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.

@adaline

@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.

Exactly this... There are MANY things we did 50+ years ago/that were acceptable then. Would the poster 'becausereasons' be happy to be on much less pay than her male counterparts, find it acceptable to be groped and sexually harassed at work, for her DH to hold the purse strings, and just fling the odd tenner at her for 'housekeeping' and decide he can have sex with her against her will...

If not, why not? It was OK 50 years ago, so why not accept it now, seeing as she seems to think living in abject poverty in a freezing cold house is OK and 'normal' because we did it 50 years ago........

Then again, I do think @becausereasons is taking the piss. She has to be. I can't believe she is being serious about anything she says. Her posts are laughable and that goes for the OP's too. @Awayawaywe is reading this thread and laughing at us, and can't believe people are so gullible as to believe her.

Where IS the OP anyway?!

On another note, my DC used to know 3 different children at school - different families - whose parents NEVER had the heating on and told them to just wrap up! The parents all smoked and spent £20-30 a week on lottery tickets, scratchcards, and bingo.

These 3 kids (2 girls, 1 boy) were the most miserable, scruffy, downbeat little feckers I had ever met. IMO, their parents were nothing short of neglectful and cruel. Each one of these 3 kids used to come to our (nice toastie) house, and didn't want to leave.

They stayed for sleepovers several times a month, and often stayed from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. They actually TOLD us how much they loved our lovely warm, cosy home, and wished they could live with us!

Conversely, my DC went to theirs, and rarely stayed more than an hour, and NEVER stayed for sleepovers because their homes were cold, damp, mildew ridden, and smelly. I am NOT kidding.

I do regret not reporting the parents to social services to be honest...............

Where IS the OP anyway?!

Yeah funny that they’ve not been back...

Maybe too cold to type. Yes that must be it.

BecauseReasons yes the UK doesn't get down to Russian temperatures but its fucking damp. Where I grew up we had short winters, sunny warm days but the overnight temperatures were well in the minuses, everything frozen in the morning. It was bone dry, crystal clear and beautiful.

Never been cold like I am in the UK. It just gets right into you.

@TabbyCatPaws then I use the laundry water rather than flushing the loo.

Nooo how wasteful of you. Use the laundry water for another wash, then water the garden and drink the urine .

Still reading the thread but to be fair to the op I used to live in a very warm flat. When I moved to this house I struggled to get warm without heating on loads etc.

Anyway 3 winters later I'm finally used to lower temps in heating. Although we have. Heating on I just heat to 19.5 and then turn it off or down to 17. I'm not stingy tho I've no issues it going on when it's cold just no higher than 19.5. This keeps us warm for a while. If not home it's off and off after half 9. I like warmth but I dislike the stuffy of heating on really warm eg 21+ most of the time. I've found I prefer the air when it's a bit cooler it just feels better.

I know what op feels about being hot in well heated houses there is a big difference between 19.5 and a house heated at 23 all the time. Don't get sweaty but feel the heat. Also there is so little air and it's so stuffy.

Heating needs to be on for a while at least in winter though or things feel damp and house would go damp too

We have a 4 bed detached home and the heating is currently on for two hours in the morning, three in the afternoon and about four at night. We use electric heaters too as not all my radiators heat up properly so we are looking to maybe get some valves or the boiler replaced. I am used to dressing up warm and using blankets while watching TV as my parents couldn't afford to always have the heating on. My mil's house is hot compared go my mum's but we have had snow on and off recently so it is needed. It depends how cold your house gets and whether your kids are cold. If they have cold hands or noses, stick the heating on if you can afford it.

We live in a flat with two flats beneath us. Our dual fuel bill is £40 per month. About £44 in the winter months and £36 in the summer. I think this is quite cheap but it's mainly because the flat downstairs seem to have their heating on constantly and we only need to put ours on for an hour max each day.

I smell bullshit

When my mil visits from Kent (we are midlands) she says our house is freezing and we keep it at 18c, if I didn’t turn it up for her she wouldn’t visit. How warm is the house?

YABU for not bathing in the summer and just having a wash.
YABU for not considering your children being cold and the damage it would be doing to your home going damp and smelly. Even if you can’t afford it all the time, at least put it on for a hour a day when the kids are home to warm everything up espically when it’s very cold.

Health advice is to keep your home at at least 18 degrees. Not sure why you'd put yourself or your dc at risk but up to you.

Wish not having my heating on would save me £30

Spend over £100 a month - but all year round so pay same in summer to have heating in winter

To have no heating and 3 under 5 must be hard

I wonder what the motivations were for the OP posting this.. 🤔

Re all this talk about how cold Russia is - I'm from a cold, ex-Soviet country and just checked the health and safety regulations - indoor temperature in homes should be on average 22 degrees and no less than 18, higher for elderly people. You would definitely get social services visiting if you didn't heat your house at all when it's 5 degrees outside.

We live in a new house so it doesn't ever drop to silly temperatures. We can put the heating on for a few minutes a few times a day & that is it. I put it up to 22 & DH switches it down. My ex-H though has no heating in his house. The DC are miserable there because it is so cold & don't visit often. He also has 2 young DC. It infuriates me that he doesn't just sort it out & I feel so sorry for his DW & DC. It is definitely not due to lack of funds on his part.

Your children must be freezing and get ill?
Imagine how cold they will be at night and when they get out the bath.
I don't get why you bathe in the winter but only have a wash in summer? .
So you 'save' on the heating in winter and try to save on the water in the summer? Makes sense.... .
The amount of times you boil your kettle for tea and hot water bottles you might aswell put the heating on fgs.
Also you mentioned you drink a lot of tea to drink warm but I'm guessing your children won't drink tea... but you're okay because you're warm. So selfish.

We live in a 3 bed semi detached townhouse has have the heating on probably 5/7 days in the winter - our gas and electricity bill is £37 including boiler cover (gas boiler & cooker, everything else is electric)

We don't have children yet but are expecting but our house is always set to 22oC which is plenty warm enough for us and should be ok for baby.

The OP is not coming back, I think we need to stop posting now!

The OP has clearly frozen to death.

@Rose789

Exactly this.

Our heating packed in with young DC and by 6PM we realised it was too cold and sent them for a grandparent sleepover. DH, dog and I managed fine with blankets

But OP you are fucking neglectful and a shit parent if you think no heating in winter is ok. It really, really isn’t. Your poor children.

I grew up in a house where the only heat was in the sitting room . We used to get ice on the inside of my windows !! It wasn’t great and now as an adult my house is never less than 22 degrees toastie . But I do have numerous health problems so couldn’t be cold as it stops me breathing . No ideas if it was caused by the cold growing up or by the heat later on

Having a bath in winter is a way of op and family warming up I suppose. I often used to have a hot bath on return from work in the winter because my feet were like blocks of ice, hands like icicles and face frozen, even though I had central heating on quite high. It was lovely, made me quite cosy. I'd do same first thing in the morning and felt insulated against the weather when I went out.

Can't imagine not bathing/showering in summer though, when the weather is warm we all sweat more. Eeeurgh! I'm remembering commuter trains to and from work and you could tell who hadn't performed proper ablutions.

Anyway op hasn't come back, she probably made a joke post to kick this off.