Trying to keep costs and energy use down

[Oola]

I've been working outside during the morning and up to lunchtime, so I thought it would be wise to keep the heating off until I came back in. I was still warm from all the activity when I came in, so I kept the heating off. But as I've sat down here to work, I've gradually cooled down. So much so that my nose is now running with the cold. I've just boiled the kettle for a drink and to cook a little food for the hens, but have decided to sit here and hug the warm kettle like a water bottle to keep warm!!! I can safely say it's doing a very good job :)

[jazzactivist]

Hi Oola, I think that it is possible to stretch it a bit to warm yourself up in other ways, but if it gets too cold just put the heating back on for a bit. There is no point in spiting yourself. We leave ours off during the day, except for one hour from 12noon - 1pm to give the house a boost. It seems to work well. Another tip that I learnt when travelling is to make sure that you have plenty of warm padding beneath you when you sit or lie down, as this keeps you warmer than lots on top.

[Oola]

I have ample padding in the shape of my bum, obviously not doing the job well enough though! I have given in and put the heating on, although I'm still here in my coat. I think the trick is to keep it on for longer, but at a much lower setting. The trouble is we have no double glazing, a tiled floor straight onto earth (with a rug over it), draughty floorboards with a rug over them, and a working fireplace. Added to this a broken catflap that swings in the breeze, and you get the idea. Not them most efficient house in the street!!!!

[jazzactivist]

See what you mean, Oola. We put lots of insulation in ours and it seems to be the best decision that we made. However, we do have a front door that's a bit warped letting the wind in on one side, and a letter box flap in it that flaps open. Which means that traversing the entrance hall is always a bit of a Siberian experience. I think that all older houses have their quirks. Perhaps you can make some nice, warm quilts from your hens' moulting?

[Oola]

You know, I would love to knit a really nice throw for down here. I'd also like to commission my mum to make a quilt (or I could try myself) that could go on the sofa or on my bed - but not sure how much the 'raw' materials would cost? I've seen a beautiful one in Country Matters (where sheddie goes) but as you'd expect it's really expensive. Not your usual patchwork but really fluid stitching with interesting organic patterns on it.

We were hoping to carpet over the tiles - terrible I know, as they're an original feature, but they are SO cold in the winter and need a heck of a lot of scrubbing to get them looking up to par. We still have the floorboards in the next room with the working fireplace, sometimes I think some original features have to be sacrificed in the name of energy efficiency!

[franbee]

Although our heating is on a timer we tend to control it using the thermostat, so it normally lives at 17 deg. unless we turn it up in the evening to 19. it just keeps the chill off, and the house is quite efficient.
Oola have you thought of putting rugs down and using draught excluders? They can sometimes make you feel a bit cosier. Also, there's nothing wrong with using a rug or throw round you to keep warm.

[Oola]

We've got rugs down over the floorboards and the tiles, but some areas are still exposed as the rugs don't cover the whole floor. I did have a throw that I used to wear around me, but it used to make my hair static for some reason, and then the cat took to sleeping on it, so I ended up furry and static. I need a good project so I wonder whether I could do a funky 'modern' knitted throw?

The door is ok as we have a porch and a heavy curtain that draws over the inside door to keep that draught out. The old sash windows are quite draughty though, I think eventually we'll have to save up for some curtains instead of the wooden blinds that we've got up now.

[Redstart]

Sitting here in my warm house you've made me feel cold! I grew up in an old draughty house.

This automatic heating system is on all the time and keeps the rooms at the set temperature and when it goes off it never goes below about 10°, which is ideal for sleeping in but not for working in. And when they put the tiled floor down in the kitchen, they insisted on running heating pipes under it near the surface (underfloor heating) to stop it feeling cold. I suffer from hot feet and had said no underfloor heating, so I wasn't too pleased; I was so looking forward to a cold kitchen floor!

Yes Oola, thick curtains will keep draughts out very nicely. You could find some 2nd hand blankets in different colours (in a flea market or ask friends and relatives), make patchwork from them and hang those at your windows.

Otherwise, rugs and carpets on the floor, sausages at the doors and if the door really is a bad fit, a thick curtain in front of that as well.

And see if you can have a default setting (8 or 10°) on your heating system - it works out cheaper to have a bit of heat than have the house get really cold and then have to be heated.

