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.

There isn't any central heating in New Zealand unless you're pretty rich to have it installed. It's really not that bad as long as you air the house. My house is 100 years old and wooden. It has insulation but not in the walls.

We have an air con unit in DC room so they aren't cold. But apart from that there's not much you can do!

OP, if I knew you, I would report this.

How on earth can you face a freezing bathroom in the mornings?

How do you get laundry dry? Especially heavy stuff like towels? Don't you get icy cold when you wash your hair?

How are you going to react when your DC are teenagers and want showers twice a day sometimes?

This was my childhood.

The cold was miserable. I still remember it and how I hated it.

I would never willingly put children through being cold. No, they aren't running around at night in bed, and a permanently unheated house will be freezing at night. I remember not wanting to move at night as if you moved, you went into a cold patch. Cold hot water bottles on you in the morning.

Heating is great! I don't heat all the rooms all the time, but none none of the time is stingy and horrid for everyone.

We don't use our heating much either, I'm always too warm. But if it's cold it goes on.

I grew up in a house with no central heating too, my mum couldn't afford to do it up so we just had gas fires. Then we bought our own house (( older property with gas wall heaters )) Ch wasn't a massive priority .....we finally got it put in around 10 years ago.

That said I am conscious of the fact that damp will get in if a house is left too cold. So as well as airing it daily we try to have heating on low at least a couple of times a week.........you won't feel so smug about your OTT frugal ways when mould starts creeping in.

I would be utterly miserable with no heating. Our house is an old granite one, and it takes ages to warm up because the ceilings are really high. We're also in Scotland, so it's been -2 in the mornings the last few weeks. We have it on from 6 - 8, then 4 - 11, pretty much from the end of September until April. If we needed to cut back on luxuries to pay for it, I'd be happy to do that, because to me it's just a basic necessity.

I can't understand not having a bath or shower either. In summer if the weather's warm I will often have a shower in the morning, then a second shower after work if I feel sweaty.

This is bonkers, why do you need to ask the internet, have you not got any decison making faculties?

Nobody had central heating 40 years ago..
Oh piffle. We had gas ch installed in 1961.

In cold countries, like in much of Eastern Europe in the winter and Scandinavia, they heat their houses very warm, either with triple glazing or with wood fires. They don't all sit there in the cold. My EE and Scandinavian friends hate some UK people's houses as they are too cold and draughty compared with what they are used to- which is cold outside and warm and toasty inside.

Why wouldn’t you shower in the summer surely you need it more as it’s hot and sweaty? You may think this is fine but it’s not fair to take comfort away from your kids

I'm sorry but that's nuts. Mine is on all the time because otherwise my hands are freezing. I'm a huge scrimper with a small flat, worn-out shoes and old banger but the heating is one thing I will not compromise on.

Many menopausal/post menopausal women do not need any heating - in fact they could be used as power supply!

"How on earth can you face a freezing bathroom in the mornings?"

Perhaps she has a wall heater. She says she doesnt put central heating on, that doesnt mean she doesnt have any other source of heat. We didnt have central eating, but we had an electric wall heater in there that you pulled a cord, and it came on. You turned it off when you left the bathroom.

"How do you get laundry dry? Especially heavy stuff like towels?"

Lounge fire? Dries towels quite quickly.

Don't you get icy cold when you wash your hair?
Not if you have a hairdryer?

Yes, I come from Eastern Europe and between October-May everyone's heating is just ON. This is for the whole building, people in blocks of flats don't have individual boilers. It's nice and toasty, even too warm (can be like 30 degrees lol).

We currently have no boiler. The cold is utterly miserable. I cannot fathom why you would do this to yourselves through choice.

Most people had no central heating over 40 years ago

This is true but most had coal fires or similar so that at least one room would be warm. Also the chimney would heat the rooms above.

Sounds an awful way to live unless you're doing it through necessity and it's 'heating or eating'.
I had to do it in my first rental while doing PG studies and working a minimum wage job with an abusive boyfriend who wouldn't stump up any money for heating. Never again.

Our thermostat is set to 18 when we're in the house for a comfortable temperature. I'd much rather spend the £30 a month for a warm house and freshly boiled tea...

ILs keep their heating off generally but at least put it on when expecting guests.

It's not an existence that appeals personally except through necessity.

We have storage heaters on economy 10 (same as economy 7 but extra hours & spread out over the day & night). No gas in the house & we pay £210 per month.

I wish we could afford (& are saving) to have gas central heating as it would save us money on our monthly bills but costs close to £10k to have it installed. It's a long term plan for us but not instead of holidays & general life. It may well happen after the dc leave home!

However, our house is nice & warm throughout, even though we're end terrace on a windy hill.

"Nobody had central heating 40 years ago..
Oh piffle. We had gas ch installed in 1961."
Lucky you. It didnt appear on our estate until at least 1980s, we didnt get it till 1990.

Unless they are flask burglars

Why do you bathe less in the summer when you are more likely to be sweaty?

@Awayawaywe I grew up in a cold house, my mother was like you. I strongly resent her for it and will never put up with being cold again. It was so cold friends couldn’t sleep if the stayed over. I hated her for it. Doesn’t save enough money to be worth comfort and happiness.

"Oh dear, who boils a kettle and then decants into a flask? What is the wholly headed point? I mean how may flasks are there?"

Lots of old and disabled people do this...saves many trips to the kitchen, boiling jettles etc.

I don't have any heating to put on! We manage with 2 oil filled radiators - one on the lowest setting to stop the main house from getting damp, the other in the computer room (where I am now) because that's where we spend most of our time. To be honest, it's bloody miserable - but I've lived this way, through necessity, for 20 years. This year, we're finally coming into some money and having the entire house renovated - and the very first thing on the list of necessities is central heating!

Having said that, it's really only the winter months that are a struggle. The summer's just fine, and I sleep with the bedroom window open all year (though with an electric blanket!). I do find other people's houses can be a bit warm for me, but not usually intolerably so.

I missed the bit about not showering in summer

Again, you might choose that - hope I’m not next to you on the Tube - but please don’t do that to your kids. We all remember the whiffy kids at school.