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.

I work outside and find the warmest clothing is thermals/leggings under jeans, a vest, the t shirt, then a cheap fleece then a large bulky jumper.

Nothing warms me up better than a cup of tea and a warm lunch, even if it's just toast.

I find fleece blankets warmer than the woven type, my OH got a horrible one for his birthday as a child but it is the warmest thing ever, when it's really cold we lay it on top of the bedsheet and sleep between the blanket and the duvet.

In large rooms use a fan to send hot air away from the radiator.

As someone else said once you've finished using the oven leave the door ajar to let the heat out.

Thermal curtains.

Leave upstair bedroom doors open so heat can rise from downstairs and into the rooms you're sleeping in.

If you have a towel rail/radiator in the bathroom drape the towels over the side or hang them on the door so the heat can escape from the rad.

Always wear socks.

I think it is time for these to be renationalised then, people should not be needing to live like this in the year 2022. More so when the profits they are recording are record breaking amounts.

Turn the heating on?

The whole point is people either can't afford to put their heating on or are too scared to because of the bills.

Thought that was obvious

I used to use secondary glazing film when I lived very remotely in a house with crafty single glazing. Worked really well and it’s cheap, less than £7 for 6m. Sticks on with a tape and then you heat it with a hair dryer to make it air tight.

@fyn is it easy to remove?

If you really can't put on your heating & you have a tent, make up your bed in the tent.
Mattress & all.
The smaller space will be easier to heat (body heat in the night) & the air in the tent will get warmer than the rest of the room in the night.

Kids tend to find it fun & if you have your mattress in a tent (or size dependant you can set up the tent on your actual bed frame) it's really comfortable.

Back when 4 poster beds were a thing, those thick curtains did the same thing as you'd be using the tent to do, but better - cut down on drafts, insulate from the colder air & keep in any heat generated better.

When my boiler broke one winter, before I had back up heating or electric blankets (we now have all the things), we slept in a tent set up on the bed for a week.
It made a massive difference.
Set a tray in there for kids to use as a table (you do need a lamp to read) & when home they spent most of their time in there as it was warmer than the rest of the house.

A few years back I saw knitted leggings in a shop & I bought half a dozen paris.
They are fairly thick, so it's like you have a jumper on your legs but thin enough to wear under dresses or trousers if they are not tight ones.

Hats really help you stay warm as you lose a lot of heat from your head.
2 pairs of socks (a thin pair under a thicker one) helps, as does gloves.

Blankets on chairs to sit on (or a duvet) as well as to go over you means you will get warmer than letting heat escape into the chair under you.

I have a mesh computer chair which is fab in the summer.
In the winter I put a blanket over it & I have a small heating pad for when it's very cold.
If you have laminate/wooden/tile sort of floors, put a small rug (even a bath mat would do) between your feet & the floor even if you have shoes on if you will be sat there for a while.

Cold houses are the reason people used to have those little mats at the base of their toilets & sinks.
Insulating you from surfaces that will steal your body heat fast.
They might be unfashionable, but they still work.

Those teddy fleece sheets and duvet sets are really warm and cosy in winter. I don't like the heating on in my bedroom anyway, but I'm always snug inside my teddy fleece, even with a lightweight duvet.

There's nothing to stop people hanging rails/poles from the ceiling for curtains to give them a four poster bed, without the posts.

Just make sure the ceiling can take it.

@Onlyhereforthebatshitneighbours yes, it’s essentially just double sided sticky tape with thick cling film.

I grew up in a big stone house with single glazing and a stiff breeze inside so picked up a few tips. We never had heating at night.
Lots of thin layers are better than big thick ones.
Thermal underwear makes a big difference
Wrist warmers, look like they don't do much but they do make a difference.
Curtains closed early in evenings and tucked into radiators
Hot water bottle under the covers before you go to bed.
Clothes for next day close to the bed so if it's really cold you can get dressed under the covers.
Keep moving if you can, sitting still can make you cool quicker.
Draught proof your house - draughtproofing tape on windows and doors, door draught excluders (you can make these yourself) thick curtains/ door curtains. If you have open floor boards seal between gaps, carpet is best but if you haven't got them you want to stop air whistling through them.
Insulate lofts if you haven't already at least 300mm of mineral wool will make a difference.

