How are you going to keep warm this winter?

Lakelady_2

I know there are other posts in other parts of the MSE forums, but I thought I`d ask here for people such as us, disabled people and their carers.
DH and I are very careful with the heating but we are cold and we`ve spent £9 in gas in the last 48 hours :eek:
All suggestions, light hearted and otherwise appreciated

septemberblues

Good question. At this moment I am at my local mental health centre, where clients can use the computers etc for free. As I can't afford to heat my freezing cold house all day I've come here to go online instead! A cup of tea costs less than 50p and I can surf the net in warmth. Seriously, try and find a day centre type place (not necessarily mental health) and go there if possible, I can't think of anything else, apart from your local library, and ours closes at 1pm on a Thursday.

FROSTYFRECKLE

Hubby and I live in a tiny bungalow, heating bills for both gas & electric are around £125 per quarter. We use our heating a lot due to hubby's condition. House is very well insulated, we also use thermal curtains on all of the windows and front/back doors. Is it possible to get grants to get extra insulation? Curtains are about to be drawn soon to keep the heat in. Can you get a hold of thermal curtains?

Hardup_Hester

Hubby & I sit huddled under blankets I've made while we watch TV, we often go to bed very early to save on heating & light. We are fortunate that our house has cavity wall insulation, but I'm saving up to put another layer of insulation in the loft.

somebody_else

I've found that keeping my feet warm helps a lot. I used to use a hot water bottle, but I'm no longer safe filling one up so now I use a wheat cushion instead (not a lot of use unless you've got a microwave). It certainly makes quite a difference. I also use the cushion to warm the sofa up first thing in the morning so that I don't get too cold waiting for my body to warm the sofa.

zzzLazyDaisy

I wear thermal undies in the day (and other clothes on top of course!) and fleecy pj's at night (Primark £5 a pair and VERY warm). I also have a pair of knitted fur lined ankle boot slippers (also Primark) to keep my feet warm.

Other than that I keep the wall thermostat at 20 degrees when I'm up and about and have heavy curtains that are closed all the time during the winter - apart from the lounge which I close at night - to keep the warmth in and I keep a king size blanket on the sofa to keep me warm while watching TV.

At night and when I go out I leave the heating on but knock the thermostat back to 17 degrees

My house is well insulated but I might have a look at getting more loft insulation.

Horace

I am all electric in my place - it is fitted with bloomin' convector heaters which I never switch on. I have some oil filled electric radiators which switch on and off when they see fit so the room stays warm (although saying that, I am feeling a tad chilled because I have switched the one off in this room). I have fleecy blankets to huddle under when I am watching the telly and I have an electric blanket on my bed. The blanket was a valentine's day present from my chap last year, he also gave me an ironing board which has turned into a handy shelf:rotfl: I wear bedsocks in bed and have even been known to wear them during the day to keep my feet warm.

I am double glazed in my flat, so I have shut some of the window vents but I only have silly blinds which are about as much use as a chocolate saucepan:rolleyes: I must admit that I am toying with the idea of getting some draught excluders especially for my front door.

Being a middle flat, I do get some residual heat from my downstairs neighbour which means that I dont put the heaters on too often which makes my upstairs neighbours rather cold:rotfl:

altocumulus

Warm, what is that - it is a struggle in this house - very little insulation in .


(sorry that's a wee fib - a new conservatory out the front has insulation spilling out into every corner)

bluedog

I have gas heating and have set it so it cannot go over 19 degrees no matter how high anyone tries to turn it up. (DD had a habit of turning the thermostat up to 25 -30 degrees, then had her window wide open as she was too hot ..... :rolleyes: ).

I turn it up and down according to the activity I'm doing and wear so many layers, that I look like a real tramp at home. I have a very thick body warmer that I wear too as feel even the slightest draught. (Mind you, my laundry levels go through the roof due to the extra clothes I wear now.) I've just bought some fingerless gloves too which help ease my hand joints and I still have benefit of free fingers to do things.

I recently went to a knitting/sewing shop and they had a rail of various demonstration garments for sale they'd hand knitted (to show what the wools and patterns look like) for very sensible prices. I was amazed to get a thick woolly cardigan (with 2 pockets ) for just £3 and I love it for it's snuggly warmth. Ok, it's not the sort of thing I'd wear anywhere else, but for the price and quality, I'm very very happy with it. I've been looking in high street stores and online and the prices are sky high by comparison.

Apart from that, I do a lot of things that others are saying, such as drawing curtains at dusk, (tucking them behind radiators so the heat stays in the room. I keep doors closed to my living room as this is the warmest room.

I'm a housing association tenant and I wish it was easier to get grants for insulation as it would help no end. I'm sure my loft needs more, the double glazing gets condesation on them and the cavity walls aren't done either. I'm waiting for an assessment by my OT for potential alterations to be done and hopefully, a new front door will be included. Much as I love my cottagey, solid wooden door, it doesn't fit and sticks so badly that even able bodied people complain about it. You can see daylight through it in places so when it's cold like this, ther draughts are awful from it. (The HA surveyor said he can't work out what the problem with it is ..... so they won't do anything about it incase it gets worse .... )

There is probably loads more I do without thinking about it from things learnt as a child. Growing up with just a coal fire in one room for heating, frosty morning were fun as you could draw pictures in the ice on the inside of the bedroom windows ... :rotfl:

LameWolf

Well if today is anything to go by, I can rely on my hot flushes!!:D

Seriously, though, we have very good insulation, and a lovely thick wool blanket that Mr LW's mother crocheted many years ago that we throw over ourselves in the evenings if we're watching TV or (more likely) playing PlayStation2 games.

Otherwise..... repair to the pub and sit in front of their fire.;)

fedupconsumer

I have invested in a portable heater so that i dont have to put the central heating on so just use the heater in the room im in to save a little bit of money .