How to stay warm cheaply?

jackyann · 6 December 2014 at 12:09AM

As well as the great suggestions above (especially the curtains) I would experiment with different timings & settings for the heating. You don't say exactly what kind of heating you have, the position of thermostats etc.

It may be more comfortable to warm up the house before you get in, to keep the heating on low for longer, or other things.

I have in the past, kept a log of outside temp, meter readings and experimented with different ways of organising the heating. It's often difficult to know exactly what works best until you have kept records.

suelizab · 6 December 2014 at 12:44AM

im in lincolnshire and its not THAT cold. If we wear that much now what else can you wear in february .

Butterfly_Brain · 6 December 2014 at 1:22AM

Candles heat up a room or you could make a candle heater.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yac7iZW4q58

But only if you haven't got children running around.

Canadian window quilts are another brilliant idea

http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm

I have door curtains on the back and front doors that have been lined with an Ikea cheapy fleece to keep the heat in.
even though we have double glazing, it still gets cold.

I wear fingerless gloves when I am on the computer in the hall with plenty of warm drinks to keep me warm.

I layer up in the winter, thermals, long sleeveT-shirt, jumper and if need be a cardi on top.

I have the little sock slippers that they have everywhere these days, I just use a pair just for slipping on before I go to bed.

moneyistooshorttomention · 6 December 2014 at 7:00AM

Your big problem, I would say, is those stairs coming down into your lounge. I think I can picture what you mean and I avoided buying a house with those 1970s open plan lounge with stairs going up from it both times I bought one, as I just visualised heat going constantly up those stairs and I didn't fancy the thought of the resultant fuel bills.

However, if it had come to it that I had had to buy a house in that style, then my plan was to "box in" those stairs. That is, I would have got in a handyman/woman and have them put "boarding" up on the sides of the stairs and a door at the bottom of those stairs. Not quite sure how that would have worked out in practice, but that was the general idea. Bit difficult to explain what I mean, but the basic idea would have been to have proper walls on both sides of those stairs (made from plasterboard or the like). There is the snag of how larger items of furniture go up and down stairs to try and find a work-around if you do something like that...but that was the general lines I was thinking along.

Could you do something like that?

torbrex · 6 December 2014 at 7:18AM

My nieghbour (across the road) has an open plan lounge with the front door, stairway and back door all included and they have a curtain rail going round the bottom of the stairs and have a heavy curtain round it during the winter months to prevent all the heat going upstairs, also a heavy curtain at both the doors.

imho · 6 December 2014 at 9:09AM

A friend of mine gave me sheets from Usa and they are huge and i never used them but 1 sheet i folded it four times and then turned my already lined curtains inside out and safety pinned the folded sheet to the inside of the curtain at the top and then did the same with the other curtain.You cant see that there is folded sheets in between the linings and the curtain at all and has made the room much warmer.