House on 16 + layers

[ByMyName]

I’m guilty of having the house on 23 because I like being warm. I’ve been saying to DH that I will make some changes.

Today I set the hearing at 16. This is what it will be say and night.

I had to wear a jumper around the house but it’s genuinely fine.

We can really make some habit changes and cope with the has increase. Or am I deluded?

T shirt levels in my house would be 24 or 25.

Jumper levels are 21-23.

People fell the cold in different ways.

Yes 20-21 is definitely jumper levels here. I’m in thin jumper and then thick cardigan over regular clothing today. Plus extra socks and slippers. It’s 20-21 indoors.

Woudl have to be 25+ to be in T-shirt. I think I only ever wear a T-shirt only even outdoors for a few weeks of the year.

We have ours set to 16 in the day. It's fine when I'm working: I just wear a cosy fleece. We turn it up to 18 when we're pottering around and relaxing in the evening. It's totally fine.

@PinkSyCo

I can’t believe you have only just thought to put a jumper on rather than heat your house up to tropical temperatures. And you kept your heating on all night too?!! Fuck me, some people really are stupid!

I think that's a bit harsh. I have my heating set to 17 at night because my child is only in a 2 tog sleep bag.

I also sleep in a jumper over my pajamas, socks, a winter duvet, and a blanket. And I'm always cold in bed (except the times I remember to make a hot water bottle).

I can’t believe you have only just thought to put a jumper on rather than heat your house up to tropical temperatures. And you kept your heating on all night too?!! Fuck me, some people really are stupid

I often wear jumpers when it’s 22 or 23. Would this be tropical? Fuck me, aren’t you glad you don’t feel the cold? You must be really stupid to not realise people have different tolerances.

@Svara

It's like a competition where people think it's somehow virtuous to be happy in colder temperatures. It's really not. The gas and electricity bills are scary, mine 40% higher than same time last year with lower usage. We have to adapt to using less or else make cuts everywhere else to keep what we are used to.

Did you actually read my post?

@Caspianberg

Yes 20-21 is definitely jumper levels here. I’m in thin jumper and then thick cardigan over regular clothing today. Plus extra socks and slippers. It’s 20-21 indoors.

Woudl have to be 25+ to be in T-shirt. I think I only ever wear a T-shirt only even outdoors for a few weeks of the year.

Same. Big jumper, scarf and thick fluffy cardigan today and the house is 21.

Surely it can't be that hard for people to understand that different people feel comfortable at different temperatures? And that those of us who had to endure freezing conditions with no heating at all for years now value being warm so much that we'll pay the higher prices not to go through that again if we can possibly afford to by cutting back on other stuff. It's those who can't afford it at all, and also hate the cold, that I feel very sorry for, having been there myself. Telling those people how warm you feel in a jumper in a 16 degree house is unhelpful, to put it politely.

I bet the people saying we should sit in 16 degrees are the same ones who claim there's a heat wave if it's over 20 degrees outside and moan constantly about it and can't understand that some people like mildly warm sunshine.

@HootOwl
Yes I read it. I don't see that anyone is thinking they are virtuous or morally superior. I think people are just doing their best to adapt to the situation.

[quote Svara]**@HootOwl
Yes I read it. I don't see that anyone is thinking they are virtuous or morally superior. I think people are just doing their best to adapt to the situation.[/quote]
Why did you feel the need to "inform" me about price rises and the impact on poorer people then, when I'd specifically mentioned that myself in the post that you were responding to?

I only say that I am comfortable at 16 because otherwise you get people coming on talking about you being 'huddled' in coats and blankets and how 'miserable' it all is. It's not meaning to be insensitive, just preempting those comments.

Why did you feel the need to "inform" me about price rises and the impact on poorer people then, when I'd specifically mentioned that myself in the post that you were responding to?
You were talking about people being virtuous, the price increases don't just affect the poorest, there are many working parents like myself with a single income of 20k or less who will be affected. Why assume that posters think they are morally superior?

*It's not about "thinking it's virtuous" to be cold in winter.

Its fucking winter. It's cold. Animals grow a winter coat. Humans should put a jumper on, not expect to be able to create a microclimate that means they don't have to adapt their clothing for the season.*

This.

I am seriously not a martyr to the heating. If I’m cold I’ll put the heating on. But fundamentally I expect to be colder in winter than I am in summer and I expect to wear layers.

I discovered some months a go that a local friend in an almost identical property was spending hundreds and hundreds more a month on the heating than we were. If turned out they had the thermostat on something like 22oC 24 hours a day all year round! They also aired the house out to prevent mould a lot but with the heating still on. I try and open windows where possible too - I have them all open right now because it’s very mild and pretty windy - but never with the heating on too, radiators under the windows just heating up the street…!

@Maireas

Those of you all layered up in permanently cold houses - do you warm the place up when visitors come round? Or just give them a blanket?

