Preparing for winter II

rising_from_the_ashes

Helenium wrote: »

Warning: criticism alert

I'm gobsmacked at the extremes some people go to on here!! Lets face it for 95% of us, we do not need to stockpile hundreds of loo rolls and stacks of tins. I would hate to have my house stuffed full of these things

I'm also amazed at the amount of money people spend...yaktrax, snow boots, craighoppers, new curtains, coats...

A word of warning about sealing every crack with bubble wrap, this is unhealthy (air needs to circulate from outside to inside even in the winter, and also dangerous if you have gas)..

Rainy-Days has put it better than I could ...

Rainy-Days wrote: »

I do not think you have appreciated some of our situations on here. I live in a village that last year was cut off and I mean cut off! My car did not come out the garage for three weeks at least and even the post was not delivered for days on end. The buses stopped running completely even though they don't come through our village but the neighbouring one which is a trek. If it simply had not been for the fact that we had planned ahead then we would have been in dire straits.

Rainy-Days wrote: »

My housekeeping is set in stone for the time being and quite honestly I cannot justify spending £5.00 on a pack of eight loo rolls when if I hold out I can get treble the amount for the same price!

I too am rural we have a village shop around a mile away however it runs out of bread before lunchtime on a "normal" day ... and there were no deliveries for 3 weeks last year.

It's a 30 mile trip to "town" (each way) - worth going once a month to stock up and get things at a reasonable price but not something I want to do when the roads are appalling ("B" roads and didn't see a gritter for weeks last year) and the police are advising against all but "essential" travel.

I too cannot afford to buy something for £4.99 at a local shop which I can buy for 99p elsewhere.

I cannot afford to have my heating at 22-25 deg all day like many of my neighbours do .... so spending £3.18 on some fleeces to line my bedroom curtains, making hot water bottle covers from old towels, or draft excluders from spare material and old pillows doesn't seem like a waste to me!

[Deleted User]

6 weeks stranded in the house last winter as it was too slippy and dangerous to go anywhere, even on foot. 6 miles to the nearest shop. However I don`t need to explain my stockpiling but I will say to folks ***troll alert***

Rainy-Days

kittie wrote: »

6 weeks stranded in the house last winter as it was too slippy and dangerous to go anywhere, even on foot. 6 miles to the nearest shop. However I don`t need to explain my stockpiling but I will say to folks ***troll alert***

You are right they are either a townie or a troll!

I have not said this before but DH works for the emergency services. Every time the weather turns bad you hear the same mantra "unless your journey is absolutely necessary do not go out". What happens, people go out! They end up with their cars in ditches, pitching up at A&E with broken goodness knows what and every single time it is the blue light team (Police, Fire and Ambulance) along with the breakdown services who have to put their own lives at risk to go and deal with it. DH will take a tin of soup in with him to work on nearly every single shift. So 21 tins of soup (excluding when I make our own) is gone within the space of a little over three weeks! That does not even include me.

I walk our dogs twice a day, sort the horses out twice a day. Last year I was having to go and smash the ice in their water buckets four times a day. I honestly seriously wonder if people expect you to amble round in jeans and a T shirt in minus 12 conditions in which to do this! The temperature in towns and cities is completely different to in the rural countryside. It can mean a difference of a couple or three degrees and when that is a minus figure that is one hell of a difference.

Rising is right, some people are able to have their heating up sky high with mediteranean like conditions in the house. Thats alright when you are not the one worrying about paying the sky high gas and electricity bill at the end of it! Thats half the problem with this country allot have got into massive debt through reckless spending and 'a blow the future lets live for now' culture!

When this winter hits - and it will - then those have have put in the planning and preparation will come out of this in best form and hopefully with a nice - not been able to spend it - bank balance at the end!

Sunnyday

kittie wrote: »

However I don`t need to explain my stockpiling but I will say to folks ***troll alert***

Got to second this, don`t EVER feel the need to explain yourself to other peeps!

We are all different people with different circumstances and we KNOW from experience what suits us best.

A very suspicious "new poster" - i`m afraid that i don`t think so, just someone who is trying to disrupt the helpfulness and harmony on this friendly board otherwise known as a TROLL for those that arn`t familiar with the term.

Please don`t feed it and it should slink away with its tail between its legs (occasionally they do reappear again as another new poster)

Quoting and answering a troll only makes it happy so feel free to ignore.

I doubt that a genuine new member would be so rude, oh and in case anyone starts worrying unnecessarily - if you have gas then the installer checks the ventilation in the property by way of installing permanent vents in walls etc with proper grills, he does not hack holes around door and window frames to make do so keep on filling those holes everyone.

SD

Purple_kitten

I like the alert icon there, it's not a considerate introduction.

