Preparing for winter II

helen_jelly

Muffin man - my kiddies called their bottles of warm milk "bot bot" DS designed a new avatar and wanted me to show it to you all on here

We've managed to empty 1 of the freezers so thats now on freecycle so less leccy and more effective food plannind being done

Also just been and priced some material for curtains - been to a local shop that sells Sari's [sp?] beautiful material for £3.99 a yard so when DH gets paid I'm off to get some to make curtains for DD, us and the bathroom, can't see DS wanting that kind of lovely material so will have to source something else for him

Helen

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

thanks to everyone who posts on this thread, it has inspired me to get ready for winter too.

So far I have...

-found all the hot water bottles and put them together in the bathroom cupboard

-bought some very nice cheap lined curtains from a charity shop for £5.50 to hang in the kitchen, they need taking up though...

-looked around on the internet to find a cheap, decent duvet for the kids and got 2 today from dunelme, 13.5tog at £13.59, I was tempted by their flannalette sheets but will hang fire as they werent cheap enough to tempt me!

- knitting an aran jumper out of some wool I have stashed away.

-done a big internet shop of sainsburys basics stuff for the winter to fill the cupboards as I got a voucher for £10 off a £50 spend

-bought 2 gammon joints cheap at Lidl today to put in the freezer for xmas!

-started a little savings plan whereby I squirrel away £25 a month into a purse in my underwear drawer for January as I never have any money left then, will add every month, also co-op savings stamps for january as they give you £2 free if you save £48.

think thats about it now, one thing worth mentioning is the thermal cooker idea, I got a box with polystyrene and when you make a stew you put the pan into a towel while its hot and leave it in the box for hours, I will be using this method a lot over the winter for curries, stews etc as it doesnt use much energy, only the initial boiling, might e worth sourcing a box now if you want to try it, there is athread about it on this board.

I am astounded at the price hikes for gas a lekky so will be saving towards that this winter too

Kitchenbunny

candie_gill wrote: »

an old fluffy cushion cover or pillow case would make a nice cover for a hot water bottle too. Wonder if a knitted cover would work as well? Mine all came with covers luckily, the £1shop used to sell the bottle and then the cover so £2 for both and they are full size too.

Hi Candie,

My sister has successfully knitted hot water bottle covers and they are lovely and toasty. It's a long fat rectangle which is stitched into a bag shape, and drawn together at the top with a drawstring. It looks good too.

KB xx

parsniphead

-started a little savings plan whereby I squirrel away £25 a month into a purse in my underwear drawer for January as I never have any money left then, will add every month, also co-op savings stamps for january as they give you £2 free if you save £48.


Hi Everyone

I have lurked for a long time on this thread but not posted before.

I love all the ideas and hopefully will put a lot of them into practice this year as I live in a VERY cold victorian terrace house. Last year was the first with central heating but it was still chilly(feezing cold really), mainly because I limited the amount of time it was switched on due to cost.

I will definately following your example on this one, especially as I will be on stat mat pay until feb next year.

Looking forward to hearing any more ideas which help keep us toastie this winter.

Cinny91

Went to £1land today and bought some of those silver sun reflectors for car windscreens. Thought they'd be good for cutting and popping behind radiators.

Also thought they'd be good for people's car kits. If they really do think there'll be a high chance of them being in their cars over night with snow, buy one for the front window then others to cut to size for the other windows. I know some people use this if they go car camping to either keep the heat out or in depending on season.

Chillout5892

helen_jelly wrote: »

Muffin man - my kiddies called their bottles of warm milk "bot bot" DS designed a new avatar and wanted me to show it to you all on here

We've managed to empty 1 of the freezers so thats now on freecycle so less leccy and more effective food plannind being done

Also just been and priced some material for curtains - been to a local shop that sells Sari's [sp?] beautiful material for £3.99 a yard so when DH gets paid I'm off to get some to make curtains for DD, us and the bathroom, can't see DS wanting that kind of lovely material so will have to source something else for him

Helen

A good friend of mine stopped me in my tracks when I was measuring up for new curtains and knew I was on a tight budget. (windows are huge) She pointed out that once I'd bought lining, tape fabric, etc, it might be cheaper to buy pre-made curtains from places like primari or £strechers etc. I was surprised to find she was right. I just wish I had standard sized windows. So might be worth doing a cost comparison, especially for DS. Curtains can be like duvet covers, you can't make them yourself that cheap.

Your DS avatar is dramatic. Well done. And the inspiration for this portrait is....

I've decided, when the summer finally decides to bless us with some heat, I'll take down the curtains and the double glazing film and give them all a good clean before the glazing film and everything else goes back up. I just hope the summer lasts longer than a week, it's a big job. Today was supposed to be blistering. Huh. Glad I'm not at Glastonbury.

sandraroffey

ah, the haybox cooking!!!!! we all used to do that in the 60s and early 70s when lots of people were trying to be self sufficient and buying cheap small holdings in wales and other remote places, and growing things to eat and keeping chickens..

amazing how things have changed..... we were all thought to be half crazy trying to do things like that. now, its an essential way of life for most of us. and i can guarantee that the haybox works.

helen_jelly

Chillout5892 wrote: »

A good friend of mine stopped me in my tracks when I was measuring up for new curtains and knew I was on a tight budget. (windows are huge) She pointed out that once I'd bought lining, tape fabric, etc, it might be cheaper to buy pre-made curtains from places like primari or £strechers etc. I was surprised to find she was right. I just wish I had standard sized windows. So might be worth doing a cost comparison, especially for DS. Curtains can be like duvet covers, you can't make them yourself that cheap.

Your DS avatar is dramatic. Well done. And the inspiration for this portrait is....

I've decided, when the summer finally decides to bless us with some heat, I'll take down the curtains and the double glazing film and give them all a good clean before the glazing film and everything else goes back up. I just hope the summer lasts longer than a week, it's a big job. Today was supposed to be blistering. Huh. Glad I'm not at Glastonbury.

Good luck with the weather and the cleaning!!

Curtains - fortunately [or unfortunately depending on your view point] I can't put normal curtains up as they will be going on to sloping walls so they will have to have net curtain wire threaded along the top and the bottom and be fixed like that - its the same for all our upstairs windows.

DS has just got a PC game called Plants v Zombies - not as bad as it seems - it has a part to create avatars so he did and thats the result, trouble is DD wants to do it now and then have me show hers, once thats done I'm going back to the Daleks lol you know where you are with them!

anguk

I often find it's cheaper to make curtains from duvet covers (bought on sale) than it is to buy ready made ones or buy the material. I made my kitchen blinds and some bedroom curtains from this king size duvet I got in Wilkinsons 50% off sale.
http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/duvet-covers/patchwork-duvet-set-pink-kingsize/invt/0294668/?htxt=PsAGyAqy%2FDSGVBgOHPBfATKVETOKIWHcwqoICuDrG%2FxTcDPfxIrYzUvEu76RzzM6wutKTeo9AOCB%0AtDs76aYYKg%3D%3D

oldtractor

Cinny91 wrote: »

Went to £1land today and bought some of those silver sun reflectors for car windscreens. Thought they'd be good for cutting and popping behind radiators.

Also thought they'd be good for people's car kits. If they really do think there'll be a high chance of them being in their cars over night with snow, buy one for the front window then others to cut to size for the other windows. I know some people use this if they go car camping to either keep the heat out or in depending on season.

Brilliant:T