Preparing for winter II

Rainy-Days

We have two thoroughbreds, one 18hh the other 17.2hh. They are well and truly molly coddled!!

Just had Bedroom 2's curtains in the washing machine, I have hung one of the pair back up just waiting for the other to finish. They will be dry and sweet smelling by tomorrow morning - hopefully. Just debating whether to do the sitting room curtains! I might bite the bullet and do them as well!

toottifrootti

evening evryone
I started reading the thread from earler this year - it has taken me 3 days on and off!! and must say THANKS to all who posted such great ideas. I read a version of this 2 yearsago and think its brilliant!
rainy days - thats a fabulous check list - thank you very much for taking the time to produce it for us - I will work my way through it from now on!
frugal can you please tell me what 'heat tape' is and where will I get it? TIA

thanks also for all the links:D

I have been making notes and have loads to get started on because I moved house in april so this will be my first winter here. My last wee flat was snug as a bug but dont know what to expect here - its rented so somethings have been done cheaply.
I am suffering from 2 muscle diseases and cancer so my mobility is not good and suffer from severe fatigue a lot of the time - I really want to do things myself but am really not fit to. will have to get peole to do some things and as I live on benefits thats not easy so will maybe have to ask for bright ideas now and then!!!

BTW I am am another up in Scotland so need to prepare for the same kind of winter as last time:eek: I had days where my carers couldnt make it to me even on foot so intend to be well stocked this year.

My main area that i dont know what to do with is the conservatory - its great just now with the sun but what will it be like in the winter???:eek::eek::eek::eek: there are no blinds or curtains and I wondered if it would be better to try to put something up - any thoughts or suggestions?
It has french doors which is where the carers come in - onto laminate flooring - should I get a rug or mat of some kind?

there is a door from the conservatory to the kitchen so I am going to get a curtain on it - it has one of these glass bits above the door - do you think I shoud try to put the curtain rail above that too or would the door just be enough?

sorry for all the questions:rotfl:
toots xx

Rainy-Days

Hi Toots, I am so sorry - and I genuinely mean that - about your health condition. Yes it's pretty tough when you are impaired.

My conservatory does have a radiator out there, but to be honest last year we switched it off and bought ourselves a greenhouse heater. Now that might sound a bit daft but the thing was, the radiator was working allot out there due to the thermostat, so OH had a good idea and bought this heater just before the really nasty weather set in. We put it on a timer as well. It was more to take the chill off out there and stop damp setting in. Yes it did get a bit of condensation, but I towelled it off out there and that kept it down. We didn't really use it when the temperature plummetted but some people do. Ours is double glazed and UPVC, but as I say ours was more of a keep the gas bill down decision more than anything.

You should still have a little way to go yet in stocking up so you will be fine. Just write down what you use most of and build your list up from there.

With regard to the glass above the door, it might be a good idea to take the rail right up to the top and then get a 90 foot drop curtain (depending on how tall your door and glass bit is of course) on it. Thats what I would do and it will look better aesthetically as well

helen_jelly

Toots - I would get a rug [hello hun] even if its just to stop the dirt from outside being trecked indoors over winter!! Also helps to stop the laminate getting wet and warping [and getting slippery]

I would also put the curtain up and over the glass if poss - I lived in a house where there were little glass windows above the doors and they were a right pain with letting light through and the cold too.

Asa cheap insulation - bubble wrap is good up at windows [conservatory] doesn't look very appealing but may help - others who are far better than me will be along to advise

Helen x

candie_gill

Stocked up on couple of bottles of UHT milk yesterday, also got lots of branded loafs of bread for 10p each so froze them as spares. Asda still doing the 50p pot noodles and have big bags of pasta half price atm for 17p so i got 2 more of those to put away. Stocked up my tin cupboard on the basics, i will keep buying weekly so come winter i have 4 loafs in freezer, 4 UHT milk and plenty of food to live off.

Alwaysthebusybee

Thank you to every one who posts on this thread - I am now armed with a very full list which I need to work my way through in next couple of months.

I plan to buy a huge bag of "pony" carrots from a wholesalers (I actually used to think they were specially for ponies :rotfl:I now know that it is because of the irregular shapes ) I am going to have limited space to store fresh items but I do have 2 freezers ... Can anyone recommend a way to freeze fresh vegetables as I can often get these on offer. I was thinking of either blanching them - freezing them on a tray before freezing or could I freeze them raw ready to add to stews, casseroles and the likes?

Oh and my family and friends also think I am mad for stocking up ... but my mum is seeing the light and changing her ways to my ways

Busybee xx

slm6002

i also found some milk - 2 x 2 pints for 11p in the clearance bit of tesco last night. snapped them up and froze them last night ready just in case.

Confuzzled

well autumn seems to be having a dry run, or should i say wet run trial here today. definitely nippy, very very wet too. i think we must have had a new postie on today that didn't have the sense to close the flap on their letter sack, EVERYTHING i got was soaked including my tesco vouchers and new book from amazon, i'm not best pleased as you can imagine!

however, to cheer us up and warm the place up we're making homemade cornish pasties for the first time and will use the extra pasty for using up some grainy apples (not nice for eating raw but ok cooked) and the last of our frozen berry mix for little fruit tarts.

i may even get the curtins out and work on those today, i've been deliberately saving them for a cold day as they will warm my lap nicely as i work! hope the weather is nicer where every one else is

Rainy-Days

I have added a couple more things to my list. I looked at the sitting room curtains last night which are a cream heavy damask type fabric and noticed that the top part of the curtains has some dirt on them caused in the main from the soot from the log burner and also burning candles. What I intend to do is get those down gradually tonight and wash each curtain on it's own separate wash cycle and then hang them straight back up to dry with the window left open behind them. I have done this before and they were okay. If I do it now then it won't be another job for later on and a condensation causer. I will also wash the matching cushion covers and tie backs tonight as well.

The big beau style duvet which matches the curtains in the guest bedroom will have to be taken to the launderette. It is heavy and brocaded to match the curtains so I will have to pay for a special wash on that. I will probably get it done next week or so when I can bring it home and get it out on the line to dry! The bedroom curtains dried beautifully through the night and were ready to be tied back this morning. The window is still open behind them just in case of the odd dampish patch but other than that they look really good

rosieben

I have just a few things left to do

buy 2 vacuum flasks
check stocks of candles and batteries (think I’m ok for these)
line outside-wall radiators
wash curtains and cushion covers
wash one very large blanket (dsis is doing this as she can dry it outdoors)
defrost freezer and list contents
new doormat for front door
finish pantry stock up including meds(nearly done)

we’ve had loads of power cuts over the last month, some just for a few minutes, some for several hours (heard rumour they’re working on the lines somewhere locally) so I know all the torches are all working ok!