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Original poster

I can't be this cold all winter!!

162 replies

coffeetofunction · 02/11/2022 19:16

I've had to put the heating on because I'm so cold my legs and feet are painful. However I keep looking at the smart meter and know it's unaffordable to do this daily.

Heated throw and hot water bottles have not help. I have socks and slippers on, a jumper and cardigan....

OP posts:
Original poster
coffeetofunction · 02/11/2022 19:44

Wafflefudge · 02/11/2022 19:36

I've read on mumsnet about some film you can put on Windows to stop heat escaping.

I will look into this, thank you.
When I have some spare money I intend to insulate the back to the radiators but we're a mid terrace so I wonder if it will help

OP posts:
Athenen0ctua · 02/11/2022 19:44

I could only see my breath indoors in an unheated house in the single digits.

IntrovertedPenguin · 02/11/2022 19:45

My house goes down to 12 and I can never see my breath and I live up north and it gets bitterly cold.

You should be able to keep warm with a 15 tog duvet and PJs easily at 16!

ElegantlyTouched · 02/11/2022 19:45

safetyfreak · 02/11/2022 19:42

I find this hard to believe, it is still quite warm out there.

It depends where you are. According to the Weather.com app it's currently 9⁰ here, but feels like 4⁰.

dementedma · 02/11/2022 19:45

Where about in UK are you Op? Central Scotland here, very old draughty flat but still not cold enough for heating...which is weird. Only had it on in one or two short bursts purely to dry washing so far.

NukaColaQuantum · 02/11/2022 19:46

Wafflefudge · 02/11/2022 19:35

I know you'd still need to buy it and pay running costs but you don't need a dehumidifier in each room, they cover a big area and you can move from room to room.

If that requires me to be home all day, it’s still a no, because I’m out the door at 7:30am and not home until 5:30pm, 5 days a week.

Ive no clue if I’m even allowed to use the film stuff, it’s a listed building.

RedRiverShore2 · 02/11/2022 19:46

I'm in Northants and it has been quite mild recently but today it has been really windy and that has cooled everything down a lot, my heating went on today as the house was quite chilled so it's probably the wind

bellac11 · 02/11/2022 19:46

Plus a mid terrace wont be as cold as other types of properties

I think theres going to be a huge increase in these 'dramatically cold' threads

Athenen0ctua · 02/11/2022 19:47

ElegantlyTouched · 02/11/2022 19:45

It depends where you are. According to the Weather.com app it's currently 9⁰ here, but feels like 4⁰.

Show quote history

That will be windchill if outside

NukaColaQuantum · 02/11/2022 19:48

bellac11 · 02/11/2022 19:46

Plus a mid terrace wont be as cold as other types of properties

I think theres going to be a huge increase in these 'dramatically cold' threads

My mid terrace was, because one side was abandoned, and the other side was a shop.

ElegantlyTouched · 02/11/2022 19:48

I've got the film on the windows. My toddler had great fun peeling it off! Luckily she and dp are warm-blooded, unlike me. I have many layers to wear, but I'm realising that breathing in cold air is doing me no good.

MarmiteCoriander · 02/11/2022 19:48

Although it does sound cold where ever you live OP, have you been checked you have no additional health concerns making you feel the cold more? Peri, anaemia, Vit D deficiency, thyroid etc?

tunthebloodyalarmoff · 02/11/2022 19:48

Where do you live out of interest. It really hasn't been cold here south east uk

RedRiverShore2 · 02/11/2022 19:51

I think some people just feel the cold more, I know I do, it was 17c earlier so I put the heating on to 19c and it made a huge difference

BabyShaark · 02/11/2022 19:53

Same here. South East, haven’t had heating on yet at all. 14 degrees outside today, had windows open all day. WFH with thermal underwear and fingerless gloves. I don’t think I’ll put the heating on at all unless we have another Beast from the East.

Original poster
coffeetofunction · 02/11/2022 20:02

We live in an old house with high ceilings. Next door is a shop and the other side has a car port style thing.

I don't think I've help by keeping the heating off so long. My son has mold on his ceiling and I worry that is because it's become cold.

I'm not generally a cold person, my colleagues often joke about me always being hot.

I'm in East Yorkshire and today there seems to have been a drop in temperature.

