Does everyone have summer and winter duvets?

[HorribleHerstory]

I’ll preface this with - I don’t.

I have one duvet and I don’t know what tog it is. I’m in my 40s and I’ve only just heard of togs and the idea of having more than one duvet per bed, we had one each when I was a child and that was it. When I moved into my own place I got given one from a family member. Used that for a very long time, got a new one at some point and threw out the old one but I have no idea where we got it, what it is made from or what tog it is. Does anyone know how I can find out? I’ve spent large portions of my life with no heating in the house and have often struggled to be warm enough at night especially as a child.

The DCs got a cot duvet then just standard single duvets, one each. Now with all the talk of energy saving I’m seeing lots of chat about winter duvets, oodies, electric blankets and hot water bottles in place of heating. And I’m feeling very guilty that I’ve been freezing my DCs for years as I’ve never provided any of that even when we have had no heating at all. I have horrible memories of struggling to sleep as a kid due to being freezing, I used to get awful coughs every winter. They don’t seem to suffer with that but I’m still wondering if I missed a big and important life lesson about duvets and togs somewhere.

can someone give me the idiots guide? Do you have summer and winter duvets? Even if your house has heating? How does it all work?

I used to have a very nifty duvet that was in two parts. It had a 10 tog duvet that snapped to a 4 tog duvet. This meant I could use the lighter one on its own in summer, the 10 tog one in autumn and spring and then the two snapped together in winter.
Nowadays I have a 10.5 tog down duvet that stays on all year round and in the winter I just add a comforter on top if I’m chilly.

We’re very similar - when very hot we have just the duvet cover, then 1 tog most of the summer and 4.5 tog in winter. Plus no heating at night and the window open. I do sometimes put socks on when I go to bed but generally wake up without them on.

Whenever we stay somewhere else the duvets are always so big and heavy and hot!

I’ve given up on duvets, I just have a thin fleecy blanket. I overheat otherwise.

We have an all seasons one (4.5 tog plus 9 tog that popper together). We've had it 20 years and never used both together, about half the time we keep the summer one on all winter too, our house doesn't get all that cold (the thermostat is set to 11° overnight and the heating never comes on). We sometimes use a crochet blanket over the top of the summer duvet in winter. The 9 tog one is very hard to get into its covers, I dread to think what both poppered together would be like. The DCs have fairly light ones but have always said they are plenty warm enough.

We have Baavet wool duvets- medium weight for summer and winter weight from October until springtime. They are wonderful and cheaper from their ' bargain box'. Google them a small Welsh company. We live in a cold part of the country so have electric blankets and brushed cotton bedding in winter. I'm often cold when staying in hotels or with friends.

Light summer one and thick winter one. Depending on how cold it is I sometimes put both inside the quilt cover together

We also have the nifty Velcro together or use separately duvet, 3.5 for Spring and Summer, 9 for Autumn, both together as 12.5 for winter. Empty duvet cover or sleep on top of the covers in a heatwave.

We had our first frost the other night. our bedroom was 11 degrees when I woke up freezing, so the next sheet change I switched to the 9 tog Autumn duvet and washed the 3.5 Spring Summer ready to be velcroed in when needed. We have our little window open most of the time.

We had a lovely John Lewis all season one we got as a wedding present but then a few years after getting married we upgraded to a king size bed. So we bought a 4 tog and a 7.5 tog duvet from ikea and I sewed press studs onto them so they join together. We’ve just gone from the 4 tog up to the 7.5 tog, and we only put the two together for the coldest couple of months. One kid has a very thin tog one and a thicker one we’ve just changed back to, but the other kid has a medium weight one he keeps all year round with extra blankets as required. Just the way we’ve ended up buying duvets as they have grown!

Like other pps we have a 4.5 tog duvet and a 9 tog duvet. Ours velcro together to make a 13.5 tog, the kids ones are rhe same but have press studs. In 20 years none of us has ever felt cold enough to need both together.

DS rarely even uses a 9 tog duvet, tbh.
We usually have hot water bottles if it's really chily

I have 3 duvets: a I tog, for those really hot summer heatwaves; a 4.5 for spring and autumn, and 7.5 for winter. The ones I'm not using get stored under the bed in huge bags.

No. If it’s too warm to sleep under my 10.5 tog feather duvet I use the duvet cover on its own. Or just a sheet. Currently adding a fleece throw over the empty duvet cover. Window open all year round.

I'm a hot sleeper, dh says I'm a little furnace, and I do have separate summer/winter duvets but at lower tog than most people. In summer I use a 4.5 tog and my winter duvet is 7.5 tog. I'm not changing over to the winter yet though, that'll be around the end of Oct/Nov. I can't believe people have the heating on a night! We don't in my house, if you've got a warm enough bed then you don't need it on during the night.

Any recommendations for 10.5 togs ? Thanks.

