Preparing for winter II

Ida_Notion

nikki2804 wrote: »

:rotfl:I have never set foot in the loft of any house i've lived in and will do my utmost to stay out of sheds in case I encounter any spiders.

I don't mind spiders (the bigger the better really because I'm the one who usually has to evict them round here and it seems easier to hurt them if they're small). However, I hate heights so have never been in our lofts either. I can well remember the look on an ex's face when I sent for him to come and investigate to see if a loud noise had come from the loft because me and my spider-phobic sister were the only ones home and both of us refused to go up there.

Back to the winter preparations, I have almost got a whole kitchen cupboard full of oopsied canned stuff now that I have been collecting over summer, as well as about a dozen packets of oopsied cereal. Sadly, I'm still letting the side down on the toilet roll front. I think we've got about five here. Toilet rolls, that is, not packets of them

pollys

tugrin wrote: »

HELP HELP HELP - I was just sitting in the shed !!! garden room when I looked up at the ceiling to see sunlight coming through!. CLoser inspection reveals that in tha high winds whole strip of the central roofing felt has gone (wrings hands and weeps) Please if you are a practical type or you have practical DIY OHs DDs or DSs would you be so kind as to give any suggestions on covering the apex befoe the weather really turns. an I just get an apex covring roll or strip?

DIY places sell all you need and its not overly expensive. You will need the roofing felt (comes in a roll) with some sealant and nails, the right stuff is usually all sold in the same area of the store. Instructions on the roll.

HTH
Pollys x

valk_scot

Feeling distinctly skint this month after one car had to have a long overdue service and the exhaust fell off the other. (Yeah, we are lucky to be able to run two cars but Hubby needs one to commute to work and I'm not mobile enough these days to be able to walk far or fast.) So the budget has been taking a bit of a hammering, we've been eating as cheaply as possible and stocking up for winter has gone on hold, except for a few charity shop buys.

I did clear out DD's wardrobe last week and worked out she needs jumpers, some warm trousers, boots, new school shoes and a party outfit for the winter, eek. I do have a fair amount of knitting wool though so I've cast on for a thick zip front cardigan for her in blue/white aran pure wool yarn, and I was also lucky enough to find a really nice fleece top for her in the charity shop for £1. I've also managed to find all her gloves, hats and scarf from last year so that's a start at least. I may just knit her a couple of pairs of really thick boot socks and she can wear her wellies in the snow. Most boots made for girls are just fashion items anyway and barely waterproof, let alone have good treads or warm linings.

I had a look at my own clothes too and fortunately most of my cold weather gear is still in good condition (and still fits!!) so will be fine for that. I could do with a couple of hats and cardis though. Knitting pins will be busy.

The house is mostly ready for winter fortunately, no more preps to be done there. The winter duvets have been aired out and are ready to put on, I've washed all the flannelette duvet covers and fitted sheets I made a few years ago (from my late mum's stock of stripey flanelette sheets!) and all the fleece blankets we use as bedspreads. I've also finished a blanket I started knitting last year when we were snowed in, though that's going to be a Christmas present for my son so lets hope it doesn't get too cold before then. The heavyweight curtains are being gradually put up, I've found the draftproofing sausage for the front door and I have checked all the draft strips in the windows. Once all the curtains are up I'll walk round the house with a candle and check for any other drafts. We got cavity wall insullation and the roof insullation topped up a few years ago, also new DG all of which made one heck of a difference to the heating bills but I'm still paranoid about drafts.

What else? I divide preparation up into Car, House, Food stocks, Household stocks, Clothes and Misc. I can't do anything else that involves expenditure this month so am concentrating on organising instead. And knitting!

Living_proof

nikki2804 wrote: »

Is anyone on this thread from the central belt (ish) area of Scotland? I passed a pick your own fruit place whilst going to St Andrews however it was closed when I was heading back. Does anyone know of any in the area? I would love to pick my own and maybe make some jams etc to put away in my stores.

I will pick up curtain poles this weekend and get my door curtain up. Need to get organised!!

I live in a famous strawb area and the signs are all 'closed' and the East Europeans seem to have gone home - there are seats on the bus into town of a Saturday!

Hobsons_Choice

Made an appt for the docs tomorrow. It's getting difficult to swallow now, my throat's so sore. Eating soup but OH thinks I should eat something like cornflakes to scour the throat:eek:
Went out for a breath of fresh air today and checked out the Charity Shops that I passed.
I do wish they stop this colour co-ordinating..I want a nice warm jumper for the winter and I don't care what bl**dy colour it is as long as it fits!

jamanda

beautifylife wrote: »

Hi I wondered if I could get some help please.

I am on a very small budget and trying to get sorted for winter.

Can you suggest where I can get the following, which need to be reasonable quality but as cheap as possible. I can buy these things locally but not sure where the best buys are to be found, what are you ideas?

Warmest slippers
Hats, gloves and scarves
Fleeces
Thermal vests
House coat/dressing gown

I am also looking for a cheap rug - as one room has laminate floor and is really cold. I'm thinking around max £20 or below. It is really just to keep the cold out - needs to be fairly big. Not sure if I could try freecycle?

Thanks for your help.:j

If budget is a bit tight, you might be as well going to Prim*rk for the clothing as they seem to be cheapest. Seem to be odd fleeces on offer on line now and again though I haven't looked lately.

For the rug, freecycle may be worth a try, or possibly Home Bargains, Poundstretcher type places etc.
HTH

We have had a major breakthrough in the Jamanda House. DH actually suggested, all by himself with no prompting, that perhaps a door curtain on the porch would be a good idea!!! There is no door on there and I would have to use a curtain wire so I'll have to make rather than buy one I think. I'd thought about it but not mentioned it to avoid further "Oh, she's off again" type comments. It is directly at the bottom of the stairs, so perhaps something soft for when I fall down them at regular intervals.

DH is also frantically cutting wood and stacking in the wood shed (or the Wendy House as I call it to his disgust), and volunteered (again all by himself) to get some more coal on his travels this week.

Do you smell some success here, or is it a blip?

Valk - I have been looking for flannelette duvet covers for years before buying any this year, and do you know it never, ever occurred to me to make them out of normal sheets. And I can sew and have a sewing machine. I think my brain must leak out a bit more every year.

CH27

Jamanda you have given me an idea:D
I hadn't thought about curtaining the bottom of the stairs & it will be really easy to do as it's a doorway.

toottifrootti

beautifylife wrote: »

Thanks for this great thread.

Kmiller4 - I just wanted to check how you went about getting your 40 coupons for 40 bags of veg. Did you save them up over time? I eat lots of veg so very interested to know how to do the same!

Well done!

Hi beautifylife did you notice that Kmiller is in the USA so maybe their coupon methods are different from here. didnt want you getting your hopes up over loads of free veg!:(

the winter prep is going very slowly here but when I was in another city today I noticed that Dobbies have their snow shovels in and the adjustable one for the car and bags of something like a salt grit mix and it looked like thay had had a lot of sales:eek:
its been lovely here today - not even cold just wish it would last more than a day:(

nikki2804

:T

Living_proof wrote: »

I live in a famous strawb area and the signs are all 'closed' and the East Europeans seem to have gone home - there are seats on the bus into town of a Saturday!

I may need to go back up to St Andrews as the sign said there were open till September 30th. Only open till 5pm tho. Not a bad thing tho, i love St Andrews, lovely town.

tooties

Yes St Andrews is a lovely town. I am just a few miles from it, awful expensive to shop in St Andrews!!!
Plenty of Eastern Europeans still here where i live they are picking vegetables and potatoes though, think its too late for the fruit now.