How to keep warm this winter-please share your tips

[AlternativelyWired]

I'm not sure about oodies-are they good or are they too heavy and/or too warm?
We have gas central heating, crap double glazing with those vent things that let in a draught. I'm in a rented house so I can't do anything about the windows. I've bought thermal curtains for the draughty patio door and front door. I close all the doors to keep heat in rooms. Lights get switched off. I've bought a ninja foodi to reduce the use of the oven.

What else can I do? Please share your tips.

Wear a woolly hat indoors before resorting to the heating.

On a really cold day keep active. Everyone out for a long walk, your home will feel warm by comparison.

Everyone has household chores, they'll feel warmer and house gets cleaned.

Make a big pot of soup, drink from mugs so your hands are warmed as well as your stomach.

If you want to watch TV at night Everyone brings their duvet and wraps up in it (with PJ's already on), then at bedtime no undressing in cold bedroom and duvet already warmed by body heat

I survived the coldest winter for 50 years, and only put the heating on for one hour in the evenings, only one radiator on in the living-room. This property had no double-glazing at the time and the windows are huge.

What I did: wore thermals as a base layer with a long-sleeved T-shirt and a fleece jacket over the top. If I was still chilly I put another layer (usually a wool jumper) under the fleece. A fleece dressing gown or blanket if necessary.

Cotton pajama-bottoms between the thermals and fleece trews.

Two pairs of wool socks and sheepskin slippers (fake ones, real sheepskin slippers are pricey)

A silk scarf around my neck.

Wool fingerless gloves so I could still use my laptop or books.

Electric blanket to warm up the bed before I hopped in.

A friendly cat on my lap.

All of this was utterly necessary as I was unemployed at the time, with no savings, so I really couldn’t afford the bills.

So, I’ve done it once and I could do it again if I have to. The good news is that my landlord has installed double-glazing since, so with luck this winter might not be so bloody grim

I bought myself an Oodie from Vinted, for £25 including postage. Sure, it's not the design I'd have chosen, but who cares. It is hands-down the best thing I've ever owned. The imitations (I've tried them all, including the much loved Sienna one) just don't come close.

Probably a daft question, but is there such a thing as an eco kettle? Boiling the kettle is the only thing that turns my smart meter red!

I got something very similar to an oodie on Amazon and it was only £20ish. Much cheaper!

Thank you for all these suggestions but it's bloody depressing isn't it that we have to be thinking of these things.

I'm a full time carer for my mum so I won't need the heating on much at all at mine.

We walk to school. It's half an hour and includes some big hills. I usually wear jeans, vest, hoodie, hat and scarf and I'm sweating. When I get in I take off the hoodie and put my dressing gown on but now I'll be walking up to mum's and that will take an hour from school because it's all uphill. She has spare dressing gowns and hot water bottles Then it's a 45 minute walk mainly down hill and along the canal. Then a half hour walk home with ds. Why I'm not thinner I'll never know!

I have turned off some of the radiators in the house but a lot of the thermostats are broken.

Draft exlcuders - you can make your own cheaply or buy them,.

Natural fibres - saving to splash out on wool duvets but I also have my grandma's wool bed blankets and honest to God they're amazing! Naturally temperature regulating so I was using a cellular one in place of a summer duvet until the heatwave kicked in.

Brushed cotton sheets.

I also want to get proper wool throws for the sofa.

Slippers - sheepskin ones for the reasons above!

Wool or wool blend socks - so much warmer than anything else I've used and more comfy than thick fleeces ones.

Getting out for a walk or going somewhere every day makes a huge difference too, even just 20 minutes out the house.

Cover vents but uncover them in spring and summer.

Hang muslin curtains at windows too. Theyre sheer so you'll still see out/let light in, but they fibres are thicker than polyester voices and the gaps in the weave will help trap air. They won't make a huge difference but if you're worried about drafts and want extra protection around windows, they'll help.

Include complex carbs and (if affordable and omnivore) meat in meals - body produces more heat digesting these.

Hot shower to warm up if you get chilled.

Rugs on hard floors. Sheepskin rugs by bed or sofa and great for pets to keep warm as well. Make sure they're real sheepskin though, not fake.

Install loft insulation if you can.

Have sex.

I made a draught excluder about ten years ago using the leg of an old pair of tights and stuffed it with more old tights that had seen much better days. Tied a knot in the cut end and voila!

It is up in the eaves at the bottom of the eaves door that is in the bedroom as it blows quite a draught during windy weather.

I also used bubble wrap to fill gaps up the sides, top and also the bottom of said door. Makes quite a difference.

I put this on the frugal living thread but I will also put it here

Wash all your blankets, throws, duvets, cushions, curtains, coats and other heavy winter items now so that you can dry outside rather than using a dryer or having large wet items hanging around inside during the winter.
Wear fleeces rather than heavy jumpers or sweatshirts as they dry much quicker. Check your local charity shops and sales for them and buy one size bigger so that you can put another layer underneath.
Joggers rather than jeans again as they are easier to dry and wear tights or thermals underneath. Keep an eye on charity shops for any or look on everything five pounds.com as I got 4 pairs in their half price sale for £2.50.
line curtains with old fleece.
make draft excluders for doors and windows out of any old clothing or bedding.
if you are on Facebook join your local free up and reuse sites and any local selling pages. I have received and offered quite a few useful items this year and there is often bundles of both adult and children’s clothes offered.

