A cold snap is upon us. It seems extra cold now as it has been a mild winter. We limit the amount of time that the heating is on due to cost. My children and I actually lived in this house for 3 years without any heating as I couldn’t afford to install it. We just had one working gas fire. I know a lot of people are worried about their heating bills and so here are some things that we do to keep warm.
1. In the bedrooms we have a high tog duvets which keeps us snuggly. We actually sleep with a second duvet on top in winter.
2. We spend more time in bed in the winter. We get up late and go to bed early. Sometimes we sleep, but often I am watching a film, writing, reading, or playing a game on my phone.
3. Layers of clothing are worn in the house. I often wear a vest, a T shirt, a thin jumper and then a fleece on top. Air gets trapped in between the layers and keeps me warm. Mr S finds that his handss get cold and so sometimes he will wear fingerless gloves. We even wear a hat inside sometimes as it helps to keep us warm.
4. Use a heated blanket or throw. Look for sales as they can be half price. We got one last year and it has made a big difference when sitting around. Heating yourself rather than the room is cheaper.
5. Use a hot water bottle, in bed, or out of it. It is advised that you remove the hot water bottle before you go to sleep in case it bursts. To be honest I don’t. I have it near my feet.
6. Put rugs down if you have laminate or wooden flooring. Apparently a house looses 10% of it’s heat through the floor.
7. Have throws available. I have one in my bedroom to put around my shoulders in bed, and some in the lounge.
8. Use your extracter fan wisely in the kitchen and the bathroom so that you don’t lose heat..
9. Seal any gaps around windows and doorways. I made a draft excluder to stop drafts coming under my sitting room door. It was made from some old trousers and filled with rags.
10. Leave the oven door open after cooking.
11. Light a candle or two. It really can reduce the chill in the room.
12. Have hot food and hot drinks.
13. Sit away from external walls. We have a corner leather sofa. The bit near the external wall is a lot colder when you first sit on it in winter.
14. Use thick curtains. We bought some thermal ones for the house in sales over a couple of years. I really noticed the difference in my North facing bedroom. As well as windows, curtains can be used to stop drafts on doors. If you don’t have curtains, old blankets can be used instead, and also used to line curtains that you already have.
15. Close your curtains as soon as it gets dark. Open them to let the sunshine in during the day.
16. Have some flannelette bedding. I got some in the sale for £10 last year. It is so cosy.
17. Flannelette pyjamas may not be sexy but they are nice and warm for cold nights, too.
18. Lots of people swear by the oversize fleece hoodies (oodies) to wear around the house. I have one that I put over my pjs when I first get up but I find it too restrictive to wear during the day.
19. Visit warm spaces during the day. In the UK most councils provide them. Some are cafes that provide free drinks. Check your local council website. Other places where you can stay warm are libraries, or pubs that do the free refill hot or cold drinks,
20. Share heating with friends. Take it in turns to spend time at each other’s house. Food can be brought by everyone to be warmed up for a pot luck lunch. It will stop winter being so isolating.
21. On a really cold day I tend to move around and keep busy as I feel colder if I am sitting around.
22. Wear thermals. They are not like you envisage your grandad wearing. We have some from when we used to ski. They keep our bodies so warm. Places like Aldi sell them each year at reasonable prices in their centre aisle.
23. Think about the material that your clothes are made from. My real wool jumpers are so much warmer than modern fabrics. I guess that is why the Scandinavians have lovely wool jumpers. 
24. Have an alternative heat source. I had a wood burning stove put in before I retired as I knew it would be hard to afford the heating. We use foraged, seasoned wood. Terracotta heaters can be bought or made. There are also low energy heaters on the market so that you can heat the one room.
24. I would recommend putting your heating on some of the time. We put our heating on a bit in the morning and a bit in the evening. This is needed to stop mould, and to stop pipes freezing if it is really cold. We have control valves fitted to our radiators so that we can turn off or lower the temperature in the rooms not being used. I kept our heating on more when Mr S was ill. Luckily it has been a warm winter and so I had a little bit more credit on our account that I could use.
WARNING
It can be dangerous for people over 65 or under 5 to be in cold conditions. It is recommended by the government that a room be heated to 18⁰C. I grew up in the days when there wasn’t central heating and you could pick the ice off the inside of the windows and watched how my grandparents stayed warm. Newspaper would be put between the blankets on the bed, or tucked inside clothes. The recommended temperature seems ironic to me as no recent governments have regulated the energy companies properly. In fact their policies have increased prices. The massive profits of some mean that most of us can’t afford to have the heating on when we need it. Just standing charges alone cost £300 a year. How do you stay warm?
I remember the ice on windows as a child, I Iiked playing with it by sliding it along.
