So sick of being cold

[jellybelly22]

We bought a house over the odds due to its location. There have been loads of unexpected works and repairs which coupled with the energy increase is really crippling us. It's a very old, cold, inefficient house and our first winter here has been tough. We've gone from spending £160 a month and always being warm in our previous home to sometimes over £600 and still being freezing. I hate it. My 1 year olds bedroom was 12 degrees the other night. She has a sleeping bag and a blanket (I know I know) but her hands were still freezing. I find excuses to go out all the time because it's so miserable being cold. It's causing rows with dh as he doesn't feel the cold like me and is very much a 'just get another blanket' type. I've done blankets and hot water bottles and jumpers.
I love the house and it's probably just unlucky that our move coincided with the massive energy rises but I can only associate it with being cold at the moment :-(
I know it's the same for everyone. I have no idea how this has been allowed to happen. Does anyone have any tips? We are looking into insulating the house and making it more efficient but money is tight at the minute.

That sounds miserable. I hate being cold and once you are chilled to the bone it's so hard to warm up. For you I'd go with an oodie (or cheap version!), a hot water bottle and lots of hot drinks. Fingerless gloves are really good and the thin cotton ones won't stop you doing things. Can you move your little one into your room and then that's just one room to heat?

I feel for you. We bought a similar house in the 90’s and I don’t think it was ever really warm, dd told me she didn’t know bedrooms could be warm until she went to uni!
We sold our’s 7 years ago and I see the new people have solar panels.

My advice would be to check your loft insulation and try and insulate your dd’s room.
It will soon be summer and you will enjoy your home more then.
Perhaps you could make an action plan for next winter.

The only way this will get better is if you properly insulate the house. Number of ways of doing it and some are better than others depending on house age and construction. I have no idea how handy you are but that is probably where the most cost will be, the labour (unless you need windows replaced)

Does your local library have the thermal imaging cameras you can borrow? They are useful to see where you are losing heat. We replaced our front door and porch windows and it has made a huge difference, and added some insulation to the roof of our single storey bit (also Victorian house) based on using the camera. Other than that electric blankets on a timer to warm beds for half an hour before you get in, and electric heated throw is my favourite thing ever.

I'm so sorry to hear this.
I live in a miserable house in the winter too. £400 bills to still be uncomfortable most of the time.
My husband and daughter also don't seem to feel the cold, but he is sympathetic to me feeling it.
What has helped- investing in infra-red heaters and turning off all storage heaters (it is a rented property so can take these with us), turning off hot water and having short electric showers and kettle washing up as landlord old decrepit immersion heater was gobbling fuel, and having an open fire- laying it before nursery so just have to light it as soon as we get in.
It is miserable and feels really unfair to be cold and spending a ton of money.
Is there anything you can do in the summer to make your house more energy efficient?

Have you looked at the Eco4 scheme? That insulates all external walls, install of solar and air source heat pump. Qualifying criteria is usually only child benefit.

I massively feel the cold too and DH doesn't 🙄

I wear a onesie over leggings and jumper, slipper boots and a hat on my head (yes, I look very unusual 😅 but I'm warm!)

Hot drinks (even just hot water)

An electric throw is a game changer if you're having to sit (eg at a desk or sofa)

Im sorry to read this, being cold is so awful and especially bad as you thought it was your dream house. I dont know how people suffered the cold in the olden days either.

New windows, a woodburner, good quality electric blankets and thick door curtains.

Thanks all, some useful tips. I guess I had this big idea that the house would be amazing and despite a lot of progress it's still very much unfinished, loads of additional problems and permanently cold. I sometimes feel like we've taken way too much on and are just throwing money after money.
I can handle being cold but I hate feeling that my dc are cold. I let older dc have fan heaters in their rooms which dh then moans about. But I honestly feel so anxious thinking the are sleeping in cold rooms.

My house was like this. Previous owner must have been freezing.

I put door curtains up and changed the radiators over and now my house is warm - not roasting - but warm. I was so glad I had done that when the big freeze hit, we would have had to have moved out for the duration.

With our old heating, I had the heating on all day during the winter and the house was just 18° during the day and bedrooms would drop to 13°

My DM rarely had the heating on when we were DC and I could see my breath in my bedroom which had two external walls. I often went to bed in layers of clothes not pyjamas. The only silver lining is that I can’t stand overheated homes now (they make me feel sick) and I can tolerate low temperatures which has been handy now I can hardly afford to have my own heating on.

I think all of us have to get used to living in cooler homes but there’s a happy balance between health and avoiding the fabric of the property getting damaged or going to bed in damp bedding because it’s so cold.

Heated blankets have been a game changer for me, I can cope with the house being much colder than I'd like as long as I can get under the heated blanket in the evening.

I have a £16 oodie from primark which is really warm and I wear it all the time in the house.

For your kids rooms I'd get an oil filled radiator rather than the fans, the fans are a fire risk and the oil filled radiators are more efficient.

