To think that I could just not use the heating much at all this winter?

[Socathe]

I live with my DH and three year old DS in a new ish four bed detached house. I know that there are many who will not be able to afford to heat their homes this winter and for whom it will not be an option.

We are very fortunate in that we could just about afford to heat our home as we usually would. However, it would swallow up all of our extra money - we would be doing it at the expense of other things, such as a holiday next year, a normal Christmas, meals out, the pantomime in December, finishing our house renovations, those sorts of things.

I know these things are luxuries and we are very fortunate to be in a position where we have luxuries we could give up in order to afford heating. But AIBU to think that we could just try not to use the heating much at all this winter, so we don't have to give up these other luxuries? In previous winters we've had it on for 5-6 hours a day, I'm thinking of trying an hour a day to start and see how we go. Thicker duvets, boot slippers, oodies etc.

Am I being unrealistic especially with having a 3yo? What is everyone else planning on doing?

its a stupid idea that you will soon forget about once winter comes. Lots of homes in my area lost power for a couple of weeks last winter - whilst that meant no electricity it also meant no heating. It was awful! No way would any reasonable person put themselves through that unless they really had to - you will very quickly realise you would rather be warm that have a holiday and home renovations.
I think a lot of people who are currently stating they will not be using heating this winter will very quickly chanage their mind

Once I put gelatin in the washing machine instead of laundry powder.
That was a viscous cycle.

5-6 hours a day is a lot anyway without the new added cost

It is, we probably didn't have it on quite that much. But last winter my DS was in a cot in sleeping bags which meant his arms were sticking out, and we had the heating set to come on at 4am to combat early wake ups from him being cold. Now he's in a bed with a proper quilt so we can at least get him a thicker duvet and not have the heating on overnight. We never used to before DS.

I hadn't heard about that. Not good.

I do think the reality may be different when winter hits! But definitely think our energy use can be reduced at least a bit without creating too much misery.

We never have it on in the morning, and try to get through most of the day without (was easier before WFH became the norm several days a week) then just have the heating on in the evening. Never overnight, it goes off around 10pm - 11pm. It's tough though. I've always worn jumpers, a big fluffy dressing gown, fluffy slippers, and two hot water bottles (a wrap around one round the waist and a traditional one on my front). Also wear fingerless gloves while working, and a scarf/snood and hat. But I'm usually still cold. I do intermittent fasting and I'm permanently cold on fast days in the winter. It's awful when I've got a video call and have to take off some of the layers to look presentable.

Hear, hear (I am in Edinburgh. The windchill in Winter is 🥶). Plus, living in a tenement in a conservation area, there is just no way to be energy efficient (including running noisy appliances during cheap tariff at night - my neighbours would love me). To double glaze floor to ceiling Georgian windows would cost a fortune. Although, the way energy prices are rising, it may well prove to actually be cheaper. 😱

What one did you get @AperolWhore

we had one maybe 2/3yrs ago

was cheap as in 25p an hour. Sounds nothing…….

But when on 12hrs so £3 a night x 30 days and was an extra £90 month on our bill

never again.

For sure. Often the reason we need to put the heating on in Scotland is because the atmosphere is so damp all the time so even if it's not wintery cold outside, it's permanently "damp cold". I really feel for those up north and in exposed locations.

I bought oodies for everyone in my house.

I have a door curtain up over the front door.

I've chucked insulation under the kitchen cupboards because of the air vents in the brick and I've got extra throws for the beds I've picked up in charity shops.

Ive bought the kids slippers

I’d also encourage people to dry washing outside, unless it’s wet. Literally if your decking/pavement is dry, your washing should dry (even if your window of opportunity is just a couple of hours). I appreciate I’m lucky in the SE, but we dried washing outside 80% of the time last winter (I became obsessed with the weather channel and planned my washing around potentially good drying days).
Obvs I know everyone hasn’t got outside space.

I'm also in central Scotland and will be putting my heating on but only when I need to rather than because it's a bit chilly.

Call me Columbo, but I'm not sure your username doesn't betray your assertion that your house is warm at those temperatures.

Come winter all the moaners who complained about the summer will soon wish the sun was out.
Natural heat.

It's so frustrating that we can't save the surplus summer heat somehow and deploy it in winter. All those heatwave days when I was melting in a menopausal heat bath ... such a waste of heat.

