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.

Seeing as this is saving you money on your electricity bill then I assume you don't have gas? Using electricity to heat your house is not usually cost-effective. Are you not in a gas-supplied area? Do you have storage heaters?

Urgh that sounds utterly miserable. But then I loathe the winter and can't even think straight in a cold house!

Just remembered when my v prom and proper grandparents for central heating for the first time, when I was little. We nipped.round unexpectedly, only to find them watching TV in just their underwear - grandad mopping his brow with his hankie moaning 'It's bleedin' boiling in here!'

Sounds cruel.

Yeah my house would have mould growing up down all around if we never had the heating on, we live in a farm house on an exposed farm in west wales

I think if you’re really financially constrained, and can’t afford to heat your house in winter, and can’t prioritise it over other things as the financials are so bad Ie it’s either that or eat, then you need to do what you need to do.

But I’d make sure my kids were warm and would try to at least heat one room for them to be in.

It doesn’t sound like a good existence, are you eligible for benefits and have you claimed them all?

we boil a kettle in the morning and keep it in the thermos so only one boil.

Aye, right you do. 'Copious' amounts of tea and hot water bottles all round for a family, from one flask of water . It sounds like brilliant fun in your house.

Sounds bloody miserable.

I dont put the heating on much but its on ib the evening. Comfortable temp for us is about 18c. Without it the house can drop to 12c. It s miserably cold.
£30 a month is only £7.50 per week. It s nothing.
And I dont get the bit about baths in the winter and just washes in summer?
Surely you bath or shower a lot more in summer?

we boil a kettle in the morning and keep it in the thermos so only one boil

Oh you're kidding. Ffs boil the kettle when you need it.

It all sounds so miserable for such a small saving

in summer we mostly just have a wash

I think this is weird too.

TBH, you sound like a bit like you enjoy denying yourself basic standards of warmth and hygiene. If that's your bag, crack on.

open windows when out in the day.

So you keep your windows open all winter? Never mind the risk of being burgled. Yeah, dont think I'm believing this one .

we boil a kettle in the morning and keep it in the thermos so only one boil

How do five people have copious amounts of tea ( assuming decaf for kids) ans hot water bottles from one kettle full?

What I find weirder is that 2 years after making this decision you're clearly happy with you seek validation from strangers.

That's weird

we boil a kettle in the morning and keep it in the thermos so only one boil.

Are you living in such extreme poverty that saving pennies on boiling a kettle is making a difference In your life?

Do you have DCs? I'm finding it hard to understand why you are so proud of this.

I'm not knocking you OP, I'm actually a trifle concerned that you think this is normal behaviour.

Did you have extreme poverty growing up? Do you have savings? I really can't get my head around this. For the sake of £30 a month. Like I said if that is the difference between eating or not eating I can understand, but to do it just because you can, makes no sense to me.

£80 in Winter sounds quite reasonable to me, that's just how much it is I'm afraid. Surely with the windows left open too the house actually feels cold when you walk in ?

Sounds grim. Your poor children.

It was only in the 1970's that central heating became common. I think before that most people lived as the OP does now. (Although not with no heating, presumably there was some use of electric and portable heaters in the period between then and everyone having actual fires sending smoke up their chimneys.)

Your body does adjust to the heat you are used to, so there's nothing medically wrong with the OP, when she feels overheated in other peoples houses. She's just not adapted to their environment.

Oh also, our gas bill is 100 a month so 30 is hardly anything in my eyes anyway

Penny pinching is never attractive. Obviously there are those on incredibly tight budgets for whom there are no choices but scrimping on kettle boiling, basic levels of heating and even having a proper wash to save a bit of wedge sounds beyond tedious.

I have a friend who denies himself heating but he has mental health problems and it's a form of self-neglect. Don't neglect your kids just to show off about your wacky lifestyle.

It's £1 a day and the cost of constant kettle boiling must off set that.

It must be the difference between eating and not eating. No one would chose to live like this.

Are you doing this because you genuinely cannot afford to live any other way, or are you doing it because you think all this is worth £30 a month? If it’s the latter you’re mental imo, and considering you have young children, it’s borderline neglect to keep the house so cold, they must be freezing in winter with no heating and just hot water bottles and blankets to keep them warm.

If you live above the first floor in a flat you may be able to benefit form everyone elses heat - especially if they like it very warm. Heat Weasels we were called when we mentione dthis. Happy to be called a Heat Weasel!