Keeping warm

Whilst I appreciate some people have no choice, the thought of going to bed wearing a hat and gloves, and wearing multiple layers during the day appals me. We have thermostats turned very low in unused rooms but leave the doors open to gain from hall heat. Timers are used, and sensible layers ie a cardigan and/or a thin thermal vest, and the heating is always off overnight as I can't stand a stuffy bedroom. When it gets chilly, I pop a hot water bottle in the bed, chiefly for my feet!

I agree with the OP, there is nothing wrong with needing to wear more clothes in the winter.
I really feel the heat and moved last year to a flat with a communal heating system. My old thermostat used to be set to 18-19 degress but here it is hard to keep the flat below 21 which really seems unnecessarily hot. Yet here our management company was inundated with questions about when the heating was going on for the winter!
It seems such a waste of power, particularly when gas prices are heading skyward, though I suspect that once you get used to a higher temperature it becomes "normal".
If everyone on our estate was converted to their own electric heating I suspect that they'd learn pretty fast to lower their thermostats. In the meantime the rest of us are subsidising their excessive heating.

One little tip I picked up somewhere was to put my Lakeland clothes airer in the lounge. It doesn’t look pretty, but it’s made a big difference to the room temperature, as it does two jobs for the price of one. It will have gone up as the electricity prices do, but it did cost 3p per hour to run, a lot less than the central heating.

Shandy57

As a 60's child my Dad constantly worried about the possibility of pipes 'bursting' in the winter - I should add he is an eccentric. We had a gas fire in the 'back' room, and an open fire in the front room. My Dad would rush around with bottles of paraffin for the fire in the bathroom plus one on the landing, and he would wedge open the loft hatch.

As a 64 year old adult I still have the fear of it happening, I know it's ridiculous. How cold does it have to be for pipes to freeze?

Water freezes at zero degrees celsius.

When I was a child we kept a very small paraffin lamp burning in the downstairs toilet that had no heating if frost was forcast.

Some people put salt in the toilet pan at night, as salt water freezes at about minus 4 degrees if I remember correctly.

Water pipes were lagged in Scotland in the days before central heating aka my childhood in the 1950s.

Having been born during the second World War ( yes I am ancient) I grew up without central heating, poor insulated housing, we had a coal fire and gas fires in the other rooms. The house was freezing in the morning but gradually became warmer during the day, I remember wearing cardigans but dont remember having to wrap up as people here are suggesting,I think we are spoilt having central heating and have forgotten how to cope with less warm houses.
There are so many good ideas about things to do before the coming winter, I agree I always turn everything off at the switch and have minimal things on at night, the only thing on is the fridge, oh and the display for the smart meter.
I am sure we will discover so many more things we can do to reduce costly bills during the winter and hopefuly we will have a mild winter.

Again this shows the lack of common sense in much of the population. When I lived in my cold house I had to wear gloves and a hat in bed. Also had a hot water bottle and a rug if sitting up downstairs.

No central heating when I was growing up. It was extra blankets on the bed and cardigans in the house. I still have a blanket on the sofa for the colder evenings. My home is draught proof. Which my childhood home was not! I keep my flat on the cool side on purpose.

My husband is always cold even with a vest a long sleeved polo shirt and fleece cardigan, I think it's because he is on bloodthinners. We don't have central heating but he has the electric heater in the living room turned up quite high and sometimes it feels like walking into a sauna so I am wearing t-shirts and thin trousers all year. Even when I go out in the winter I find a long sleeved t-shirt under my coat is enough and I only wear socks if I really have too, can't stand having hot feet.

I too saw the woman beings interviewed and thought her view totally unrealistic as was the interview with the late 20 year old first time buyer complaining she couldn't afford to buy a flat in Edinburgh. Join the club and I'm not a first time buyer. The media has a lot to answer for.

My heating will be on 21° and cardigan worn and a cosy throw when sitting and a nice hot water bottle on my lower back for back pain.

In our home the heating is only put on (manually) if it's really needed: it's not kept on a timer. Like other posters here, DH & I dress warmly, and use rugs on our knees. I'm in my 70s but I'm determined not to be like an elderly relative, who keeps the central heating on at a level which I can only describe as "stun". (DH & I can barely breathe, when we visit.) This has been going on for decades, not just when they became elderly. They wear one layer in the home (usually a T shirt plus thinnish trousers), saying; "I don't like too many clothes" yet they manage to be muffled up warmly, when going out! It's all a very selfish attitude, I think.