Of course they will still need reheating so overall it might be cheaper to cook when wanted using the slow cooker. I’m considering a return to the hay box. - boil up stew in a big pan, then put it in a box tightly packed with 10cm hay top, bottom and sides. Requires no more heat input.

My original 1970 slow cooker had far better insulation than its modern equivalent

It may turn your smart meter red, but not for long. The eco version would use less power but would take longer to boil, thus using the same amount of electricity, just spread out over a longer time.

You need a certain amount of energy to boil water, all the rest is lost. Until someone produces an insulated kettle to reduce heat loss through the sides all you can do is reduces losses yourself, don’t boil more than you need, or if you do accidentally, save the extra in a thermos. Perhaps don’t actually boil if you’re making instant coffee - I suspect there’s an extra boost of electricity needed to give the water molecules the energy they require to break away as steam, so heating to 90 not 100 might give a disproportionate benefit. Whether it’s worth the hassle I don’t know.

Keep an eye on the “warm spaces” Councils are arranging for people who can’t heat their homes, but if you’re thinking of using one, make sure you’re not crowding out someone even worse off than you

I do similar with the filled dogpoo bag when out walking the dogs, very toasty on a cold winters morning

I'm fairly sure there isn't - there's a fixed amount of energy required to heat water by 1 degree Celsius (its specific heat capacity). The less you heat the water the less energy it takes but not more or less at 90 degrees than 99 degrees.

The only choice is the level of efficiency of the appliance - so if you have an induction hob use a closed kettle on that to boil your water:

insideenergy.org/2016/02/23/boiling-water-ieq/

I grew up in a 3 storey house, single paned sash windows that rattled in the wind, whilst letting draft in, and no central heating, just a fireplace in front room. (Bedrooms had fireplaces, but not used).

We used to have extra blankets, pyjamas and a hot water bottle every night, and tbh I don't remember being cold all.the time, initially was getting into bed, but hot water bottle was best.

I've bought us new pj's and ordered more logs than usual as will be using open fire more and central heating for when it gets really cold if needed this winter.

How do you know what kWh is used for each appliance?

Woolly socks and fingerless gloves (so can still use phone/laptop/whatever) make a big difference when its cold inside.

I have a kettle that you can select the temperature it heats up to. 90 degrees is better for coffee and hot water bottles. Small saving on the heating up and don't have to wait for kettle to cool down to fill the hottie bottle.

Coffee is nicer too😀

I'm fairly sure there isn't - there's a fixed amount of energy required to heat water by 1 degree Celsius (its specific heat capacity). The less you heat the water the less energy it takes but not more or less at 90 degrees than 99 degrees. Yes, of course you’re right in that statement. That’s not what I was saying. I’m talking about the “heat of vapourisation” needed to take it over the phase change from liquid to gas. Thinking further about it, it’s not that you put extra in, it’s that the temperature won’t rise even if you put more energy in. So if you put a certain amount of energy in when the water is at 60, it’ll heat it to 65, put the same amount in at 90 and the temperature will rise to 95, but put it in to water at 100 and it’ll stay at 100.

How do you know what kWh is used for each appliance? It’s written on it, usually on a small metal plate fixed to the back or underside. Often in watts, W, so 2500W is 2.5kW. Then multiply it by the length of time you use it (in hours) to get kWh, 1kWh is 1 unit of electricity.

So a 3kW kettle running for 4mins is 3 x 1/15 units, ie a fifth of a unit.
And a 10W (1/100kW) light bulb running for 20 hours is also a fifth of a unit.

I also have one if those temperature controllable kettles. I got mine from Aldi for around £20.

If you are considering turtledoves fingerless gloves/wrist warmers/hats etc, they have 40% off today. Still expensive, but much less so than usual.

Great thread and I have picked up some good tips, just bought myself a new hot water bottle and washed all of our blankets as we have sunny weather here today to dry them all.

Anyone else really embarrassed and absolutely pissed off that as a country we are having to resort to heat banks to keep ourselves warm? It's disgusting that the energy companies are allowed to make so much bloody profit, it's abhorrent!

Blankets for the sofa. Primark is doing a version of an oodie. Slipper boots or slipper socks. Hot water bottle. Layers

Anyone else really embarrassed and absolutely pissed off that as a country we are having to resort to heat banks to keep ourselves warm? It's disgusting that the energy companies are allowed to make so much bloody profit, it's abhorrent! The measures that people have been talking about are what you expect to do in a power cut. What’s even more annoying is that some of our energy supply is owned by the nationalised companies of other countries, so the profits being made from us are being used to subsidise consumers in, eg, France.