Preparing for winter II

flowertotmum · 8 September 2010 at 4:40PM

Hi..can i join in...i have just lined all the curtains in our house with very thick lining..bargain at fabric warehouse..£5..for a whole roll..thought they had got the price wrong ..but no it was right...i have a huge door curtain at my front door..you can see daylight down the side of my door when its closed..according to the council its ok!..i have bought my little ones winter clothes off ebay and nice big coats from asda..just need wellies for them now..as for food and stocking up..my freezer is full of fruit and veg..need to get another one cheap...got plenty of first aid bits in too..thank god for home bargains...going to dust off the slow cooker and get it going again...got 6 hot water bottles with covers for £1 at carboot sale.....love bargains and being thrifty..i also love being cosy and ready for anything...

lambanana · 8 September 2010 at 4:41PM

I think we'll be fine, our house gets quite cold but nothing we can do about the problems (mostly a poorly built lean-to utlility area at the back with a single glazed door and a window that doesn't shut properly, we rent and the landlord doesn't see this as an issue at all) we do need to get someone out to look at our radiators as they aren't all working properly but I don't intend to have them on too often. Other than that we've got lovely fleecy blankets, sleeping bags and I have knitting so we'll be warm enough. DH does need some new slippers and I'll make sure I buy some extra UHT milk in case of another snowy winter as last year I couldn't get the car out of the drive for a few weeks.

pjblink · 8 September 2010 at 4:45PM

Hi all, long time reader of the Preparing for Winter thread, and (i think) first time poster

What we have done so far:

Made a trip to Ikea (Wednesbury) the other day and picked up lots of tealights, and a smaller number of the scented tealights.
Wedged the loft door, as although it has a seal fitted, it wasn't squishing the seal and so dropped cool air down out hall-way.
Soft-foam sealed the garage access door which comes into our house by the front door to stop the draught coming in.
Acquired a bread maker so we can keep fresh bread, and stocking up on Strong-White. (Also got a rubber-sealed container from Ikea for the flour).
Cleaned out the slow-cooker (lovely brown-crock OS one from my mother). (Will stock up on stewing steak etc...)
Stockpiled a bit of dry and tinned food and separated from our main every-day foods.
My OH is chinese, and so we have stocked up on noodles, rice, sushi rice, tinned fish etc etc...(i love all of this too, mmm noodles).
Made first batch of blackberry jam with blackberries collected around a week ago. Have now bought Pectin so will try with next batch for a firmer set. Will also try for a batch of Jelly (strain out bits and seeds). Have 2lbs blackberries left in freezer, but have found a very fruitful hedgerow nearby so will stock up .

Myself and my beautiful girlfriend live in a two-bed coach house. It's <10 years old, fully double glazed and carpet throughout (except for lino in bathroom, ensuite and kitchen). We feel very lucky at how warm it is, and i've only just tried the CH the other day to check we have full circulation (we do, it got ROASTING!).

The building is entirely on the first floor, except for the garage which we live over. Our neighbours garages are under the rest of our property. Because of this, we have half-good insulation below us, everybody seems to keep their vehicles in there. Our garage has a half-restored VW Beetle in there (my hobby), however our up-and-over door for the garage has a very poor seal. This will be my next project to keep the garage warm. I would like to work on the bug over the winter, so not only will it be more comfortable, the house above should be warmer (directly above is our bedroom

).

Minxy_Bella · 8 September 2010 at 5:14PM

Hello - can I join in?

