Preparing for winter II

candie_gill

went out today and picked up a silky bed spread topper, a 13.5 tog feather down duvet for my LO bed, a quilted matress topper for his bed, four of argos cheap fleece blankets. For some reason they gave me two value ones then two really good quality expensive ones even though i ordered the four value- wont complain though! Also got a big box of kleenex with balm as we go through a lot of this stuff in winter time

kirsty822001

THANKYOU candie-gill spotted loads of winter stuff for my 3 kids me and dh !! Just waiting for paypal funds to go in and then I will buy buy buy,,,thats if there is anything left!!
Planning on electric blankets too now I now they are cheap to run!
Candles,matches,log pile kindling all done,,coal to buy,,cant order a load as no where to store it ,,hmm will need to start getting a bag a week,,dont use much but burn both wood and coal.
Need a couple more hot water bottles,,want some cheap ones, (£8.99 in 'the range!)
made draft excluders last yr to match my cushions (i know posh eh?) cost 20p and 5 mins of my time ;-)
would like to get curtain over door but dh thinks it will look awful,,who cares? oh yes he does *sigh
My kids all need pj's I have enough primark and peacock brushed cotton types,,all £3 or less in sale.
We all have slippers that fit from last yr but mine are/were pink once,,I want some that will
Got myself gloves on fleabay one fingerless one not both purple and were from accesorize but £3 all in on fleabay
Have a mini shop under stairs thanks to approved food and costco! If all else fails we can eat couscous,chopped tomatoes and biscuits!!
I think will do a snowday box in sept/oct with choc,dvd,hot choc,marshmallows,kebab sticks (to roast mallows on fire) and stick waterbottles,candles etc in there too :-)

Chillout5892

chirpychick wrote: »

You guys are such a bad influence!

1.I have seen some winter boots that i want from sports direct, I think not having use of the car also justifies my winter boots dont you think

2.Ive seen a thermal hat too but he said he wont wear it, should i get it anyway incase? or trust that he really wont wear it?

3. I like this because everyone will come to us for a change saving our petrol money and all i have to provide is mulled wine and mince pie one per person so no great cost. Also very fun i like making mince pies and mulled wine too.

1. Yes I do. I too have my eyes on winter boots in sports direct. I'm popping in our local branch later today.

2. Yes, get him the hat, he'll either thank you when it's freezing or you may discover you're married to a martyr to er... manliness and fashion?

3. Em, best to provide for more than one glass and mince pie per person, honestly. For wine, get cheap red plonk, I'd estimate 1/2 bot per person, start off with one batch (I do mine in a pressure cooker pot) and as it goes down add another bottle and top on on sugar and spices while it's on the hob. I'd also estimate 4 pies per person, if you're not having sandwiches or any other fillings.

You may find people turn up with wine and pies too. It's like any party, the longer they stay and the more they talk the more they drink and eat. Best to remember, not everyone who's coming may be able to eat mince pies or drink mulled wine (driving, or allergies) so you will need alternatives, but it is a cheap and enjoyable thing to do. It's more important it's a successful event. I do one each year and they are never the same. Run out of everything in a couple of hours and it's a quick trip to a corner shop, or I'm left with a pie mountain and wine lake, or it went on until 3am! But it's ablast and distributes pressies for me.

Don't worry about making too many, mince pies keep (not for long if it's before christmas) and they do freeze well. Any wine, orang juice, crisps etc left over, if not eaten during Xmas, I'd put it in the SNOW BOX. Kirsty, I think that's a FANTASTIC idea. I'm certainly going to do that one.

Icelandic Queen, thank you for pointing out why I'm always skint broke and starving by Feb. For years, I just thought I'd spent too long/much celebrating and partying. I can't believe I never realised it's a 5 week month before. DUH!

I still haven't the confidence to get another leccy blanket. Always used them until one night a bent cable decided to spark and it burnt me as it was trying to start a fire in the bed! And yes it was an underblanket type that you could lie on while it was turned on.

FrugalFriend

I'm dreading the winter. Especially since the memories of last winter are still so vivid; we had no heating or water for December 24, 25 and 26th.

beedeedee

beedeedee wrote: »

Thanks but we bleed them regularly already. This is the thick treacle like sludge that has accumulated and there is a product you can put in rather than a full flush through the whole system, which is what I was talking about......I was wondering if anyone had had that, or a full flush done?

Hi All
Thought I'd bring you up to date.
Got our local chap in just over a week ago and he wanted to start off gently, rather than a full flush (power or otherwise), so tipped some chemical into the central heating tank upstairs. We then had to leave our heating on as much as possible for 5-7 days to allow it to circulate through the system. We got a bit hot even with the windows and doors open! Unfortunately there wasn't much improvement, so he came back yesterday and took some of the radiators off individually and flushed them through manually with a hose. You should have seen the stuff that came out - like crude oil.....However, I'm pleased to say it's done the trick and we now have nice, hot throughout, radiators. YEAH! We paid £170 and thought that was good compared to some quotes you folks had? considering the system is over 20 years old and had never been flushed - bit like me really!

candie_gill

oooooh i love the mulled wine and mince pie idea, what does mulled wine taste of? Never tried it hmmm

metherer

Beedeedee - thats a good outcome. Quite horrified by the idea of sludge sitting in our radiators - we bought this house last year so have no idea whether they have ever been flushed before.

We've now taken in a lodger so I won't be moving into the spare room this winter. However, to offset this, when we were cleaning out the spare room yesterday we found a couple of bags of curtains we didn't know we had. Lined curtains. Hoping one will do my bedroom window, and then there are two large ones so we are going to measure up and see if they would go between the living room and dining room (its one long space).

Feels like we've made a bit of progress.

VJsmum

Hi

Can any of you brilliant people come up with a solution for my kitchen window? Our kitchen - diner has a window at the back looking into the conservatory and then a window at the front. The conservatory window has no curtains / blind / anything. The front window has vertical blinds.

Last winter it was particularly cold in there, we can't hang curtains because of the way the window overhangs the worktops so am really looking for some solution to put behind the vertical blinds when they are drawn together but that can be taken down when they are open.

Any ideas?

anguk

VJsmum wrote: »

Hi

Can any of you brilliant people come up with a solution for my kitchen window? Our kitchen - diner has a window at the back looking into the conservatory and then a window at the front. The conservatory window has no curtains / blind / anything. The front window has vertical blinds.

Last winter it was particularly cold in there, we can't hang curtains because of the way the window overhangs the worktops so am really looking for some solution to put behind the vertical blinds when they are drawn together but that can be taken down when they are open.

That's what I'm going to do with my sitting room windows, I've got a curtain pole up that leaves a gap at the sides and top, the windowsill is deep so I can pop the fleeces on rods in the recess.

Any ideas?

A quick easy way would be to buy a net curtain tension rod (you can get them for a couple of pounds from places like Wilkinsons) and a cheap fleece blanket from Asda or Ikea. Sew a channel in the top of the fleece and thread it onto the tension rod, there's no fixings or anything so you can stick it up at the window when you close the blinds and take it down when you open them.

frosty

Kitchenbunny wrote: »

After this weekend, we've discovered another few things to add to the winter to do list.

I want to get some of the windproof/waterproof matches so that even if the matches get flooded or soaked they should strike.


Hi,have you tried dipping the tips of the matches in wax,I use a lit tea candle.It only takes a few minutes.