With soaring electricity bills now a fact of life I have become one of those people who sits with a hot water bottle on my lap on the couch and a scarf around my neck before I turn on the heater. Have you become one of those people too? But I have questioned my penny pinching when it came to heating the kids room. For whatever reason I intially thought the kids rooms needed to be nice and toasty all night and so we used to have the oil heater on low all night long in my son's room. But then we received a bill (!) and had to re-think. So next we put the oil heater on a timer so that it was toasty when he went to bed, then switched itself one and off a few times during the night to reheat the room. When the next electricity bill came around - it was manageable. But with two kids rooms to now heat I have had to re-eveulate my way of thinking for fear of the next bill. So now I am going down the flannel sheets, lots of blankets and toasty PJ's route and only heating the room for 30 mins before bed time to get it nice and toasty. As long as the kids don't get colds or wake up at 3/4 am (apparently the coldest part of the night) I think this is the way we will go. What do you do at your house and for your kids? (on a side note our bedroom is like a freezer at night as I like fresh air so the window is open and my hubbie can't sleep without a fan on!)
I just went out and bought a fitted flat sheet this morning for Grace at Spotlight actually to make her bed warm and toasty. This week, we changed to winter blankets too. Last night was the first night we contemplated putting the oil heater on but we need to get one for Sophie's nursery as there's only one in Grace's room at the moment (a job for this weekend I think). Last year, we started off just putting the oil heater on before Grace went to bed. However as the nights became really cold, it ended up staying on overnight on a low setting to keep her warm and cosy. We'll probably be the same this year, we've just come to expect that our winter electricity bill will always be way higher than usual. Our main living area is heated by a gas heater though. Our bedroom is quite chilly though being down the other end of the house and my husband likes sleeping with the window slightly open too which drives me batty!! :)
ReplyDeleteI have two chesty boys. The coughing starts as soon as their room temperatures drop. So they have column heaters on timers, they switch on about 11.30 and off at 7am. I have just decided I'd rather the electricity bill than a hospital stay with chest infections/pneumonia. My 20yo+ cat has a heat pad to warm her old bones and probably be the way she survives the winter. We use gas for heating in the living areas and I never bother in my own room.
ReplyDeleteOur electricity bill is due shortly and it will probably scare the pants off me because I know it is pre all this heating. The next one will be bigger.
In my house, soon as temps reach 50 and above...no heat! Of course it is just me an hubby, and if he complains I just tell him to wear PJ'S! LOL You can always dress warmer, but you can not dress cooler....We do not have kids at home, and if we did, I would probably rethink it.
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