Preparing for winter II

Purple_kitten

Red_Doe wrote: »

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.

Wow fingers crossed for you, let us know how it goes.

I am finding it very hard with the gas and electric rises.

I am envious of all the rural people on here, I'm hoping to be one day

[Deleted User]

I don`t have enough toilet rolls, argh. I think I have too many tins of tomatoes though I am embarrased as I `found` several more last week. 50 in total I think (hangs head) :eek:

Our village is pretty well inaccessible in bad snow or ice as we can only get in via 2 very steep lanes, we are at the bottom, or via low lying land which goes for miles with a big ditch on each side, so all ways are very dangerous

I think I just need to check non prescription meds as nothing worse than a cold with nothing to help

Rainy-Days

Red_Doe wrote: »

Another extreme ruraller here.
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.

Keeping everything crossed - fallopian tubes included :rotfl:for you Red Doe. That will help you out of a really nasty situation. I just cannot imagine what -24 degrees is really like. I thought -14 was shocking. Seeing the vapour from my breath crystalising as I breathed out was one of those 'never to forget' moments.

CH27

Red_Doe wrote: »

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.

Fingers crossed for you hun

Confuzzled

RedLass wrote: »

Ohhh thank you, those are helpful tips, I will definitely try them. Especially the part about closing it right down at night. Could be I have been doing it all wrong and losing my stored up heat too early in the day.

i leave mine on 1 most of the day to keep a low even temp but if it's really cold i turn it up to 2 or 3 then back down to 1 for over night

also the pointer given earlier about starting your input on a lower setting and then working your way up to a comfortable level is a good idea. when i first start turning the heat on in october i only have mine on for a short period (the lower end of the dial) most of the winter it stays about midway and only goes up really high during severe cold snaps.

this may shock some people but despite having all electric heat and working and home educating (ie a LOT of daytime computer useage) our bills have worked out to just £42 per month average over the last two years and yes that did include two very cold winters!

this house is reasonably well insulated, it was built in the late 80's but it's not the most insulated and the wooden window frames are warped so that's what got me really making it snug. i think i've done a fair good job though, we've never been terribly cold and this is a reasonably sized 2 bedroom flat (upper with exposure on 3 sides).

lilme

I have 2 trees outside my house which a few weeks ago were laden with berries. They have now been stripped bare by the birds. I'm going to make sure I have extra bird food in this winter because the berries have appeared so early i'm worried the poor things wont have anything to eat this winter. I know many of you already feed the birds but for those who don't please consider putting out a little food if you can as it will make all the difference to them.

oldMcDonald

bevhousehastings wrote: »

*Buy a draught excluder for the letter box - any ideas on how to make one?

I have a thick, plain, white t-towel over our letter box as a draught excluder. A strip of the 'furry' side of some sticky back hook and loop is stuck a couple of inches above the letter box and a strip of the 'hook' side is stuck to the t-towel - this way round I can take the t-towel down in the warmer months and the line of furry doest catch on all and sundry! It works really well and does't look odd as our door is white.

rising_from_the_ashes

Red_Doe wrote: »

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.

Ohhhhh, everything crossed for you here too.....

lilme wrote: »

I have 2 trees outside my house which a few weeks ago were laden with berries. They have now been stripped bare by the birds. I'm going to make sure I have extra bird food in this winter because the berries have appeared so early i'm worried the poor things wont have anything to eat this winter. I know many of you already feed the birds but for those who don't please consider putting out a little food if you can as it will make all the difference to them.

I generally don't feed the birds (don't think it's fair to tempt them to the garden where several cats may be lurking!:eek:

However, when it's really bad and icy/snowy I do put stuff out for them (little 4 legged people don't venture out when it's like that:)).

HB had some great offers on seed (99p for 1.8kg), fat balls (worked out at 98p for 12) and suet blocks (49p) a couple of weeks ago so may still have stuff.

Confuzzled

Red_Doe wrote: »

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.

i'll be keeping my fingers AND toes crossed for you red doe!

i love the 'extreme ruraller' :rotfl:

i'm not even all that rural, i'm on the edge of a town of about 12k people but last year they did NOT plough or grit ANY of the side roads for a month!

had a taxi ride after 2 weeks and he got stuck and i wound up having to help him shovel snow out from under his tyres and another driver saw us and we both had to push him to get him out of here!

that was hard on me then and my back and knees have gotten worse there is no way i could do that again. even getting to a safer place for a taxi to pick me up would be impossible without my yak trax (which are an investment they last for years, and boots and a coat, come on if you're not wearing those in winter you're in the wrong country!) i don't fancy having to go out when the snow is piled 18 inches deep like it was last year, and i'm only in fife! :eek:

on the prep front daughter and i have made headway in our massive clearout/sorting in both bedrooms. today we boxed up and packed away all summer things minus a few tshirts for us both to use for layering. i also put away lightweight jackets and summer paraphenalia.

tomorrow we will be sorting the beds for winter and putting the electric blanket on her bed. then this weekend i shall make the thermal curtains and get them hung up as i've now found all the bits and pieces that were strewn all about the house.

our hall cupboard now has a nice stock of snoods, hats, gloves, scarves and coats ranging from autum to winter and my yak trax of course!

Confuzzled

kittie wrote: »

I don`t have enough toilet rolls, argh. I think I have too many tins of tomatoes though I am embarrased as I `found` several more last week. 50 in total I think (hangs head) :eek:

i have the opposite issue, plenty of loo roll but when i was batch cooking spag bog the other day i discovered i had no tomatoes! not a complete worry as i had half of one of those 2.5kg bottles of loyd grossman tomatoe and basil or corriander soups i'd gotten from approved food (for that purpose) but i still needed a bit more so i used up my last two tins of tomato soup instead... came out ok

i've always chuckled over those with a lot of tinned toms as we're not massive cooked tomato people (though my daughter now is obessed with spag bog so that will change) but i've always thought them clever to keep them well stocked if it's something they use regulary

oh and don't worry, i'll be buying a dozen tins of tomatoes next time i do an online shop, with the way my daughter is going through spag bog and the good deals i've been getting on mince i think i'll finally have use for them