The cost of living... what can we do?

I think part of our problem is we cannot close the internal doors or the cats freak out. They have to be able to go from room to room as it suits them.

 

We've got a ground-source gas/water heat pump and underfloor heating throughout. As the house was built from scratch, it's very well insulated, dry and double-glazed. Thick, lined winter curtains and shutters keep it really cosy at night! The heating pipes are arranged to give less heat in the bedrooms and entrances...min 18°C...more in the bathrooms and living areas. The thermostat used to be set at 22°C but that was for my mother's benefit. She's no longer with us and we're more mobile, so we've dropped the temp to 20.5°C. There are electric towel rails in the bathrooms, but never need to use them.
Whilst the system isn't quite as economical as promised, due to soaring electricity prices, it's pretty good for a big, open-plan house and is a very comfortable heat with no need to chop, store and lug wood about. We have a couple of gas heaters as emergency back-up in case of power cuts.
The only less-than-pleasant experience was in 2010 when we had 10 days of -12C/-17C temps and 30cm of snow. The temp in the house dropped slowly but steadily to a minimum of 16°C. Not life-threatening but hopefully not to be repeated. Couldn't stand the reproachful looks from the cats, for a start

 

I like it around 21c for sitting around but my bedroom has been around 16c for the last week or so.
My heating system needs upgrading, only got the one thermostat and it's not very accurate, it's in the hallway and i don't heat that anymore, so it just gets used as an on off switch really.
I've got thermo valves on some of the rads but can't say I find them particularly effective and again are really just on/off switches for each rad.
I'm only heating 3 rooms downstairs and 1 bedroom and bathroom.

 

how about indoor cat flaps in every room? They will get used to them I think....

When our cat Holly was alive, she had a cat flap into the airing cupboard and her bean bag was next to the immersion tank. As she got older (19 + years ) she would go up and zzzz in there quite often.

 

Bedroom at 18c / 19c at night....no heat during the day. I've just ordered a new 10.5 tog duvet to replace the 9 tog one. Filling is synthetic made of plastic bottles and Modal - which is a cellulose derived from wood. A miracle in itself!
Downstairs ,hall rad and both dining room and lounge end rads set at 22c if warm - like today . Or 23c if colder. I hate sitting there with cold hands and a cold nose. I get miserable and negative....I wrap a cashmere pashmina around my shoulders during the day if I am pottering about and drape it over my legs in the evening. Trying hard to resist turning the fake fire on if I can....not looking forward to this next frost phase starting tonight. I know, draw curtains at night but I don't like not being able to see outdoors,
Jenny namaste

 

Natural gas. It would be horrendously expensive to try to heat a home over here with electric. I know this as I had a town home (row house?) years ago with electric heat and even though only the front and back was exposed to wind and severe cold, it cost me over $400 for one month to heat. That was 30 years ago so it would be about $1000 in today's dollars. Or roughly 650 of your pounds. For one month!!

It is mild so far today and mild means only 26f -3c instead of much colder.

 

Row house, I think it's probably similar to what we call a terraced house .
Bit like Coronation street.
Just joking.

 

Our doors from the living room are glass panelled, so not suitable I am afraid. I have been considering thick curtains as they are both content to snuggle under the floor-length curtains in our bedroom.

 

When we stayed in our last house (top of a block of flats, no double glazing, single thickness walls with spay insulation on the outside and 40-year-old storage radiators which were cold by midafternoon) we used an electric throw, which was great. I keep saying to dig it out again, but like tons of stuff when we moved, it is here but where here!

 

@shiney you have the right attitude. I have thought, gee, right now it would be nice to be in the Bahamas or wherever it is warm, but, it is as cheap as the cab fare to the airport to turn up the heat to beach for a couple of days instead of paying for an expensive flight etc.

 

For years we had a wood stove in the basement. got free wood. started it December ended it about March. rare the furnace had to go on at all. We never let it go out. But seeking wood and splinting it during the summer, stacking it near basement door gets tiring. So we stopped, now its just the gas furnace. We keep the house about 65degrees F.