Preparing for Winter V

Brambleberry

I feel slightly better that my while my bills are on the high side, I'm not alone.
We are also in a Victorian stone cottage, double glazing, fairly well insulated, but don't have gas here so heating is via the solid fuel stove and radiators, which also limits what deals or tariffs are available. Having seen the (hidden) damage caused to the stove and chimney by the previous owner burning the wrong fuel, we now pay a small premium to buy a particular fuel, but it is worth it when you see how the sweepings have changed. The repair costs alone would have covered a couple of decades' worth of fuel.
My solid fuel budget is about £80-100 a month over the year, electricity runs to about £55.

What is amusing is that energy suppliers' algorithms don't understand that I use more electricity in the summer than the winter, so every autumn my DD adjustment goes sky-high, then they give me it back in spring :rotfl:

mardatha

My coal is £150 a month all year. My house is always hot - 26/28c in the livingroom. The stove stays on 24/7 most of the year, husband has medical conditions that make him feel the cold badly. But that coal also gives me unlimited (very) hot water and dries all washing left on the airer overnight. My elect is only £16 a month, and we cook with Calor gas - a cylinder £57 lasts me 8 months. It might not be cheap to live here but it's def cosy - and at 1000ft up in the Scottish hills it has to be cosy!

FrankieM

I'm so jealous of everyone with fires etc, I so miss the cosiness of an open fire.

Got home last night to cold radiators, so the heating is off again and I've let the landlord know.

Thank goodness for my hot water bottle and throws in the lounge room

carrielovesfanta

The winter duvet has come out today and the heating is coming on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.


I'm thinking of putting a door curtain at the back door. I'm sure that I have a long curtain somewhere - must hunt it out!

Primrose

carrielovesfanta wrote: »

The winter duvet has come out today and the heating is coming on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.


I'm thinking of putting a door curtain at the back door. I'm sure that I have a long curtain somewhere - must hunt it out!

Curtains do make a difference because the cold can still fall off glass wiNdow surfaces, even when they're double glazed.

phoebe1989seb

Our prepping for Winter actually began back in April when we had our wood burners installed and the borehole drilled.

When we bought this house (400 year old stone cottage with a bit of land) in mid February there was no running water let alone heating. The farmer on whose land the water supply originated had cut it off :eek: The property was a repossession that had stood empty some six months and was previously tenanted for a while as the owners tried to sell. When we took ownership it was a damp mess!

So this winter is a far more attractive prospect than when we moved in, lol!

It helped that in August we finally emptied the last of our three storage units and repatriated our sofas, although we've only just finished decorating the snug - which was formerly the kitchen.

Last week we bought a rather decadent faux fur throw and I've been busy making cushions and heavy curtains including one for the front door.

DH has chopped loads of logs - although these are obviously not for this year - as we have some woodland and the temporary log store is full.

Hot water bottles were in use last night and yesterday we lit the wood burner in the new kitchen (former living room and dining opened up) for the first time. Have topped up the prepping larder this morning and am just getting the Halloween decorations up.....love Halloween, lol! Winter coats have been brought out as well as woolly hats, scarves and gloves ready for wintery walks in the surrounding countryside with the dogs. Sadly I've not got round to putting up my polytunnel yet - it's there ready but have been too busy with the (DIY) building work - might still try to get it up as I've a load of plants not yet put in the ground that need overwintering.......

NaughtySpot

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...

I actually don’t think that is too bad for an old draughty house with single glazing. We pay £106/month all year for our gas and electric, and we’ve got double glazing, insulation etc in a three bed 1930s semi. We have the heating on for about 2 hours a day so not excessive.

I couldn’t live in a house as cold as yours, it would make me miserable and I do believe houses need some heat to keep them healthy. Older houses used to have a fire in most rooms and they were well used.

Lucy5781

DD is now six months old and in the big cot in with DS in his proper bed. Been below 5°c overnight last two nights and surprise, she's stirred at 4am both nights, as that's the cold point whilst heating is off between 10pm and 6am.
Have put a longer sleeved vest on under her sleep suit so her arms are warmer outside her sleeping bag.
DS is getting better at not kicking off his duvet. He's two now.

shoei

Primrose wrote: »

Curtains do make a difference because the cold can still fall off glass wiNdow surfaces, even when they're double glazed.

We swapped our curtains to thermal lined, it made a huge difference!

flubberyzing

I know it's coming on winter when the bedroom window shuts! I have it open every night from about March to end of October, and then it's just too cold, even with a thick duvet and a 'leccy blanket!