I'm sorry if I have come across complaining, I guess I just feel a bit fed up with it today and it's made me worry about getting through winter

OP posts:
MaverickSnoopy · 02/11/2022 20:02

Are you on the Facebook group Energy Advice and Support UK Community? If you're not, please join. They have life changing guides that have enabled lots of people to reduce their usage enough to build credit or turn the heating on. Obviously some people are already down to the bare bones, but it's worth a look.

Main things we have found that have reduced our usage, that might help you if you're not already doing them.

  • Turn water tank down to 60 (mustn't go lower due to risk of legionnaires)
  • Heat water once a day for an hour is usually enough for our family of 5
  • You can replace your window seals yourself and very cheaply and it will stop the draught coming through. There are videos on YouTube
  • Use fabulosa laundry cleanser to wash at 30 degrees or less and kill germs (doing washing now costs pennies), also add soda crystals to cut down on laundry detergent

Our gas usage is down 91% on last year and electric 67%.

I'm sorry it's like this for you, it's awful and I hope things improve.

FayeGovan · 02/11/2022 20:03

9 degrees here in Glasgow. Been absolutely pouring all day and gusty winds, bins all blown over.
House is cold and feels damp.

Its a different world up here.

NukaColaQuantum · 02/11/2022 20:11

My brother lives in East Yorkshire, on the coast, it’s been fucking brutally cold whenever I’ve visited over winter.

Original poster
coffeetofunction · 02/11/2022 20:13

MaverickSnoopy · 02/11/2022 20:02

Are you on the Facebook group Energy Advice and Support UK Community? If you're not, please join. They have life changing guides that have enabled lots of people to reduce their usage enough to build credit or turn the heating on. Obviously some people are already down to the bare bones, but it's worth a look.

Main things we have found that have reduced our usage, that might help you if you're not already doing them.

  • Turn water tank down to 60 (mustn't go lower due to risk of legionnaires)
  • Heat water once a day for an hour is usually enough for our family of 5
  • You can replace your window seals yourself and very cheaply and it will stop the draught coming through. There are videos on YouTube
  • Use fabulosa laundry cleanser to wash at 30 degrees or less and kill germs (doing washing now costs pennies), also add soda crystals to cut down on laundry detergent

Our gas usage is down 91% on last year and electric 67%.

I'm sorry it's like this for you, it's awful and I hope things improve.

Thank you for the Facebook group suggestion.

I did use soda crystals mixed in with my powder which I now put straight in the drum and wash on a 30 minute cycle with the temperature on the lowest setting.

I'm very thrifty, growing up in the 90's with a single mother taught me to spin money that wasn't there, which I'm so very grateful for, especially now.

I'm using olio to top up food and thankfully the older teens work weekends so get a free hot meal.

I know things could be worse and others are in worst situations that me.

I'm grateful for everyone's advice

OP posts:
PestorPeston · 02/11/2022 20:16

You need to get some of this www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/dettol-mould---mildew-remover-750ml to sort the mould and ventilate your house.
The mould, cold and seeing your breath all indicate your house it very damp. Windows wide open for at least half an hour (in the morning) and star jumps for kids if cold. A dehumidifier running for a couple of hours in the evening might help.

DontGoBreakingMyHeart · 02/11/2022 20:21

TBH I think there is potentially a lot of psychology behind a lot of these cold threads.

Psychologicaly when we get to winter we all think about putting the heating on, and now we’re having to think about not doing,and so we feel cold as a result, even though it isn’t necessarily cold, iyswim.

I’m not saying everyone, nobody knows everyone’s circumstances. I’m on blood thinners and so am naturally colder for instance, but we’re being conditioned by the media etc into being cold this winter, and as a result, some of us are, where if the media had talked about a mild winter which, let’s face it at the moment it is, many people probably wouldn’t have thought they were so cold. Iyswim.

SplunkPostGres · 02/11/2022 20:22

Definitely a difference in old v new houses. Moved last year from a solid stone wall detached house to a new build semi. Here I’ve not had the heating on since April at all, and temperature has stayed around 20 degrees lowest. I’ve turned it on tonight as I’d been away and it had dropped to around 17 degrees. Compared to old house where heating was always on. Some houses are incredibly badly insulated

Oblomov22 · 02/11/2022 20:23

Dh was cold this morning. When he woke up it was 7 degrees. Yesterday it was 14.

BorisJohnsonsHair · 02/11/2022 20:24

I'm sorry but this is such a terrible state of affairs.

Surely it should be the most important thing to any government that its people are warm and fed? It's not really much to ask.

Please don't support the Tories again anyone. I hate to see what is happening to so many of us while the rich just get richer.