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.

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.

Well, it's obviously not necessary or we'd all be doing it.

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!

Presumably they can have water from the tap at any time of day? And neglect is failing to meet a child's basic needs. Children need to be warm, yes, but whether that is achieved through warm clothing or warm radiators is a matter of preference.

Hot tea and blankets doesn't help if it's really cold - it's miserable.

OP says she puts on the heating if it's really cold. And it's very rarely really cold in most of the UK.

Unless you live in a mild or warm country

If she lives in the UK, she does live in a mild country. We have a temperate climate without extremes of temperature.

We’ve just had several storms on the trot! It has been very cold indeed in the UK within living memory (that is, the previous few weeks).

Give or take the odd day here and there.

but whether that is achieved through warm clothing or warm radiators is a matter of preference.

You can't get warm in warm clothing because your face and hands will be cold, unless you want to wear gloves and a balaclava inside. It's not preference, it's providing a basic necessity. You shouldn't have to sit in blankets and jumpers inside seeing your own breath. To me that is neglectful.

We go away for about 10 days over Christmas/New Year period,

The heating is turned off for that period and when we return the house feels cold and damp.

Heating is turned up full blast to get rid of the damp and to make it feel like home.

I am nearly 60 and yes there were people who had central heating but they were the posh people.

It took my Nan till 1970 to agree to an indoor toilet and bathroom.

She thought it was really dirty to be shitting in your house.

We’ve just had several storms on the trot! It has been very cold indeed in the UK within living memory (that is, the previous few weeks).

How cold? In degrees? The storms were rain and wind- neither are an issue in terms of OP's heating of her house.

Be careful of damp

Is it? I feel like there's some legislation to do with disposal of human excrement

I am kind of outraged that there might be a legislation to ban me from shitting in my own garden Not that I wanted to until now but still.

You can't get warm in warm clothing because your face and hands will be cold, unless you want to wear gloves and a balaclava inside

Not unless you've managed to get a cold wind blowing through your house. Retain the heat in the core of your body, say by wearing a thick jumper and thermal underwear. The blood is warm enough to make it through your extremities and keep your hands and face warm. How cold do you imagine OP's house is getting?

How cold? In degrees? The storms were rain and wind- neither are an issue in terms of OP's heating of her house.
It's 5 degrees, real feel 3, where I am and it has been similarly cold with the cold wind for a while.

I hate the sound and feel of central heating. And I find most people's houses unbearably hot. But I have heating on 7-8am and 5-6pm from Nov-March, just to keep the pipes from freezing/ house from going damp/ people from complaining.

You won't be proud of it when your (and your kids') arthritis kicks in. Just saying.

Some people.

As a child of the 60s i grew up in a house that had no heating apart from 1 fire.In the winter we had ice on the inside of the windows...it was bloody awful no way would i go without heating nor constant hot water

You can't get warm in warm clothing because your face and hands will be cold, unless you want to wear gloves and a balaclava inside.

I am with you on that

Are you about to reveal that you live in Australia or something?

Thats still no excuse, it gets damn cold in parts here.
Mid north SA i remember as a kid frozen pipes and no water in the house and snow.
In the NT it can drop below zero at night even if 30 during the day

Its day 2 of autumn here and ive had heater going for last week apart from a couple warmer days, as in 30 plus warm

How cold? In degrees? The storms were rain and wind- neither are an issue in terms of OP's heating of her house.

It's been down to zero where I am.

You may well end up with damp.
And no visitors!
I absolutely refuse to be cold in my own house- I will not sit in my own house in a coat, or blankets, or 10 pairs of socks to keep warm. Sod that!

It's 5 degrees, real feel 3, where I am and it has been similarly cold with the cold wind for a while.

That is not 'very cold indeed'. It's -37 degrees today in Oymyakon, Russia. That's very cold indeed. 5 degrees is a bit chilly.

The blood is warm enough to make it through your extremities and keep your hands and face warm.

For you maybe. I left a job once because the heating was always blowing 17 degree air out in winter - I wore a thermal vest, long-sleeved top, jumper and scarf. My hands were still numb. Well, the job was crap but the fact the office was cold was the last straw.

If it's lower than about 21 then my hands get cold and painful, despite wearing thermals and a scarf, which I always do in the office in winter. Some people have bad circulation and no amount of jumpers will change that.

Since I got separated the heating is only on for a couple of hours a day, with the thermostat set at 18. If we get cold we put another layer on. I'm with you. OP, I go to other people's houses and it's unbearable.

I do live in the balmy south. Don't think I'd be living like this in the north!

* The blood is warm enough to make it through your extremities and keep your hands and face warm.*

Not for people with some autommune conditions

So you’re actively choosing not to provide a warm house for your children? You say your children run around loads so they don’t feel the cold? They have probably learnt from a young age that running around is the only way to keep themselves warm in a freezing cold house. You should be ashamed OP.

It's -37 degrees today in Oymyakon, Russia.

But in Russia it's about 25-30 degrees indoors in winter. 5 degree INDOOR temperature would probably get social services knocking. Kids are wrapped up in a puffa coat, gloves and scarf in September, or as soon as it gets lower than 15 degrees outdoors.

People using Russia as an example as if people just sit out freezing in the snow! Russians will do anything to not be cold. My relatives are always shocked at how cold British houses are.

For you maybe. I left a job once because the heating was always blowing 17 degree air out in winter - I wore a thermal vest, long-sleeved top, jumper and scarf. My hands were still numb.

I think sitting typing all day stops your blood circulating as well as it should. I used to have the cold hands problem when I worked in an office. Presumably, OP's kids aren't stuck typing on laptops all day though.

5 degrees is a bit chilly. Outdoors, bundled up and moving, it’s perfectly fine. Indoors, it’s just uncomfortable. Op clearly agrees because she gets everyone to huddle under blankets for warmth