For those who can't afford to use central heating this year - How are you going to cope?

[mama2moo]

We have 2 dd's - 3yo and 20mo and already owe money to our suppliers. We are going to have to be careful with not using the heating too much but our house is feeling cold already!

We have bought thermal vests, fleece pjs, fleece tops and extra duvets.

What else can we do?

TBH Im dreading it. By the 3rd week of every month we are skint at the moment.

This is a sad thread What are the bloody Government doing about it?

I am another currently snuggled under a blanket. A laptop on your lap works great at keeping you warm too

My curtains are lined, but going to put some fleece behind them as well I think, and curtains & fleece on the doors. Every little helps, and I seem to have a never ending supply of fleece blankets from when the kids were young!

And wear a vest under everything. I have thin vest tops (like skinny people wear in the summer) and wear them under everything in the winter.

We all sleep together, me and 3 DC. The DC have their bath just before bed and then have stories in bed so it heats up before they go to sleep. Bed has several thin fleece blankets on it on top of the quilt, and a quilt under the sheet. I generally go to bed about 9, and have the bedroom door shut and really thick curtains so the heat can't escape.

I keep all the dressing gowns and slippers on the end of the bed to put on before we get up. Porridge or weetabix with warm milk for breakfast.

Me and DC3 go to a (free) playgroup at local Sure Start most days, the older 2 are at school so they're warm while they're there.

We all wear coats, hats, scarves and gloves for walking up and down to school from October onwards so we're not too cold before we get in. DC play in one room when we get home.

I only open the curtains if the sun's shining, to get the heat from that...we have ridiculously large windows which are a joy in summer but a bugger in winter.

Dare I say it..... SLANKET!! You know you want one [hgrin]

My mum is another one obsessed with keeping kidneys warm. We are all wearing vests (for me it's a camisole) to keep the warm in!

Ooh yes agree about the laptop on lap. Mine is currently keeping me nice and toasty.

I go to bed very early (8.30 tonight) and snuggle under the duvet with sleeping dd. Pretty boring and eliminates any chance of a social life but it is warm [hgrin]

Also, going outside into the cold makes it feel warm by comparison when you come in and the activity gets your blood pumping a bit.

We made a very unpopular choice last year. We turned the hot water off.

It was unpopular with everyone except those who actually live here . People I have told have been HORRIFIED! As id we will all get cholera or something.

But - we don't have a combi boiler, just an old boiler that is the worst for efficiency. We can't afford a new one as it would be about £3000 [we have huge ceilings]

The washing machine heats it's own water, and we wash at 30 degress or less. Except my work uniforms which need at least 60 degress due to body fluids.

The dishwasher has been fine, even with unheated water.

The shower heats it's own.

So - we are left with cool water to wash our hands in. I don't care, and the ds's are only here after school and weekends. It isn't that big a deal, and they just don't care. I boil a kettle to do any really messy pans or mop floors. Neither of these is an issue as I'm a slattern.

I reckon we save £20-£40 a month, but I could say for sure. Our monthly direct debit is still £17) though! Which gets gobbled up Jan to March bascally.

tip two Yes yes yes to layers of curtains. DD2 has a very exposed windown, so she has a pair of curtains, a fleece layer and then another pair. All hanging on top of each other. Makes a massive difference.

radiohelen my kids bought me a slanket last christmas The Christmas before it was a huge fluffy blanket.

Think they have cottoned onto the fact I like to use layers and blankets to keep warm over heating - and they are only 3 and 5!!

treedelivery I have done almost the same thing. We have hot water put on for 30 minutes 3 times a week. That is enough for a shower for me every other morning and a bath for the kids 3 evenings a week. We wash our hands in cold water, the floors are washed in cold water (with flash). The washing machine heats its own water (mostly to 30, sometimes 40) and so does the dishwasher (used once to twice a week) It has made a huge difference to our gas bills.

this is us this year...I lost my job in August and am expecting my second baby in January so have been unemployed since...and we are really suffering! I am normally a high user of heating as I despise being cold but this year we haven't been able to afford heating oil yet and we live in the country in an old unrenovated wreck. to my great surprise I am coping a lot better than I thought I would. we have an open coal fire which we light maybe three times a week if we are all going to be home in the evening and staying up late. if not my daughter (2yrs) goes to bed around 8 and me and husband have been going to bed early and actually talking and cuddling instead of sitting in front of the tv so it has been good from that point of view. she is in our room on her own mattress so we have an electric heater in there for the evenings.

this thread is a bit sad but it has made me feel a bit better. I was feeling very sorry for myself last week that we can't afford heating...all my friends are OK financially and this is a bit of a shock for me so good to know I am not alone so to speak.

DD is 2 and from te moment I got pregnant with her finances got really tough. We got used to no turning the heating on unless absolutely necessary (snowing or cold enough to snow kind of thing) and even then it would only be fr a short while.

As soon as we get home we wash our feet in warm water and then dry and put the fluffiest socks and slippers on, keeps theyemperature up.

We stay fully clothed,jumpers included until we go to bed. 13.5 tog duvets. If we sit on the sofa the duvets come with us and we all cuddle together to keep warm. Tea, lots and lots.

Nothing is ever left on standby or plugged at the wall (apart from the fridge) and it has made a difference.

Washing machine goes on after 10pm. Neighbours never complained and some do the same as it's cheaper. It does mean I have to stay up longer but I'm ok with that.

