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.

insulating your loft will warm you up 3 times. once lugging the bloody stuff home (and up 3 flights of stairrs) then laying the damn stuff and finally, hopefully when it is keeping the heat in the house. (can't you tell what I was doing on saturday?)

Cristina, there are different styles & thicknesses of door/window insulation - some of it's only about 2mm thick - worth checking a few as it does do a better job than tape & means you can still open them on the odd mild day (stops loose things rattling too )

Tuck all your clothes in
I pull my socks over my pj bottoms and tuck vest into them. I look daft but it makes a difference

We are used to camping, the important thing is not too let yourself get cold in the first place, so put on lots of layers, even leggings under jeans if need be.
Lots of hot drinks and soup.

And vodka.

How much do most of you spend on energy per month?

blackeyesusan - we have no loft access, and only a small loft as we ahre half in the roof [complicated house!]. Not sure if t would be worth fitting a hatch etc etc.

Plus it sounds a mare to do!!

I didn't know that Ponders. The one I have is only about 4mm but it's too thick for most of my windows. I will have a look for some thinner stuff.

Last winter's fuel bills were around £700 (for gas and leccy) so I'm aiming to cut them by about 1/3 this year.

serin - I was going to mention the warming properties of red wine :o

~£70 electric only as we have no gas. I know this thread is about central heating but we do have heater that we don't switch on and we have had central heating in other properties an barely used it.

Sometimes it's £50.

£1500-£1700 ish last year.

We can't afford that, we were both under average earners and now dh is at un. So it's going to be colder around here this year!

Ooo another tip. If you have a knitter, any young children will be cosy as toast in knitted longies. They are fairly fitted funky knitted trousers. Amazing for crawling babies. I have a pattern I can email anyone who wants it, or they are a few pounds online.

There's one which is a flat V shape; you stick it on with the open part of the V facing the draught (iyswim) - that's about as thin as it gets. There's also a flat rubber strip with thin raised ribs.

Have a look in a big DIY store.

I'm paying about £180 pm.

Lots of insulation, double glazing, not excessinve with CH. I don't get it.

womens merino mix baselayer in Nomad clearance sale

merino for children

more merino for kids and babies

Icebreaker - slightly more expensive

Merino isnt cheap. But it has self cleaning and antibacterial properties so you wont need to wash it so often. It is also wicking sweat away from the body, so you dont get that cold wet feeling. Also, it does not stink. It is drying quicker than cotton and man made fibers. You will therefore really only need one set per person!

My husband put Merino to the test on summer holiday a few years ago. He wore the same merino t shirt for a month (!!!) in the heat before it started smelling. (All in the name of science, natch!)

Someone asked about getting blankets to stay on leather sofas - you need to sew (or otherwise attach) weights to the bit that hangs over the back of the chair.

Only me
Gas about £25 a month
Electric about £20

Usually for both it's £110 for 3 months

My 6 year old son has just grown out of one such merino long sleeved base layer shirt. (like a thin wool long sleeved t shirt) It is chocolate brown, possibly size 4 or 5 and does not itch (it is in the room where they are sleeping so I cant check it.) I can happily post to a mn'er who wants it, if any of you want to pm me. It would go to the charity shop anyway, so can happily post.

Not much to add to all the good suggestions already here, has anyone suggested door curtains?

A thick [thermal] door curtain over the front and back doors keep a lot of draughts at bay.

I have seen some reasonably cheap on Ebay.

Or if you're handy with a needle you could make one?

We have draughty windows, and i've found the best way to combat that is to get some masking tape and put it over all the seals.

When in was a kid we didn't have DG, and my dad used to buy a few rolls of thick polythene, double it over and then tack it to the inside of the windows. It still let the light in, but kept the cold and draughts out.

M&S have good value thermals. I wear their ladies longjohns under jeans for most of the winter.

Here's how to make draught excluders...I'm going to do ones for our front and back doors this weekend.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/05/how-to-make-draught-excluder

Hot water bottles in the bed so they are toastie when they get in.
All in one romper suits the pj ones to sleep in.
I would say if you are going to put the heating on at some point during the winter do it for a little bit in the morning before the sun comes up this is the coldness time and it will help everyone get up.
Draught excluders, they really do work.
In the evenings all stay in the same room with the doors closed, if you cook in the kitchen and the door opens into the living space then keep it open while cooking to warm both rooms.

Candles can warm a room, if you dont have a fire, and you can pick up tea lights pretty cheap. (this is how we heated our living room last winter) We only used them for a couple of hours in the evening. But we dont have toddlers.

We I grew up in the 80's my dad would never put the heating on unless it was below freezing, so I used to put my school uniform next to the bed and in the mornings I would put it on while still under the covers!
I also bought these really warm thermal fleece lined socks for my husband off the market for £2, he loves them (he really feels the cold)
I would also have a curtain over the back door and the front one. And maybe one of those covers for the letter box.

Oh and if you do have a tumbler dryer then use the dryer balls you can pick them up in poundland for a £1 they really do work on cutting down the time in the dryer plus saving money. Also Ikea sell those ceiling dryers for clothes I think they are £14 Im getting one this weekend to put in the bathroom and in the kitchen to dry the clothes.
I second wearing a fleece body warmer round the house, my dad does this (hes 67) he says we dont know how good weve got it, he used to have to break the water in the morning to wash as it was frozen! and he had icicles on the inside of the windows! Mum drys clothes in the tumble (using dryer balls) but also has the clothes dryer right next to it drying the other clothes using the excess heat. She also spends the whole of september batch baking using apples and blackberrys they have picked in the park ready for the winter, nothing nicer than a hot pie when your chilly.

check this out

frugalliving.about.com/u/ua/energyandutilities/Keep_Warm_Tips.htm

really like the heated rice in a sock idea.

great tips on here.

I've only read the first page so I'm not sure if this has already been said, but there are quite a few companies who will "give" you solar panels in exchange for a promise that you will have them on your roof for 20 years. That will save you quite a lot. If you own the house and might want to sell at some point, it's worth bearing in mind that it might put off potential purchasers and I'm not sure if it will have an affect on availability of mortgages for potential new buyers. I think they're ideal for buy-to-rent houses as they're usually a long term plan. Here is a like to one such company: www.isis-solar.com/#na