Other than that insulation is key and keeping doors closed as much as possible.

But I honestly feel so anxious thinking the are sleeping in cold rooms. Don't they will be fine, we all grew up without central heating and in very poorly insulated homes and we were all fine. I still remember waking up with frost on the inside of the window. I would worry more about the blow heaters they suck the air out of a room, maybe use them to warm it up before they go to bed and then switch off. Good duvets, blankets etc and they will be fine.

It is hard not to feel overwhelmed when you buy an old house that needs lots of doing to it but it will be worth it. Have you any sort of plan on what needs doing and how much it will be? Maybe start budgeting and working out what is priority and start getting things done. I think priority is sorting out the heat and insulation so you don't have another horrible winter and don't forget this year has been a pretty mild one for the most part. Can you do internal insulation? or the external wrap, key is also to make sure attic is well insulated.

I know what you mean. Breathing in cold air makes the bottom of my lungs hurt.

If you have open fires, stick your head up the chimney with a torch. You need a pillow of some sort there. And I would check/sort that immediately.

Other cheap things are the tape stuff around door frames etc, bubble wrap stuck flat side in onto windows with sprayed water. I’m told it really works.

Have you been into the loft to see what you actually have in the way of insulation?

Loft insulation is cheap and it works. Check out that first. Large thick curtain inside of blinds to stop drafts. Bleed radiators. Sometimes they are on but have air trapped so not working efficiently. Keep doors shut.

How old is old? If it’s before world war 2 (no cavity wall) you need to be careful how you go about insulation as building methods were different and you can end up with damp problems if it’s not done correctly. Read up on the Heritage House website before spending your money on insulation to make sure you get it right. If your house is damp, it will also feel colder than it is, so ventilation is key. Don’t go blocking all the drafts if it’s a really old house, you will make things worse.
www.heritage-house.org/

I live in a very old house and they simply cannot be heated economically to modern standards. I set the thermostat to 18 degrees during the day and off overnight. I really feel the cold, so the solution is:

1. Thermal underwear (long johns/long sleeve vest)
2. Normal thin top
3. Pure wool jumper. Artificial fibres don’t do the job
4. Gilet
5. If extra cold, (in the morning before the house has got to 18 degrees) a hoodie or fleece on top

If I am sitting still, a throw. Electric throws are great if it’s sub zero outside.

No heating at night, layers on the bed and I am toasty. I have an electric under blanket that can be left on low overnight but have used it once this winter.

I have a very old draughty house and my sherpa fleece electric underblanket has been a life saver.

As long as your children have a warm bed they're fine. I don't think it's healthy to sleep with fan heaters on and personally prefer a cold bedroom. I've slept (camped) in freezing temperatures with snow outside the tent but I had a really good sleeping bag and was lovely and warm. Invest in down duvets for the children and maybe just put on the heaters in the morning for them getting up. Have you thought about oil filled radiators? Slim, economical and a healthier heat rather than fan (which dries the air horribly)

What temperature are you heating the house to?

Yy to the layers listed above. Don't forget your bottom half. Thermal long John'S under clothes or primark fluffy leggings do an awful lot on their own. Jeans are cold, none of us really wear them.

This does us all at home comfortably to 14-15° but it does take a little getting used to. Nowadays anything about 16° feels uncomfortably hot. 18° would be unbearable on a permanent basis.

Oh no they don't sleep with the heaters on as they're a fire hazard and heat the room really quickly, they just have them on for a bit before bed or first thing in the morning. Eldest dc has taken to laying in front of his and reading though which tends to wind up dh 😂

The hearing comes on for an hour or two in the morning and then the same again at night. But it barely touches the sides in such a big house and the radiators are all ancient and don't particularly give out much heat either. 12 degrees overnight in a bedroom feels freezing to me. In my old house I would happily set the thermostat to 21 all day. It was lovely. And cheap lol.

21° is horrifically wasteful and terrible for the environment!!!

😲

Bedroom temperature shouldn't really matter hugely if you have warm enough blankets/duvet on the bed

We really do have to get used to heating the individual not the home

We've bought some fleece bedding, which I thought sounded disgusting but are the warmest, snuggliest thing ever.

I think wool is the answer here. Our house is modern but I have lived in old houses and really feel the cold. I bought 2 thick, long wool cardigans this year which I can layer over everything. One is a hooded coatigan from Celtic and Co, the other a long alpaca/wool cardigan from Dilling. I have also been wearing wool leggings and long sleeved tops under everything all winter. I recommend Dilling for these, but you can also look at Icebreaker or Smartwool or other brands for cheaper merino. We also all have wool Duvets and DH and I have a thick merino sherpa type blanket under our bottom sheet. Or down is another option. I suppose you need to consider if an old house is one you want to stay in long term. We lived in a big, old house when I was a teenager and it was always cold. I would not swap our modern terrace with small garden for a big old house in the current situation, we have managed to cut our heating down to an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening for the whole winter and nothing on the say despite WFH.