That's good to hear smokinaces. It makes me sound on the bread line and we are not. We have decided we need, what to other people, are totally frivalous treats. Things like a saturday trip to a cafe with the girls or a take away pizza. So we make savings and this is one of them.

Most people I have told are really almost angry I would do this, yet when I grew up we had a gas fire in one room and hot water if anyone turned the immersion heater on. Washing was done by hand at the sink, very dirty clothes were boiled on the hob. Clothes were dried outside, I remember bringing in sheets from the line I had to crack they were frozen so solid. My bedroom windows had ice on the inside . Baths were once a week at the most, but in winter certainly a lot less. It was a normal house in a city in the 80's, not something from Dickens.

So to me, not having warm water to wash my hands is really no big deal. It certainly isn't worth the money it costs to get it and I don't see it as a right or essential. If that makes sense.

My other tip is to be wary spending too much money trying to save money. Most people probably have extra bedding, towels and so one that can be used. Before you go on shopping sprees.

Dressing gown over clothess lovely & toasty. I slept lke that today, after nights. Cheapo fleece ones seem warmer than towelling ones.

What I don't know is how we'll dry the washing. I guess we'll do less laundry.

What do people recommend about long curtains? If I shut them they go over the radiator, but if I don't the heat goes out the window. They belong to the landlord, but should I get a cheap shorter pair, or do something else?

Simlar happened to us willowstar you have my sympathy. I know how you are feeling.

You are not alone in this, lots of people are makiing all sorts of money saving steps.

How do you alll dry laundry without the radiators? I'm stumped. have two loads waiting to be dried by magic. It rained today.

tuck them behind the rads sixth Or fold them up onto the window sills.

tree I'm not on the breadline either, but like you grew up like that. We had a gas fire in the front room, which we sat round to dry our hair on a Sunday night. We had frost inside the windows. We would put our tracksuits over our PJs in bed - and get changed under the covers in the mornings so we didnt even get out of bed! I havent got sick from cold water hand washing, and neither have my kids and its been 2.5 years.

I prefer fresh air to stuffy central heating to be honest, maybe thats why I do it like this every year!

Roll them up to rad height and tie them in a hairband, then tuck them behind the rad a bit to hold them tight against the window. Then the heat can escape to you but drafts [sp?] are trapped

Re the log burner - it costs about £200 to fit the lining stuff for the chimney and then you've got to buy the actual burner.

I live in an old draughty house on the coast with a stupid lack of internal doors. I've put really thick curtains on some of the doorways and stuck foil to flattened cardboard boxes and slid those behind the radiators. I turn off the radiators in the rooms unless we're in them and we wear hats and sit under blankets.

Something that I don't think anyone has mentioned is checking the draughts around your windows. If you don't have double glazing and you can feel cold air coming in around the edges where they open, stick masking tape over the gaps. It really does cut down on the heat loss. That sticky draught excluder tape is good but some of my windows won't shut if it's fitted. Masking tape is also really easy to take off when you want to open the windows again. Use a good brand and it won't tear or rip off the paint at the end of winter :)

treedelivery at least your clothes won't be all sweaty! Just wash your base layers to cut down on machine loads and therefore drying.

tree that was my one thing I did get - a tumble dryer. It gets used in the winter once or twice a week on a cool cycle for 45 minutes to get the worst of the wetness out and then they go int he airing cupboard to get the 30 minutes of warmth from the hot pipes (I time my washing days in with my shower days!) I am lucky that my 2 boys and I dont generate a huge amount of washing (1 full load in tonight for the first time since Friday evening) so there is never loads hanging round. We also wear lots of layers as opposed to bulky clothes, so they dry quicker hanging on hangers etc.

My laundry gets hung on the curtain pole with coat hangers. It stops warm air going out and cold coming in and they somehow dry quicker. I have a dehumidifier as sometimes it gets damp and if it's too cold I won't open the windows. It worked last winter. It does mean I can only wash one load whenthe other is dry, but it taught us to be careful with clothing and try to stay clean!

This thread is making me sad and angry - sad that people have to make tough choices and angry - you can bet the Camerons et al aren't worrying about this kind of thing - we're in this together my arse

Our washer can tumble dry - but I don't dare use it.

Must do the taping up windows thing Cristina. We have loads of windows.

I hope winter isn't as cold as last year. Even I had to admit it was a challenge!

I am saddened but not surprised by this thread. Last winter I was in a flat with storage heaters we could not afford to use. Whole place was freezing apart from a room heater moved where needed.
This year I have been housed in a home with gas central heating and it's so wonderful. I won't use the heating excessively but just the realisation I can heat the whole house through if needed is fab after the past few freezing winters.

Has anyone mentioned double draught excluders? They slip under the door and move with it. And draught excluder tape on doorframes.

The thing I learnt with my tumbler is to keep it on cool. The cool air and movement still dries the clothes to a degree, but uses a lot less electricity.

And make the most of every single blowy day outside, even if its dark and cloudy!

I admit, part of me hates having to budget my money every week and count it out, putting £10 aside for Gas, £20 for petrol, £10 for gas etc. And then realising that I need to buy the car tax so trying to get away with half of that for a week..... But the other part of me does like trying all the frugal ideas and gets a sense of satisfaction in keeping the heating off as long as I can!

I actually can't remember being in a better situation with Labour in command either to be honest (not standing up for Cameron, just saying life has been tough for a long time or me).