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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To never ever put the heating on?

625 replies

Awayawaywe · 02/03/2020 09:30

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.

OP posts:
idontlike789 · 02/03/2020 20:47

I'm snuggled up on the sofa next to the radiator lovely & cosy . I couldn't imagine no heating , I remember a couple times boiler broke down it was horrible.
Especially saving £1 a day I like saving money but heat , food nice hot shower every day unless I'm really skint I can afford to be cosy .
I turn it off in the day often though and just put a jumper on especially now getting into spring . My in-laws house is usually stifling their heating on all day most of the year .

CtrlU · 02/03/2020 20:51

Nah that’s crazy OP

DianaT1969 · 02/03/2020 20:51

Haven't read the full thread, so don't know if OP is doing this because she has low income. But if she owns her own home, why doesn't she replace the wasteful storage heaters with energy efficient heating?
If she rents, she could move to a home with central heating.
Having storage heaters shouldn't be a reason to continue living and bathing in a freezing cold home.

Marmit · 02/03/2020 21:01

You can do what you like in your own home but you have young kids and I don’t think it’s right for them to be cold for the sake of saving you £1 per day.

BecauseReasons · 02/03/2020 21:13

My cousins were raised without central heating. Spent weeks in Disney, Florida every year though. They had money, just different priorities. Kids were fine.

I think there's quite a lot of unnecessary hand-wringing on here tbh. Look a few decades back and the winters used to be much colder than they are now and the houses more poorly insulated- it was the norm and people coped fine with it for centuries (we'll leave the issue of the elderly aside for the moment, given that OP hasn't mentioned any living in her home). And the OP has said that the heating does go on if it gets properly cold. I imagine it's not as comfortable, no, but OP (if genuine, which tbh I doubt, given that she apparently leaves windows open in an unattended house all winter) is being environmentally friendly and harming no one.

faracrossthepond · 02/03/2020 21:14

@ShesGotBetteDavisEyes

Our gas bill is £200 a month and worth every penny.

LOL that is the complete opposite end of the scale!

Anyway though, this is the thing... Me and DH (small 3 bed detached house, new heating system/radiators/boiler 6 years ago,) spend £33 a month on our gas. (We have a gas cooker, and gas central heating, and a gas fire.) And we put the heating on when we are cold. Yet we only have a £33 a month gas bill.

There is absolutely no need to bloody freeze! And you can bet the OP spends her the money she 'saves' on other stuff like booze, fags, scratchcards, and expensive phones... Wink

faracrossthepond · 02/03/2020 21:20

@BecauseReasons

Who gives a shit if people froze their tits/balls off in days of yore?

It's 2020 now and it's totally unnecessary to live in a cold house and force your children to do the same.

All this 'we used to sleep inside a snowball when I was a kid' bollux is old and tired. And no winters did NOT used to be much colder than they are now. It probably just felt it because people didn't have central heating!

We had long cold winters many decades ago, and we still have them now sometimes. People just like to make out life was sooooo much harder for them 'back in the day.'. Wink

ImGoingSlightlyBrad · 02/03/2020 21:27

I never heated my old London flat. 2nd floor above a lady who heated hers to tropical temperatures - it meant mine was always pretty toasty. Plus I was out all day every day so just snuggled up in the evening to keep warm.

It came as a shock when I moved into a detached house and had to pay for my own heating Grin

WinterCat · 02/03/2020 21:32

Some people cannot afford to heat their homes but certainly with young children there is a lot I would go without before turning off the heating.

OP, if you are in poverty and can not afford basics then YANBU otherwise YABU.

ItIsWhatItIsInnit · 02/03/2020 21:36

OP is being environmentally friendly and harming no one

  1. She has 3 kids, so has missed the boat for being environmentally friendly
  2. Her kids would probably say otherwise
WalkingDeadTrainee · 02/03/2020 21:39

My cousins were raised without central heating. Spent weeks in Disney, Florida every year though. They had money, just different priorities. Kids were fine.

