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.

Have you tried hotter washes or putting less clothes in the machine? Or washing them more frequently?

You’re missing the point.

It’s not that long drying fails to get smells out.

It’s that long drying brings a damp/musty smell of its own.

Flax I seriously can't be bothered to go through your whole post and answer individual points, due to you asking what smell?

You're on a wind up and you know it if you've missed the fact we're talking about the smell of stale, musty clothes that happens when they take too long to dry, which they do in a cold house.

If you think your clothes don't smell then that's fine but don't rely on others not mentioning it, as I imagine that's an awkward conversation they'd rather not have.

What rubbish. Plenty people dont dry clothes outside. What about all the people who live in flats etc with no outdoor space do you think they all walk about wearing smelly clothes

It's actually hilarious isnt it kinnadar?

You tell people in a forum that you dry your clothes in fresh air, and they're convinced that your clothes must smell

This is the modern world I guess. Where people are totally adamant they need dryers and radiators to dry clothes.

Have you tried hotter washes or putting less clothes in the machine? Or washing them more frequently?

I particularly loved that ^^ part of your post

Like hotter washes or putting less clothes in is going to prevent the stale musty smell caused by damp clothes hanging around a cold house.

Honestly, Flex . What smell? What’s wrong with my clothes?
Surely you understand people aren’t referring to you personally, they’ve never met you. You’re starting to sound like a bot.

I can't believe so many people are saying IABU

Really? YABVU
You must live in a warmer part of the country than most mumsnetters. Our house would be cold and damp if we never put the heating on.

Are you this holier than thou about other things as well?

We have solar panels and get all of our utilities except water from one provider (gas, electricity, telephone and broadband). As we bought our solar panels when the feed in tariff was at a high rate, last year we ended up £82 in credit. So we paid even less than you did

OP has probably left for a cooler climate .

But atleast this thread provided an enlightening discussion of which temperature to dry clothes.

No way is it better for your indoor climate to dry over longer periods at lower temperatures. It is the same amount of moisture you are removing, the sooner dried and aired out of the house the better. We are all warned of cold and damp in order to avoid mold. If you swear by cold drying, put it outside.

It’s that long drying brings a damp/musty smell of its own

Only if your clothes are not clean. Or if you dry them near other smells, in a kitchen for example or by a coal fire.

Smells are from bacteria. If clothes are clean they won't smell. Smells are more likely to come from a dirty washing machine or dryer, as well as from a dirty person, than from fresh air

Clothes only smell if you dont wash and dry them properly. Fresh air is best for drying clothes IMO but that's just me

....and no I don't smell people

I spend about £1000m on gas central heating in the winter. I would rather be warm than have meals out or go to theme parks etc. I hate being cold.

But I am jealous of other people's energy bills.

....and if you think the air in a dryer, or in a stuffy clothes draped radiator room, is 'fresh', then I do t know what else to say

I spend about £1000m on gas central heating in the winter

Wow, we’ve got the Queen on here.

Oh that's a shame. Is it a financial issue? I couldn't bare that and would need to find other ways to cut back on that £30.

my parents grew up in abject poverty, they remembered being cold over being hungry. to save a £1 a day you're being unreasonable.

What if you get burgled through these open windows?
Your pipes might freeze?

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 grin. It sounds like brilliant fun in your house

Sounds really fucking grim, how do you make tea from pre boiled and cooled water??? Heathens

Ew

And how many teas and hot water bottles can you get out of 1 boiled kettle?

I grew up in a house with no heating... fucking miserable!!

I can't imagine living such a miserable existence. My sisters house is freezing and even with blankets etc the end of your nose is freezing and going the loo is horrible. I'm all for not putting the heating on unnecessarily but that sounds unbearable.

I grew up with no heating. Because there wasn’t heating in the house.

Ice on the inside of the windows in the morning. Always freezing

As an adult my heating goes on when I want. If it is cold in August then the heating goes on.

£30 per month is about £1 per day but you are probably wasting a good percentage or possibly more of that with your kettle use not just for teas but to fill your hot water bottles

Complete madness

Just to go back to Nobody had central heating 40 years ago ...

I remember central heating at home 50 years ago - and it was perfectly normal, particularly in newer houses.

Nobody had central heating 40 years ago

If you go back long enough no-one had flushing toilets, hot water or washing machines - what's your point?

nobody had central heating 40 years ago

I came from a tropical country to the UK to attend boarding school in 1961. All the buildings had central heating, and they weren't new buildings. I would have known if it were cold as I can't stand cold, having grown up without winter! And no, I was always warm indoors. That was 50 years ago.

40 years ago was 1980?!!

Not 1940!

What the hell.

It does sound neglectful on your children.

Our house is semi detached and drops to 10 degrees if we've been away for a night.
£30 a month for good living conditions is a bargain.

Bit bemused at the whole drying clothes in a cold house doesn’t lead to them smelling badly. Everyone has smelled it. Everyone has done it at some point. Hence why we have all smelled it.

It’s like arguing grass is actually blue with pink dots, and we are all clueless when we say it’s green.

The only explanation for someone who does this and thinks they don’t smell is indeed nose blindness and that people are too polite to mention the musty smell so the wearer genuinely doesn’t know.

They smell. No way round it. A sort of damp musty smell develops on clothes dried in a cold room or house. As a pp said, the moisture that evaporates is the same, irrelevant of how long it takes to dry, the point is, it takes way longer to evaporate in a cold room, which is why the musty smell develops.

Unless the poster lives in a magic house, then her clothes will smell, no way round it.

Sounds bloody miserable.

I hope your £30 a month is worth the grim reality.

I came on to make some sarcastic post like “are you my dad” but nope, you’re even worse!

Pop the heating on, or not if you don’t want to! Your choice. Just don’t drag the rest of your family with you, I say that as a survivor of a heating adverse father although he would put it on in the really cold months 😂