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?

No. Blankets on top if needed.

We just have one, 4,5 tog. We live in a very warm flat (south east).

Thank you everyone!

I have two - a light 4 tog one for height of summer and 10.5 tog for rest of year, add bed cover or blankets if it's particularly cold but that is rare. I don't have heating on at night.
The small 4tog duvet doesn't take up much space to store and I will probably swap them back soon as I get organised for winter.

I think the warmest tog is 15.

no, in the summer this year we have a quilt only, and in the cold winter the quilt goes on the duvet.

my dc had fleece blankets over their duvets in the winter, and hot water bottles if necessary/liked

We have 2. I'm a cold sleeper so like the thick 13 tog winter duvet. Dh is a hot sleeper so his winter is only 10 tog. In summer. We both have a 4 tog

No, we just have one.

4.5 and a 10c bagged in the loft. Still way too hot SE UK,at the moment, have managed to persuade DH the last few years not to change to the heavier one. Definitely NO heating on over night! I feel like I can't breathe.

we did have two at one point but one summer never changed so never bother anymore

3 here. Hot house hot husband.
one tog very thin which I’ve machined a cover to so that it goes in the washing machine once a fortnight from June to September. Dries in an hour
4.5 tog cover less one from M and S which again goes in the wash October to December and March to June. Dries in half a day.
10 tog from December to February
I only need to faff around with putting on covers for a couple of months, those not I use in vacuum bags under the bed.

I changed ours this week. We use a 4.5 tog one during the summer, it's silk and microfibre as we have allergies. The warmer duvet is 10.5 tog microfibre which is warm enough for me. My partner uses an extra blanket if necessary and has an electric blanket for really cold nights, too. I like having the window open as much as possible unless it gets really cold. I air the duvets out weekly when I change the sheets, and get them professionally washed annually. They were expensive but are good quality. The 10.5 tog is 10 years old but looks brand new. I store them in the airing cupboard when not in use but they do take up a lot of room!

We all have 4,5 for summer and 7 for winter and we change and have the ones that were last used laundered and then stored away in the spring and the fall as seasons change . I bought 2 10.5 at some point but they are too warm in this house . Also have some 4 and 7 guests ones .

I’ve got a mid weight wool one and add a thick wool blanket in the winter. I use brushed cotton sheets and duvet covers in the winter too, and often a couple of hot water bottles and cosy socks! If money was no object I’d buy a winter wool duvet too. If my bf stays then it’s toasty warm without all the extras but it’s chilly on my own!
I’ve got a super warm feather duvet in the cupboard but it just makes me sweat. I use one of those vacuum storage bags to make it smallish.

OP, I do sympathise with you not realising you may be putting up with being cold when you don't need to. I was brought up without heating in a cold house and despite sharing beds and having hot water bottles was always cold, uncomfortable and miserable for most of the year. That essentially carried on until the last 10 years or so when I began to understand about tog ratings and different materials. Probably through a combination of watching shopping telly and using the internet. I had the same problem with buying curtains. It can be embarrassing not to understand basic information others seem to know but I had no one to teach me when young and then always rented furnished places. So I would say wear socks in bed, vests under pajamas/nightdresses, even head covering in freezing weather, put more covers over your duvets. Being warm from the start of the night gives better sleep and no chilblains!

yes.

We have a summer one and a winter one. If I were stuck for storage, I'd probably stick the unused one under the mattress flattened out.

Our system is: summer one, then when I get cold I stick a blanket over the top of me. When dh is also cold, we swap to the winter one.
At the moment we are at the blanket over me for the first hour stage, so some temperature change yet to go. We don't ever have heating on at night.