If I stopped heating I wouldn't save enough even for Disney world Paris for 1😂

WalkingDeadTrainee · 02/03/2020 21:40

Or Disneyland or whichever

adaline · 02/03/2020 21:40

@BecauseReasons

What people did fifty years ago is irrelevant. People didn't used to have running water or electricity either but that doesn't mean we have to live like that nowadays Hmm

ivykaty44 · 02/03/2020 21:42

What temperature is your living room without heating on?

BecauseReasons · 02/03/2020 21:47

What people did fifty years ago is irrelevant. People didn't used to have running water or electricity either but that doesn't mean we have to live like that nowadays

But it means that you could and would likely survive the experience. I never said that you have to live like that, just that it's a viable option to do so.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 02/03/2020 21:48

Surely without ever putting the heating on then the indoor temperature eventually drops to pretty much whatever it is outside? I would be so utterly miserable living like that and it must be unpleasant for your children. I guess it’s “normal” to them now, but in the future they’ll start comparing to their friends’ houses. And I’ve been totally skint, but I still heated my home as best I could, even if it meant having less of other things.

TheBlueStocking · 02/03/2020 21:49

Sounds absolutely hideous

ItIsWhatItIsInnit · 02/03/2020 21:51

just that it's a viable option to do so.

So's shitting in the garden and wearing a loincloth, but I'd rather not.

BecauseReasons · 02/03/2020 21:51

1) She has 3 kids, so has missed the boat for being environmentally friendly

Just because you make one choice that is not environmentally friendly doesn't mean you have to now throw in the towel, buy a diesel powered SUV and take eight long haul flights a year, you know. It's better to do something than nothing, no one is perfect.

2) Her kids would probably say otherwise

OP says her kids are fine and tbh I believe her (if the post itself is genuine). It's perfectly possible that the kids, knowing no different and adequately clothed for the temperatures, are happy and healthy.

NeverGotMyPuppy · 02/03/2020 21:51

I look forward to seeing OP's children on here in 10 years time saying that they have the heating on 24/7 because of the miserably cold upbringing they have.

OP not sure what u wanted us to say - if it was just you I'd say you're mental but full your boots... but it isnt. Sounds a pretty shit way of living IYAM.

BecauseReasons · 02/03/2020 21:53

So's shitting in the garden and wearing a loincloth, but I'd rather not.

Is it? I feel like there's some legislation to do with disposal of human excrement and indecent exposure that would put you on the wrong side of the law.

BecauseReasons · 02/03/2020 21:55

If I stopped heating I wouldn't save enough even for Disney world Paris for 1

They didn't have heating, so it was the choice between holidays or the bill for installing it. They had no heating of any sort, apart from a fire in the living room, which was seldom on.

ItIsWhatItIsInnit · 02/03/2020 21:56

Just because you make one choice that is not environmentally friendly

Well, she made 3.

OP says her kids are fine and tbh I believe her (if the post itself is genuine). It's perfectly possible that the kids, knowing no different and adequately clothed for the temperatures, are happy and healthy.

Atm they're under 5. When they get older and go to school/friends houses they'll realise how much they've been screwed over. I grew up in a cold house, doing homework with cold hands, and swore that when I had my own place I would have the heating on as much as I wanted, and I do. The way people go on like it costs a million pounds.....no, some people prioritise shopping in Waitrose and 5 bedrooms over something as fundamental as being warm. It's £30 a month, which isn't much unless you're really skint. Just because your kids don't openly complain to you doesn't mean they're happy.

adaline · 02/03/2020 21:56

@BecauseReasons nobody's saying it's not viable - they're saying that choosing to live that way (and inflicting it on others) is totally unnecessary.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you choose to inflict that on your children for no good reason, it's neglectful. Children should be allowed to live in a warm home - they shouldn't have to ration their usage of water because OP is too cheap to boil a kettle more than once a day!

cinderellaaaa · 02/03/2020 21:58

Is it really worth being cold just to save £30 a month?

Hot tea and blankets doesn't help if it's really cold - it's miserable. I feel sorry for your kids 🙁

Unless you live in a mild or warm country YABU

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