Calling all scientists - please invent a heat storage machine.

Lol no! I didn't even think of my username when posting!

My username is to do with treating verrucae using the spray that freezes them.

When I say we keep our heating on at 13-15, I mean the dial n the thermostat is set there so the heating would come on if the temperature fell below that. If we need to dry the washing then we turn the dial up until it clicks on, usually around 17-18, which I think is fairly warm.

I'm going to do just as I always have. Put heating on constant set at 18. We have solid walls no insulation. In winter the inside walls are freezing to the touch. We are on a hill and get the wind, so I have very heavy interlined curtains. But, if I don't heat my house I will end up with damp dark spots on said curtains!! and since I am more attached to my curtains than my house.....!! but seriously, I have very bad allergies to all mould spores, (anaphylaxis), so the house has to kept warm, dry and ventilated. This year I think we will be fine, but im having to work more hours, and we will have to make savings in other areas.

Risking poor health, fires, mould and damp, burst pipes and depreciation of your property is a false economy, unless of course you really really have nothing else you can cut back on.

I'd rather be warm in winter than go to a pantomime or have "luxuries" like that. Especially with a 3yo.

But, do what you can now to insulate, thermal curtains, loft, doors etc. overpay your bills a bit to offset winter. But sod a bloody pantomime that I'd end up looking forward to because it's warm in the theatre

We are four hours further north than Glasgow on top of a hill. It gets very cold here and the wind seems to get in everywhere!!

There is 9" insulation going into our new house and underfloor heating. We are building a smaller house than originally planned so hopefully it will stay cosy.

We've put in a bio fuel stove too so we can have that on in the evenings. I think it works out about £2 per day if you buy a large amount of bottles. We don't like the bedrooms being warm anyway, well apart from dd and her room is next to the living areas so should stay warm.

I have always kept the house at 18 degrees. Planning to reduce it to 16 degrees. So colder, but still having the heating on.

YABU. If you can afford it, put your heating on. Your 3 year old needs a warm house more than he needs trips to the panto.

Without heating your pipes could freeze, house get damp, your son could get chest problems. Rooms are meant to get no colder than 18 in winter. An extra jumper is fine for an adult, but it’s far harder to consistently and safely regulate a toddler’s body temperature.

I have a 3 year old son; I’d cut out the luxuries before I’d let him be cold.

Use your heating timer - 1.5 hours in the morning, 2 at his bath and bed time- 2 hours again at lunch time if he’s not out at nursery. But do not switch it off altogether.

I live in a three bed (relatively) new build. Last winter we heated the house for about half an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening (when DD was around and not in bed). I work from home. Two or three layers of clothing. Didn’t do it for financial reasons but because neither me nor DH like heat from the heating (I’m ok with natural warmth, like in summer, but hubby also hates that).

House was never below 16 degrees, which I find acceptable (if you wear one or two jumpers). But new builds are better insulated. I’m not sure you could do the same thing in a Victorian terrace.

I grew up in a cold house. It was utterly miserable. Wearing hats and socks in bed. Getting dressed under the duvet because it was too cold to come out without clothes on. Reading under the duvet with a torch because it was warmer when your head was covered up and the duvet would trap the warm air as you breathed it out. Everyone sitting in one room which was heated, squashed together on the sofa because it was too cold to go to our separate bedrooms.

Especially as a teenager it was awful having no privacy. I had a desk in my room to do homework but from about Oct-April it was too cold up there. I had to sit in the living room, the only room that was heated, with four other people and the telly blaring, and I had to lean on the coffee table to write.

I am not keen to go back to being freezing cold again this winter. Please don’t inflict this sort of childhood on your kids if you can help it.

You may get away with very minimal heating in a new build but agree with PP that if it gets to the point where you are struggling to be comfortable then I'd sooner heat the house than use the money for extras. I would just do activities that cost nothing instead. Especially with a 3yo, they are easy to please.

We already tried to cut back on heating significantly last winter but the problem comes when you get those weeks where it's impossible to dry any washing and I was finding I was putting the heating on just so that the clothes on the airer dried as if left it with no heat they were getting that damp smell as took too long to dry. Annoying putting heating on when it was actually ok with jumpers etc but I think tumble drying a lot would probably cost more.