If we didn't have a toddler in the house we'd be doing the same. Trying to keep it to a minimum though :(

Would the candle and flowerpot thing work in a bigger room? Mine is the length of the house. I have window in front and back. Its massive so think I would need 100 flower pots

please speak to your utility company for help. If you rent, there isn't much you can do to change the house but if your boiler is old and inefficient there may be help available to the landlord which means you get a new boiler, he gets fewer callouts and you get lower bills. If you own the place, there may also be help.

storage heaters - call the provider and be a nuisance until you speak to someone who knows about the tariffs you can get for them. A middle of the day boost makes an enormous difference. Even if they are only charging at night on the cheap rate, they should hold the heat until evening if controls set correctly.

please be careful with candles. Charity shops are great for thicker curtains and door curtains for not much money.

I find a warm scarf a good insulator, plus a big fluffy throw, big jumper, thick fluffy slippers and regular cups of tea or coffee to warm my cold fingers. We also go to bed early, about 9pm after a bath. We started to put the heating on for 3 hours a night last Tuesday 6-9. I keep telling myself that it is not healthy to have too hot a house.

Re knitting jumpers for cats, my cats double up as hot water bottles , one on each lap.

Apart from working 30 hrs a week, are you sure you are getting all the help you are eligible for?

I can't imagine how difficult it must be surviving on 30 hrs a week of work.

Is there any other jobs you could do that would give you more than 30 hrs?

Aldi have some lovely fluffy warm "lounge socks" at the moment. I have a pair over my normal socks. :)

SP I'm not sure how well it works, I daren't try it myself as I'm a complete klutz.

Me too. I've burnt a hole in the box of Bold washing tabs with a candle. I brought it in and out it next to candle. Opened it and was filling it with sons toys when smelt smoke

oops!

Bloody hell. Candles and freezing.

Polythene taped over window frames?
Keep curtains closed
Door curtain
draft excluders on front door - those metal strippy things.
draft excluders at bottom of main doors (old pair of tights stuffed with newspaper old rags if necessary).

Could you run to a small portable plug in radiator thing to take the chill off the room you are in?

I don't know where you live but could you take the bus to a better off area, if you aren't in one already and drop cards for ironing services/cleaning/pet feeding, etc. You could go to theirs for a few hours and enjoy their heating too. I'm in London and people are desperate for those sorts of services but I appreciate different parts of the country have different needs.

SP-my mum's storage heater come on first thing and all threw heat is gone by 2 pm-utterly useless

SP what is the flower pot thing. My lounge is huge. Windows around the side and front. Also a bloody giant bay window which is on a corner. Therefore if it is windy outside my flat is even more freezing. I do have heavy'ish curtains but the air is soooo cold. Its not healthy I dont think.

These are only off peak ones so come on around 7/8pm and heat gone by 2ish am. I have one 24hour on in my sons room but it takes a shit ton of money.

Utterly pointless but its an all electric house.

There was a really good thread on keeping warm in the winter a while back. I think it was in chat. Can anyone remember what the title was? It had some really good advice.

my its linked on first page by Ovary

Air is like ice here through windows/door. Drafts coming from all directions

Candles are bloody dangerous. I caught my sausage dog smouldering. Its a long dog door draft excluder. I was using some swan vesta matches to light my candles and unbeknown to me part of the end of the lighted candle shot off. I was laying on sofa all bound up in blankets and the poor thing was smouldering. So dangerous.

SP- mum had turned all hers off and now uses a convector heater with a thermostat to heat one half of her flat, much cheaper. I can't believe storage heaters were ever invented, useless!

Those Swan Matches are mental! I don't trust them, I use a lighter.

i have 3 on coffee table. Nothing for them to burn and are in holders. Honey and chocolate one smells wonderful.

With Cat. Also on pre-payment and waiting to change to EDF. Fucking freezing. Utterly skint.

In our old place we heated one room with one of these - a gas bottle lasted about a month - but we can't really use it here as there's a bit of a condensation problem and those heaters can add to it.

(also you need to be careful about carbon monoxide - we had a monitor in the same room as the heater)

Cat-how much are the gas bottles?

I don't know where you live but could you take the bus to a better off area, if you aren't in one already and drop cards for ironing services/cleaning/pet feeding, etc.

No. Rural area no place better off and plenty already offering those services. Need a car to get to them, too.

Already have draft excluders, door curtains, lined curtains and reflective windscreen protectors behind all heaters (cheaper than foil if you hare large heaters).

It's being on a pre-pay and the prices have all been hiked, married, so that many, many people, and plenty of those who are in work, cannot turn on the heating and have to sit in the dark.

No advice, and I'm lucky enough to be able to heat a Victorian house, but it makes me fucking furious that it's the 21st century and people are freezing, rather than turning the heating on, and the power companies are taking it in and paying out massive bonuses

I'd vote for the first party to de-privatise power. It's a complete outrage.

raking it in

The gas bottles are about £25 if you take the empties back, lasted ages and we had it on pretty much all the time when we were in.