It’s also worth looking into the Energy Company Obligation. It’s a scheme in which energy companies provide energy saving measures such as free loft or cavity insulation and new energy efficient boilers. You have to be in private housing (either owned or privately rented) and be in receipt of qualifying benefits, although Child Benefit is one of them.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-cavity-loft-insulation/

www.gov.uk/energy-company-obligation

People setting up tents to sleep in is bloody madness. It's a disgrace when people feel the need to do this in their own homes

We heated the sitting room only last year, with an electric oil heater on a low setting. DD2 feels the cold, so we bought her a heated throw, which was about 50 quid and very large, which she had on the bed. Very cheap to run. We also have thick throws to use when it's not quite cold enough to turn on heaters or radiators.

This year I have bought more electric blankets, instead of the heater, as it's cheaper to heat a person than a room. The dog has bedtime jumpers and I have just bought the cats igloo beds, so they can keep warm at night.

Hot water bottles are fantastic for bed and great if you have stiff joints in your feet and fleecy PJs or brushed cotton (bliss!)

Sheepskin slippers: Real ones, proper ones that can be carefully washed Sooooo warm and wonderful to put your feet into. Well worth the money.

Kids will be away at uni, so DH and I will be eating ready meals cooked in the microwave + microwave steamed veg, or something that can be cooked quickly in the oven, or toasted sandwiches, mackerel on toast. There's no way I'm using the oven excessively at those prices, I may as well burn the money.

To make the house feel cosy, a cheap candle and some battery operated string lights around the (empty!) fireplace do go some way to making it feel less austere.

I'll be damned if I'm giving my hard-earned money to the electricity companies.

(Also gonna look into these wool duvets that have been mentioned, thinks for the tips)

If you have open floor boards seal between gaps, carpet is best but if you haven't got them you want to stop air whistling through them. Strips of newspaper crumpled up make good draught excluder for floorboard gaps, the gap between floor and skirting board, and the gaps round sash windows.

Layer your bed up as layers trap air
Blanket under the bottom sheet, top sheet under duvet cover
This throw is really warm (comes in other colours) https://www.dunelm.com/product/thermosoft-mini-check-blue-throw-1000152688?defaultSkuId=30655836
I have a self reflecting heat mat which was the cats on my office chair to sit on

@PeloAddict I find putting the blanket under the duvet makes a huge difference - much warmer than on top as a throw! I haven't tried one underneath the bottom sheet, but if it's a cold winter I might!

We use our 4.5 tog summer quilt as a mattress topper in winter and the 15 tog over us. But I agree that a cheap fleece blanket would work well too.
Tape over any door keyholes on the inside. The draught from ours is horrendous and this really makes a difference.

It makes a huge difference to me, stops any cold air coming up (my bed is metal so that might be why) or you can even put it under the mattress which is handy for storing a blanket too

We live in a very old draughty house and I wouldn’t be without my woolly hat, it makes such a massive difference to you feeling warm.

Put some Insulation board behind your radiators to reflect heat back into the room. B&Q do a thick board which is large enough to do 2 radiators for £7. If you haven’t got £7 to spare get some thick card and cover it in cheap foil.
Large bath towels are hard to dry overwinter without using a tumble dryer so don’t use them. Try to find some cheap micro fibre ones to use instead. I got some for £3 on shein. Really quick and easy to dry and as long as you don’t want to wrap yourself in it and wander around the house after your shower a smaller micro fibre towels does the job and then straight into your dressing gown if you want to do the wandering around bit.

Foil on its own achieves very little. Despite their name, radiators work mainly not by radiation but convection. They heat the air around themselves, and then the warm air circulates around the room.

On the other hand, putting some sort of insulation behind the radiator will help prevent the wall from absorbing the heat which you want to keep in the air.

I bought 2 double sized heated throws in a sale 2 months ago really thick and fleecy and washable too. They were £20 each and will be our winter bargains

It’s clear from the OP that they only asked how to keep warm? No mention of cutting bills?

I would love to use a thermal imaging camera to see where my house loses heat. Does anyone know if this can be done or done fairly cheaply? There are some very pricy ones on Amazon but I’d only want to use it once.