Preparing for winter II

rising_from_the_ashes

Evening everyone, loads of posts to catch up on:D. Well, a very busy day today - went to Fringe with DM and have spent most of the day being entertained by the street artists - fantastic!:j

Stopped at St James Centre as DM wanted to pop to John Lew*is and managed to get a flannelette fitted sheet - slightly more than I hoped to pay but my mattress is extra thick and cheaper ones don't stay on. It's been washed and is hanging up to dry!:)

Also popped to £land:j:j (funny how small things can make us happy) and managed to get a few bits & pieces:

Bought a couple of these http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/assorted-camping-lanterns/ - got home, put batteries in and they're actually OK & have a pretty good light (pretty cheap and nasty looking but would do in a power cut). Have put one upstairs and one downstairs just in case. I have candles but am not keen on them due to having a few pets:eek:.

Also managed to get a couple of 2 packs of thermal socks, some cold/flu tablets but no foil blankets . They also had some pretty good picnic blankets http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/foldaway-picnic-blanket/ I already have one which lives in the car, pretty warm and doesn't take up too much room.

Discovered there's one just opened in a reasonably near town (20 miles) but as there's also a L*dl, A*di and Farmfo*ds (never been before) it may be worth a trip to stock up!

Came home and had a ruthless clear out of drawers ("Hi, my name's Rising and I am a hoarder") as have drawers filled with stuff I've never had on in at least 3 years:eek: and in reality am never going to wear again. Now have a whole drawer for my thick socks:T and 2 empty ones to refill so pleased with that!


Breathing a huge sigh of relief at the minute - have spent the past 3 days hunting for the charger for my big torch but couldn't find it anywhere. Have just checked torch and couldn't find inlet and just realised it uses batteries:o (was a new one at the end of last winter). Have checked and has rechargeable batteries in it;) so the hunt is now on for that charger!

bramble1

Wow! £land have a website! thanks for that!

rising_from_the_ashes

Just remembered, I also got the most gorgeous soft, fleecy throw in John Lew*is for £5 - it's a pretty decent size, so if anyone's still after some, try there.

http://www.johnlewis.com/246785/Product.aspx

Rainy-Days

I know this might sound a bit daft, but the last two years during the harsher winters we have had, my skin suffered terribly. I only really use Liz Earle and L'Occitane with the odd bit of Lush thrown in (my skin reacts to lots of other stuff and I have found these are safe for me to use), so I am going to make sure that after all this preparation that has been put in, all the hard work that has been done, I am going to make sure I have a nice stash of these products. I could not live without my pure shea butter tin of magic which L'Occitane do and it has saved me from seriously chapped lips. Also Vaseline has saved the day for me as well on my lips previously too as a cheapy alternative.

So, I intend to mini treat myself, the house has had time and money spent on it, and now I intend to pamper myself when the weather does set in!

toottifrootti

thanks rising for the link to £land and being responsible for me buying loads of emergency stuff when I am next there!!!!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

good idea Rainy days

Is the emergency shelter from £land what i want for behind the rads? I was looking for foil blankets but they didnt have any - they did have the emergency shelters but they looked like they were green not foil????

bramble1

I'm going to £land to get garden stuff this weekend....LL is coming to check out the other tenant and want to make that place look nice!

quoia

seafarers_wife wrote: »

i didnt get the curtains from argos. they looked horrid so back to the drawing board. thanks for suggesting them though i have got a new king sized duvet so at least my trip into town wasnt wasted

buy wind up torch/phone charger - not escential really
curtains for front door
curtains for hall windows
curtains for french doors
curtains for bathroom windows?
sort out car kit (de-icer, scraper, spare wipers, washer fluid, cash, phone, charger, blanket, shovel & brush)
get gas fire safety checked
tomato soup (i go through buckets of the stuff)
uht milk - buy in bulk from costco, but only had stuff dated dec 11 so will wait another month or 2
diluting juice
rice

extras that ive thought of after reading more of other peoples prep
more cat litter
de-icer in bulk
screenwash in bulk

Bought some today - just 18p :j :rotfl:

TESCO Screenwash Concentrate 1Ltr >>> http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=252636038



Keep an eye out in your local you might find some also -

Mine isn't quite like the picture/link - its a VALUE product - but still CONCENTRATED

Apparently reduced from £1

Bought the last 7

Sunnyday

Jolaaled wrote: »

Hi all.

What is the best method for fixing (temporary) fleeces to the backs of curtains??

I did a quick search and MSE'ers seem to use different methods:

• Sewing velcro to back of curtains to attach fleece to (not sure if you need to also sew velcro to the fleece itself, or if it sticks itself!).
• Using pins to simply attach.
• Sewing the fleece in place..but this is permanent.

also:
does the bulkiness of the fleece make it tricky to gather the curtains and get them to hang right??
do you just attach the fleece at the top edge, or do you have to attach down each side too?


THANKS ALL

I`m just doing my living room curtains right now, i just tack a single line of header tape onto the edge of the fleece and put hooks along it and then hook the fleece along the backs of the curtains along the header tape that is already on that pair, easy peasy and you can take them off whenever you want to.

I`ve ended up sewing the new curtains by hand :eek:
Its taken a while but the big pair are now almost ready to go up, later tonight i shall probably finish the fleece linings for them, i`m not sure whether or not to give them a quick wash before they go up as there is quite a bit of fluff coming from them, my vertical blinds already have a stripe across the bottom from the cat which i keep having to sellotape off

I`ve just been looking at the bay and think that i`ll hold off putting the curtains up until its been scrubbed, might as well sand the window sill whilst i`m at it lol. I keep finding more jobs to do :rotfl:

SD

[Deleted User]

we didn`t get out of the village for 6 weeks last winter and it was especially bad after the snowplough came through, I was very glad of my storecupboard but it got a bit dreary, foodwise towards the end. I am stocked up as full as could be already, including foods that can be prepared and cooked quickly in case we have power cuts as we are all electric and everything will stop, including the stove. We have a backup outside called an ozpig, plenty of wood bits and charcoal with room on it for cooking. This year I am making sure that I have treats in, like chocolates lol

I don`t think I need to do any more as we have warm clothes and blankets, food, wind up everything, I suppose I will get random meds in for colds and so on. I have made sure that I`ll be growing some winter greens in the garden, some hardy kales as I missed thr fresh veg oh and I`ll make flipping sure that no-one books train tickets to see us, as happened last time. There was no way we could have got the car out of the village to pick them up and the train money was wasted and I am not booking us to babysit etc as it was very hard to explain to someone, 70 miles away, why we couldn`t do it

Prudent

Some great ideas, thank you everyone. I am making good progress. Snow shovels for house and car bought. Winter box for car looked out and updated. I have put two sleeping bags and one blanket into the car. My biggest progress has been in replacing my ancient heating system completely and getting the cavity walls filled. I need some silica for the bedroom windows. Cold air is getting in between the double glazing and the sills. I also need to find some warm curtains for my bedroom.

My next task is to fill some food boxes. I have quite a small kitchen and although my cupboards are well stocked, I did struggle after a couple of weeks last year in the severe Scottish winter. I am thinking of buying some plastic storage boxes for the loft. Does anyone have any suggestions for teh boxes? I am wondering about long life skimmed milk v milk powder. Which is best? I also will buy lots of breadmaking ingredients - these sold out so fast last year.