We have throws now in the living room and extra blankets upstairs. My husband has the thick side of our duvet and still feels cold so puts a blanket over his side. We got the thicker and thinner type a few years ago as I was always too hot.
We have thermal curtains at the front door. The other rooms mostly have blinds but curtains too and don’t seem to have draughts like the front door does.
Last year our boiler had it’s outside pipe lagged as it stopped working. I would advise doing that if you have the type up against an outside wall. We had only recently had it installed, the gas people have to do it if it is up high and I wondered why they didn’t recommend it to start with?
Last night we even covered our dog with a thicker blanket, he stayed covered all night long.
Definitely wool is warmer if you can find a fine wool cardigan / jumper and for socks too. When sleeping I put a small fleece (currently lots of Christmas pattern ones £3 in Tesco etc) under the duvet directly next to me. Makes a huge difference without adding weight. I used to do this during the day when I was on nights as didn’t want the heating on all day.
Here in Romania..old ways ..they lived in one room ..carpets hung on the walls small windows layers of rugs on the floors . Wood burning stove and terracotta tiles that keep the heat . Even a bed almost built in to the chimney fireplace . The other rooms ( if you had them) we closed off and kept for best . Layers of clothing good coat and always a hat . We still see most older generations wearing a hat all the time .
I have definitely learnt thin layers and thermal base is necessary. Thick tights work well ( took hubby a while to realise I wasnt nuts telling him to wear tights )
Flaneltte bedding is the best !
Great article. As I got all electric heating even with the heater on it never gets to 18 degrees . I can only afford to heat the livingroom and that cost a fortune I wear my dressing gown over my clothes in the house . Loads of hot water bottles. Multiple layers of clothes. I just bought a big rug for the spare room to cover some of the laminate flooring. I drink loads of warm herbal tea during the day . I got flannel bedding and a feather duvet with extra blanket on top and a thermal underlay under the sheet.
Love my woolies, far better than synthetic fabrics. I will look at getting a door curtain across my front and back door. Now I have a drill I am confident to put up my owns poles. Been looking at vests too. Some really great hints here to help. I keep doors shut in rooms I am not using. Great blog
Yes I forgot to mention closing the doors. Thanks
I recall winters in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s being miserably cold. I’m a fan of wearing a hat and/or scarf indoors if necessary, and several layers of clothing. Bed socks too.
A few minutes of kitchen dancing, or going up and down the stairs is great to keep the circulation. Don’t do it until you get very sweaty or you will dampen your clothes.
I bought myself a pair of plush leggings from Primark last year. They are fur lined and oh so warm. Other stores sell these too. Just put your hand inside them ( before you buy ) to feel how soft and warm they are. They are amazing. I also wear fingerless gloves and scarves during the day, and night some times 🤦♀️😏 and a thermal hat. I know! I look a treat 😂
Great ideas . I wear bed socks at night & use hot water bottles to heat the bed . I have thick lined curtains behind the external doors & blinds as well as curtains in the lounge. We have a wood burner in there & it’s the room we live in together in the evenings it’s easier to keep 1 room warm than to heat the whole house.
Definitely. I forgot about bed socks. I can’t sleep in them but Mr S couldn’t survive without them
Most of the things you have mentioned are for us older generations the way we have lived for most of our lives. I don’t understand the younger generations who wander around the house in shorts and T-shirts all year round . They don’t cook hearty meals with loads of veggies and dumplings or make pies….soup comes out of a packet full of chemicals and they order takeaways or think a pizza in the oven is a meal…..then winge about the cost of living and how they’ll never be able to buy a home and have to line the pockets of the wealthy with their hard earned money they’re having to pay in rent….
To be fair, it is not this younger generation’s fault. Credit isn’t hard to come by and people have been encouraged to get into debt, including our generation. They also aren’t taught to cook from scratch in schools and have neen sold the myth of convenience. I think we are the lucky generation as we remember a different life. That is why I try to share this knowledge. We could also buy a house on one wage in our day but that is almost impossible now, even for professionals. More and more young people are wanting to learn all the skills we were taught, and live a simpler life. I believe we need to encourage and support them.
I distinctly remember going to bed as an 11 year old wearing a nightie, dressing gown, thick ski jumper on top, bed socks and a hottie bottle!! No duvets and central heating in our house then.Having said that,I still feel the cold nowadays. My priorities in winter has always been food and heating. Layers, layers.
Layers do help so much. Yes it was woollen blankets when I was a kid. I saw my first duvet as as a late teenager in Austria. I couldn’t believe how quickly I could make a bed 😊
Hello, thanks for the great suggestions Toni! They remind me of my nana (old school Yorkshire woman) who, when she went to bed, laid the clothes she was going to wear the next day between her bedspread and the blanket beneath it before she got into bed. When she got up the next day, the clothes were lovely and warm.