I do add a blanket when I’m cold - now I have blankets. When I was a kid there weren’t any blankets to be had and it wouldn’t be unusual for me to go to bed in PJs two jumpers and a hat and I can still remember lying awake for ages in an old draughty house, ice on the windows etc. i guess I made an assumption that all duvets were pretty much the same and that everyone else was fine with just the duvet so I couldn’t make a fuss and carried that through to adulthood somehow. I often lie awake and really struggle to warm up and lose hours of sleep to it but everyone else just says, no heating on and windows open at night, we are warm under the duvet after all. DH is under the same duvet snoring and I’m laid there frozen thinking there’s just something wrong with me clearly! Now I know, at my grand old age, that “the duvet” is not some homogenous item but many types of thickness and far more of a science than I knew. So, feel silly but also wonder how everyone else knows this stuff

Yes I have a summer and winter tog duvets and swap them seasonally.

Currently renovating and living in a static van in the garden. Single glazed, no central heating and about 2mm of aluminium for walls- so basically a rigid tent! We have an electric blanket which I put on for 30mins before bed- just to take the edge off. On very cold nights, I leave mine on 1, but mostly have no heating at night.

In the van- we have both duvets on during the winter, but normally, just the winter tog one. I've also tried having DH with a lighter tog duvet to myself- so 2 single duvets, side by side on our bed and we are both happy. Year round- he sleeps nude, whereas in winter, I wear woolly socks, tracksuit bottoms and a vest.😀

My DS has 3, a winter, summer and a super light quilt that just gets washed, we don't put a cover on. I have 2, summer and winter. I used to be cold as a child and struggle to sleep. Then at university, a housemate's mother turned up with a winter duvet and took away her light one to be cleaned and I was amazed.

My winter one is 15. I would struggle to sleep without it in winter, but it is definitely too hot for the summer when I use a 2.

This link explains:

www.soakandsleep.com/blog/post/duvet-tog-for-season

If you're cold. You're cold!
I find my wool duvet much warmer. Another thing I do in winter is put my dressing gown on top of me. Adds a layer and when you come to get up it's right there and often warm from body heat
Or you could get a heated throw for your side of the bed

OP- have you been checked recently for thyroid, diabetes, Vit D and anaemia? These can all make you feel the cold more acutely. It might be just that you need a warmer duvet, but also- could be something medical going on.

We are in Scotland, no heating at night, and just use the one duvet. I think it is 4.5 tog and part of a clip together set, but we use the higher tog on the guest bed.

When it’s cold we put the throw on the bed. If it’s colder than that we have a sheet + duvet + throw. If it’s even colder we have an oil filled radiator as a backup. This is only used when outside is under 5c or maybe higher but windy (old house freezing when it’s windy)

We each have a 4.5 tog and 9 tog and the two can be put together to make 13.5 tog. DD uses 4.5 summer, 9 winter, 13.5 if the heating breaks; DS uses 4.5 unless the heating breaks. In winter, DH and I have a half and half duvet where I have 4.5 and he has 9. Never have heating on overnight and in summer have all the windows open overnight. In summer, we have 4.5 but I spend most of the summer lying on top of it. It does mean we have lots of spare duvets trying to escape from drawers/cupboards/wardrobes when not being used.

We usually take our own duvets when we go on holiday (UK) as nearly all of them only seem to have 10+ tog duvets even in middle of summer and I can't understand how anyone could sleep under one of those!

My Mum seems to spend a chunk of her life faffing about with duvets. She always seems to be adding or removing bits or going in the loft in order to do so.

I have one king size duvet 10.5 tog. If get hot, which is frequently I stick bits of me out of it. If it's cold I stick my bits back in. If it's really cold I wear pyjamas under the duvet. Works perfectly.

1 tog I think for next summer.

I have seasonal ones - usually a 4.5 for summer and 10.5 for winter. I’m generally warm though and like to be cool at night, so I prefer a lighter duvet. I was delighted to find a 1 tog this summer, but in reality it wasn’t much cooler than the 4.5 tog one.

If it gets super cold occasionally I might put the summer one on top as well, but generally 10.5 is enough. The house is insulated to within an inch of its life (new build), so it’s more often too hot than too cold.

In your case OP, just get yourself to Tesco or Dunelm and get a cheap nice fat polyester 15 tog one and be warm! You shouldn’t be cold in bed!

Nope. I have one feather duvet. No idea what tog. In the summer I just use a duvet cover. I've currently got 2 duvet covers over me, will probably put the duvet back on this week.
I sleep with the window open all year round, never have the heating on overnight (don't have it on at all these days)

I did have a weighted blanket. But DS1 stole it.

In terms of knowing what a tog is- I only saw the word on duvets when I moved to the UK about 18yrs ago. Often the package has an explanation on how that tog compares to others, but otherwise, do what I did and just google what a tog means!

'A tog is essentially a measure of how effectively a duvet insulates heat. The higher the tog rating, the warmer the duvet will be, with 1 tog being very cool and lightweight, and 15 being the warmest. Typically, the thinnest, lightest duvet you’ll find on the market is 4.5 tog, while the thickest and heaviest is usually around 13.5 tog.'