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Original poster

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

511 replies

mama2moo · 18/10/2011 20:06

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.

OP posts:
marge2 · 19/10/2011 18:06

We have the boiler on for a couple of hours a day for hot water. DH won;t let me put the heating on. We have a log burner in the living room so we are lighting that...using the free logs from the woods. He won't buy any coal. I use hot water bottles for everyones beds and sit with a coat on in the evenings. We leave the living room door open during the day, to heat upstairs before the DC go to bed. Once they are toasty in bed, we close the living room door so we warm that room up more for the evening.

hiddenhome · 19/10/2011 18:09

We have the stove and dh lights the tilley lamp to keep the dining room warm.

After that, we just wrap up warm and use hot water bottles.

Peachy · 19/10/2011 18:11

We will use it when we absolutely HAVE to, after resorting to duvet / jumpers etc. I grew up in a one heater house in the seventies as well and well remember the frozen jeans defrsosting on top of gas fire effect.

We survived.

it is older and disbaled (physically, my boys have ASD) that i worry about

mummysleepy · 19/10/2011 18:32

I agree with some others that this is a great thread. We are all using too much energy and regardless of whether we can afford it we should be trying to reduce central heating being on. We are oil heating too and it's sooo expensive so I try to minimise having it on to no more than 1 hour morning and 1 hour at night.( even last winter when it was below zero for weeks) However this is only possible now that we have a wood burning stove which chucks heat out and warms the whole house. And wood is MUCH cheaper than oil!
It drives me mad when I am in someones house and it's roasting hot and they are wandering round in a t shirt.
We are all about layers in this house, lots of thin layers seems to work best.

smokinaces · 19/10/2011 18:36

Mine did go on briefly this morning. It was 14 degrees in the hall (so 10-12 in the bathroom at the back) and there was no way at 6am I could get inthe shower like that. So it had a quick 20 minute blast.

Then the usual dressing gown over the towels job.

I may have to stick it on a little tonight though - have come down with a chest infection and breathing in cold air at night is really not a good plan, so may have to keep it on 17 all night. Until then I am in clothes with a big hoody and a scarf.

Peachy · 19/10/2011 18:41

In fairness saying it's possible with a wood burner is brilliant but i reckon our LL might panic if we suddently installed one LOL

DS4 is my worry here: he hates pyjamas in that way only a child with ASD can. Doesnt really feel cold. ATM he is aleep in his day clothes as his only option.

UnlikelyAmazonian · 19/10/2011 19:38

ds and i have a large bagpuss with hot water bottle in it. we sleep together to save heating his room and to keep each other warm. I have no heating on apart from lodger's room and 'laundry' room (size of a stamp, but have got pulley thing so can do without hideously expensive tumble drier).

Light fire every night but wood and coal is costly. So get sticks for kindling off the beach in plastic bags. still cheaper than elec and gas.

No duvet, we have blankets on bed - lots of blankets as so warm and you can discard if it gets too warm (if having a sweaty horrid nightmare about exH say Smile. I buy them in charity shops. Loads of them.)

Fleece slippers covered in supper stains and a thick dressing gown for mornings. So long as ds is warm and happy I dont give a flyinmg fuck about myself. So long as I have enough fags milk for coffee and wine

Nowt else to enjoy! Credit crunch Britain. It's a right larf.

UnlikelyAmazonian · 19/10/2011 19:41

Also (you wont like this) I buy tofu as its really cheap and keep it on a v low simmer. Heats the kitchen and gives it a homely smell.

UnlikelyAmazonian · 19/10/2011 19:43

But we are moving to mykonos after xmas. Ds will just have to learn to riot with the natives.

Original poster
mama2moo · 19/10/2011 19:56

Well tonight our house is cold! DD's room is 14 degrees on the monitor! They have fleece pjs on and a fleece blanket with their duvets.

Im going to put foil behind the rads this weekend in preperation.

Im determinded to keep the heating off until it snows!!

OP posts:
Original poster
mama2moo · 19/10/2011 19:57

One more thing, is wearing gloves in the house a bit much? Dd's were freezing this afternoon!

We are all day tomorrow so I think we will spend some time in the garden!

OP posts:
VikingBlood · 19/10/2011 19:59

As a teacher I spend a fair amount of time preparing lessons at home, fingerless mittens are a must-have IMO.

fuckityfuckfuckfuck · 19/10/2011 20:05

I've started keeping the oven door open after use, my mum used to do it and I guess I never understood why. We seem to get heat from neighbours either side which is a plus, but after saying just yesterday I wasn;t putting heating on til November, i May just cave tonight. It feels bitter. dd and ds seem to have very warm rooms despite there being no heating in there, and both sweat buckets at night anyway, and I have a crappy storage heater in my room that never seems to work anyway. I'm sat in big wooly socks, pj bottoms, a vest, a close fitting jumper and my pj top over the top and feel very warm. I just hate coming into the living room in the morning and it being cold. Makes me feel miserable. We've started having hot breakfasts, either porridge or quickly warmed croissants and that helps. I'm another who intends to line all the curtains this weekend.

pugsandseals · 19/10/2011 20:07

For those of you considering faffing about making door sausages, Ikea have them in with their kids cuddly toys Wink

GalloweesG · 19/10/2011 20:23

I'm absolutely not turning the heat down on Eco grounds when vast parts of the world are running air con permanently.

