Preparing for winter II

p-pincher

Hi everyone

Not doing to bad at the min, went to mr t's and bought an extra 300g jar of Nescafe to hide away, Debating on getting one of the tins of roses or quality street to stash away as i just know that as soon as the bad weather hits everyone will be craving choccie, also got a few more tins and loo roll. Oh and picked up my new 'brushed cotton' (flannelette in real money) king size sheet. Cant wait to get in on. Picking up dd1 wellies and dd2 snow boots tomorrow. Ive also sorted out the outgrown shoes, trainer, boots and coats to put on ebay over the next few days.

Hoping somebody on her with a bit more knowledge can give me a bit of advice. We've got a room coming off the kitchen that used to be an outside toilet and shed that have been made into a room which we use for coats, shoes, chest freezer, well everything really, it joined onto the house by an internal door but all the other walls are open to the elements so gets very cold. There's no heating in it and unfortunately far to expensive to get any fitted. It fully double glazed but none of the windows open at all though it has a double glazed door. We did use an oil filed radiator last year but it worked out really expensive to run, the problem is not so much the cold, cos i can keep the internal door shut but we had terrible condensation. there's no vents either so no moving air at all. Not sure weather I should concentrate on the heating side of it (Dh's idea) or at least venting it to get some air in (my idea) or maybe even a dehumidifier (sp).

Any ideas???

Gigervamp

Splodger, what about putting some blankets down on the floor? You'd get a bit of warmth then and they can be washed when they get dirty.

Confuzzled

bluebag wrote: »

About the electric blanket, I would't be without mine, it even has one and a half hour timer built in so you can fall asleep with it on and still save money.

i found the electric underblanket today! i thought we'd lost it in the move to this flat 2 years ago so i'm well chuffed :T

it was tucked down (still boxed) behind a box of toys in one of my daughters built in cupboards! i'll put it on her bed and prewarm the duvet for her then turn it off after i've tucked her in bed for the night. i'm very pleased with that, plus we now have the electric overblanket so i can keep the heaters on low as much as possible and we can just use that if it's really chilly, plus i get cuddles then

we cleaned out her cupboard today to make room for the stores, i want it all in one place and to make it easier to actually know what i need to use up. also found some good heavy boxes i'd saved away in there, empty though, don't want to throw them out as we may move next spring so we're gonna go through the summer clothing and put them in those boxes and put them back in the cupboard!

tomorrow we're going to chip away a bit more at thing, we did a really deep clean of that cupboard today so i plan to make the same attempt with her other one then move on to mine in a day or two. in about a week to 10 days i hope to have a very tidy, very organised and very snug house

CH27

p-pincher wrote: »

Hi everyone

Not doing to bad at the min, went to mr t's and bought an extra 300g jar of Nescafe to hide away, Debating on getting one of the tins of roses or quality street to stash away as i just know that as soon as the bad weather hits everyone will be craving choccie, also got a few more tins and loo roll. Oh and picked up my new 'brushed cotton' (flannelette in real money) king size sheet. Cant wait to get in on. Picking up dd1 wellies and dd2 snow boots tomorrow. Ive also sorted out the outgrown shoes, trainer, boots and coats to put on ebay over the next few days.

Hoping somebody on her with a bit more knowledge can give me a bit of advice. We've got a room coming off the kitchen that used to be an outside toilet and shed that have been made into a room which we use for coats, shoes, chest freezer, well everything really, it joined onto the house by an internal door but all the other walls are open to the elements so gets very cold. There's no heating in it and unfortunately far to expensive to get any fitted. It fully double glazed but none of the windows open at all though it has a double glazed door. We did use an oil filed radiator last year but it worked out really expensive to run, the problem is not so much the cold, cos i can keep the internal door shut but we had terrible condensation. there's no vents either so no moving air at all. Not sure weather I should concentrate on the heating side of it (Dh's idea) or at least venting it to get some air in (my idea) or maybe even a dehumidifier (sp).

Any ideas???

I'd do a mix of heating & dehumidifying & see what works best.

