Any tips on warming up without turning the heating on? I know its not *that* cold yet, but I can feel it, and in a months time I reckon I'll be freezing!

So far I have...

- a travel mug for constant warm tea
- slippers on
- locked 3 animals (2 cats, 1dog) potentially against their will, although they are all sleeping, in the room with me for extra body heat :p

If anyone gives any suggestions I'll be pleased to read them!!!

I'm flipping freezing, and don't have the heating to look forward to either :-( I'm worried about going into thermals and duvet mode as I know I'll need them more when the temp is another 10 degrees cooler in here. I do go outside to keep warm though, its warmer out there ;-)

Move to Australia (up)

burn your thesis?

put slippers on your animals to keep them warm (and you warmer)? (robin)

Hot water bottles!

So, this seems to be caused either by unwillingness to turn the heating on (environmental, superstitious, or otherwise), or lack of money. I rather suspect it's the latter. Pretty disgraceful if that's the case...

A hot-water bottle. What an investment! Apart from a couple of months in the summer I'm never without mine when I'm at my desk. I really miss it when I go to the library which is always a bit draughty.

I'm telling you: get one, or two: cheap, warm, comforting... what more can I say.

HWB Fan

its a total lack of money 4matt, although I do worry about the environment too - hence why I have captured and imprisoned my cats - to stop them rampaging the neighbourhood looking for birds/mice/frogs (honestly that is the reason, not cos they're warm ;-) )

ALthough, maybe I could install a wood burner - or maybe just a bonfire in my room. I'm sure it will be fine if I have the window open to let the smoke out :$:p

In my case its a combination of zero cash, but also that most of the house, including my office, has no heating anyway - the bit there is is horribly expensive (bottled gas). I have a woodburner, can't afford the fuel to light it yet though.... I like the idea of burning the thesis if I had one.... hot water bottles it may well have to be. Again though, will I feel the benefit when the weather gets really cold???

Have you thought about gathering wood Stressed? I suppose it depends where you live, I live next to apple orchards where they prune the trees and then leave the wood to rot, so it we had a wood burner we could collect it, dry it out in the garage and then use it for fuel.

If you don't have heating but want a heater, I do recommend a oil-free heater - we had one when our boiler broke down during that cold (very cold) period in january - i.e. the coldest in 30 years or whatever. It was brilliant - heated a room up in 5 mins. Apparently the ones with thermostats are worth their money because they turn off when its hot enough, so its not continually on.

Hi Sneaks,

first would like to give you a virtual hug!

More practically I think is to use the layer principle of clothes. Make sure you wear a tight shirt close to your body, then another layer, like a second short with long sleeves, then a pullover / fleece etc. If need be, and perhaps not very lady like, use long underwear. Use a hat to cover your head. This principle is used by people like mountaineers, soldiers etc. in cold weather situations and really helps to keep warm at home.

Also paradoxically it helps to go outside a lot, staying used to the temperatures outside, may help you to be more resistant do the cold inside. Similarly taking a cold shower etc.

:-)

The problem we find Sneaks is that the wood doesn't give out much heat - we have tons of the stuff - we have about 30 or more trees in the garden (probably a lot more than that actually, never counted). We do burn it but it burns so fast and doesn't make a huge amount of difference so we tend to use more coal which is crazy money. The main issue is the house itself. Its beautiful, the kind of house you drive past and go wow... we rent it at a ridiculously cheap rent, far cheaper than our old two up two down, but its timber framed so the heat just goes straight out of the walls - thermostatically controlled things don't turn off lol - we have cellars that flood - i have one beneath me now and I'm separated from it by some floor boards - cold, damp walls and water... the carpet is covered in damp patches coming up from beneath lol. We're often actually warmer outside than in even in the depths of winter. We have the full 'cold' experience - water freezes in glasses, on windows, on my pillow if I breath too much lmao.... I'm going to buy an ecofan this year when my bursary comes through :-) I'm hoping that will help in here at least - it sits on top of the woodburner and blows the hot air rising off it into the room. I remember last winter sitting here trying to type shivering violently, wearing a hat, gloves, full thermal underwear (including long johns...), two tops, a big think fleece and a coat - happy times :p