[jeallen01]

HaHa, My first career move was a 4-year apprenticeship as an industrial/commercial insulator, insulation is the best move for cutting heating/cooling costs but your best move for comfort is to control the humidity. Be it warm or cold, too moist in the summer with the A/C on and you will feel clammy, to dry in the winter and you compensate by turning up the heat, check out some humidity comfort charts!

This house is low humidity all year around - but we do have a "problem" in very warm" weather as it's a bit risky to open the front windows to get an airflow right through the house because of the "risk" of someone "getting in" (that window is very close to the nearby road).

Thus, I pretty much agree with you - except w.r.t humidity - I'm here in shorts in a temp of around 24C with the c/h "not in heat" mode

[Liney]

We had an electric blanket when we got married, and it was considered as a "mod-con" for both of us. Growing up we just piled another blanket on, and oh the joy of waking up to ice on the inside of the windows....

Since moving to the Antipodes I haven't needed one. Winter rarely gets cold enough to need more than a thick duvet, and in summer it's more a case of turning the fans on to cool off......

[35mmfilmfan]

Of the many ladies who have had the honour and pleasure of sharing accommodation with me, two are relevant to this discussion. One said that it was like sharing a bed with a centrally-heated Octopus - the other insisted on a heated under blanket, folded double on her side of the bed, and two duvets in the cover, again one folded double on her side (so she had the equivalent of three duvets). My current bedroom is unheated, and i have a 4.5 TOG duvet for winter - and even that gets thrown off most nights. The ice on the windows, when we get a nice cold spell, does make beautiful patterns, though.

[Adam]

So, this is completely off-topic from photography. But I just wanted to let everyone know that as I get older, I get colder....so I splurged on an electric blanket. I thought this might be interesting for those who live in colder climes. It is so much nicer than air heating, too much of which leaves the air too dry for me to breath! Also, it saves a lot on heating.

For those who have trouble with staying warm, I recommend it!

If you liked the blanket, then you might also really like an electric towel warmer. They aren't available at reasonable prices online for some reason, but I have the bucket type and it sees quite a bit of use in the "cooler" months here. As ironic as that may sound for AZ, the house is inherently cooler during the winter because the AC can't quite keep up with the outdoor heat during the summer.

Adam
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[dbs]

Electric blanket ..... turn on 30 minutes before retiring .... turn off when going to bed ...nice and warm .....
I have never heard of using a electric blanket as a top blanket sounds ... just wrong.
Mattress, electric blanket , bottom sheet and then you plus required top sheet and blankets/ doonas.

[heinamj]

I vote for the heated mattress pad....very similar to the blanket (toasty warm) but you're laying on top of the heat, instead of underneath it with a blanket.

Turn it on about 30 minutes before bedtime and it's just perfect...

Our pop up camper had two beds with heated mattresses which were awesome in cold weather...

Now I'm just thrilled to find a pair of heavy winter gloves in which I can still fully operate my K3 with battery grip.

[automorphism]

If you liked the blanket, then you might also really like an electric towel warmer. They aren't available at reasonable prices online for some reason, but I have the bucket type and it sees quite a bit of use in the "cooler" months here. As ironic as that may sound for AZ, the house is inherently cooler during the winter because the AC can't quite keep up with the outdoor heat during the summer.

Hmmm...don't give me any ideas! Especially now that the winter is in full force

[Liney]

If you liked the blanket, then you might also really like an electric towel warmer. They aren't available at reasonable prices online for some reason, but I have the bucket type and it sees quite a bit of use in the "cooler" months here. As ironic as that may sound for AZ, the house is inherently cooler during the winter because the AC can't quite keep up with the outdoor heat during the summer.

We used to keep the towels in the airing cupboard, which was the cupboard the hot water tank was in which had shelves above it for "airing" clothes. Growing up the airing cupboard was in my bedroom, so the really cold mornings I would dive out of bed, grab my clothes and get dressed in the airing cupboard.

Aussie houses have the hot water tank (or instant water heater) outside so no airing cupboard.

[dbs]

Airing cupboard ... haven't seen one for years ( 40 yrs ) ... parents had one

[jeallen01]

Airing cupboard ... haven't seen one for years ( 40 yrs ) ... parents had one

We have two large airing cupboards that I built over c/h radiators over 20 yrs ago and they are used almost every day for drying clothes, towels, sheets etc. - not in the bedrooms but have been a real boon, especially during cold weather.

People buy tumble dryers because they don't have space to dry stuff, and then pay the resulting energy costs! - I did buy a small and cheap one years ago but it was rarely needed and seemed to die, probably due to lack of use

[dbs]

It helps having mildish weather clothes dry just on an airer in a room

[Liney]

We have two large airing cupboards that I built over c/h radiators over 20 yrs ago and they are used almost every day for drying clothes, towels, sheets etc. - not in the bedrooms but have been a real boon, especially during cold weather.

People buy tumble dryers because they don't have space to dry stuff, and then pay the resulting energy costs! - I did buy a small and cheap one years ago but it was rarely needed and seemed to die, probably due to lack of use

We got a tumble dryer for a wedding present, carted it around two house moves then realised we'd only used it about three times! Gave it away

Radiators were great for drying baby clothes, but when we moved to Aus we found that even in the winter we didn't need them. Summer weather means you hang the washing out and out the next load on, and by the time the second lot is finished a quick wash the first lot is bone dry