the ice man cometh! (merged with keeping warm)

SUESMITH_2

ah takes me back to when i was young - the delights of scraping the ice off the inside of the windows.

i used to go to bed in socks, nightie, dressing gown, hat and gloves! we all had a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.

when i was small the fire would get lit early in the morning and we would all get dressed in front of it. mum had an old fashioned rack in the kitchen to dry our clothes.

we wore lots of hand knitted jumpers and drank mugs of tea or hot vimpto.


we lived in one room which mum and dad kept nice and warm and larry graysons shut that door catch phrase could have been our motto.

bedrooms were just that rooms to go to bed in, we warmed our night things downstairs and then went to bed - no watching tv or having friends over unless they were eskimos lol.

i love my central heating but my dad still lives like that from choice

titus.a.duxarse

SUESMITH wrote: »

ah takes me back to when i was young - the delights of scraping the ice off the inside of the windows.

i used to go to bed in socks, nightie, dressing gown, hat and gloves! we all had a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.

when i was small the fire would get lit early in the morning and we would all get dressed in front of it.

Ah That takes me back too! I'd forgotten about frozen windows, but we still use hot water bottles today as much as we ever did, despite central heating.
T.A.D.

halia

joannasmum wrote: »

I have put a single layer of fleece blanket under dd bottom sheet, the difference it has made is unbelivable she is deffinately waking less at night, she has wet it once and I stuck it in the washer and it came out almost dry

HTH

I'd second this, DS has D&V episodes so I always put a thick fleecy blanket udner his sheet so his mattress doesn't get stained. It helps keep him warm as well.

Something i'd add is that its sometimes more expenisve to let your house get very cold and then try and heat it up, so better to keep a background level of heat on at all times.

I'd get socket timers for your electric radiators, and how about sleeping in the living room for you and DP? I did this for two years in winter living in a house with no heating except an old gas fire! then you have one less room to heat. (futons and sleeping bags)

Leg warmers are brilliant for keeping warm as well, over the top of socks, on your arms, I wear them in bed some nights.

good luck and stay warm

maypole

I agree with Pink Fairy, food warms you, so a big pan of soup on the go is not a bad idea, so you can just eat when you feel cold. I love doing that in the winter, even though we have heating. We have an open gas fire and we have put something up the chimney to stop the heat getting out that way, just far enough up so you can see it sticking out a little in the fireplace, obviously you have to remember to take it out when you put the fire on!:o

Sassamac

thanks for all the suggestions still flooding in.

we have made a bit more progress with making the curtains for the front door, just need to go broom handle searching (cheaper than a curtain pole) and tac the lining to the curtain.

I had to laugh at all the 'heat one room and live / sleep in it' comments. the only room we heat is the dressing room to dry our clothes - there isnt even enough space to lie on the floor in there. however some of the heat does filter upstairs to our bedroom so it could be worse.
When I have a shower I put my huge bath towel on the rad, take another smalller one into the bathroom. Then leg it back to the dressing room to get dry and dressed - it always reminds me of my Mum telling me about how she used to bath and dress in front of the fire as a child.

was on a toy hunt for DS today and found the double duvet for the sofa bed so we could utilise that if needs be.

the easiest solution I have found to getting all the clothes dry quicker has been to wash less laundry. Because of the Christmas hols we have been out a lot less and got away with wearing the same clothes for longer. Unfortunately life returns to normal tomorrow and DH comes home from work filthy everyday.

hot dinners - definitely the way forward. I have been having hot ribena too which always reminds me of camping as a teen. I even microwave fruit juice and drink that hot - I can feel myself warming up from the inside out.

Funnily enough my parents were here today and saying how cold they felt when I was perfectly warm so I guess I must be getting hardy to it. I certainly dont seem to have been as cold the last 3 weeks or so but not looking forward to the harsh winter we have apparently been forecast.

lexa34

Hi,

If you call 0800512012 they will tell you about grants you re eligible for for completely free for loft and cavaity wall insultation from power provdiers or your local council or goverment. Make sure you only use energy saving bulbs, these save £7-10 each per year, which you can get free as well from the energy advice centre. Then see if you can apply for a warm front grant for a heating system grant expecially as you have younger, vunerable childre. Well any, here's some tips to save energy/money:


§Placing foil behind the radiators up to £10 a year

§Lagging hot water pipes and tank £15 - £25 a year

§Draught proofing windows and doors £10 - £15 a year

§Closing the curtains at dusk £10 - £15 a year


Even things like not keeping the fridge door open long, only filling the kettle with what you need and making sure the freezer is full, even if it is with value bread or newspaper.

my Mum still doesn't have heating and I soooooooo apreciate my central heating.

I still recommend porriage for breakfast. Have you registered with freecycle- it is brilliant.

Keep warm and healthy!

ceridwen

Re the energy-saving bulbs - not good advice - sorry! They might save energy - but have you seen the Govts latest advice about them:

if they break leave the room instantly and stay out for at least 15 minutes, come back in with mask on, clear up with rubber gloves and put remains in plastic bag. Also when they need disposing of - they cant go in either the normal household rubbish or the recycling. Apparently it has been known for the "bad guy" light bulbs (ie the energy-saving ones) to fracture whilst in place in the lightholder and start releasing mercury vapour.

Reason for all this - they have mercury in.

And dont forget - I believe its this year that the shops will stop stocking conventional lightbulbs <<ducks whilst all OS'ers head out the door to stock up now with the conventional ones>>

[Deleted User]

We never had central heating for years as we lived in a very old draughty Victorian house.We used, back in the 1970s, the 'keep one room warm and sleep in that' system. My late husband and I and the two girls all slept in the sitting room .It really was a very cold house and ice on the inside of the sash windows was quite usual. Eventually we moved house to a slightly more modern one but the CH kept breaking down ,but we did at least have d/glazing which helped.
Hot water bottles were a god-send, and also the girls used their sleeping bags at times under their duvets and snuggled up in those.

DH and I had our own way of keeping warm,highly recommended, and always put a smile on your face in the morning;) .certainly kept us warm any way;)

Primrose

This would be an expensive option, but cavity wall insulation is wonderful for long-term heat retention in a house if you're planning to stay there long enough to benefit from some of the pay-back. Our next door neighbour's fuel bills are nearly twice the size of ours for similar circumstances and an identical house.

Sassamac

thanks guys. I honestly couldnt work out whether were entitled to a grant for insulation etc or not. will have to have anpther look at all the info with DH.

we have a few energy saving lightbulbs and the lounge is on a dimmer which saves a bit. eek at the mercury though