I'm a Kentish lass so we don't really get the weather too badly, but that said there are a lot of signs that this winter is going to hit in terms of snow, and I feel for people in places that are literally cut off. I have a friend in Aberdeenshire who was struggling for about 3 months last winter because of the snow.

This thread is great to follow and pick up hints and tips to add to your situation.

Maybe I'm as bad I have a little pile of loo rolls (20), and having cleared out the cupboards so I know what we actually have, we can get by for about a month if blocked in. Thanks to whoopsied items in the freezer and enough tinned bits for 31 days.

I'm not a fan of the short days, but I do like the snow, I think I enjoy watching the masses panic, transort coming to a standstill etc.;)

nikki2804

So i now have a new moggy :j. Shes a little apprehensive towards my other cat but hopefully they'll settle down. Shes an affectionate thing so hopefully between the two theyll keep us cosy.

8 days until payday and more winter prep!

Rainy-Days

Just wanted to clarify my own meaning of the word townie - by that I mean someone who constantly lives out the local corner shop or local take away from one meal to the next and is blinkered to anything and everything outside their own little 'world'! Nothing against urbanites at all - I used to be one when I lived in London back in the 1990's - seems like ages ago now, well I suppose it is 19 years to be exact

Red_Doe

Another extreme ruraller here.
I live in the back of beyond and we get cut off, guaranteed, every winter, sometimes for weeks at a time. The nearest (five mile away) small shop often runs out of stock and even in summer (tourists can strip the shelves bare in half a morning flat!) so it makes sense to stock up when I can and make provision for not being able to get to shop/anywhere.

On a personal note I am kinda celebrating..well nearly...tomorrow I will hear from the head of the Scottish Fuels office if they will allow me to pay my heating oil by installments. This is a long term issue for me, as they previously wouldn't, as their policy says no tenants can do this. If they allow this it means we will have heating this winter. When temperatures got to minus 24 last year and this year is expected to be the same, if not worse, that's a huge issue. Fingers crossed.

Purple_kitten

nikki2804 wrote: »

So i now have a new moggy :j. Shes a little apprehensive towards my other cat but hopefully they'll settle down. Shes an affectionate thing so hopefully between the two theyll keep us cosy.

Congratulations on the new addition, I'm sure she will be settle in no time.

Fruball

Helenium wrote: »

Warning: criticism alert

I'm gobsmacked at the extremes some people go to on here!! Lets face it for 95% of us, we do not need to stockpile hundreds of loo rolls and stacks of tins. I would hate to have my house stuffed full of these things

I'm also amazed at the amount of money people spend...yaktrax, snow boots, craighoppers, new curtains, coats...

A word of warning about sealing every crack with bubble wrap, this is unhealthy (air needs to circulate from outside to inside even in the winter, and also dangerous if you have gas)..

I live on the outskirts of a town so stockpiling many weeks worth of stuff is probably unnecessary however last winter I was really glad I stocked up with a couple of weeks worth - reason = I was really poorly for nearly a week and going shopping was out of the question and as I am single mum to 2 children, we needed supplies. Then on several occasions we were hit by loads of snow - I was lucky that I didn't have to go out driving in dangerous conditions to get essentials as I had plenty here

Oh, and not to mention that the local shop (6/7 mins walk) ran out of stuff really quickly according to friends who tried to get bread/milk from there.

Re spending money on Yaktrax... Let me explain... Consider for a moment a single parent who is self employed, has a mortgage and bills to pay etc... I walk my children to school and I am a nightmare on ice, I fall... If I were to fall and break my wrist (or God forbid something worse) then I wouldn't be able to work :eek: probably be unable to drive etc so would need taxis (which I couldn't afford because I wouldn't be able to work anyway) so if spending £20 goes some way to prevent me slipping and injuring myself... Its £20 WELL SPENT!

Craghoppers - bargain!!! Lovely warm lined trousers for... what was it £10/£15 - They will do nicely for when the kids want me to go out sledging or building snowmen - I don't like being cold and usually avoid being out in it too long - my kids will benefit from those trousers as I will be able to tolerate the weather better so i'd say that was money well spent.

In 2009 I was NOT prepared and the cold snap with snow and ice that we had made my life a misery. I got stuck in the car for 5 hours :eek: for what should have been less than a 10 minute drive to my house. The police were telling people to dump their cars by the side of the road and walk home... I told her No Way! I was lucky that I had a tank full of fuel, a couple of cereal bars and drinks. It was by chance that those things were in the car - I now have a car box to make sure if something like that ever happens again, I am well prepared. I even have a heated blanket that plugs into the cigarette lighter Perfect if I have the kids with me and get stuck.

Re the toilet roll mountains that we all talk about here - I personally think its hilarious, and suspect lots of us do, and has become such a part of the character of this thread... I have loads stashed in my bedroom :rotfl:

So.... helenium, stop trolling and wander back under your bridge.