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Original poster

Not going to put the heating on this winter. How to keep warm

322 replies

ClementineKelandra · 16/09/2013 00:04

I will have the heating on for one hour a day in the evening so the kids can shower but then after that the heating and hit water will be completely off.

I just need to get some ideas for keeping the house warmer once the weather turns.

OP posts:
mummytime · 17/09/2013 21:09

Stop Gap is good to stop draughts between floorboards (carpets are good insulation too.

D0oinMeCleanin · 17/09/2013 21:21

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but WarmFront, some councils and some energy companies (E-on were doing it last year) give free cavity wall and loft insulation to people on certain benefits.

We got ours done because DH receives a disability element to WTC. They get more money per year if they use all of their money, so they're usually quite desperate to sign people up. E-on and WarmFront were round here constantly last year begging me to let them look at our extension so they could insulate it.

WarmFront also do grants for home owners to install new energy efficient central heating systems and boilers. Again you have to be claiming certain benefits but it's worth looking into.

E-on gave us a bucket load of energy saving light bulbs last year, so it's worth contacting your supplier to see if they do anything similar.

When we were young my mum had one of those old style portable gas fires and gas bottles. I'm not sure if they still sell them anyway or if it would work out cheaper than the central heating system?

PigletJohn · 17/09/2013 21:33

18p per kWh seems quite expensive.

I pay just under 12p for electricity and 4p for gas. On an EDF online scheme. Have a look on Martin's website if you are paying much more. If you don't know your price or your usage you are probably not doing well. The brochures or instruction books for tumbledriers may say their kW rating at full and half power. Multiply it by running hours to find kWh and then by price to find cost.

Prepayment meters are awful so try to get off them.

earlgray · 17/09/2013 21:47

We did this last winter (Jan-Mar) because our ancient boiler failed and we couldn't afford to replace it. There were only 2 of us then (about to be 3) and as others have said we kept ourselves shut in one room in the evening and covered ourselves in blankets and a duvet. All the internal doors are were kept shut and curtains shut before dark. I also wouldn't be without an electric blanket. I don't know how much it costs to run but we only used it for 15 minutes to warm the bed before leaping in! It made a huge difference and they are not too expensive to buy.
Personally I'd worry about leaving the bath full to heat the air - it fills the air with moisture which makes it much cooler long term and may cause mould/mildew without heating to keep it at bay.
For your sake I hope we have a mild winter this year, I wouldn't want to do it again. Good luck x

duchesse · 17/09/2013 21:54

Ask the internets and ye shall find...

Somebody here has actually worked out the relative cost of tumble drier versus dehumidifier. Respect!

YoureBeingADick · 17/09/2013 22:01

it is quiet expensive but I am in NI and there are only two electric companies (there was only NIE until a few years ago!) powerNI and Airtricity. I did do a switch to Airtricity last year but they said they weren't able to complete the switchover so I left it and then they kept sending letters saying it again and again that they couldn't complete it. then found out they had switched a lot of people over based on a phonecall that was just supposed to be enquiries- none of them had actually agreed to switch but then found themselves being switched over. they aren't getting great reviews so I stayed with powerNI. I'm not allowed to change to direct debit as I rent this house.

RubyGoat · 17/09/2013 22:19

Buy cheap lengths of fleece from a fabric shop, instead of blankets. easy to wash & dries quickly over an airer. Great as a blanket, throw etc. Cut hole in the middle to make a cheap poncho to wear around the house for less than 50p worth of fabric. I made one for toddler DD from her old fleece cot blanket (also homemade obviously). Or make one of those snuggly blanket things with arm holes to keep warm while sitting on the sofa.

valiumredhead · 17/09/2013 22:51

If you read the whole of that thread out gets interesting as initially DHs seem to ruin cheaper then someone does proper maths art the snag of the thread and works out they are twice as expensive to fun as driersGrin

valiumredhead · 17/09/2013 22:52

Omg the typos in my last postBlush Grin

HoopHopes · 17/09/2013 22:53

I grew up in a house with a lack of heating and try to limit heating now. I find helpful. as others already mentioned:

  • layers of clothing
  • hot water bottle at night
  • exclude as many draughts as possible
  • use libraries, sure start, free baby groups etc in the day so not in the house much
  • hot meal, hot drink, exercise all help
  • blanket on sofa
  • batch baking and cooking meals in bulk and freezing so less oven time used etc. only boiling water needed and using any spare for flask or hot water bottle
  • early nights as bed with hot water bottle and warm bedding and warm pj's and socks sometime the only place to be.
For my dc I have bought one of the thermostatic controlled heaters for his room as I am worried about dc being cold. But it is set as a certain temperature and it is meant to be fairly economic and he does not have it on yet as warm clothes and bedding fine just yet. It is my one luxury heating wise!
YoureBeingADick · 17/09/2013 23:05

again in English valium Grin

I got your gist. I think it's more complicated to work out than I initially thought. there must be huge variation in what different brands cost to run and also how they run.

I think people can only use their own specific TD and DH to work out which is cheaper for them. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a DH just to dry washing if they already have a TD or the other way round. if I had neither I would probably go for a TD just for the space and time saving factor even if it was a bit more expensive. also, you can dry clothes indoors without a DH and then finish them off in a TD and they feel lovely Grin

YoungBritishPissArtist · 17/09/2013 23:05

Yy to batch cooking. I love having my slow cooker on in winter, warms my whole kitchen Smile

I live in a big ol' drafty Victorian house with ancient sash windows.

I always thought you should open windows every day all year round, even for just a few minutes. Can you do that and still stick cling film/bubble wrap over?

