This is reality, my nose is frozen

permie

Best thing I've found for keeping warm round the house is to wear the cheapish fleecy one side, furry the other, blankets. Got mine from Aldi.

Warm feet make an enormous difference. I always buy thermal insoles whenever they come up in the cheap shops and wear OHs slippers if they won't fit in mine.

Curtains lined with fleecy blankets (cheap from Aldi or Ikea) make a big difference. Tuck them in to try and seal all gaps. Big gaps round edge will lose the effect.
For houses with higher thermal mass (stone, brick) it will take longer to heat up a house with heating left off for ages so usually better to keep to a certain temp all the time say min 15 or 17 and boost if needed. For lightweight houses (wood) they heat up quickly so it can be worth turning thermostat right down at nights or if you're out.
Buy extra lagging for hot water tank or use old quilt (keep it away from electric wiring) to keep water hot for longer.
Don't forget to ventilate house especially if drying washing inside as sorting out damp probs much more expensive in the long run as well as causing respiratory probs.
Make a slow cooker if you don't have one by stuffing two cardboard boxes of different sizes with hay, straw or blankets all round the gap between the two - underneath as well and put blankets or pillows on top. Make sure it is at least 10cm thick. Heat up meal first and snuggle up in its box to complete cooking for at least half a day.

valk_scot

Topher wrote: »

Our income is going to dry up, so up to and after Christmas we've been trying to live on little, with every prospect of living on less than that. Now I'm practising living with no heating during the day so we don't spend more on heating than if I was out at work. That still means the central heating timer is on from 6:00a.m. until 8:00a.m. and again from 04:00p.m. 'til 9:00p.m.

This seems to be about enough for a family (of three adults at the moment) who have different start times to their days. So I now find myself in three changes of clothes per day. 1) Housework clothes, old slippers that can be worn for stepping out of the house (to bins, garden access etc.) light socks, T-shirt, light jumper/cardigan & jeans. 2) Sitting in the cold clothes, thermal shirt, T-shirt, fleecy jumper, hand knitted wool socks, hand crocheted hat, buff/ neck cowl, and sheepskin slippers. 3) outdoor clothing, usually added on to 1) as appropriate for dog walking, shopping etc.

I have a thermometer with me this afternoon, and now the heating's been on for half an hour, the temperature has risen from 15 C to 17 C. I keep telling myself this was daily life for my grandmother, and I grew up in un-centrally heated houses, so I'm sure I can get used to it.

I'm writing on here to try & stay positive about it, and share the experience, rather than dwelling on it, and feeling opressed by the financial situation that has lead to this. At least we're sort of prepared, have a real fire for when it gets really cold, and fleeces to hang in the windows again when really cold.

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I don't understand this at all tbh. I almost never put the heating on during the day, it goes on at 7am to 8am in the morning and from 5pm till 10pm at night. The house isn't cold during the day, I'm quite comfortable in a t-shirt and cardigan or sweatshirt, even when sitting at my desk. I have the bedroom window open at night and I almost never put the heating on in my bedroom. Last time I needed heating there or during the day was when it was -10 to -15'C outside, two winters ago. It goes off in May btw and not switched on again till late September-ish. And I'm not in the balmy south, this is Scotland.


I have to agree with what others have said in that there has to be something not quite right going on in your house. Either you've got horrendous drafts or not enough insulation. Have you draft proofed your house, got thick curtains which are kept closed after dark and have you topped up the loft and wall insulation as much as possible? Our house is on the top of a hill, exposed on three sides and winds straight from Siberia. Getting cavity wall insulation and double glazing put in ten years ago halved our bills and doubled our comfort.


And I agree with what others have posted about what you're used to. I grew up in houses where the only source of heat was the open fire in the living room or a one bar electric fire which my mum grudgingly let me have in my bedroom when I was studying. Ice on the inside of the windows was standard in the morning. Heated bathroom? Don't make me laugh, I remember an outside toilet at one point. Of course it's much better now with double glazing and central heating but my point is if you've grown up with CH running day and night you're certain to think it unbearably cold when you're forced to switch it off some of the time. You will get used to it though. Elderly people, babies and ill folk apart no-one needs to be boiling along at 20+'C day and night.

lostinrates

valk_scot wrote: »

will get used to it though. Elderly people, babies and ill folk apart no-one needs to be boiling along at 20+'C day and night.