And get someone to mend the cat flap!

[Oola]

Thanks for your suggestions :) We already have a thick curtain up at the door, so that's doing a grand job there. The cat flap really needs completely replacing, yet another thing to add to the ever-growing list. Actually, it's a small dog flap because when my parents lived here their cat Ted was so big he couldn't fit through a normal cat flap. They think he's some sort of Maine Coon/Norwegian Forest Cat mix...so you can imagine when the wind blows we get a howling gale coming through!

Mum said last night that she's going to get us some curtains for our front room. I said no as she does so much for us already...hoping that I can sort it out myself. It's not too bad at the mo as it's been quite warm during the day, just the clear nights and chilly wind really add that chill factor at night. Still, at least we can have our open fires for now :)

[sunflower]

When I get time ha ha! I'm planning to make a patchwork quilt for our bed. Lots of the material used for patchwork I find is very expensive. So, when I get round to it, I'm planning to use pretty charity shop dresses etc. I think they will do nicely for a patchwork quilt and you get more material for your money!

[franbee]

I wish you lived a bit nearer Sunflower, I've got loads of fabric available for patchwork!

[sunflower]

Thanks for the kind thought Franbee !

[Pippa]

I have made quite a few quilts over the years and they are the warmest thing ever for wrapping up in, I ususually have one draped over me in the evenings. My house is draughty because I have 3 conservatories which although double glazed still make the air cold. My daughter has suggested that I have a thick curtain like a quilt to hang across the openings in the winter to keep draughts to a minimum which could work. I have draught excluders and cavity insulation and now keep the central heating on 15 all the time and turn it up to 17 if it gets really cold. I seem to be feeding the woodburner all night and at £90 a load will have to find some free wood I think. If you want to make a quilt wait until the charity shops do a £1 bag event and look in the remnant baskets for fabric, its amazing what you can pick up, I always have a quilt on the go, they can be lap sized so you don't get fed up.

[Oola]

Interesting, I really think I ought to try making some throws and quilts. I do like some of the arty modern ones. I remember magic cochin's quilts she made were beautiful, they're actually what got me thinking about making quilts in the first place:

http://purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.com/2007/10/shhhh-were-hiding.html

I have a basic sewing machine that I inherited from the school my aunt works at. It was a 1970s Singer machine in perfect working order, but was going to be chucked into a skip. So she asked me if I wanted it. It only does straight and zigzag stitches, but that's all I need at the moment. Just have to find a bobbin to fit it.

Pippa my mum always travels around in the car with a spare basket in case she comes across any potential fire wood at the side of the road or en route somewhere.

[franbee]

Had to smile at your Mum, Oola. We've just been out this morning to a factory that makes staircases. OH had met the owner, who invited OH to come to collect offcuts of wood. We came back with a huge carload (for woodturning).
If you want some bobbins for your Singer, send me your address and I'll put some in the post. I've just given away 2 sewing machines to a local school (on Freecycle) because someone gave me a better one, which uses different bobbins, and I have found some spare Singer ones in a drawer.

[Oola]

Hi franbee, that would be great. A really nice lady sent me a bobbin through the post from my local Freecycle, but it didn't fit! :( It seems to be a bit of an odd size. Of course I'll pay for the postage (will PM you my address), and if they don't fit you could have them back?

[SummerSkye]

Just to be different, at the moment I am trying to keep our air conditioning useage (cooling) down. We have had screen doors installed front and back to let a breeze through and I put up with the heat for as long as possible before succumbing to switching on the airconditioner. I switch it back off once the sun disappears and reopen the doors. To sleep I put it back on with the sleep switch set for 2 hours, temperature set to about 21C. It actually is not that expensive to run being a new model but I hate the thought of unnecessary electricity being used. Also I find that the coolness makes my head and legs ache and I much prefer the house being open rather than all closed up.

[Healing Hands]

I was really pleased with myself as I had my heating bill and electric bill last week and on both I am in credit my gas bill was £59 in credit and my electric was £5. in credit.

Oola if you like I can send you a good knitting pattern to make a throw, it is so easy you can make it in 2 nights. It is just big enough to trow over the shoulders or around the legs on throw it on the bed, I have made 3 already for members of the family.

Do get cold though Oola, keep that heating on when you feel chilled.