Biggest rows in my household...he wears underpants and a dressing gown all day and turns the heating up, I'm boiling in a t-shirt and skirt, I end up spending winter in my bedroom with no heating.

Franbern Here is a link to the NHS site. It supports your belief that 18 degrees is quite sufficient. www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/keep-warm-keep-well/ .

A useful aid if your DD gets too insistent.

I wear so many layers in winter that you can hardly see me!
This winter in particular with rising gas prices we are going to need thick socks, lots of cardigans or hoodies (I love hoodies). I've got a 'slanket' which I wear when watching tv on cold evenings. (A blanket with sleeves) And hot water bottles. I've just sent for a couple of microwaved body heating pads . Anything to help keep the thermostat down.

I set the thermostat in the hall quite high - 22.

But I put the radiators in selected rooms on to 2, so the heating does not actually kick in till the temp is low in a room.

And I wear lots of layers. I would not want to waste fuel.

I am in a new build very highly insulated house now so am hoping that will cut down on fuel usage.

We don’t like the heating too high so will be wearing thicker clothes and extra layers too. Try to buy wool and natural fibres rather than synthetic. We are also fortunate that we don’t have to watch the pennies but still don’t like to waste energy and are very mindful of the climate. We try to do our bit for the planet.

Since menopause I have become quite a 'warm' person, have even got rid of my very thick duvet - my 'winter' weight one now is 4.6 tog.
My flat is well insulated and I still have my bedroom window open all the time. Never have any heating on at night in my bedroom -just cannot sleep at all if there is any. My normal bed wear is a short sleeved cotton nightie. In very hot weather I go to a sleeveless one, and in the very cold weather to a longsleeved nightie.

My CH has yet to be turned on this year. When it is, I will probably do as I have done for the past couple of years and keep it around 18. Once I am in my nighties and warm dressing gown inthe evenings, sitting watching tv (knitting and crocheting - not at the same time!!), I will put a blanket over mylegs.
However, I have to be careful, as when my daughter pops in, she reads me the riot act if I have my heating set so 'low'!!!
"Nothing to do with how you feel, Mum" she berates me "older people should not be sitting about in any area under 21 degrees'. If she lets me know she is coming I actually put the heating up higher until she leaves.

I love my sheepskin emu ankle boots. Bare feet in them are toasty. If it's really cold I'll have thermal tights under joggers, thermal long sleeved top with big cardi over, and a scarf. And a fleece throw around my legs. That is if I am working at computer, as sitting for long makes me colder.

We have the heating on at times, but especially this year, the extra fuel costs will mean we just have to dress warmer. That's what they do in Scandinavia apparently.

Our thermostat is set at 18.5 and there we leave it. We add extra layers when we feel cold. What else would we do?

Cashmere is the no 1 weapon to get you through an English winter - cashmere bedsocks, cashmere sweaters and scarf plus hat

Totally agree - I grew up in a house with no heating apart from a coal fire in the living room, same in my shared house, so I have the habit of layering up when it's cold rather than putting the heating on. Always wear 2 pairs of socks in winter, cold feet the worst and sometimes a hat and cowl if it's really cold, younger folk seem to feel they must have a warm house so that they can just wear teeshirts etc. Maybe we all need to think a bit harder if really warm houses are necessary for ordinary healthy people

My step daughter used to do that. Wanted the full heating on in September whilst wearing a t-shirt, bare feet etc. I wasn't able to say anything being the 'not the mother'.

I have always put jumpers, socks etc on in the winter and would never be turning the heating up whilst in a t-shirt. Terrible. Still, the bills will sort that out.

Shandy57 - an Oodie? I have one and it’s fabulous!

I have noticed a lot of Facebook activity and interest about an oversized fleece hooded poncho called a 'snoodie'?

It does seem odd to feel upset at needing to wear a single extra layer! I grew up before the days of central heating, with ice on the inside of the bedroom windows on winters mornings. I tend to feel the cold more now and expect to dress more warmly in cooler weather- socks, long sleeves and light cardigan or jumper! I can’t sleep in a hot bedroom! I wonder if people who hate the idea of an extra layer are imagining a heavy scratchy restrictive woolly rather than a light but warm soft flexible garment?
My favourite light layers in mid winter are heat generating modern ‘thermal’ under layers ( such as M&S heatgen or Uniqlo’s heatec) - thin as silk but warmer- and a lovely soft aging light cashmere cardigan or cowl neck sweater.
Perhaps the threatened gas and fuel shortages will change fashions!