Used to it and temperatures are part of the issue for some.

For example, if you work in an office which is heated to say, 21 all day, then come home to a cold house which is much, much colder it must be very jarring.

VfM4meplse

SueC wrote: »

It sounds horrific, but try not having the heating on when you get up in the mornings.

:eek::eek::eek:

There's no incentive to get out of a toasty bed if the the house isn't warm.

kboss2010

I was given a onesie for Xmas after swearing I would never EVER buy or wear one and here's the thing; it's freezing and my pj's which aren't cold cotton are in the wash or need replaced so I thought what the heck?

It's pink (!) leopard print (!!) but you know what? I look like an oversized baby and, like my crocs, would never be seen in it in public but it's actually quite cosy. And it's fleece so I didn't have to hang it on a radiator to warm up before it was a wearable temperature in the cold.

It also has fitted cuffs like my work lab coat so the sleeves don't flap or get wet if you're washing up or cleaning. The only thing you have to watch out for is chokage when you stretch or bend down but I just undid the zip a bit.

I'd (begrudgingly) recommend it!

kboss2010

lostinrates wrote: »

Used to it and temperatures are part of the issue for some.

For example, if you work in an office which is heated to say, 21 all day, then come home to a cold house which is much, much colder it must be very jarring.

Yep, I can vouch for this. I was acclimatised to the cold until I started working in a warm office. Now I'm wearing a thin jumper at work!!:eek: jumpers for me are what usually come out when it's 2oC and blowing a 20 gale! Even a German friend of mine commented that I was mental to walk around outside in vest tops in winter lol.

babushkava

I live in a plain old house, built in the 1660s, walls 9 inches thick and single glazing. West facing. Open fires. No insulation, no special ways to save energy. Yet, this house is cool in summer and cosy in winter. The fuel bills (for occasional central heating use, but mainly logs for the sitting room and bedroom fires) are below average. I set this out only because my experience suggests that the builders in those days knew quite a lot about how to make a house liveable.
When I lived in a modern house, it seemed to me that I was correcting a lot of the builder's mistakes, at considerable cost to me, then.

lostinrates

babushkava wrote: »

I live in a plain old house, built in the 1660s, walls 9 inches thick and single glazing. West facing. Open fires. No insulation, no special ways to save energy. Yet, this house is cool in summer and cosy in winter. The fuel bills (for occasional central heating use, but mainly logs for the sitting room and bedroom fires) are below average. I set this out only because my experience suggests that the builders in those days knew quite a lot about how to make a house liveable.
When I lived in a modern house, it seemed to me that I was correcting a lot of the builder's mistakes, at considerable cost to me, then.

I also live in a very old house.

I wrote earlier in the thread about my three degree blast of warm air .

Once heated my house retains heat brilliantly, but it was built with the idea their would be fires going every day in the fireplaces, and animals heating it from the back/ below. it was never built to run with no heat source. It also would have had more people in it, warming the space, and probably more to a bed at night which would have been cosy!

terra_ferma

If someone needs to keep warm without wearing anything bulky these fleece jackets are very lightweight but warm. Full price £10, I got mine with a discount, and buy a few at the time, they last forever (or at least the previous ones did, hope the new batch are as long-lasting )
e.g.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Collection-Funnel-Through-Fleece-Jacket/dp/B002F78EJK?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_1&nodeId=2414519031&sr=1-1&qid=1390207210&pf_rd_r=1E6GB97AZ2AQA948Q1Q5&pf_rd_m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=2414519031&pf_rd_p=321381387&pf_rd_s=related-items-3
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Plus-Funnel-Through-Fleece-Jacket/dp/B00437GACI?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_1&nodeId=2414519031&sr=1-1&qid=1390207362&pf_rd_r=0QFG8GC65PZ3GT96KTH9&pf_rd_m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=0&pf_rd_p=321381407&pf_rd_s=center-3
They have them up to size 28, the best way to see all of the colours and sizes is to do a search for fleece jackets, because they always have them on several separate pages.

lostinrates

On a practical note, my house has quite a bit of condensation this morning, and the temperatures are dropping at the end of the week. I'm making sure I take advantage of today's dry weather, as we did yesterday and I have some windows open at strategic points to give the house quite thorough airing. In the room with a sticky window the de humidifier is running and I expect to run pretty much for the duration of the cold spell, but will get humidity down in there and see what happens.