Gas off in January/February

[DiaryofWimpyMumm]

Is anyone else keeping their gas heating off due to the cost of it?

I rarely use mine now and just find other ways to keep warm

We can as we have a toddler and don't want him to freeze and we need it on to prevent mould and dry laundry 🤷‍♀️

Can't*

I personally am not turning it completely off as I think you need to weigh the costs of heating vs the longterm damage and costs if you get damp.
Clothing in particular will need some type of heat to dry it before it goes dank and sour.
So either heat the house/ tumble or heated airer.

No but we have drastically reduced the amount of time the heating is on as our bills were astronomical! I live in an old,cold and draughty house so this winter has been miserable so far 🥶

Not off, not yet. It's set to 14 for two hours in the evening, plus I put it on manually for an hour in the morning on weekends. Last year we turned it off at the beginning of March but may leave it on until the clocks change this year, it will only kick in if it's cold and I don't want to sit in sub 14 degrees in the evening.

Clothing in particular will need some type of heat to dry it before it goes dank and sour.
Yes, it's difficult until they start fully drying outside. Towels never dry in the bathroom with no heating either.

I've been putting mine on once a week but still hanging washing out as we've had some really windy weather.

I'm in 6 year old house so think we have good insulation. I've gave in tonight and put it on at 15 but that's the highest I have it and my gas and electricity are still £200 as we need to use the gas to heat the water

I can totally understand having a toddler both mine are 18 and 22 now

Also my 22 year old is bad for using the tumble dryer

No we have it on morning and evening, but we don't have a tumble dryer and also work from home.

We have our heating on at 19 for 1 hour in the morning and again for 2.5 hours at night. We're in a 25 year old 3 bed semi, have good double glazing, loft insulation, and insulated walls. Our bill for January was £240.

I have continued to use my tumble dryer as I refuse to have damp washing around.

We are conscious of drawing curtains as soon as it gets dark, have LED lightbulbs, turn stuff off we are not using wear jumpers, have hot water bottles and just generally being conscious of what we do.

We've just had a smart meter fitted, and according to that are spending about £5 a day on gas and electric. That does seem a bit low I was thinking more like £7 or £8 a day.

We are still paying nearly 2.5 times more than we were 18 months ago, for the same if not slightly less usage. It's not pretty, but we're managing at the moment.

It won't be off completely but usage severely reduced

I'd be tackling tumble dryer use and shower times before I stopped using heating. Our January bill was £110 with heating.

I've stopped DS1 using the shower as much as he used to have up to 3 a day he's down to 1 now thankfully.

I had the heating on for 2 hours last night at 15 so that warmed the house up somewhat.

I can't seem to keep the electricity down. I'll keep trying

@tornadoinsideoutfig that's really good 😊

As a kid I lived in a house without any heating whatsoever. I got numerous chest infections and was diagnosed as asthmatic, but I wasn’t, I just lived in a cold damp house.
I absolutely will not have the same for my kids.

No I would be the same if I had little people in the house.

I've just submitted my readings and it's £153 for the month which isn't too bad.

We lived in unheated uninsulated houses overseas. DS had a cough all winter in one particularly cold house, the olive oil froze in the cupboard in that house. I wouldn't let a house get cold enough that we were unwell from it if we had heating.

im using mine gas & elec approx £9-10 a day so about £70 a week at first i was really cutting back but it was so miserable so will take the hit for now but did get the warm home payment as well £150
heating on for 2 hrs morning then approx 5hr evening

I can't seem to keep the electricity down

Using my smart meter, I’ve identified the appliances that are using the vast majority of the electricity:

Tumble dryer
Washing machine
Dishwasher
Oven

I’ve stopped using the tumble dryer altogether (disable it if you need to)
Washing machine: trying to have a couple of days a week when I don’t use it; shorter cycles
Dishwasher: only set off when absolutely full; shorter cycles
Oven: use microwave or hob or grill instead whenever possible; no multiple uses throughout day, plan so everything’s done at the same time