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?

My grandads house is honestly like the tropics. But he is 103

I'm often amazed at how warm some peoples homes are. My sil has her heating on all day...her house is absolutely sweltering. I only put the heating on if it's very cold for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Unless you are very vulnerable, have a newborn or a very elderly person living with you, then you can manage without the heating on constantly

Everyone’s different though. I feel the cold really badly and always have done. Your SIL house sounds like heaven, yours sounds horrible.

For those of you worrying about your children in the cold

I was a child in the 1960'sand can remember drawing pictures with my nails in the ice on the inside of the windows and getting dressed in bed under the blankets (no duvets then).
It doesn't upset/worry me in any way. Quite the contrary I like to brag about it in a 'we were well hard' type manner. So I think your children will not be upset just think of it as one of those little quirks of your family life.

Yes I was in that situation in the 60s too- as were many of my friends.
It wasn't a particulary healthy environment.
I suffered yearly with winter bronchitis, and I - like many of us ate a very poor diet- my family were unable to afford good quality food.
I don;t feel any nostalgia for that.

Cold homes are damaging to health-

www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/heat-and-health

And it's free!

I was a child in the 1960'sand can remember drawing pictures with my nails in the ice on the inside of the windows and getting dressed in bed under the blankets (no duvets then).
It doesn't upset/worry me in any way. Quite the contrary I like to brag about it in a 'we were well hard' type manner. So I think your children will not be upset just think of it as one of those little quirks of your family life

I was also a child in the 60’s. I was always ill all winter until we got central heating.

Came on the recommend people get behind the Enough is Enough campaign.

We are being taken for mugs.

@StarCourt

if you can, invest in a dehumidifier. They are relatively cheap to run. Put the laundry in one room, shut windows, dehumidifier on, shut door. It dries laundry pretty quickly and you won’t have all the excess moisture that you’d get with a heated drying rack.

Here we go, I can see that in a few months time DH and I will be playing on/off with the central heating!

He'll turn it on and generally forgot to turn it off when going on, while wandering around at home in a t-shirt

I'll be turning it off once our home feels warm ish

Like the lights as well, DH has a habit of turning the lights on in every room he enters, then leaves without turning it off, even when going out for a few hours

Standard is me coming home with the kids in the evening and the bathroom/hallway/kitchen lights are all still on as he forget to turn them off when he left for work

We will put the heating on - as PP mentioned damp air our big problem where in Wales and officially it rains half the year here and is often just damp air in Autumn and winter.

Will be trying to put it on less frequently and for less time.

We also have asthma in several of us - so will have to be aware of temperatures- have brought a room thermometer with humidity meter in as well.

We do plan to further increase our insulating - which is already fairly good - have thick curtains everywhere will be adding thermal liners were we can liners and those two side door stopper for some internal rooms and the foam tape for external windows and doors.

But it will have to go on and we will have to e very aware of damp/condensation.

We have been very broke before - no gas, only oil which we couldn't afford to buy.

Trust me, without heating the bricks will get so cold that it just gets colder and colder inside. Water pipes freeze too.

It's utterly miserable.

Sadly, we're going to have to reduce dramatically again although we now have gas. Maybe 30 mins twice a day.

We shall see how this goes. It won't be pretty.

I've been planning for the same. We've been paying £330 a month over the year already so have £1200 credit but I've already bought a heated airer. We had to change tumble dryer as it broke so got a heat pump one. Also going to get an electric blanket and a Oodie or cheap equivalent. Our house gets damp though so that concerns me.

Personally I don't see the point of living in a 4 bedroomed house and mot being able to afford to heat it at all or just for 1 hour a day.

We're going to keep the living room at 20. The hallway set to 14. Then the rest of the radiators on the very lowest setting to only come on to avoid freezing. Oh and I'll have the towel rail on in the shower room for 30mins in the morning so it doesn't get damp. No heatings in bedrooms or kitchen basically. We work from home so seems sensible to heat one room to 20 to be comfortable. The doors will all be shut. That's our plan. We've already got slippers and jumpers and what not. We don't actually think this is much of a hardship. My dad grew up fairly rich in the 50s and they only ever heated one room apparantly. We're bathing the kids less. Used to do it everyday which seems excessive with these new costs.

Know yourself. Is it likely you could or would live with one hour a day's heating?

Without knowing you, I presumptuously predict you would not. You however are far better placed to answer that question about yourself.

One of the hardest times is getting up and getting dressed and again when it comes to getting undressed and into bed in a cold room. An hour in the morning and in the evening is ten times more realistic than an hour a day. And even that is difficult and you might edge up to say, an hour in the morning, and...oh I'll just put it on for half an hour at lunch time... and then again an hour in the evening could easily creep up to two...
Which is understandable because it's difficult and uncomfortable and frugality and self denial take some getting used to. I can wear layers and live with 68 degrees but 66 is more difficult and 64 probably unrealistic. Switching on is too tempting when it's available and easy, unlike the old days when people didn't have it to hand and the option did not exist. You have to change so many of your habits and assumptions of daily life and that takes time as well as fixity of purpose.

For those of you saying you'll hear one room does this mean with central heating or a separate heater? I have always wondered if it's really cheaper to only heat one radiator and there are so many different answers to this. I wish I'd tried it to find out before all these hikes.

Has anyone already done it and can confirm it's definitely cheaper?

My nanas is the same. I feel the cold but her heating is blasting it's so uncomfortable but it's just warm for her. God help them that can't afford it.

Yeah, I'll heat one room using the CH. I'm not sure it's cheaper but i am sure if you see what I mean. I've always done a version of this and our gas bills have always been on the lower side. No idea what my parents will do. They normally heat their house to a billion degrees like many old people who feel the cold. They're rich but I doubt even they could afford these prices.

We barely had it on last year and even then it was on 16. The problem the. Was getting washing dried on time and not creating damp. We bought a heated airer last year but that is now broken so not sure what we will do to dry washing in the cold.

@RedHelenB given that we moved in nearly two years ago, I don't think at that point we could have foreseen energy bills being £300+ a month. Most people are trying to cut down now. What a pointless comment.

Oh give over.
People dot have to live like they are on the bones of their arse, without proper central heating, when it’s widely available and cheap.

Nothing wrong with having a warm house.

I take it you never use your heating then?

That's a good idea with the bathing - we give DS a bath or shower every day and he probably doesn't need it that often. Might look at cutting that down to maybe every other day.

Very good points. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself reaching for the thermostat like I usually do but hopefully the prices will help me be a bit more conscious.

We’re definitely planning to manage without the central heating this year. I don’t think it was on much at all last year - possibly over Xmas when we were all at home.

BUT..we have an Aga in the kitchen, which is on all winter and a drying rack on the ceiling above so that clothes can still dry.
And a log burner in the living room, so if we’re home in the evenings we will be in there with that burning for a little while. We considered putting a back-boiler on that when we installed it and I really wish we had, but it does have a heating effect on DC rooms directly above.

I’m one of those people who prefers it cold (always sleep with a window open) so would never have the bedrooms heated anyway.

I’m obviously preparing myself for increased bills anyway, but the first port of call will (as always) be jumpers, slippers, extra layers, draught excluders etc. We’ve always considered central heating to be the absolute last resort, and it still will be.