To never ever put the heating on?

[Awayawaywe]

In the last 2 years we have had the heating on a maximum of 10 days. We use hot water bottles at night and blankets and copius amounts of tea to keep warm. This means our electricity bill is the same in the summer as it is in winter (although we do bathe more in winter as in summer we mostly just have a wash)
We have 3dc all five and under and now when I visit other peoples houses I am sweltering! I end up in a vest sweating my head off!
Are we the only ones?!!!!

Ps this is saving us about £30 a month in the winter months.

This thread is making me feel cold

My parents bought a house in the 60's on a Wimpey estate, they came built with no central heating as standard. People couldnt afford to get it installed until at least the 80's. The majority of my peers grew up with no central heating. I was surprised to find radiators in my high school.

Despite all the answers on here, you are fine not to put your heating on. I am much older, and as a child, we never had heating. Sometimes the frost made patterns on the windows overnight, but we were fine.... No damp, no mould, and we were much healthier than kids with central heating (no coughs, colds and sneezes).

Your body does adapt. I have spent a great deal of time in Scandinavia and very cold regions, northern Scandinavia gets down to -22 or more, depending on location. There are virtually no colds there as everyone is outside in the fresh, cold air and not bundled up inside centrally heated houses. I also find other people's house far too hot in the UK as my own body has adapted, and I sleep every night with the windows open and no heating on. It is much healthier and much better for you and the children.

my parents house has had central heating since 1962; people never had no heating even the poorest houses had fireplaces and burnt scrap coal/coke houses had either cookers or stoves to keep kitchen warm
not heating bedrooms was common not having fires or stoves on in living room or kitchen was not

I am not convinced OP is that genuine yesterday ( having looked it up) the temperature in London varied between 4-11C brief peak at 1pm overall average 6C not really weather for no coat or no heating but certainly no where near freezing either

"Have you heard about the damage log burners do to the environment and the cancer risk of the particulates in wood smoke? What will you do if or when restrictions come into force?"
They are not banning woodburners, just restricting the type of wood used. There is a new type of coal people can still use on wood burners instead.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I prefer heating on low with a couple of windows open just a touch and heating off overnight (and the window open a little).

I do wear many wool clothes and use HWBs until I really do need the heating though. But when I need it, it goes on.

Also, I shower and bathe in all seasons, more in summer in fact!

Eh, where in Scandinavia is this exactly, because in my experience the houses and hotels are friggen roasting, like sweat your arse off hot, and they wrap up proper if they need to go outside.

Bet the op has done this for three days or something

@johnwayneisbigleggy £30 is a lot of money for some families.

She says she’s done it for two years.

The majority of my peers grew up with no central heating. I was surprised to find radiators in my high school

And that's fine, but there's no need to live without it these days.

I would hate to be cold in my home and I couldn’t do that to my children just to save a bit of money.
Seems very archaic

Wandering Surely that absence of colds etc is at least in part due to sparseness of population,/lack of mass contact (eg in big cities/public transport)? It's easy to stay free of infection if you don't meet many people, or only interact with the same small remote community.

Like you, I grew up in a house with no heating and don't like stuffy houses. Nowadays I live in a remote place - with lots of fresh air . Usually, the only time I get colds etc is when I go to a big meeting or travel on public transport or visit a busy town or city. That's when I come into contact with a heavy density of 'new' bacteria/viruses that I don't have any immunity to.

As previous posters have said, viruses thrive in colder conditions and we are more likely to get them when our noses and airways are cold. The cold can also be dangerous for older people with certain medical conditions eg heart problems.

Eh, where in Scandinavia is this exactly, because in my experience the houses and hotels are friggen roasting, like sweat your arse off hot, and they wrap up proper if they need to go outside.

My experience too, I love visiting family in Denmark as I never have to worry about being cold.

"And that's fine, but there's no need to live without it these days."

There is if you cant afford it. And it does show that it was perfectly do-able to live without central heating.

Houses need heat and ventilation. You may end up with condensation mould.

I tell you what op, if this ends up in the daily mail, your neighbours and friends will spot you a mile off.

we had storage heaters when we were teens and they were never on. i was always bloody freezing - would wear several layers of clothes to bed and sometimes hat and gloves!
So as an adult I hate being cold and cant bear an unheated house. Still our combined gas and electric is under £100 a month averaged out over the year and we dont skimp on anything - use the tumble drier loads, heating on (although we never have it on over night)

I certainly run hotter than my parents so always boil when we go visit them. But it was 1 degree this morning. I’m struggling to see how a house with no heating on (even with layers on) would be comfortable to be in.

although we do bathe more in winter as in summer we mostly just have a wash
This is just

Because there were coal fires

And the oven door left open in the kitchen

And kettles were boiled when needed

Three DC under 5, would suggest they are mostly at home, possibly one a baby, it’s miserable way to live and not healthy.
If you are in the UK it has been very cold, if your house has storage heaters it’s obviously older so unlikely to be well insulated.
Be kind to yourself and your DC and stick the heating on, even low.

Not for me. And I’m frugal about the heating. We live in a fairly big Victorian stone house so our heating bill can be about 400 pounds a month in the winter so the kitchen has wet underfloor heating on all the time and I heat the rest of the house in the evenings. Maybe I’m spoiling my kids but I like a warm welcoming house for them when they get back from school. I grew up in a none centrally heated house and had chilblains in the winter. I also remember holding my wee in because I couldn’t face leaving the warm room to go through the freezing hall into the freezing toilet.

It's your house and if everyone really is warm enough I don't see how you could be unreasonable. I would rather put a blanket on than put the heating on because I find the dry air heating creates irritating. I tend to only put the heating on for DD when shes not a school and when people come over to visit.

And it does show that it was perfectly do-able to live without central heating

This is an odd thing to write. Before central heating people had other heat sources, generally open fires. They did not live in unheated homes as you’re trying to imply you actually think.

The op has not Indicated she has alternate heat sources.

I have spent a great deal of time in Scandinavia and very cold regions, northern Scandinavia gets down to -22 or more

I'm from somewhere like that, the coldest I remember was -37 , but - 20 is nothing unusual. Nobody would even dream about not heating their houses though and sitting there with coats and gloves and hot water bottles.