Confuzzled

toottifrootti wrote: »

Thank you to whoever it was that listed a non-electrical tin-opener - i had forgotten about that!!! mine is electric as i cant manage an ordinary one but my carers will if we have no power!

if your budget can stretch to it, jml does one of those battery operated tin openers, you clamp it on and it cuts it for you, does it on the side of the tin vs the top i believe, i think they're less than a tenner

asda does an easier to use tin opener, it's black plastic and has a wee plastic arm you pull out of the side of it, you then very gently place it over the top of the tin, push that arm back into the unit and it turns from the top not the side, it's very easy to turn compared to a standard variety and it cuts the side of the tin not the top so it never stops half way, no jagged bits etc and you don't cut yourself on the tin. i'm not sure if you could manage that or not but they are excellent and i'll never go back to a standard one... oh yes found it here

i have problems with carpal tunnel so i find this one sooo much easier to use... now all i need to do is find a cheap jar opener that works, i have been having a really hard time opening jars as of late

splodger_seedswapper

Gigervamp wrote: »

Splodger, what about putting some blankets down on the floor? You'd get a bit of warmth then and they can be washed when they get dirty.

good idea - thanks - they are all old raggedery things anyway - but might look a bit better than newspaper :rotfl:

the only downside is the dogs - spaniels - love puddles and snow etc - so will roll around like mad on anything soft on the floor - at least with paper i can just put another load down when it needs replacing - with blankets or towels etc - the fabric will get soaked and stinky in no time - and washing machine is one of my most expensive electrical appliances (shower being the worst of all) then there is the drying of them - no tumble - heating at the moment is electric storage heaters - so that might be an issue - but i'll try anything (within reason) - so thanks for the thought

Confuzzled

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

so i might ask my neighbours to keep back their newspapers each week - instead of recycling them - or get card boxes from village shop - just to lay on the floor during the cold spells - i don't care what it looks like - the place is a tip anyway (and yes - i am being serious - before someone asks)

another thing that might work, or even in conjunction with the newspapers is cardboard boxes. flatten, and, to keep you from slipping perhaps add a bit of blue tack at the corners, put them down and voila, instant floor insulation! if you have newspapers underneath that will just keep you even toastier

CH27

Would cardboard & paper not be a trip risk Splodger?

Fruball

p-pincher wrote: »

Hi everyone

Not doing to bad at the min, went to mr t's and bought an extra 300g jar of Nescafe to hide away, Debating on getting one of the tins of roses or quality street to stash away as i just know that as soon as the bad weather hits everyone will be craving choccie, also got a few more tins and loo roll. Oh and picked up my new 'brushed cotton' (flannelette in real money) king size sheet. Cant wait to get in on. Picking up dd1 wellies and dd2 snow boots tomorrow. Ive also sorted out the outgrown shoes, trainer, boots and coats to put on ebay over the next few days.

Hoping somebody on her with a bit more knowledge can give me a bit of advice. We've got a room coming off the kitchen that used to be an outside toilet and shed that have been made into a room which we use for coats, shoes, chest freezer, well everything really, it joined onto the house by an internal door but all the other walls are open to the elements so gets very cold. There's no heating in it and unfortunately far to expensive to get any fitted. It fully double glazed but none of the windows open at all though it has a double glazed door. We did use an oil filed radiator last year but it worked out really expensive to run, the problem is not so much the cold, cos i can keep the internal door shut but we had terrible condensation. there's no vents either so no moving air at all. Not sure weather I should concentrate on the heating side of it (Dh's idea) or at least venting it to get some air in (my idea) or maybe even a dehumidifier (sp).

Any ideas???

Get a dehumidifier - They are fantastic for spaces like that - I have one that I put in my built in wardrobe in winter... It dries and warms the air so nothing is damp... Cannot recommend one enough. Initial outlay is a bit but you won't regret getting one.

Confuzzled

p-pincher wrote: »

Debating on getting one of the tins of roses or quality street to stash away as i just know that as soon as the bad weather hits everyone will be craving choccie, also got a few more tins and loo roll.

that reminds me, i found a 12 pack of loo roll i didn't remember having when we did the clean out today, now we have over 100 rolls for the two of us, not as much as some of you lot but it's just the 2 of us here

as for chocolate, if you have a lidl near you they are doing their milk chocolate 100g bars for just 19p each saturday and sunday this week, best to go early if you can sale stuff sells fast... i'm gonna send the wee one down tomorrow to grab the deals for me so we'll have a nice stash set aside for the same purpose, well minus one we share as her reward for going to the store for me