Do you really need to heat the whole house so as not to shiver all winter? The answer is no! Experts reveal the trick to big savings.
Winter is here but energy is expensive. In this context, maintaining a uniform temperature in each room becomes difficult for many households. While stocking up on sweaters and blankets can help, living in a home that is too cold is not without consequences. Specialists point out that an indoor temperature of at least 18°C is recommended, particularly for people over 65, those with reduced mobility or a health problem. The difficulty therefore consists of reconciling thermal comfort, security and cost control, without transforming your daily life into an obstacle course.
The Met Office then listed a whole series of recommendations. First of all, rather than pushing the thermostat to the maximum during the coldest periods, it is preferable to adjust the operating times. The idea is to program the heating so that it starts just before waking up and stops at bedtime, with slightly wider ranges in case of intense cold. This approach avoids peaks in consumption while ensuring a stable temperature at key times of the day.
Added to this are simple but effective actions: closing the curtains at nightfall, keeping doors closed in rooms that are rarely used, limiting drafts with draft excluders. The goal is not to insulate the house like a fortress, but to keep the heat where it is most needed. The other question that clearly arises: if you cannot heat the entire home, where should you concentrate your efforts? Met Office experts have decided: “If you can’t heat every room you use, heat the living room throughout the day and your bedroom just before you go to bed.”
This strategy is based on the observation that these are the two spaces where we spend most of our time, awake or asleep. The living room becomes the heated heart of the house during the day, while the bedroom does not need to be kept at a constant temperature. A heater turned on shortly before bedtime is enough to create a comfortable environment for the night, without unnecessary waste.
In the end, spending the winter warm does not necessarily depend on the heated surface, but on the way in which the heat is distributed. By concentrating heating on the rooms actually used and adapting the schedules, it is possible to stay comfortable at home while keeping an eye on your bill. Clever.