I was a bit of a lurker on the old thread but got loads of hints and tips that I'm working my way through - last winter was so terrible, I can't bear the thought of another one like it! :eek:

So far I have -

* ensured all of the family have slippers, dressing gowns, hats and wellies (not necessarily to be worn at the same time)
* bought Ice Grippers from QVC for our shoes/boots to walk on ice (our road was totally treacherous last year - my staffie had to pull me along like a Huskie!)
* bought thermos flasks and food flasks for the kids to have hot packed lunches
* double glazed the entire house!
* had cavity wall insulation put in
* insulated the loft
* organised a 'power cut' drawer, with candles, batteries and matches

What I need to do now is to

* stock up (even more than I usually do) on tinned goods and dried milk
* stock up on cold and flu remedies
* buy some thermal undies (sooo expensive though)
* make my own foil radiator panels, guided by my FIL who's been doing it for years - I'm not convinced just yet that it'd be worth the time and effort though. Any thoughts?

I have been so naughty in the past with putting on the central heating whenever I've felt the slightest bit chilly so I'm making a promise to myself that I will leave it as long as possible and only when all of the jumpers in the house are being worn! We have loads of furry rugs and throws and sleeping bags - which I usually wrap around me even in summer as I do feel the cold really badly - I just have to keep the dog off them

So that's my project for the next few weeks - battling Mother Nature! It's grim up North so it's a bit of a challenge but I will win! I can't afford not to this year - we are skint! :rotfl:

toddles* · 8 September 2010 at 5:33PM

loving everyones tips and ideas,
just purchased some new thermal lined curtains. a bit of a step up from the old ikea £5 ones. that were basically a cream sheet. Ooh they are lush,
been stocking up on the odd bit of food too

Confuzzled · 8 September 2010 at 5:55PM

Cheapskate wrote: »

Will keep up with this thread - love battening down the hatches for winter!

A xo

so i'm not the only one!

funny, battening down the hatches is a phrase i commonly use any time a storm/blizzard is threatening to roll in, and i rather enjoy it as long as my family is home safe...

MummyOfTwo · 8 September 2010 at 7:03PM

so busy thinking about christmas i hadnt thought of winter coming!

i think i need to:
-check loft hatch
-new slippers for all
-invest in some cosy fleece blankets
-line curtains in the front room

ours is a three storey house, and the ground and middle floors are nice and cosy with the heating on, but the top floor (playroom and master bedroom) can get quite chilly. may invest in some some more bedding for us...

richardc1983 · 8 September 2010 at 7:08PM

On a thread a while ago some people were saying that it has been boiling where they are!

OUr local weather man (look north) has just released his blog saying its been a cold end to summer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudso...h-summer.shtml

To quote from the site:

"It has been an unusually cold end to summer here in Yorkshire. Around dawn on 31st August at RAF Leeming temperatures fell to 2.6C, with a widespread frost on the ground. This is the coldest August night time temperature recorded at Leeming since records began in 1947 - marginally colder than the previous record set in August 2003.
Mean August temperatures at the station were below normal at 14.8C, compared with the average of 15.6C. Rainfall was well below normal at 30.6mm compared with the average of 59.8mm. And Sunshine was also below average, with 142.5 hours, compared with the average which is 160.0 hrs. "

midnightraven3 · 8 September 2010 at 7:13PM

re the hall/stairs

i have very thick heavy curtains, wall to wall (ceiling to floor) where the door is
out door is double the width of a "normal" front door
but new last year, & pretty well insulated
but i still think because of the expanse of glass (frosted) it looks cold

i am mid making a draught excluder for it too

we had an internal door fitted from hall to kitchen
as last year it was draughty
(again making a draught excluder for this also)

its the actual stairs and onto the landing where i think most of our heat is lost
we close bedroom doors, and the loft hatch is heavy wood
with excluder fitted on all sides

our lounge has a big archway out into the hall, so sitting you can really feel it

much as i am house proud
my mind is gearing towards having something like they have in hospitals, the curtain track thingy on the ceiling, so i can at least curtain off the bottom of the stairs (it would need to be kinda L shaped)

or am i bonkers, and it wont work:rotfl::rotfl:
be honest, i can take it:D

MummyOfTwo · 8 September 2010 at 7:16PM

i think its definitely got a lot colder in the evenings

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Preparing for winter II

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free