To heat or not to heat: Every uni house has experienced a heating war

December has arrived and the Christmas festivities have begun, but this joyful season is overshadowed by the uni house heating war.

Sure, you love your housemates and they're great people, but as the saying goes; 'all is fair in love and heating war'. It happens year after year, term after term. Uni houses are in turmoil over this reoccurring dispute; do you put the heating on and pay a slightly more expensive gas bill? Or do you keep it off, almost freeze to death and save a fiver each?

Depending on your housemates, the heating war can take the form of a ‘cold war' with passive aggressive messages in the group chat and awkward tension in the kitchen. Or it turns into World War 3 with shouting matches where you get red in the face and feel your blood boil to the point where you’re too hot to put the heating on anyway.

All jokes aside, it can be quite stressful. So, here are some ideas for and against, to help you and your mates to reach a peaceful treaty.

The best 'for' arguments you can use

Let's begin with the fact it's cold, well actually, it's really really cold.

You’ve also probably spent more on a night out in Live Lounge than you will on a few hours of heating. Every house appliance costs and although the heating is one of the most expensive appliances, it is just as necessary as using the kettle, the washing machine, a phone charger, the light and so much MORE.

Another reason to have the heating on is the simple fact you don’t want to get ill with a cold. And if you are full of cold, it's down to the fact your housemates won't put the heating on for an hour or two.

The money you don't spend on heating you will spend on Lemsip

Ok so we get that as a student, you don’t want to be paying through your nose for your monthly bills as you’re already doing that for your degree. But unfortunately, paying bills is something we all have to get used to at some point or another, so let's start now? Besides, having the heating on for an hour or two a day isn’t going to cost you a lot more than what you’d be paying anyway.

Of course it would be cheaper to not have it on at all, but it would also be cheaper to camp in a tent outside than it would to rent a student house in the first place… you have to look at it both ways.

The 'put a jumper on' against arguments

As a student you do have to accept that you can’t afford to have the heating on 24/7. If you’re cold, put a jumper on. Don’t swan around in your underwear and wonder why you’re feeling a bit chilly

Being cold is extra motivation for you to go to the library where it’s nice and warm and the heating is free.

Or where you can nap without waking up shivering?

Your room will be cold enough to store food there instead of the fridge, so it saves you having to go to all the way to the kitchen to get a snack. Meaning you don’t waste any precious time you should be spending on an important essay, right?!

Also, we're in Wales and it's cold every day anyway. So you may as well climatise and embrace the bitter Welsh weather.

Trying all methods of staying warm before pressing THE button

Also, some people do struggle financially while at university so saving something as little as a fiver could really make a difference. Maybe it's best to try everything you can to keep warm before putting the heating on.

Compromise is key

Not to get all Dr Phill on you, but compromise really is key. Coming to the peace treaty may seem surreal, but almost all uni houses arrange some sort of heating arrangement when it's -3 degrees outside.

You might not be 100% happy with the final agreement, but that’s just an aspect of living with other people. You could all agree on when to put the heating on and for how long, then set a timer. In the grand scheme of things, the heating isn’t a big deal and the situation is just intensified in a uni house.

Remember that the library is open 24/7 if you want to sleep there. At least you won’t wake up in the morning with an icicle hanging from your nose.