Wholesale energy prices have come down massively, unfortunately the energy companies don't think it's necessary to pass the reductions on to the customers. Wankers.

cerealqueen · 19/10/2011 20:24

Lots of good advice! Am determined to last out till November without the heating going on.

Have not seen it mentioned (sorry if this is a repeat) but fridge magnets over the keyholes prevents gales coming through.

Thinking about just putting water on in morning and then only in the evening on a timer if DD has a bath as have dishwasher so don't need evening hot water.

Yes to fleeces worn around the house, booty type slippers, cling film double glazing, tea lights, kindling from the local country park, thermal underwear.

I grew up in a very cold house in the 70s (you could see your breath) and we all spent the evening in the one room with the gas fire on, it was cosy. Smile I recall winter coats going on the beds when it got really cold too, and hot water bottles were a given.

teahouse · 19/10/2011 20:29

I roll up towels to use as draught excluders around the bottom of doors - really works well.

sarahtigh · 19/10/2011 20:31

when we were young early 1970's with all the strikes etc and power cuts we all stayed in 1 room my mom and dad reading or whatever and us playing on rug in front of fire, we never played in bedrooms they were for sleeping in, we had hot water bottles we did have central heating but not on until october half term, in summer hot water only on three times a week monday mornings for laundry and frisday/saturday nights for baths
in winter Ch was on early morning and evenings, my parents are now retired in their eighties and so have heating on all day low once it gets below 5C they have thermostats on rads and keep bedroom etc doors shut and use wheatbags with lavender , safer than hot water bottles smell nicer too

VikingBlood · 19/10/2011 20:32

We have four cats, we argue over who gets the fattest cuddliest one to have on our knee.

kritur · 19/10/2011 20:36

I am renovating the house I moved into 18 months ago and my heating is being installed next week. It is a new electric system so pretty efficient but I have had to save up for it so I lived through last winter without central heating and only a wood burner in the lounge. Things that worked for me -

  • Stay in one room, the one that is heated! Make sure your internal doors are closed (my cat was a pain for opening mine!)
  • I slept in a hoody and PJs with socks for most of the winter, a hat when it got really cold and when the snow came I did spend a few days sleeping on the sofa in front of the woodburner (the cast iron gives off heat for a long while after the fire has died down)
  • I have an electric blanket on my bed which is an eco version and very economical. I only used it to take the chill off the bed, never slept with it on.
  • Lots of blankets on the sofa to layer up when watching TV
YaMaYaMa · 19/10/2011 20:39

Thanks so much for this thread, OP and everyone who has posted. I'm going to put a curtain rail and thick curtain over the front door, buy one of those double draught excluders for the back door and understairs cupboard door and get foil for the radiators in the living room and bedrooms. The foil and double excluder are things I didnt know about at all, so thank you.

Sapphirefling · 19/10/2011 20:46

Am hoping that ex will start to pay some maintenance soon and then I can fill the oil tank - at the minute it's about 1/4 full so am watching it like a hawk. I have bought a low wattage electric heater and am saving for another one for upstairs. I can keep the kids at after schools until 5pm on weekdays and even though I finish work earlier, it means that I can use less heating until they get home. All the usual things like fleecy PJs and sleep suits. I have fleece blankets in the living room as well. Have got some draught excluders for the bottom of the doors, hot water bottles and layers of duvets on beds.

SquishyCinnamonSwirls · 19/10/2011 20:46

I agree about the sleeping in a hoody thing as the heat you lose from your head is immense.
Wheatbags are a must for us.
I'm now letting my (big and hairy!) dog get up on the sofa with me for a cuddle, he doesn't understand personal space and is very warm and cosy.
The radiators are off in the rooms we don't use much and I keep the doors shut.
I've just re-insulated the loft hatch and used that draught excluder tape on the front and back doors.

When you flick a light switch in our house, about a dozen lights seem to come on so I'm using candles and lamps a lot.

quirrelquarrel · 19/10/2011 21:25

Door stops. The word threshold comes from the tradition of putting thresh, or hay, down on the kitchen floor in the wintertime. When the thresh built up they had to stop it at the door, hence the 'hold' part.

Obviously I just had to work in that useless anecdote Hmm

The only thing I can think of is minimising the extremes of hot to cold- to get acclimatised. Stepping out from a hot house into a cold morning will make the shock much more so woollies take a while to work- getting out of bed straight into scarves etc might make a difference.

bebeballroom · 19/10/2011 21:33

bramshott - I don't think we have a carboard box big enough, fireplace/chimney is about 1m width x 40cm deep! Definitely need to shove something up there, sa on the sofa & I can feel the cold draught coming down it!