Anyone trying not to have heating on

[TheOpalFox]

Anyone else tried to not have heating on? Even tho your cold? It’s 8 degrees and I’m cold but can’t afford to have heating on all the time :( what a way to live!!!

exactly
it is ALL to do with saving money.
being brought up in cold houses and adding layers means this is how i behave as a 59 year old

As children the frost on the inside of windows was great fun. We'd warm coins and press them up against the frost. I remember 62-63 being fiercely cold the loos froze and the taps. Our school was shut for a while we had coats on top of sheets, blankets and the feather comforter. Outside there were embankments of snow either side of the paths. Now we all got fed up with that in the end

Yep and those bills were so low with the Tory’s in 2022/23/24 - it was the Tory’s who got rid of all the gas storeage containers around 2017 , as a ‘waste of money ‘. -short memory’s!

I’m 61 and was brought up in cold houses. The memories are still there.

Thats why l like mine nice and warm.

Good for your mother! My childhood home was much the same, ice inside the windows, a tin bath brought into the scullery after tea on Sunday. There were coal fires downstairs, replaced with gas fires eventually, and unused open fireplaces in each bedroom, and at some point during my primary school years came the luxury of electric under blankets.

But gathering wood isn’t a hardship. Wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and again when you burn it. The dogs and cats are as mesmerised by the fire as I am. Three sheets of the local free newspaper, plus some dry twigs or chopped pallet wood are enough to start it, and they’re free. What’s not to like?

ETA I do have oil in the tank for the central heating, but more often than not I only want to take the chill off the bathroom, the other nine radiators will still be turned off!

She’s one of a kind, I’m never quite sure what I will find her up to when I pop around, usually something she shouldn’t really be doing!
Enjoy your open fire and furry companions!

Always wait till October to put heating on. Have tee under jumper and woolly socks and trainers indoors at the moment. Outside was 2 degrees this morning heating up to 11. Use thick duvet with throw over at night at moment. I am in North Essex.

It's just what you're used to. I grew up in an old farm cottage before central heating was everywhere. Ice on the windows. Fire in the kitchen but I was first up so it was usually out.
I still live in an old cottage and we have radiators running off the fire but it's only normally lit between November and March. And I definitely can't live in an overheated environment.

17 degrees here. Still using lightweight summer duvet.

Tried and failed xxx

What on earth has happened that means you cannot afford to keep yourself warm? Where else have you made cut backs? Will things change for you soon?

Man, I am bloody cold today. In the thick of building work, so there is no heating, we have no radiators at the moment! Although, plasterboard is going up in our temporary living room/kitchen as I speak, so hopefully, with the bricks covered it will be warmer this evening.

We have a fan heater, so I think we’ll have to crack that out this evening.

I was thinking the same. I'm on much much less and can still afford to heat my home. I pay a set amount every month, means it builds up over the summer(or pays off last winter as I've been in debt for a couple of years and have finally paid it off so can start building credit up again).

Some mortgages are insane in some areas. Add in leased cars. You're a hamster on a wheel going nowhere.

I don’t understand this either.

That is a huge amount of money.

I don’t understand why some people don’t understand that heating is expensive and not everyone can afford it.

Steady on, it's not been cold.just yet (Midlands).

I don't care anymore, I'll go into debt if I have to but I refuse to be cold. Once you feel cold it seeps in and nothing will make it better really, so I am so sorry for those who just cannot be warm in their own house. Awful.

I am lounging on the sofa with a fluffy heated throw and it is just fab. Costs pennies to run and I don't need michelin man type layers either. Then later on the heat will go on for a few hours, and electric blanket will be lovely and warm in the bed by the time I go up and the heat goes off. I don't have heat on in my bedroom ever, always loved a warm bed and cool room. So that's OK.

I'm nearly 70 now, and to hell with it. Spending my heirs inheritance right now!

This isn't as unbelievable as it might seem. It isn't just income that's the issue, but income compared with commitments. A hypothetical high earning couple with expensive mortgage, children in private schools and a nanny might have been managing just about comfortably a few yrs ago, but with constant massive rises in both food and energy, could now be struggling.

I have banned myself from switching it on before Oct 1!

Yes, of course if you max out on your mortgage and private schools and fancy cars then you won’t have enough for everything else. The VAT for schools didn’t come out of the blue.
Nor did interest rate rises.
I would remove my children from private school and heat the house.

Sorry you’re feeling so hot and sweaty, oh the joys of peri menopause! Although when I was going through it, my energy company reduced my bills by £75 a month as I didn’t need to heat the house during the days I worked from home. That plus point lasted two years and I was lucky my family generally run hot, but I slept with the fan on during the depths of winter.

If only we could harness it we could power the whole country!

We don't know if the PP uses private schools, but I can imagine it being a difficult decision to move children. We don't know what her commitments are, but she's still stuck in what I suppose we could call a wealth trap.

It's a pretty bad trap if you can't afford to keep warm when you earn 170K.
I mean warmth is a priority IMO. I'd cut back on many other things before having to sit in the cold in blankets and many jumpers. I would cut back on any fancy food, subscriptions (sports clubs, all the tv ones), not running the appliances/car excessively, going out before turning the heat off.
She has said they'll turn it on in Nov but is already freezing, so another 5 weeks. I'd use savings to pay for that if my monthly incoming salary didn't have enough.

Hard to say, since she doesn't give much information, but people with her income level would be expected to be living in a well insulated house. Yet she says it's already cold. Of course, we don't know where in the country she is. Where I live it's been 18 degrees with warm sunshine for much of today. Haven't put the heating on yet, and still sleeping with lightweight summer duvet.