[sabrina]

We had porridge every morning, mum used to put a stone type thing in our beds at night. Can't remember what they were called. I used to get chilblains during the winter and she would put stuff on snowfire or something like that.Mum banked up the fire at night so in the morning there was still a slight glow and the sitting room was not so chilled for us getting ready for school. Knitted hats and pockies ( gloves without fingers which kept your hands warmer. Expect I have spelt it wrong but if you were  child in the 50/60's then you will know what I mean. You were taught how to knit socks at school and sew, cook simple meals. What I remember most was the freedom we had playing outdoors. New year everything in the house was cleaned on the 31st before neighbours came to wish us well for the following year.There was never a lot of spare money if any but we had fun, family get togethers where everyone had to do their party piece. Just writing this has given me a warm glow, remembering so much of my childhood.

[SallyintNorth]

Snowfire lives in my airing cupboard and without it I would have to have moved to somewhere warmer!   

[Sylvia]

Sabrina, you have just reminded me, Ma would put bricks in the oven of the stove in the evening, wrap them in a bit of blanket and put them in our beds. Bliss

[Small Farmer]

In the sixties Mum got tired of ironing flannel sheets and bought some fitted nylon sheets from Brentford Nylons.  Great for her but they were astonishingly cold to get into, as were the nylon shirts that we had at school.

[Victorian Farmer]

iv just looked up a gallon of parafin £10 Whit would happen iff the cost was high then heaters lamps etc

[deepinthewoods]

my granny used to warm my school shoes up under the grill of a cold morning, just remembered that and it put a grin on my face

[SallyintNorth]

my granny used to warm my school shoes up under the grill of a cold morning, just remembered that and it put a grin on my face

One winter I had to warm the spark plugs for my vintage Morris Minor, (YFC - so Felicity) which I did under the grill.  Most mornings I was up and away before the rest of the household stirred, but one morning my housemate came into the kitchen just as I took the plate of spark plugs out from under the grill and turned towards the backdoor, calling, "Come on Felicity - breakfast!"  His face was a picture. 

[RUSTYME]

Vf , use heating oil instead of paraffin , works perfect in lamps and heaters at a fraction of the cost .

[Ina]

According to my SCARF thermometer, I'm long dead; it's been telling me for weeks that I'm in danger of hypothermia and I should turn the heating up... (How's that supposed to "save cash and reduce fuel???)

I'd love a wood burner - not only for the wonderful and potentially free heat (and cooking/hot water) it provides, but also for the fact it would give me something useful and warming to do, with having to collect fuel and keep the burner stoked. The council, however, only ever provide the most expensive and ineffective heating possible to those on low incomes, i.e. electric. The only good thing about not having a job is that I don't have to suffer the heat I used to endure in the office; it was usually 23 degree and my colleagues were complaining that "it was freezing". At the place where I now work Saturdays, the heating is crap and it rarely gets above 16 degree. Just right for me (with a woollen layer less than I wear at home), but everybody else, of course, isn't happy.

I have noticed, though, that the cat is a lot more affectionate in winter than in summer! She never usually hops up on my lap whenever I sit down to read or knit... And every night she spends in my bed, too. It's amazing how much warmth such a small body can generate.

[nicandem]

my first house, an army issue married quarter in the mid 80's didnt have central heating... it had overnight storage heaters that lasted about 3 hours before being cold
then i have had 25 years of central heating until this house.... just a wood burner, no radiators
the best thing this winter in the everhot stove... just enough to take the chill off,,,,, brilliant


I cant stand being too hot, I have mostly worked outside


scrounge wood from all sources, free is the best price for heat

[happygolucky]

I remember those Alladin parafin stoves, my dad was a fitter on the railway so used to get it sort of free   the smell brings back memories and as for those Bri Nylon sheets...I loved them at first but they made you static, I remember comming out of hospital and my mum had done my bedroom up with bright pink fluffy bri nylon sheets, they were warm.....I think it must have been cold in those days but only remember getting dressed quickly.....and in the early years putting on the Liberty Bodice!!!!!
 

[Small Farmer]

Never had a liberty bodice - but cross-dressing was less common then

[Ina]

Never had a liberty bodice - but cross-dressing was less common then

 


One of the advantages of having no decent heating is that you don't need a fridge. I haven't used one for at least four years now.

[Lesley Silvester]

Our paraffin stove was an Aladdin.  It worked well if you put the chimney on straight.  I remember my ganddad lighting the stove one bath night and putting the stove on crooked.  An hour later, the walls and ceiling were black with soot and my parents had to redecorate.  Oops.  I also remember the Esso blue song.  And struggling homw from the shop with a gallon on paraffin when in my early teens, convicne my right arm was longer than my left by then.

When I bought my first house, in 1971, the only heating was one of those round paraffin stoves in the sitting room.  I had a claustrophobic cat who went mad if the kitchen window was shut and meowed until it was open, then sat on the window sill and hollered to be let back in as soon as you put her out.  As a result the kitchen was like an ice house in the winter.  I used to feel like getting in the fridge to warm up.   

[MAK]

I think that the 50s - 60s were such a great period as some of us grew up with the nostalgia and a bit of hardship of the old days but the promise of comfot, warmth and a more modern life. Imagine turning back the clock another 50 years !
My neighbours and me still heat the house with wood ( only), have no mains sewage or water waste, fill the cellars with whatever we can grow or pick, keep a pig, chickens rabbits and ducks for food and make whatever conserves we can. Photos of my neighbours in wooden clogs and the ox that was used instead of a tractor bring home how tuff life was in France just a few years back.
Now go back 200 years and imagine life in the Scottish highlands or moutains of wales or northern England.
Silly questions but did they have underwear ? How often could they bath in winter. Did they have scurvey? Did farmers shave every day and with what?
 Wow = we have it easy.