My home isn't cold to me. The thermostat in the hallway with the radiator on the frost setting will say 18-20°C (I turn it until it clicks on if I'm cold, then leave it to do it's thing. Overnight or when out thermostat is on 10°C) and the radiator in the living room is on 2-3 (out of 5) but the room thermometer usually reads around 22-24°C, sometimes as low as 18°C if I haven't got the heating on at all. There's a pile of blankets, if someone is cold they're welcome to take one whether the heating is on or not. I'll have one, as well as wrapping up in my standard winter clothes of jeans and a jumper, fluffy socks, vest and long hooded cardigan (I don't feel trussed up in my layers). My home is set up for me, if others don't like it they don't have to visit, we can go out instead.

What I find weird is in summer if the temperature is 22-24°C I'll open the windows or turn on the fan. 15-16°C feels quite pleasant in summer. I don't know how summer heat can be hotter than winter heat, perhaps it's to do with the sun, but that's how it feels to me.

I bet the people saying we should sit in 16 degrees are the same ones who claim there's a heat wave if it's over 20 degrees outside and moan constantly about it and can't understand that some people like mildly warm sunshine.
Nope, having been poor in Sydney you just get used to a range of temperatures. Single digits to high thirties, indoors.

@Svara

Why did you feel the need to "inform" me about price rises and the impact on poorer people then, when I'd specifically mentioned that myself in the post that you were responding to? You were talking about people being virtuous, the price increases don't just affect the poorest, there are many working parents like myself with a single income of 20k or less who will be affected. Why assume that posters think they are morally superior?

I commented on how the tone of some posts (referring to 20 degrees as "tropical" etc 🙄😆) are absurd and seemed to imply some kind of virtue in being able to stand being in what - for most people - would be uncomfortably cold temperatures indoors and when not being active.

That is a separate issue to the price rises which I did also note in my post. So I don't know why you quoted part of my comments i no the first issue, then felt the need to "inform" me about the second issue which my post made clear I already know about and appreciate.

@Svara

I bet the people saying we should sit in 16 degrees are the same ones who claim there's a heat wave if it's over 20 degrees outside and moan constantly about it and can't understand that some people like mildly warm sunshine. Nope, having been poor in Sydney you just get used to a range of temperatures. Single digits to high thirties, indoors.

As I said earlier, it is easier for some people to "get used" to a wider range of temperatures than it is for others, for a whole host of reasons including their sex, genetics, weight/ build, sensory sensitivities, the norms they have grown up with, past traumatic experiences etc...

Your personal experience can't be extrapolated across the entire human population.

@HootOwl
I disagree that those comments imply any virtue. I think they are a reaction to the equally absurd comments that 16 must be 'miserable' and you need to be 'huddled' in blankets when many people are comfortable at that temperature.

Your personal experience can't be extrapolated across the entire human population.
I was just responding to your assumption as it's a one that often comes up in temperature related threads.

Anyone who tells you there is one single 'most efficient' way to maintain heat in your home doesn't know what they are talking about.

Houses are constructed in very different ways. With very different levels of insulation. Heated by very different systems. Which are controlled by very different thermostats/sensors.

And they're lived in by people who have very different sensitivity to temperature.

So the most efficient way to heat your well insulated, low thermal mass modern flat where a young family uses a heat pump for warmth is totally different to the most efficient way to heat an ancient farmhouse with huge thermal mass, lots of drafts and poor insulation. Especially if it is heated by an oil boiler and lived in by an elderly couple.

Of all the things to get competitive over, this is not it. It's like trying to compare results between a school egg and spoon race and the Grand National

[quote Svara]**@HootOwl
I disagree that those comments imply any virtue. I think they are a reaction to the equally absurd comments that 16 must be 'miserable' and you need to be 'huddled' in blankets when many people are comfortable at that temperature.[/quote]
Many people may be.

Many people are not and would indeed be miserable and huddled in blankets. It's really not that hard to understand is it?

Of all the things to get competitive over, this is not it. It's like trying to compare results between a school egg and spoon race and the Grand National

Very eloquently put. 😆

Many people are not and would indeed be miserable and huddled in blankets. It's really not that hard to understand is it?
No, not for me. Though for some people it seems to be.

There have been many of these threads and it's common for some people to make comments assuming that people who have their house set to a lower temperature are 'miserable' and 'huddled'. I think that is why people, including myself, feel the need to preemptively say that they are comfortable at those temperatures.

I turn my heat on when I get home from work until I go to bed. I have the thermostat set to 26. I wear fluffy pjs and a dressing gown and anything lower than 26 I find it too cold.

@Angrymum22 so true

Ours is on 22 always day and night. During the day when its sunny it goes up to 23/24
I hate being cold! My DDs room is always 1 degree cooler than the rest of the house and i shiver just walking into her room.
I do wear jumpers during the day!