Preparing for winter II

abaxas

lilme wrote: »

Hi all, i'm wondering if you can help me.

My boiler is in my garage and it got so cold last winter my pipes froze. This meant I had to turn my heating down low and keep it on 24/7 to keep it from happening again. My gas bills were £125 a month over the winter :eek: I was thinking about getting one of the 1kw panel heaters to put out there this winter but I as they don't give off much heat I was wondering if it would be a waste of time or do you think it would help keep the temperature above freezing. I don't need it to be warm out there just warm enough to stop the pipes freezing again. Any advice would be much appreciated

Was it the pipes in the garage or outside of it?

If inside, you wont need 1kw to keep them from freezing. And that will cost £2-3 a day just to run.

Also if inside? Are the pipes lagged?

chirpychick

Last winter i did not prepare at all and we live mid terrace of a row of 3 houses and before our neighbour had a baby and we never needed our heating on because she heated our house for us lol but then last year they moved and our new neighbour is never home and our house was freezing!! Our leccy went up massively and now we are in the IVA we are really so much more skint than we have ever been so im thinking about it all now.
The things we are doing:

we have them spotlights in our kitchen and living room and they are low energy bulbs but still cost a fortune to run. So we currently have 6 in the lounge and 2 of the 6 bulbs have gone and im considering not replacing them. So we got 2 lamps off freecycle and hubby thinks running the 2 lamps with low energy bulbs will be cheaper.

Draught excluders for the the doors both homemade and bristly type.

door curtains for front and back doors.

we got 75% off blinds for both the bedrooms and have curtains in there too.

re sealing the bay window.

re sealing the loft hatch.

got 1 role of loft insulation from freecycle need to get 2 more to do the entire loft.

Id love a rug in the living room but i cant seem to find one cheap enough anywhere.

we have loads of really manky blankets, old dog blankets etc which have holes and all sorts in and ive washed these and put them under the mattress because the mattress is getting old and uncomfortable so not only has it made it more comfy it also traps the heat.

we are in need of:

socks - hubbys socks every single pair have holes in, his mum buys him loads every birthday and christmas and after the first wear they are holey so im not sure what to do about him this year.

im in desperate need of waterproof shoes! I usually wear canvas ones and ive been wearing the same pair of £6 ones for 2 years and my toes are see and they flap when i walk but i have wide feet so im not sure where im going to find some!

hubby has loads of winter stuff but i have nothing really so im going to have to put a £1 a week aside for some jumpers and a coat.

also i collect up blankets and throws from freecycle and carboots for use on the sofa.

i dont think we really need to stock up on anything because we live right next to morrisons and being where we are we havent ever been snowed in, only had the car snowed in but could walk places. We also only had one short power cut last year which didnt last too long so im not bothered about that.

is there anything i have forgotten??

jamanda

I think one of the best things I did was put a cheap quilt on top of the mattress under the bottom sheet. Makes the bed much warmer and it is like sleeping on a fluffy cloud.

That tip was off this board somewhere, and I didn't believe how much difference it could make. (Quilt was a cheepie from Wilkos or somewhere in a sale)

[Deleted User]

freudianslip wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get a thick blanket, a blanket like I used to have on my bed as a kid. really heavy. (i remember it have a satin edging round it and was dark pink..... like that will help you get what I mean!lol)

I can only find fleeces right now. Could go with a thicker, bigger blanket.

Anyone know where to get tealights/candles cheap at the moment?

I had two of those as a wedding present and they were by witney, which was the most common name in blankets those days. They were pure wool

http://www.witneyblankets.co.uk/productDetail.aspx?returnqs=%3fcat%3d1084%26parent%3d0

[Deleted User]

lilme, you just need a very cheap, low wattage skirting board heater

oldtractor

I got out all the winter gloves and stuff yesterday. we have more long-johns than I thought we had which is good. I think we may have enough termal underwear, maybe need some more vests. I could do with another hat or 2 and scarves and gloves. Fleece wellie liners were a great boon last winter, hope to get more.

freudianslip

kittie wrote: »

I had two of those as a wedding present and they were by witney, which was the most common name in blankets those days. They were pure wool

http://www.witneyblankets.co.uk/productDetail.aspx?returnqs=%3fcat%3d1084%26parent%3d0

oh lovely! thank you

too expensive for me though Although a very good investment arn't they? I think I should save for one.

£41 for a double and £32 for a single for children

UnluckyT

Ohh, good idea to start now, esp if the weather turns like it has with the snow and that.
Part of the trouble is for me is where to start and work out what i nee.
Definatly need to probably start saving for things i need, keeping an eye open when i pop into charity shops for handy items. plus when i go food shopping, if i got some money spare it might be a good idea to buy the odd tin of soup and stuff like that?
Definatly need a pair of wellies, but will go away and have a good think and come back?

dandy-candy

Witney blankets are fab and I have 4 I got in a charity shop for £2.50 each!! The early ones are 100% wool, some later ones are a mix (avoid these). Deffo worth hunting in charity shops for these

Butterfly_Brain

chirpychick wrote: »

Last winter i did not prepare at all and we live mid terrace of a row of 3 houses and before our neighbour had a baby and we never needed our heating on because she heated our house for us lol but then last year they moved and our new neighbour is never home and our house was freezing!! Our leccy went up massively and now we are in the IVA we are really so much more skint than we have ever been so im thinking about it all now.
The things we are doing:

we have them spotlights in our kitchen and living room and they are low energy bulbs but still cost a fortune to run. So we currently have 6 in the lounge and 2 of the 6 bulbs have gone and im considering not replacing them. So we got 2 lamps off freecycle and hubby thinks running the 2 lamps with low energy bulbs will be cheaper.

Draught excluders for the the doors both homemade and bristly type.

door curtains for front and back doors.

we got 75% off blinds for both the bedrooms and have curtains in there too.

re sealing the bay window.

re sealing the loft hatch.

got 1 role of loft insulation from freecycle need to get 2 more to do the entire loft.

Id love a rug in the living room but i cant seem to find one cheap enough anywhere.

we have loads of really manky blankets, old dog blankets etc which have holes and all sorts in and ive washed these and put them under the mattress because the mattress is getting old and uncomfortable so not only has it made it more comfy it also traps the heat.

we are in need of:

socks - hubbys socks every single pair have holes in, his mum buys him loads every birthday and christmas and after the first wear they are holey so im not sure what to do about him this year.

im in desperate need of waterproof shoes! I usually wear canvas ones and ive been wearing the same pair of £6 ones for 2 years and my toes are see and they flap when i walk but i have wide feet so im not sure where im going to find some!

hubby has loads of winter stuff but i have nothing really so im going to have to put a £1 a week aside for some jumpers and a coat.

also i collect up blankets and throws from freecycle and carboots for use on the sofa.

i dont think we really need to stock up on anything because we live right next to morrisons and being where we are we havent ever been snowed in, only had the car snowed in but could walk places. We also only had one short power cut last year which didnt last too long so im not bothered about that.

is there anything i have forgotten??

I go to Ikea or argos for rugs, I don't know how much you can afford though.
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002701&langId=-1&searchTerms=RUGS
Can you knit? I find hand knitted jumpers and cardis much warmer than shop bought ones.