How to live without heating - save £000s

brewerdave

Seeing this "old" thread resurface as the temperatures are beginning to drop - I recently worked out the costs of the last 12 months gas usage - for cooking ,heating and hot water - came to ~ £900pa inc the standing charge.
 Talking to a near neighbour the costs of heating came up - he proudly proclaimed that he was "saving a fortune" by leaving his gas C/H off and using his solar panels/battery for hot water - we were standing next to his new car , his latest possession at the time - I estimate he is probably paying £300 pm at least for that plus he is still paying S/C on both gas and electricity - made me smile that he thinks he is saving !!

Scot_39

Well made my annual trip to a few cheap retailers to view the selection of winter thermals as temps start to wander downwards last week - as the shorts have gone in the storage box for tge winter and the cardy come out tge wardrobe.
Wont be needing them for a while yet I hope but decided to buy just the one set - in case too warm indoors or irritating (seemedok for 5 min trial of top) - of the new mid level @£9 / £18 set - light fleece lining  - ones from Pri***k.
Though about the similar mid weights from Dec*****n last year but their out of town sites less easy to get to.
And new cheap jogging suit to lounge around in.

Although indoors even at 16 layering with the lighter unlined vest type (were c£6 / £12)  been fine in past years.

All those new govt linked policy and net zero costs inc new OCT cap add ins arent offering me any bill savings - only more rises - despite a drop in wholesale costs.

HertsLad

hardergamer said:

I'm wondering how Hertslad is doing. It would be cool for an update.

Thank you for your interest.



Here's what I did this afternoon, by way of some preparation for this winter. Please see photo I hope to upload. I arrived on a camp site for a few nights, to attend a nearby exhibition. With little to do after I pitched the tent (planned in advance) I made use of the site's plentiful hot water to wash some of my base layer garments. They also have a washing machine for £3.50 but that's not for me. These 10 items, when doubled up for wear will not last long before I need to wash them again. At home, I use my gas hob to heat water. I hope it doesn't rain overnight, here on the camp site.

So far (1 Oct) my house has not gone below 15C but I am already wearing 1 layer of polyester base top and bottom, with denims, a shirt, and a thin down jacket with fleece on top.

wrf12345

Amazing how sudden the shift in temperatures and increase in rainfall was as soon as we hit September, filled up my water butts, anyway, used for flushing the toilet (a double saving as they charge even more for assumed sewage depending on metered water use). I am fully stocked up with thick pullovers from sale a couple of years ago but had to resort to Aliexpress for the thinner ones as they had gone up from six to eight quid in the UK - paid £2-4 in Aliexpress recent sales and they are slightly better quality. I have some 95p thermal pants from the same source, bought ages ago but keeping them for December - wear for three months and chuck away rather than wash. Long sleeved t-shirts I do not have yet, the Aliexpress ones are not very good (too short and poor material) but not entirely necessary, see what turns up. Tracksuit pants are £3-4 on aliexpress, if you are skinny you can get a tight fit from the small size and double up with the medium over that if it gets really cold, as well as the thermal pants. I also like their quilted/padded jackets at £6-8, used as house coats. Quality is on a par with lower end UK stuff, prices vary enormously with levels of discounts, etc. I still buy socks and t-shirts in the UK, and sometimes boots (also some nice cheap stuff on Aliexpress). All good fun.

Swipe

I stocked up with top and bottom base layers from Lidl last winter. Long range forecast for October looking mild so far. Hopefully, I can get away with no heating until November like last year.

dealyboy

I have just made sure all my thermals, fleeces, layers are washed (I have quite a few now), although I didn't go into the woods to dry them , I anticipate not doing any washing if we have a prolonged cold snap. I think the worst thing to do is to hang up wet things indoors unless you have heat and laundry facilities.

I've actually been wearing base layers + for the last couple of days like HertsLad, but I got caught out on Tuesday when a full sun heatwave appeared .  

Alnat1

wrf12345 said:

I have some 95p thermal pants, bought ages ago but keeping them for December - wear for three months and chuck away rather than wash. All good fun.

That's definitely not fun, hope nobody has to sit next to you in February 

Vitor

Good to see this thread back. It's at the very heart of what MSE is about - heat the person, not the room, make do and mend, a penny saved is a penny earned, tighten your belt, keep warm with wool, not with coal etc.

RavingMad

Am I wrong to assume it's single person households that are the main contributors here? No way would my family agree to such measures 

silverwhistle

HertsLad said:

So far (1 Oct) my house has not gone below 15C but I am already wearing 1 layer of polyester base top and bottom, with denims, a shirt, and a thin down jacket with fleece on top.

I think Herts must be colder than Hants, or your more modern house is colder than a just post-war terrace! My lounge is 19.6c at the moment and I haven't seen it go below 18 yet, so I'm wearing a cotton mid-sleeved v-neck top.

I don't believe in getting cold though, so whether I'm skiing or sea rowing or playing football in the cold I'll have all the gear I'm allowed, although as I turned 70 at the end of last season I've retired from the latter. Not surprisingly it's colder stood watching on a grass touchline than playing. :-)  But keeping active certainly helps, although the thought of putting on the number of layers you do quite exhausts me! 

 

Edit: @RavingMad.. yes!