Preparing for Winter V

Nargleblast

We had snow for about 20 minutes this morning but now it is blue skies and sunshine - still pretty cold, though. Don't forget, those in the U.K., clocks go back one hour in the early hours of tomorrow morning (I think 2.00 a.m. BST to 1.00 a.m. GMT)

Novice_investor101

It was 2c when I drove to work at 7.15am. Didn't feel much warmer when I came home at 5pm either. Heating definitely on!

[Deleted User]

Very cold and wonderfully frosty this morning, so pretty seeing frosty fields full of sheep as we drove out. We were at a concert in a lovely church high up in the Cotswolds and we had the first snowfall of the year, big fat flakes for a while and sleety rain for longer. It didn't lay but it was lovely for me as we seldom got snow or frost back in Hampshire, I like a good frost, invigorating!

FrankieM

I put my heating on yesterday, I'm a bit sad about it, but it was below double figures.

It's switched on again this morning and I'll see how it goes as the week progresses as well as seeing what my bill is looking like.

I resent paying out so much money each month for gas

Ladybirdbaba

3 degrees outside dropping to 2 later
I've broke open the furry socks!

FrankieM

I've put the heating on...sad times...now to sit and watch my utility bill grow

Laura_Elsewhere

Coming up to the fifth anniversary in January of my chap moving into this flat (me a year later) and we've still never used the heating despite having windows wide open for at least 5 minutes every single day...

A Victorian 'stone pig' ceramic hot water bottle works to take the chill off the air, and we wear thick house-socks that I knit. We don't find it at all uncomfortable (the thermometers say the flat is around 15+ degrees in the bedroom and 13+ degrees in the north-facing sitting-room, which we often stop using in colder snaps, and treat the bedroom as a cosy bed-sitter), but we do struggle when we visit others - especially the people who keep their heating up in the mid to high twenties! Argh! I've learnt to make sure I can take layers off right down to a thin cotton top for those houses...

A thick, thick white frost out there this morning, first really hard frost of the season - beautiful!

Laura_Elsewhere

FrankieM wrote: »

I've put the heating on...sad times...now to sit and watch my utility bill grow

My chap and I have often wondered what some relatives with a big old Victorian house pay for their utilities... we recently found out.

Are you all sitting down? Anyone with a delicate constitution should look away now...

They are on a fixed-rate, with an extra £6/month for green energy, but what they pay, year-round is... £146 a month.

Do you all feel better about your bills now?

That's gas central heating and water, plus electricity. It's a very large house, and a very old house - huge single-glazed windows, very high ceilings, everything you don't want when heating a home!

You know all those things the tv adverts tell you not to do, to be more energy-conscious and not waste it? The woman of the household does all those things... she puts the hot water tap on, full blast, in the kitchen, running between the washing-up bowl and the sink-edge, i straight down the plug-hole, so she can rinse the washing-up under it. But if she then wants to go and get a pan from the scullery, she'll leave that hot tap running full blast down the plughole while she goes into the next room to fetch it...! Similarly the fridge is often wide open for a couple of minutes...
Lots of things like that - oddly, the man of the household is very energy-conscious and they both turn lights off a lot, although those lights are very old energy-efficient bulbs, the sort that take well over 90 seconds to reach "light"...

But we were fairly shocked at £146/month for two people...

mardatha

Minus 7 at Edinburgh Airport weather station this morning.

shoei

Laura_Elsewhere wrote: »

My chap and I have often wondered what some relatives with a big old Victorian house pay for their utilities... we recently found out.

Are you all sitting down? Anyone with a delicate constitution should look away now...

They are on a fixed-rate, with an extra £6/month for green energy, but what they pay, year-round is... £146 a month.

Do you all feel better about your bills now?

That's gas central heating and water, plus electricity. It's a very large house, and a very old house - huge single-glazed windows, very high ceilings, everything you don't want when heating a home!

You know all those things the tv adverts tell you not to do, to be more energy-conscious and not waste it? The woman of the household does all those things... she puts the hot water tap on, full blast, in the kitchen, running between the washing-up bowl and the sink-edge, i straight down the plug-hole, so she can rinse the washing-up under it. But if she then wants to go and get a pan from the scullery, she'll leave that hot tap running full blast down the plughole while she goes into the next room to fetch it...! Similarly the fridge is often wide open for a couple of minutes...
Lots of things like that - oddly, the man of the household is very energy-conscious and they both turn lights off a lot, although those lights are very old energy-efficient bulbs, the sort that take well over 90 seconds to reach "light"...

But we were fairly shocked at £146/month for two people...

To be honest ....giving all that you say... I don't think it is that bad!

We live in a North facing rural cottage, 3 bed, low ceilings, stone building with double glazing but wooden and quite draughty. Also original wooden doors = draughty.

We are on oil which is very expensive, have a log burner in the main sitting room which we use a lot.

We have a gas/electric range and economy 7 heats our water and we do as much as we can at night, Dishwasher, washing machine, use the electric shower 1st thing before it swaps over.

We do have an electric blanket we pop on for 5 minutes when it is very cold to take the chill off the bed.

Our electric bill alone is £70 - £90 a month and we have decent energy efficient light bulbs and do everything you should. We have checked recently and cannot get a cheaper package.

Our oil dependent on the cost at that point is about £600 a year. We still haven't had the heating on but that is due to us swapping all radiators. The current ones are 35 years old and I'm hoping new ones will be more efficient.

That is for two of us.