Bunbaker · 18/09/2013 06:39

This thread is so depressing. It is shocking to think that people have to live like this.

Anyone read the I love winter thread yet?

valiumredhead · 18/09/2013 07:23

I love winter, much more than summer, just don't like the heating bills!

captainmummy · 18/09/2013 08:34

'live like this'? - what did we do before central heating? The poster who doesnt want the dc to get cold - it (probably) won't kill them! Unless there is a medical reason why they should be kept warm, what's the problem? Lots of us grew up with ice on the inside of the windows in winter. (Elderly = different)
I think it is and should be up to us to draught-proof our homes as much as possible, heat them as efficiently as possible, insulate them. Otherwise we are using huge amounts of fossil-fuels to leak through holes to the outside. How is that the 'government's' fault? We live in a cool climate, in old houses.

Heat is expensive (ok oil/gas/electric companies should not be making such a profit but they are in the business of making money) and we should use it well, not flagrantly-cos-it's-cheap.
A neighbour of mine heated her house to 25C all year round - it was baking. She would walk about in shorts and cami in winter, normal people like me would turn up for coffee in jumpers and roast! (My house thermostat is 15C)

burberryqueen · 18/09/2013 08:36

what did we do before central heating
-had open fires, wood burners, stoves etc

valiumredhead · 18/09/2013 08:39

Living without CH is fine as long as you have an alternative source of heat like a gas fire or open fire/wood burner etc. NO heat is not acceptable and I say that as someone who has the CH on at 16 in the day only if it's freezing and off completely at night so am pretty hardy.

LisaMedicus · 18/09/2013 08:42

If you have dehumidifiers anyway like we do then they are better than tumble driers. A lot of the draught stuffing suggestions can lead to condensation and mould and you need to be aware of that.

It's really difficult to get the balance right.

StarfishTrooper · 18/09/2013 09:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PigletJohn · 18/09/2013 10:02

what did we do before central heating

If we were rich enough, we had low-paid miners hewing coal, low-paid coalmen delivering it, low-paid maids and housekeepers making up our fires, low-paid chimneysweeps keeping our chimneys going.

The vast majority of the population were cold, and had chilblains and coughs all winter, and old people and babies pegged out in cold weather. If they were lucky that had a bath once a week in front of the kitchen range. Your great-grandma had to darn socks because if she was one or the ordinary people, she couldn't afford to buy new ones, and she had to put coats on the bed because she couldn't afford extra blankets.

duchesse · 18/09/2013 10:31

As PigletJohn says, people got nasty chilblains, pneumonia, constant lung infections from living in smokey environments etc. (not to mention appalling burns from long skirts catching fire on open cooking ranges) Many died young, often very young, often from diseases linked to living in cold damp conditions as well as overcrowding and malnutrition. It's the ones that survived that were the hardy ones- lots of people did not survive.

I lived in an unheated house between the age of 6 and the age of 14. I had bronchitis every single year. We had to get dressed in bed. There was ice inside the windows every winter. This was in SW France. I do not think it acceptable in this day and age for anyone to have to live without heating, especially in the older housing stock and especially at our latitudes. We are only just a bit lower than the Arctic Circle. It routinely gets down to below - 10C in Scotland.

FWIW, Canada recommends that the houses of older people should be heated to 21C in the winter- this seems to be a crunch temperature for lowering rates of lung infection.

And ridding your house of as much damp as possible is crucial to reducing disease. Hence my comments about dehumidifiers.

Sahmof3 · 18/09/2013 10:34

I also can't afford to have the heat on unless it's really arctic, so this is what we do in the winter:

  • use electric mattress covers (they're better than electric blankets as no cold spots) and we go to bed early and read/watch TV in bed
  • electric throw for the sofa (sit snuggled up with this over us - it is fab!)
  • fleece pyjamas from Primark are very cosy, as are their fluffy socks.Wear fleece dressing gowns over clothes around the house. Primark uggs instead of slippers keep our feet toasty
  • wear woolly tights under clothes, or thermals. Uniqlo sold fluffy leggings last year which really kept me warm under trousers!
  • heattech clothes from Uniqlo, plus found their fleeces brilliant.
  • fleece blankets on top of sheet in bed, plus another to sleep under (but under the duvet)
  • take advantage of heated places like libraries and museums, or Cineworld £1 movies for juniors. Spend that bit longer in the supermarket or shopping centres. Stay and watch all the kids indoor after school activities rather than going home in between.
  • car and train journeys become a pleasure in winter as at least I'm actually warm!
Sahmof3 · 18/09/2013 10:39

I feel the cold more than most and in winter I find it really hard to move ...I literally freeze! Housework becomes incredibly difficult. So, I am in the process of decluttering now and packing away anything not needed during the winter. This way there will be less to clean and, hopefully, I'll be able to keep on top of things.

LovingKent · 18/09/2013 10:42

I've only had time to read part of this thread but some great tips here - thank you Smile

A lot of the tips I would suggest have already been mentioned but my top tips are:-

If you can't find / afford thermals / they don't fit under your clothes comfortably long socks work quite well
Thermals are sometimes in the January sales - I got mine for half price as few years ago as they are bright purple. The colour is revolting but as no one can seem them under your clothes I don't care Grin.

Someone back up the thread mentioned Economy 7. Got the MSE email this morning which has a whole section about it. Here is the link - hope its working now MSE Economy 7 guide

There is also a forum for discussing Economy 7 MSE Economy 7 forum

LovingKent · 18/09/2013 10:44

Forgot to add that a tip from a builder was not to seal off your loft hatch too well as your water tank could freeze. Since houses have been better insulated he has been called out more to deal with this as there is no heat going between the loft and the house making the temperature in the loft much lower.