How to live without heating - save £000s

techno12

There's a lad at work who does similar. He hasn't had his heating on for 3 years, and in zoom calls he's all layered up with a bearskin hat etc.

He can afford it as we're in a fairly well paid industry, it's more a "green" lifestyle choice for him.

EssexHebridean

HertsLad said:

EssexHebridean

I'm sorry I don't have time to go line by line through yout comments in bold.

Here are some general comments:
- my costs are accurate. Are you a savvy money saver? It took numerous visits to charity shops and the ebay website to buy several of the items. I would never pay the full retail price. If people didn't start preparing for Winter (buying clothes at good prices) months ago, then that's their loss.

You will be different. I don't normally wash any of the clothes (within one season)apart from the base layers. Heaven forbid if I smell like a tramp but it's good if it keeps strangers at a distance as I walk around supermarkets while winter viruses remain a risk.

If I meet friends, I don't wear any of those clothes. I don't have any visitors.

The figure of £28 is the latest (increased) price for 2 tops and 2 bottom base layers at £7 each.

I didn't overstate potential savings at all. I suggested hundreds to thousands. So that could be any cost above £200.

Yep, I'd say I'm pretty savvy - but I think I was pretty clear that my calculations were based on someone having their whole "house of cards" crash around their ears tomorrow - as I did say "someone who no  longer has the ability to pay to heat their home and so feels their only option is to manage with no heat at all". I'm guessing your "several trips to charity shops" took a bit of time - and time is something that someone in that immediate need situation very probably wouldn't have. When you have the luxury of time it's often possible to do things far more cheaply isn't it! And of course that is the other thing about the "crashing down" situation - it's not always possible to prepare for it, and certainly not without (the again, luxury of) money to throw at it. You and I both have that luxury - but the person who has suddenly found themselves in a panic situation wouldn't have that. 

I'm afraid you are right - I certainly won't live without washing clothes for months on end, no, I genuinely wouldn't dream of it. Again, that would without question be a step too far for me (and for MrEH I suspect!) Each to their own I guess, on that one, and probably best to draw a line under, else we'll end up in the territory of the epic "how often to change the bedding" thread which I seem to recall ran riot on the Old style board a good few years ago!  

It's interesting to see your costs, but I imagine you can see that for most people those costs would be increased. I guess if you do pretty much no washing, that also assists with keeping the damp levels down in the house too, which must come as an advantage. 

HertsLad

I updated my previous post to say I also wash the snood, shirt and polyester fleece. I agree someone who suddenly found themselves unable to afford heating would not have the luxury of looking for bargains.

HertsLad

peter3hg said:

Personally I spend around £550 a year on heating (based on current tariffs) so I could pay for an extra holiday with that money, but I would prefer to be comfortable for the four/five months I would normally have heating on. 

I too am comfortable, keeping myself warm rather than also heating the house. Was I significantly more comfortable staying at a 5 star hotel recently? No, I got a bit bored and looked forward to the trip back home. I think that tells me it's not unpleasant at all. If I was returning to prison, life living on the street or even to a relationship with lots of arguments, I don't think I would have been so keen.

GaleSF63

Sea_Shell said:

HertsLad said:

Does this forum have a bug? When I go into a quoted section to trim it a bit, I can't get back to the section where I type my reply. On my desktop PC browser I can go into html mode as a workaround but my phone doesn't seem to offer this option. Any thoughts?

I don't know if it's a bug, but mine does that too.   I have to be careful to at least type "something" in the new text area, before tapping within quoted text to edit it, otherwise, like you say you end up stuck there.

It's a tad annoying isn't it.

What works for me is to backspace delete everything  including blank grey areas till I get a clear white box again, and start again. Quicker - block delete most of it and backspace what's left.

Swipe

GaleSF63 said:

Sea_Shell said:

HertsLad said:

Does this forum have a bug? When I go into a quoted section to trim it a bit, I can't get back to the section where I type my reply. On my desktop PC browser I can go into html mode as a workaround but my phone doesn't seem to offer this option. Any thoughts?

I don't know if it's a bug, but mine does that too.   I have to be careful to at least type "something" in the new text area, before tapping within quoted text to edit it, otherwise, like you say you end up stuck there.

It's a tad annoying isn't it.

What works for me is to backspace delete everything  including blank grey areas till I get a clear white box again, and start again. Quicker - block delete most of it and backspace what's left.

Or Ctrl+Z to undo and leave the first character in place until you have typed some new characters after it

RobM99

silvercar said:

HertsLad said:

Does this forum have a bug? When I go into a quoted section to trim it a bit, I can't get back to the section where I type my reply. On my desktop PC browser I can go into html mode as a workaround but my phone doesn't seem to offer this option. Any thoughts?

It does. The solution for me is to click on the end icon, the one that looks like "</>" That changes the reply box to code. You can then move your cursor to the last character and click on it again to turn the reply box back to how it should look.

I wish I knew this before I found out last week!   Grrrr....

HertsLad

Here is my latest gas bill for any of you who still think this thread is one big wind up. I still use some mains gas, just for the gas cooker. As you can see, usage is tiny. The standing charge is higher. I still intend to switch over to propane.

Krakkkers

Yes, that proves you pay more per unit than anyone else in the country.

EssexHebridean

Krakkkers said:

Yes, that proves you pay more per unit than anyone else in the country.

He doesn’t I’m afraid. In the month from 28/10 > 27/11 I used 33.4kWh of gas. My SC is rather higher than HertsLad’s though - meaning my bill was £11.76. 😆