[jazzactivist]

Your comments made me think of a quilt that I read about years ago in an old copy of an American rural living type magazine called The Mother Earth News (how hippy is that!). I don't have the magazine anymore but have always remembered it. You cut saucer sized circles out of a range of patchwork material, or even old woolens, and then sew running stitch around the edges and pull the ends of the cotton to make a ball shape. Fill with stuffing material - chopped up old tights, washed sheeps wool or feathers. Pull tight and tie off the ends of the cotton. Then use these bits to attach the ball to an old blanket (a piece of fleece is probably better nowadays). Keep going to completely cover the blanket with the stuffed balls. It makes a very unusual and very warm quilt, quickly too. I'm quite keen to give it a go myself. There was also a recipe for making rose water beads that retain their scent, but I can't remember that one.

[Ecoflap]

Very interesting reading about your ways of reducing the energy used inside the home. I do what Jazzactivist suggests and keep the heating off during the day but if particularly cold, switch it back on for a couple of hours between 1-3pm Also a flapping letter box was mentioned. Brrr! May I suggest you Google search the web for brand new products regarding this? They all save energy..

[franbee]

Hello and welcome to RM, ecoflap! Glas you've brought back the keeping warm thread, we may find some new ideas.

[jazzactivist]

Hi Ecoflap, welcome to RM. We've moved house a couple of times since the flapping letterbox. We put a new one in before moving so that the new owner wouldn't have the same problem! Thanks for your suggestion, though.

One thing that I would say is that, much as they are the joy of TV home shows, the open plan sittingroom / dining room / kitchen arrangement isn't good for warmth and energy conservation. We currently live in a house that has all the beauty attributes of that type of design, but there is a sharp difference in temperature between the cold downstairs and the warm upstairs. There is a double temperature control on our heating system for each zone. However, downstairs we have the heating on full blast at the moment with almost no effect, while upstairs, where all the walls, roof and floor are well insulated with a recycled paper product we don't have the heating on hardly at all and are cosy and warm. Luckily, the sitting room is upstairs! So if anyone is thinking of knocking down walls to create a "huge, open plan area", I would say think first about the impact on your heating in winter.

I have also discovered a way of saving some energy. We have the usual extractor fan above the cooker, but I don't like the noise that it makes. I have discovered that by having two windows opposite one another open just a crack when cooking the steam disappears just as quickly with no increase in the energy bill. The old-fashioned ways are often the best, I think.

[souter girl]

OH seems to have energy saving down to a fine art. I have cooked a huge full English, done 2 loads of washing, baked 2 batches of mince pies and he..? has done the Sudoku. How's that for saving energy? Any other OHs similarly inclined?:D

[jazzactivist]

Yes mine, SG! I cooked breakfast, cleared up, put in two loads of washing and cleaned the bathroom, while he "made a start on a poem" and then suggested we go out for lunch as he was too lazy to cook it. Now he says that he is tired and has gone for a nap!!!

[Clunkshift]

Souter, I am apalled at OH's laziness, fortified by a full english I would have the energy to make brandy butter if fresh mince pies were in the offing!

Only this evening Swmbo was struggling with a plate of pasta and tuna bake, so I helped her to get through it. but that's the sharing kind of guy I am.

I don't like to see her struggle with the washing up - so I usually sit in another room...


I think I should tiptoe away now, I sense armed and dangerous women simmering. :D

[jazzactivist]

Nevermind clunk, I'm sure that Swmbo will catch you and lock you in the kitchen to do all the washing up on Christmas Day after reading these comments...

[annie fenbug]

Clunk has reminded me of a T-shirt I saw once:

"Work fascinates me. I can sit and look at it all day."

Back on topic, we find curtains make a big difference. The house is well insulated on walls and roof, but still quite draughty especially in a north wind. Door curtains are a bit of a pain (and an endless source of amusement to cats - if you're going to install them make sure the fixings are strong enough to take a hefty moggy swinging off the hangings!) but you soon get used to them and they do keep the rooms snug. But I can't be doing with those draft excluders - often shaped like dachsunds - that go at the bottom of the door.

We don't have the central heating on during the day (yet - will probably put it on for a couple of hours in Jan/Feb when it's really bitter). Fortunately neither of us are particularly keen on very warm rooms, although there are evenings when I long for a wood-burning stove; they seem to get the building really warm and dry, much more than radiators.