Kicking the habit!

Last year, the central heating boiler broke down and I didn't have any heating or any water and my house was around 10 degrees inside, when it was about -5 degrees outside....so even without any heat, it keeps considerably warm. In fact, I think I only need to heat the house every so many days and it remains warm for 48 hours after that. So why, you might ask did I want to kick the central heating habit?

In years gone by, when the heating was on a timer our gas bill alone peaked at £78 a month!!! £936 a year; which meant almost a month of Dearly Beloved's salary just paid for heating. It then took another month of DB's salary to pay for the electricity.

So we kicked the habit of the tumble drier and halved our electricity bill. We only use the dish washer once in a blue moon, if we have more people round and there's lots of washing up. Our combined gas and electricity bill now costs us just over £60 a month. However, energy prices are set to rise again. As you can imagine, the central heating had to go!

On a working day, we don't have the heating set on timer and we don't heat the water. We boil a kettle for the washing up or to have a quick wash and we have five minute showers.

And yes!!!(Fashion be damned! I can often be found wearing: vest, tee shirt, roll neck jumper, jumper, cardigan and a fleece along with two pairs of jogging bottoms, two pairs of socks and slippers....................so no! I don't feel the cold) I do wrap up in layers and layers. Kicking the heating habit might seem a step too far for some people but it was a bill we could no longer afford. We put the heating on for a couple of hours at the weekend ( but not before November and not after the end of February) and that more than adequately keeps the house at a balmy 18 degrees for the two days.

As you can guess, it's a week day and the heating is off so I have a blanket over my lap whilst I type and I'm off to bed soon to read where it's cosy.