Is it now the norm not to.switch heatimg on / choose between heatimg amd eating?

[neesbees]

Not on any benefits .
Retitired public sector. Both work.part time to top up pension .

Food prices up., petrol.etc.
A friend came to our house unexpextedly today. ( wealthy , doesnt work) I could tell she was cold and rushed to put heating on for her.
(. I wear dressing gown all.day over clothes so keep warm)
Felt mortified that she was cold in my house.
It caused me ponder.. we just cant afford the heating on much now unless we have guests for.their comfort.
As posr grad level ex.profs in public service role for 30 years we never expected to be making such.choices and often helped people in our jobs who did..and it made me wonder if how we now live is the norm now for average in the middle folk..?
Ie we make choices between heat or eat.. only put heating on when guests arrive etc..

If you were both post grad public sector professionals arent you on defined benefit pensions? Those can be amazing, even the lower earners I know with them are getting at least 10k out a year. With state pension as well, and two people living together, most old people own their home outright and are ok on that type of income

So far, we haven’t felt the pinch too much. There is a however to this before it comes across as boastful. We moved into a brand new, new build just before Christmas which has fantastic insulation. So, £110k extra on the mortgage (about £450 extra every month) and we’re just fine 😬 If we’d been in our old house we’d have been freezing. Fortunately, here, we only need to put it on if it’s genuinely freezing. Otherwise, it’s jumpers all the way.

I’m a little bemused by your post as DH and I are in exactly the same position as you (retired public sector) but from ordinary admin roles.
We have sufficient funds to heat a four bedroomed detached house to about 18 degrees, run two cars and are planning our summer holiday.
Exactly how much are you giving to your DC? Assuming you paid into a pension fund for 40 years on professional salaries you must get a reasonable amount?

We have a newborn so are choosing heating atm, thermostat set to 18, before he was born we kept it off as much as possible during the day only putting it on for 4 year old ds in the morning and when he was home from school

We have our heating set for 2 hours first thing and 3 hours in the evening but the thermostat is set at 16 so it doesn’t usually come on in the evening. The rest of the day it is set to come on if the temp drops helped 6 degrees (to stop pipes freezing). Small semi detached house.

Our combined income is around £85k with a mortgage and dc if that’s useful. I’ve always seen heating the house to 22 as frivolous. We wear jumpers and there are blankets everywhere. Our heating bill is already £1300 and set to rise.

We both wfh now and it’s commonplace to be on conferences calls with a hot water bottle and blanket on lap. Dressing gowns when cameras are off!

The cost of living is just creeping up in every way, petrol, food, heating, clothing.

I would also say the womens clothes are such thin cold material it doesn’t help!!!

There is some gulf between 6c, 16c and 22c though. It's the pinnacle of MN to be on a household income of £85k and rattling round a house with a water bottle, a blanket and a dressing gown, playing at being poor. Ridiculous.

I’m on a payg meter. It was here when I moved in and haven’t bothered changing it. During the summer months when I used very little gas, I’d stick an extra 10 or 20 in here and there. Now during the cold spell I’ve sometimes had the heating on 7 hrs a day (at 21) and I’ve only had to top up by another 20 every 10 days or so at most. I still have some of the original money I put in. But trying to keep it a chunk above zero.

These monthly payments people are expected to pay seem to me almost figures plucked from the air in some cases. I won’t change my meter. I’m aware it will get more expensive come April. But I prefer to know exactly how much I’m spending. Currently I haven’t had the need to wear 10 layers and gloves in the house. By the time prices go up for me it will hopefully be a bit warmer and I will again stick some extra money on the meter through the summer.

We only put it on if it goes below 16. Last night it was 14 and I was on the sofa with 2 blankets so I put it on briefly but I find it too hot so it goes off again fairly quickly (I grew up in a large-roomed Victoria property and it was always freezing).

Nope it isn’t normal or acceptable in a first world 21st century country but we still accept it for some reason. We just pay up and suffer like Dickensian paupers.

Some people have always thrown money away on over-heating their houses. Most sensible people wear layers and spend their money on more important things.

I think this will very much become the norm in the future. I’ve been a lot more careful with my heating, probably not a bad thing for the environment anyway. However, the phrase “throw a jumper on” makes me laugh, I need to throw on at least 2 or 3 jumpers over at least 2 or 3 base layers to get anywhere near warm sometimes!!

