We caved in this morning,……

Last week I purchased an excellent M & S fleece dressing gown for £5 in a charity shop. Toasty warm and a bargain!

I use 'Oodie' as a generic name, a bit like 'hoover'. Mine was about £40 from Amazon, and is not the branded one, but is so good I got one for the lodge, too. I can't imagine what could be better if I paid twice as much, and I don't care for most of the 'cute' designs of the Oodies.

What are the 'horrible selling tactics'? I've seen them bundled with blankets and things, but Kuddly does that too. I do love mine, and they are particularly good for throwing on when you get up, or after a bath, as they look less like nightwear than dressing gowns. My sitting room door is draughty when the wind is in a particular direction, and the hood is great for preventing earache as it hits just where I like to sit when I'm knitting. I do recommend them, but I don't think you have to pay £££ for them. My daughter has a branded Oodie, and it's about 2 inches longer than mine, but is otherwise no better, as far as I can see.

I checked out the kudd.lys for comparison, karmalady. It’s a UK company, but they’re not made here. It’s difficult to find anything that is.

Though I’m on a mission now! The wonderful HebTroCo sell a 100% wool action blanket made in Huddersfield. It’s missing a hood though.

hebtro.co/product/bubblegum/

kudd.ly, much better than oodies and made and sent from the uk. Oodies have horrible selling tactics online, I would never use them again. See their trustpilot reviews

Thermostat controlled heating here, a new build with ufh downstairs and rads upstairs. 5 heating zones and 5 digital thermostats. Downstairs is controlled 24/7 at 20 and upstairs at 19 apart from overnight which is lower. I like a boost of warmth 7-7.30am which is when I shower and get dressed

I think it must come on now and then downstairs as the residual temperature is 20-21 depending if the sun shines in

I haven’t got the heating on, and am not even wearing an Oodie yet. I am using the heated throw for an hour or so at night, and warming the bed with an electric blanket while bathing and brushing my teeth. I’m absolutely not being a martyr - I’m just not cold yet. My thyroid is borked though, so my temperature is all over the place. Mr Dog doesn’t feel the cold at the best of times, so I’m not forcing him to freeze either ?

Juggernaut

@Maggiemaybe,
I can absolutely recommend 'Oodies'!
Our DDiL told us how good they are, so we bought one each, mainly because we love to sit in the garden even in cold weather, just as long as it's dry.
However, as soon as we found out just how good they are, we ordered another two.
DH has one navy blue and one grey, I have a Koala and a Quokka!
They are far, far better than the cheaper copies, and if machine washed inside out at 30 and air dried they stay looking as good as new!
It's worth buying them as a two pack, the saving is considerable!

Thank you, Juggernaut, I’m convinced! I’ve just got a bit of work to do now on DH, who thinks he’ll look daft in one. As you say, it makes much more sense to buy two at once.

No way! It’s 17.4 degrees indoors and 16.2 outside. I’m in a denim pinafore dress over a short sleeved t-shirt, bare legs. I’ll put short socks and trainers on to take the dog out shortly and will pop a cardigan on. I’ll put pyjamas later to watch tv and with the dog snuggled on one side of me and a cat on the other, we’ll be plenty warm enough!

We have had it on for an hour a few evenings. I can cope with jumpers and throws so far but if the air gets too cold I become wheezy.

We had our heating on one morning for an hour but as we have a multi burner we light that around 5.39 so we are cosy for the evening.

I'm NW ....no central heating yet ....we have a l9g burner though ( free wood) ...so family room and kitchen nice and toasty...rest of house cold

@Maggiemaybe,
I can absolutely recommend 'Oodies'!
Our DDiL told us how good they are, so we bought one each, mainly because we love to sit in the garden even in cold weather, just as long as it's dry.
However, as soon as we found out just how good they are, we ordered another two.
DH has one navy blue and one grey, I have a Koala and a Quokka!
They are far, far better than the cheaper copies, and if machine washed inside out at 30 and air dried they stay looking as good as new!
It's worth buying them as a two pack, the saving is considerable!

Ours clicks on whenever the thermostat goes below 16 degrees from 9am to 5pm, then 19 degrees till 10.30pm. It’s been coming on, mainly in the evening, for about a month now. We’re fortunate in that our 2 year fix doesn’t end till next August, but we’re still conscious of not wasting energy and trying to cut down. I’ve been eyeing up those Oodies today - has anyone got one? And are they any better than the cheapo versions?

We caved in last Wednesday night, when it was raining and blowing outside - only to find that central heating wasn’t working! (Despite having just had annual service! Grrrrrrr!)

Engineer came out and part has been ordered - apparently the part that’s needed isn’t checked as part of the annual service!

I put it on 2 days ago just for half an hour in the morning and the same at night. I've a bungalow that heats up really quickly as a new system and rads were installed a couple of years ago. I hate my bedroom being warm so my summer quilt is still on and no hot water bottle for me, well yet anyway.

Gosh no heating yet it’s still blue skies and sunshine
Even when it gets colder it will be hot water bottle and furry snuggly fir me

I have to change my wood stove, but even though the nights are chilly I sleep with open doors, for the dogs, and an extra blanket for now.
I àm at 1500ft in SW France, which should be warmer, but it's no warmer than DS at Portsmouth! I reckon it's the altitude.
I wanted to go camping, but I am not so sure now, à tent in the cold rain is no longer my idea of heaven!
Too old?

Many of you mention fleece throws. I get static electric shocks when I use fleeces. How do prevent the shocks? Thanks for any advice.

I reduced my gas consumption a lot last year by setting my thermostat at 19 rather than 20/21 so don’t plan to cut back much more. I have set the timings to come on an hour later in the morning as I seem to be getting up later nowadays and rarely switch it back on once it goes off at 10 pm as I’m going to bed earlier to read in an attempt to get to sleep at a reasonable time.

I’ve still got a light weight duvet on, 4.5 tog, and I was a bit chilly when I woke up at 1.30 am so I’m going to put the warmer 10.5 tog on tonight.

My fixed term ends in a few days and I’m not happy with the increased amount I’ve been asked for. I just need to go through my previous years bills to get my actual usage and work out the annual cost based on current prices - I’m pretty sure it will be lower than BG are saying! Then I will phone them and just switch my phone to speaker while I wait to speak to someone. I cannot change the dd online or by using the Chat facility.

Still warm & sunny here. Forecast to be in the mid twenties next week.
Quite fortunate really as there is a national shortage of pellets for our burner.

We haven't needed it on here in South Cambs yet. I have a light jumper on and french doors wide open today.
We are having a new boiler fitted next week so hopefully like Greyduster our system will run more efficiently when needed.

The first snow of winter fell on the hills about 25 miles west from me (apparently five days earlier than last year) so the CH is most definitely on! Having said which, our kitchen/family room is south facing and I’ve got the window open as the sun is making it so warm.

We’re in a new-build and the type of system we have is best run by thermostat rather than timing so the CH cuts in and out according to temperature. The bedroom is on a separate system so the temp is set lower there.

I’ve just had a new boiler put in and new heating controls so it’s all a bit trial and error at the moment. I had it on at 18 on Friday when the engineer had finished but it was far too warm (probably a lot to do with the rads being more efficient now the system has been flushed) so I turned it right down. It came on for an hour this morning. I doubt I shall need it on in the evenings yet.

MrsKen33

Not yet. But we do light the fire in the afternoon.

If we had a fireplace - or a gas fire - I’d do that.

Not yet. But we do light the fire in the afternoon.

An hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to take the chill off the bedroom. The rest of the day I can manage with a rug over my knees and my cozy fleece sweaters.