Hello Readers
Have you noticed how cold it has gotten recently ? Most people will have put their heating on by now but not me. As I mentioned in an earlier post we are an all electric house. This means we have no central heating and our heating system is storage heaters in every room. Storage heaters are like vampires. Whereas vampires suck your blood storage heaters suck up electric and therefore money out of your purse. I hate them always have since moving to this house. When I first moved in here I didn't know much about storage heaters and just how awful they are. I soon learnt on our first winter here. On the first chilly night we had here I put them on over night on economy seven in every room. When I got up the next morning I was gobsmacked to see they had cost me £16 in one night. I didn't realize that the first time you use them after not having them on for a long period they use more than they usually cost to run. Later that afternoon the weather was a lot milder and my house was like a sauna but I couldn't turn them off as they are storage heaters they retain the heat. I ended up opening the windows so that we could all cool down and was literally watching my money go out the window. The following night it was cold again and despite my apprehensions after the night before I decided to put them on again. When you have lived in a house with central heating where you are able to turn it on and off as required and adjust the thermostat to suit the temperature you require you kind of get used to not having to go cold. The next morning I checked and this time it had used £8 if you work that out a month that is £240 a month just to keep warm. There was no way I was going to pay that so I refused to put them on again. That was 6 years ago and true to my word I have not put them on since. My mum thinks I am mad and often asks me how we stay warm when we do not use a heating system. So my lovely Readers here are my tips for keeping warm without resorting to a heating system.....
Start off by layering up and dressing appropriately. If its chilly outside don't walk round the house in a vest. I start by wearing a t shirt under a sweater and leggings under my jeans. Once it gets a little colder I then get out my thermal long sleeved vest and long johns and put these underneath the leggings and t shirt. I wear fluffy thermal bed socks and slippers and we use blankets and duvets. Once the bad weather really hits and you can see your own breath its on to phase 2 of operation keep warm. I put our electric blankets on the beds and and extra duvet on each bed. We sleep in our thermal long-johns and vests with a nightgown on and a pair of fluffy thermal bed socks. I put the electric blankets on for half an hour before going to bed and by the time we go to bed its lovely and warm. During the day if its really cold I will put my little electric fire on. I will only ever heat one room with it. I will pull the curtains and put a draft excluder up against the door to keep the heat in. I put the fire on for an hour till the room is nice and warm and then turn it off. I wont put the fire back on again until its cold in the room again. On average the fire goes on 3 times a day for an hour during the very cold months. I got my electric fire from a second hand Facebook selling page for £2. It was old stock they were trying to get rid of and they could not guarantee that it worked and it was extremely dirty. I decided that for £2 I would take a chance on it. I got it home cleaned it up, put a new fuse in the plug and it works a dream it has been keeping us warm for the last 3 years. I usually spend £70 a month on our electric and £90 a month during the 2 coldest months of the year meaning our entire yearly fuel bill comes in at £880. considering a lot of people pay around £300 or more for their gas and electric every quarter I don't think Iam doing to badly do you ?
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx
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