I'm on 20k and could afford to pay more but I've been poor and heating isn't as important to me as spending money on other things I like that I can actually afford now. So I play at being poorer than I am with heating because I don't want to have to live payday to payday or not be able to buy the food we like and so on.

I also think it’s more than just a case of being careful with the heating. Not filling the kettle with more water than you need is a good way to save, and I know a lot of people do this but it’s one thing that really annoys me.

No it's not common place but unfortunately it's the case for some. This is very sad and targetted help should be made available to the poorest (as opposed to people like me, we don't need a loan or whatever they are offering).

Houses do vary a lot in how much it costs too. Our house is fairly new so 3 hours a day or heating keeps it pretty warm, food bill is up around £5 a week but we don't eat cheaply.

Everyone I know personally is in a similar position - yes bills are going up but it means not buying a takeaway rather than being hungry and cold. But through work I've met really struggling people, they were struggling before though, and it's debts for the most part that's causing the main problem rather than £10 a week on bills.

I think people have different priorities on what is important to them. When I was growing up the order of bills was rent/mortgage, food, heating, clothes and then whatever was left over went on other things. People spent a higher percentage of their salary on food than they do today.

Now we have other expenses, mobile phones, more people have cars, internet and sky etc.

Some people would prefer to have an expensive phone and cut back on heating. That is their choice, I think there are very few families who literally have to choose between heating or eating if you look at the country as a whole.

By the way I really don't understand why people have their heating up so high, mine is set to 18 and that's plenty warm enough for normal clothes - typically dress, thin cardigan and tights for me with slippers.

@MaggieMooh

We set ours at 18 degrees for 3 hours per day and it's going from £110 to £125 ... I am running about turning off lights though

Yesterday I wore 4 layers plus a blanket over me when on the sofa. We finally caved in and put the heating on when the room was 13 degrees. It goes off as soon as the kids are in bed though. We are used to a cold house, but that was our limit. If friends were coming over I would have the heating on.

We are profligate with the heating - if we're in and it's cold, it goes on. Of course we close doors on rooms that aren't in use during the day. Both retired and DP in particular is not v mobile atm so it's more difficult to keep warm by moving around. I am dreading the next energy bill but we'll pay up as long as we can. There are a lot of things we don't spend money on that others might; but I completely understand that many people's budgets are pared to the bone. It's a horrible situation.

Our bill hasn't gone up yet, we're not on a fixed rate either, but we do have a well insulated house and our account was significantly in credit, so it is being buffered. Even if we weren't in credit, the £30 a month increase would be manageable for us. We have started taking action though and have turned the thermostat down a degree and I have a hot water bottle every evening. It comes on during the day if the house drops below 18.5 and someone is home. We will reassess when prices go up in April.

Everyone I know personally is in a similar position - yes bills are going up but it means not buying a takeaway rather than being hungry and cold.
Yes, for us it's heating or taking my grandmother out for Mother's Day lunch, not heating or eating. Also, our normal weekly shop is £50 and I could do it for less without going hungry but I like what I buy more than I like a warmer house.

The actual minimum recommended temp for good health is 18c, so anything under that is not good. There is also the argument that heating a house from cold all the time costs more than keeping it at a steady ambient temp.

I would be surprised to go to someone's house in the daytime and them have the heating on. Always been normal for us to just have an hour in the morning and maybe a couple in the evening.

Heating on in the daytime means your lazy and sat around not moving enough

Single parent here I watch my usage like a hawk. Its definitely a lot less then previous years. I'm lucky that I built up a good credit buffer during the summer. I hate a cold house so the heating is on for a couple of hours during the day. Usually 1 hour in the morning, 1-2 in the evening. The rest of the time is layers and blankets especially as I work from home.

All lights are switched off if not needed, I don't leave appliances on standby or leave chargers plugged in and on. It genuinely makes a difference.

I used to live with a friend who very rarely put the heating on, you could see your breath in the morning when you woke up. One winter this led to frozen pipes that burst and caused £1000's worth of damage.

Not choosing between food or heating here. However I never put the heating on, but not to save money per se

If I/DP else wants it on, we do put it on. I guess my house doesn’t get cold that often. I tend to wear shorts etc in the house comfortably.