Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not turn on heating

243 replies

mailfuckoff · 09/01/2018 11:51

I have trouble with spending money on myself and for looking after myself. It's cold and I'm working from home. If the kids were here I would turn on the heating but it seems wasteful for just me. However I have a few layers and a blanket and I'm cold. Do you turn on the heating just for you.

OP posts:
Rudgie47 · 09/01/2018 20:27

There are Governement schemes that will provide free insulation and boilers if you are on a low income.
I'm not being rude here but why get a massive old house if you cant afford to heat it? Why not go for something smaller and more economical for heating?

2rebecca · 09/01/2018 20:31

Yes, I value my comfort and am getting arthritis so why should I not put heating on for me? I may not heat the whole house but I'll definitely heat the room I'm in. When I lived alone I heated the house. It's good for the house too. Different if I were skint but I'm not. I still wear jumpers etc so I'm not heating it to summer holiday temps but I don't see any reason to be uncomfortable. I'm not a masochist.

cathyclown · 09/01/2018 20:45

I agree with those saying "do something about" cold draughty badly insulated houses.

Your house, your choice.

Mine is nicely insulated but on very cold days you can feel it, then the boost for an hour or two comes on and it stays warm for ages.

What the heck are we working for if not to keep ourselves warm and comfortable.

I think there can be an element of martyrdom around here sometimes, or maybe it is just being tight.

If you cannot afford to heat just even the room you are in, there is some stinge going on here. It is just cruel to yourself.

k2p2k2tog · 09/01/2018 20:55

there can be an element of martyrdom around here sometimes

Too right. My parents are just the same. They live in an ancient stone cottage with practically zero insulation and it's fecking freezing. They do have central heating but it's like a competition or game of chicken - how long can we leave it before we put the heating on? Can we switch it off on the 20th of March rather than the 4th of April?? They are not strapped for cash and can afford to heat the house comfortably but would much rather layer up with tons of clothing in the aim of scoring points. Not quite sure who they're scoring points against, and I don't think they are either.

I hate being cold. It's a fucking miserable way to live if you don't have to. I would never choose to live in a draughty old house with no insulation, double glazing or central heating unless I could fuck off to the Caribbean all winter.

2Cold4me · 09/01/2018 20:56

I'm not working from home though as my health isn't up to it.

If we had any heating I'd put it on about an hour before my oh gets home from work (so around 7pm) and would turn it off overnight between 10pm and 6am. It would then be on between 6am and 8am and if really, really cold (below 15°C) and I was indoors, I would put it on for 2 hrs around lunchtime.

cathyclown · 09/01/2018 21:16

k2p2k2tog

I think it can be a kind of competition sometimes!

But at least they have CH that they can turn on. I think we have to leave the heat martyrs to it now.

I would never be cold. But I don't like it to be oppressively warm either just to mention, but we all know when it is cool/cold enough to crank up the heating.

Some people enjoy being martyrs and layering up and freezing. When they don't have to!

AlexaAmbidextra · 09/01/2018 23:24

I can think of nothing worse than having a cold house. How bloody miserable to have to sit indoors in a hat and gloves and clutching a hot water bottle. My heating goes on if I'm feeling cold, no matter what time of the year it is.

nokidshere · 09/01/2018 23:57

I'm always hot and feel totally suffocated when the family are home with the heating on a windows closed.

I'm home alone between 9&3, heating is off and windows are open, I wear a light skirt and t shirt - bliss

Ilovefoodtoomuch · 09/01/2018 23:58

My OH is murder for being cold, ours is set at 22 all the time and he comes straight in from work and turns it up to 24. If I've worked til midnight, I walk in and the house is like a sauna !

NewBrian · 10/01/2018 00:17

Mine is on constantly, somewhere between 18-21 degrees even if it’s just the dogs home.

JAMMFYesPlease · 10/01/2018 00:57

I try a hot water bottle first. If I'm still cold then heating goes on. I WFH and hate being cold. Fortunately my hearing his now included in my rent But I still do hot water bottle first as I like the cosier feeling. I know that makes me odd.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 09:29

I agree with those saying "do something about" cold draughty badly insulated houses. Your house, your choice

Except many of us rent and can't do fuck all about it.

Like I said, some of you really don't get it at all.

mirime · 10/01/2018 11:46

Believe me I'm not a martyr about being cold, but my idea of comfortably warm is everyone elses idea of too hot, so I've just got used to putting more clothes on and having a hot water bottle for the sake of everyone else, so when I am in the house on my own I do that rather than spend the extra money - as I said our electricity bill has gone through the roof since moving because of having an electric shower, so I try and keep costs down where I can.

We did have cavity wall and loft insulation put in - it was a condition of moving in to that house (complicated family stuff, it's my grandmothers house) plus it's milder where we are now so it's not as bad as it could have been. I just really want a combi boiler again.

Smeaton · 10/01/2018 12:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 10/01/2018 12:26

and draughty cold large houses with poor insulation

then do something about it

I love the way people think it's so easy! What do you suggest? I live in a flat with solid brick walls so I can't have cavity insulation. It's double glazed and we have put a second door in the hall but what else can I do?

YetAnotherSpartacus · 10/01/2018 12:28

I love the way people think it's so easy! What do you suggest? I live in a flat with solid brick walls so I can't have cavity insulation. It's double glazed and we have put a second door in the hall but what else can I do

And the cats won't even sit on your laps to warm them :(

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 10/01/2018 12:31

Exactly Spartacus! I'll be dead from cold before his lordship sat on my lap!

YetAnotherSpartacus · 10/01/2018 12:35

I'll be dead from cold before his lordship sat on my lap

Except he wouldn't bother then :) ... maybe if he got cold enough he might be tempted :).

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 12:38

Some people here should realise how lucky they are and not be such entitled tits.

Raindancer411 · 10/01/2018 17:34

We have the heating on all day, and just lower it at night or when we out to no lower than 18C. It’s more economical to than keep reheating a room from cold as the walls retain heat

badcopgoodcop · 10/01/2018 17:35

I'd put the heating on in August if I was cold!

^^This

hattiehollow · 10/01/2018 17:41

This winter, I’ve taken to leaving the heating on the “all day” setting, but very low and not feeling guilty about it - we’ll see what the bill is like when it arrives! I salve my conscience by telling myself I’m doing it for benefit of elderly pets, even when I’m not here! The radiators all have thermostatic valves and the rooms we use less are left largely unheated.
It’s been a lot more comfortable that alternately freezing and boiling and is probably better for the fabric of the house, keeping damp and condensation at bay.

Jassylaunderette · 10/01/2018 17:48

I'd put the heating on in August if I was cold!

No chance at all! There would have to be some freak, extreme, out of season weather for me to consider that. Heating doesn't go back on here until mid-late October.

Mxyzptlk · 10/01/2018 17:48

The only part of me which really suffers with the cold is my mouse hand.

I find fingerless gloves are very good.

I've been doing similar to hattiehollow this year. I'll see if keeping heating on low all the time is as good, cost wise, as sudden bursts. It definitely feels better anyway.

Remember "You're worth it!" And so is the fabric of the house, and your belongings in it which are protected from damp, by a bit of heating.

But I definitely get it about not being able to afford heating and/or being terrified of how much the bill might be. I'm lucky enough to be less worried about that nowadays.

Hillingdon · 10/01/2018 17:48

I WFH and have a heated electric blanket covering my lower half. It costs pennies and really makes a difference. I hate being cold and yes there are martyrs.