To be a bit pissed off that having our heating on is a luxury we just can't afford...?

[theSuburbanDryad]

I know we're not the only family in this position, far from it, and I should be grateful that I can at least afford to feed us adequately and keep ds in nursery so I can work, but still.

ARGH - just want to rant really. I'm cold and pissed off! I don't see where else we can economise - we have a condenser boiler but the insulation in this house is a bit shite. Nothing we can do about that as it's rented - but our new house is poorly insulated as well, and bigger so will be even colder. Ah well, i suppose it's character building, or something.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. 40 quid is a bit steep though.
We're partly more skint than we need to be cos I am still hanging on to the motability car. But my walking is so bad at the moment and I'm in so much pain that I've been using it to get dd (and her wheelchair) places rather than taking the bus.
I know I should get rid of it. We can't afford heating and a motability car but ffs I can't get places right now. used to cycle or walk to bus stop

If I were you, I'd not use the tumble dryer, but hang the clothes up on the radiators, and turn the heating on for the half hour in the morning and evening. The clothes will dry quite quickly, and you will also get to heat the house.

we have one airer in front of one radiator that I turn on sometimes. Its in the way and I have to rotate the clothes but tumble dryers eat electrcity. I don't have one myself.

I too would stop the tumbledrying SUD. For what it costs to run a tumble drier for an hour I am sure you can heat the house for a few hours (based on a guesstimate, not fact). So stick the clothes on an airer in front of your bedroom rads and heat the house for a few hours a day - resulting in dry washing AND some heat

YANBU.

We still haven't turned our storage heater on (we only have one in the entire house, a massive brick filled monstrosity that eats electric and spits out a meagre amount of heat) because our electric bill is already £120 per month, and we can't afford an increase.

We don't have gas, and warmfront are taking forever to get back to us.

We do use an oil-filled radiator in DD1's room & one in ours at night, on intermittent timers, ½ hour on, 1 hour off, and we have two travel blankets in the lounge that we use to warm up a bit in the evening.

Agree about the tumble drier, our electricity usage has gone down a lot since we stopped using it looking at our old bills and current one.

Agree with tw70 - kill two birds with 1 stone.

Get a door curtain too - charity shop or ebay, make draught excluders, confine yourself to the warmest room (kitchen?)

We have just spent a week in an old, cold farm cottage where the outside temperature was about 3-5º most days. It was freezing but previous generations obviously managed with 2 fires to heat the whole house (both downstairs) Hot water bottles for beds etc.

I really feel for you with a baby on the way though. I hate being too cold.

The trouble with drying clothes on airers and radiators is that ds goes round pulling everything off! The tumble dryer also heats the whole of the downstairs quite effectively. And I love my tumble dryer!! If I get rid of my tumbler i also have to stop using cloth nappies, which would cost us a LOT more in disposables.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, really, aren't we?

tie ds up
I hang cloth nappies everywhere. Once had 44 strewn around the house!! And was holding one in the oven to get it dry!

How old is ds?

I don't understand the cloth nappy bit tbh.

Ds is 22 months Mercy.

What's not to understand about cloth nappies? They're much cheaper than disposables and look v cute!

I used cloth nappies on ds before we had a tumbledryer, but it was summer, and we had a washing line then. And a separate room I could put the airer in with the door shut!!

Sorry what I mean is what's the cost difference between buying a few more cloth nappies as opposed to using your tumble drier?

needmore: I just fantasize about jumping into bed and it being warm

Oh god - hope you don't have one of those mobility things that can go in bus lanes! I saw a horrible accident on Cumberland Basin this afternoon. Awful. Please be careful.

There was a thread recently about drying clothes. Lots of good ideas in it.

I could buy more cloth nappies but how would I get them dry? We only have 2 accessible radiators which are very small. Also, it would make my house very damp.

mobility cars can't go in bus lanes. Was it a scooter?
I use a powered wheelchair myself.
Dryad, I dried nappies over radiators. Sometimes things got musty but needs must. And any day its isn't raining they can be hung up outside. it gets the worst out.

I had 3 in cloth nappies at one point. And no heating.

Sorry x posted

Do you have a nappy service anywhere near you?

I still think you need to cost up the difference between another few more cloth nappies versus the cost of a tumble drier

needmorecoffee, did you recently namechange?

yup. Am Riven too.

So is it cheaper to turn the boiler down and put on the oil filled radiator/ convector heater/ fan heater / other mobile heater in the room you're in, or is it cheaper to just keep the gas (modern, combi) up so the whole house is warm? Does anyone know?

I recommend electric blankets, if you can spare the cash. It is bliss to get into a warm bed after being not-quite-warm all day.

(We have an oil tank and after the last bill we don't have the heating on at all, live in thermal underwear, tops, jumpers and body-warmers.)

Ditto re thermals. have been amazed this year about how we really haven't needed the heating - Are wearing more layers. Two pairs of thermal socks (peanuts at ASDA) very cheap. The DC seem completely unaware of teh heat or cols, DH and I just wear more layers, are toasty, and I say 'yah booh sucks' to British Gas ( who keep sending men round for 'sfety checks' - ie to read the meter - because tehy don't beielve we are using almost no gas

The problem with winter is condensation and damp in the house if you keep turning the heating on and off and drying clothes on radiators which is also bad for health.
Better to keep the heating on, on a low setting than turning it on and off.

Last year I was petrified of the heating bills!

We've always lived in flats with storage heaters and have an oil filled radiator for cold times, don't heat bedrooms etc.

We pay by dd. BG ended up paying us £140 [hmmm]

That double glazing cling film stuff is great.