BBC advice - @Before you crank up the thermostat, try these tips to keep you and your home warmer for longer" - AIBU to be sceptical about the "tips"?

[nepkoztarsasag]

Just posting this here without comment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqr7yeed1ed7o

Actually what would be better financially would be to not use the oven, use an air fryer instead, and what you save on oven costs use to turn the thermostat up a bit.

(When I say ‘keep the heating on low’, I mean low. My thermostat is set to 16°, my heating only goes on when it’s colder than that in my house. This is enough to stop damp/mould, but it’s not a balmy 20°+. It’s warm enough for when you’re active, but once I sit down I need a lap blanket or I get chilly. My heating system control is fairly basic, a circular dial with tabs you push out to set the times, it’s set to trigger the heating for about 15 minutes every hour during the day, and 15 minutes every 1.5 hours over night. It’s not constantly on, but it’s on regularly enough that it doesn’t allow the house to get properly cold. Since I set it up like this my heating bill has gone down.)

Our house is listed and we can’t change the windows so we have single glazed sash windows (wouldn’t buy a listed property again, very beautiful but an absolute nightmare). We have heavy blinds and curtains and consequently have to consistently use a ‘window hoover’ to deal with condensation. It’s a pain.

Edited to add: This sounds like we live in a country manor; it is just a normal (but very old!) 3 bed property

We save a fortune by moving our entire house to the southern hemisphere during the UK winter.

There’s a happy(or at least, less unhappy) medium. I don’t think that using energy a bit more sensibly, eating more seasonally etc is ‘going backwards’.

All my double glazed windows and doors have "blown" so it does get quite chilly. I could replace them all myself but I'm in social housing and they won't let me.

We do similar, heating set to come on when temp gets below 16, but on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I have a lap blanket. We also have a gas fire in the living room. If we shut the hall door, we can put the gas fire on for 20 minutes and it gets the lounge lovely and toasty.

Oh dear, the bar gets lower and lower. It’s 2026 and rather than questioning why we have the most expensive energy in the world, we’re supposed to accept living like this.

We have the most expensive energy in the world because of successive corrupt and incompetent governments who are also net zero lunatics. So while every other country in the world is burning fossil fuels for fun, let’s all use these tips to accept being cold. Pathetic.

How would they know if its just the units you replace?
BTW you shouldn't have to replace they the HA should

My old boy sounds like a Geiger counter.

Natalie, 29, says she's replaced some of the clothes she wears round the house with supermarket thermal leggings and tops and says "it's made such a difference".
Ah yes, those lovely ethical, fast fashion synthetic microplastic supermarket leggings. But at least the thermostat is down a degree. Swings and roundabouts, eh?

I wouldnt take advice from the BBC. I would have to double check if they told me that leopards have spots 😅

Advice to use bubblewrap on windows to reduce condensation was a big thing on Mumsnet a few years ago but I don't see it mentioned any more.

It does work: it slightly insulates the glass and reduces how often it reaches the dew point at which condensation forms. I don't think it would be enough to affect how warm the room feels though.

If anyone wants to try, cut a rectangle of bubblewrap the size of the glass, spray the glass with water so the bubblewrap will 'stick' to it, and gently press the bubblewrap to the glass. It will obviously be a bit wet but it will reduce the amount of condensation so it's not running down your windows.

😂

If you can afford to put the central heating on whenever, then you won't need to do any of this.

In the event of a bad storm and no electricity for a week, you might be looking at alternative ways to keep warm.

I grew up before central heating was common, a gas fire in the main room was what we had. So curtains over doors, plastic across windows and lots of layers (on the bed and us) wasn't unusual in our house.

Hearty meals are eaten by burly policemen.

I've got single glazing, never had the money for new windows, on my own, raised a child without any contributions from the other parent, sometimes didn't have the money for food let alone "hearty hot meals" Over the years i have managed to save up for a new boiler, have new radiators, new electrics, and I am having a new front door in the next few weeks. However finding the many thousands it would cost for double glazing has been impossible. The other thing that really gets me is that it is so hard to get a reasonable idea of what it would cost, so much smoke and mirrors and fake special offers in the world of double glazing who can't give a straight answer.

This stuff, even on double glazed windows it reduces the chill and condensation on the glass.

Has anyone tried wearing bubblewrap to stay warm?

Wearing a woolly hat indoors also helps.

You can replace the windows one at a time so it won't cost thousands in one go. It's what I had to do, and I prioritised doing the windows over everything else apart from loft insulation. It really does make a huge difference.

@Lifeomars ”The other thing that really gets me is that it is so hard to get a reasonable idea of what it would cost, so much smoke and mirrors and fake special offers in the world of double glazing who can't give a straight answer.”

Go to wickes website and search double glazing. If you have standard sized windows, then the DIY shops sell what you need off the shelf.
Obviously there’s more to it than meets the eye, you need cills, suitable fittings, maybe your window boards will get damaged, do you have lintels etc.
However a competent DIY handyman can fit them. You could just do the windy side of the house first, or the coldest room.

Sad to see how many posters are happy to mock and ridicule.

Yes, many of the suggestions are obvious to me who grew up in a home where these things were normal, and who has carried on using them, but not everyone has.

There are lots of people who have knocked through to make their home open plan, who have removed carpets from the house, who don't have thick and / or lined curtains at the windows let alone the door or foot of the stairs. There are plenty of people who spend their day in shorts and t-shirt or just a shirt, and who don't wear layers, or socks long enough to cover the space between their shoes and trousers, or who don't wear shoes, or who aren't aware that putting the hood up on your hoodie or wearing a beanie can make a massive difference to their body temperature, or covering their pulse points with even a fine scarf, and sleeves long enough to cover wrists etc make such a difference.
Not sure how sneering at informing those who don't know is helpful.

Our house is listed and we can’t change the windows so we have single glazed sash windows (wouldn’t buy a listed property again, very beautiful but an absolute nightmare). We have heavy blinds and curtains and consequently have to consistently use a ‘window hoover’ to deal with condensation. It’s a pain.

We are grade II*. We have secondary double glazing. We can take the panels out in the summer and put them back in the winter. It's legit and a thing. Could you do that? Oil is high but not as high as 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.

Does your house have wooden shutters? Could they be brought back into use?

I'm not having a dig.

I just know councils started putting in double glazing about 1980, that 45 years ago.
Raising a child is say 20 years.
Thats still 25 years including time possibly before you had the house or after your child has grown to fit windows.

About 10 years ago we fitted double glazing in a 2 bed flat it was about £3500 for 7 small windows and a external door.

As someone else suggested it might be worth doing them a windows at a time rather than a whole house project.