Keeping Warm

This year has been much milder than the last two years, but I wondered what people did to keep warm during the really cold snaps.

In 2008 when my partner Gordon died it was a particularly cold winter and, being left alone and surviving on my own wage, that winter I didn't put my central heating on as I didn't think I could afford it.

Anyway, I sat here with a one-bar electric fire, the rest of the house freezing, and a blanket wrapped around me little legs until I could get my head in a good place as it were to work out my finances as at that time I still had a mortgage and my car payments to make, and it was difficult, but I managed.

I hate to think of older people sitting in their own homes with no heating on in freezing weather and dying as has been reported in the media in the past.

Also, I wonder if folk give a thought to the homeless who live on the streets in freezing weather in cardboard boxes?

This is after all the 21st Century, the so-called Age of Technology and surely to goodness, nobody should be suffering in this day and age, but they do. How about an Age of Enlightenment for our fellow human beings?

Re: Keeping Warm

I was on Jobseekers allowance and I certainly couldn't afford to put heating on so the house froze. I kept busy through the day but in the evenings I put the gas fire on for a few hours to watch some Telly along with my big fleece jacket over my clothes. I went to bed early with a book and had the electric blanket on and that bed was the warmest place in the house. I wasn't 60 then and didn't get the Winter Fuel Allowence. How anyone can managed long term like that is beyond me........How the Government say you can live on that small amount is well beyond me. But I bet each and every one of them was all cozy and warm with no worries.

Re: Keeping Warm

Mollie I don't put the heating on in the day unless the children are coming. Instead I add another layer of clothes when it is very cold like now. Today I have tights, a long denim skirt and three layers of jumpers on .

When on my PC I have a woollen blanket over my legs.
I am used to coping now and don't really think about it. The severe cold only lasts a few weeks of the year anyway.

Re: Keeping Warm

After I retired I opened up an old fireplace and installed a small wood burning stove which can virtually heat the whole of the downstairs.

As well as picking up dead wood from the forest through the summer, one of our sons brings wood out of the skip on the building sites that he works on, so we are usually quite comfortable on cold days without using the central heating. Best investment we ever made I think...

Re: Keeping Warm

Being cold and not being able to heat your home when you are older can't be right, but I do think that generally we keep ourselves a lot warmer in winter than we used to do and, of course, it is actually easier to keep warm (if you can afford to bills).
I remember winters when the inside of the windows used to freeze up at night and to keep the toilet/bathroom pipes from freezing up my dad had to put a little oil lamp in the bathroom overnight. My mum always had chilblains in winter and I can remember that because there was nothing else to heat with (only a coal fire) they put the oven on and opened the door to get some heat. We all went to bed early just to get warm.

Re: Keeping Warm

Good old days eh Rena,.scratching the frost off the inside of the bedroom window to see what the weather was like, and dragging your clothes into the bed for a few minutes before getting up to take the chill off them...

I also remember that everything felt damp in the winter, bedding, clothes, towels etc. as there was no way to air them with only one fire in the house, so it was only our body heat that dried anything out...

Happy days....

Re: Keeping Warm

I keep the heating on all day but on the lowest setting, just downstairs. I think it may be false economy to leave a house cold. The water pipes may burst following a prolonged freeze, causing untold damage.

I find that fleece clothing is best for keeping warm. If I feel cold I will wear fleece socks, and a fleece top. In the evening I have a fleece dressing gown and pj's. Lovely

Re: Keeping Warm

I am on dual fuel with EON and I am on the stay warm tarrif which means that I am not afraid to have the heating on whenever I want to. I also use my £200 heating allowance for heating, a lot of pensioners look on this payment as something to put into the bank so if they get cold because they want to save it then that is their own fault.

Re: Keeping Warm

Good point Felicity, we have friends who put it towards their holiday and then complain about the cost of gas....

Re: Keeping Warm

Two pairs of socks, two jumpers and a fleece, huddling round the gas fire in a duvet and taking the plumpest dog to bed with me.
Roll on Spring.