Preparing for winter II

Confuzzled

missychrissy wrote: »

Hi Nuala Buala

You can buy wheat from the homebrew places. I occasionally make wheat wine and I always use Hop and Grape online because their customer service has been excellent.

i bought a huge bag of dried cherry stones off ebay for this purpose. they're really good because you can wash the bag which you can't do with wheat or rice bags. mainly though i bought them because they aren't scented with nasty lavender (sorry folks but i'm allergic to it and to me it's horrid and in EVERYTHING uggh!)

i'm still to make mine but i got a good deal from ebay, it's worth checking if you want to make your own.

Justamum

ixwood wrote: »

Leaving the heating on all the time WILL cost more.

This myth/wishful thinking comes up frequently. Why heat space you're not using? You wouldn't leave the kettle on all the time just so it's ready when you need it.

You're right - I worked out our consumption last year as compared to the previous year where we only had the heating coming on for a couple of hours morning and night (and the rest of the day I froze my *ss off!). We used 140 litres more during the whole year. At 50p a litre, that works out at £70 extra for the year, which I'm prepared to pay so that I don't get frostbite sitting in my own house!

mommygoose

Confuzzled wrote: »

i bought a huge bag of dried cherry stones off ebay for this purpose. they're really good because you can wash the bag which you can't do with wheat or rice bags. mainly though i bought them because they aren't scented with nasty lavender (sorry folks but i'm allergic to it and to me it's horrid and in EVERYTHING uggh!)

i'm still to make mine but i got a good deal from ebay, it's worth checking if you want to make your own.

I made mine last night with rice and lavender. I was pleasantly surprised at how long it held the heat:j

hmc

Dippypud wrote: »

Fix kitchen foil with either wallpaper paste or diluted PVA glue.
WHY means, "what have you", old wallpaper, wrapping paper.

The cooking foil acts as a barrier to the damp from within the wall, whether it is from outside, maybe a leaking downpipe, or even a bad dampproof course. Or to give a thermal barrier from a cold wall to the warmth of the kitchen which would give condensation on the surface inside.

If that makes sense.
Regards,Pud

thankyou! that makes perfect sense, though i didnt think glue or paste would stick to brick? going to get everything out from 1 of them today and give it a go.have lots of cardboard so im going to try tinfoil and cardboard. had also thought the tiles were flamable as thats why my mum took hers off the ceiling

Dippypud

hmc wrote: »

thankyou! that makes perfect sense, though i didnt think glue or paste would stick to brick? going to get everything out from 1 of them today and give it a go.have lots of cardboard so im going to try tinfoil and cardboard. had also thought the tiles were flamable as thats why my mum took hers off the ceiling

Hi Hmc,
Ahh, stick to brick?

OK, try neat PVA glue, or maybe "no nails" type sticky stuff.

Have you checked to see if there is an obvious cause for the damp, from either above,(gutter etc), or below, (outside soil surface too high against the wall).

Regards, Pud:cool:

valk_scot

lingojingo wrote: »

Struggling to find any cheap curtains or linings as 90" not long enough for my windows :eek: which are all ceiling to floor, in my high ceilinged house

My bay window need at least 6 x standard curtain fabric widths (48") to go round it and the drop is 108" so yes, I know what you mean about not being able to find cheap curtains. The yardage required makes it impossible!

However....

Ikea do 3m curtains, which work out at 117 inches. I pick them up out the sale bin when they get reduced. Or you can get thermal curtain lining off Ebay for about £1.50 per metre. I have two sets of curtains for the bay window, summer ones and winter ones, but made seperate loose curtain linings so I just need one set and swap them over.

pookienoodle

debtmess wrote: »

off top of my head i need to stock medicine box and get ds a spare of each inhaler for the back of the cupboard, stock up on medicines for the little ones)
wash all our fleeces we have 2 each, 2 for the sofa the boys also have a fleece sleeping bag each) the kitten has 1 for his bed
source 3 hot water bottles for the boys don't have a microwave so cannot buy the bean type
just brought hats gloves and scarfs but ds3 needs a new winter coat (has to be thomas though)
find a kettle to use on the gas cooker incase of power cut though a saucepan would surface if needed
4 pairs of wellingtons i have yet to see many in the shops locally
2 need slippers

Sports direct had some very good Thomas coats in their sale section last week,saw them in 2 different stores so it should be national.

Kitchenbunny

Had all the candles in the front room lit last night instead of putting the heating on. DH was really feeling the cold so wanted to stay as warm as possible. I think I'll have to add another packet of tealights to my provisions list.

I was also really pleased to see that Mr M's are selling things like pork knuckles, ribs, pork cheeks and lamb bones for stock. It's good that the supermarkets are selling some of the less well known cuts of meat. I'm definitely intending a big batch of pea and ham soup for one of my winter freezermeals using a pork knuckle.

KB xx

valk_scot

Well, I've now got the lounge, hall and bedrooms "winterised". the heavy curtains are up, the thicker rugs down, the throws put on the backs of the sofas. I've got the thicker duvets on too...I've got the 3-in-1 type where there's a 4.5 tog, a 10.5 tog and then you can popper them together to make a 15 tog duvet when it gets freezing cold. I've got quilted mattress toppers for the beds too, for extra cosy, and fitted flanelette sheets. (I made these.) But these last and the 15 tog duvet aren't normally necessary till December. I'm still in autumn mode.

Next week the task is to sort through all the winter coats, jackets, boots and outside shoes, gloves, scarves etc and top up anything necessary. The kids have grown a lot this summer, sigh, but I've got a box of handmedowns up in the attic so hopefully won't need to buy much more. I knit a lot and over the summer I usually knit wool socks as a carry around in car project, so we're fine for these. DS though has now got size 11 feet...that's a lot of knitting!

I've already sorted out the clothes drawers and have a short list. Hubby was moaning that he needed new stuff...then I went into his wardrobe to check exactly what and I found a pile of M&S bags in the bottom, full of stuff I'd bought him in the last two sales! Lazy git hadn't even hung them up. No wonder he needed new stuff! But it does mean that now he's got plenty.

What else? Oh, curtain and draught excluders for the hall door to the outside, topped the insulation round the boiler pipes up because a friend gave me half a roll of loft insulation left over from her own top up. Draught excluding sausages for along the top of the sash windows have been made.


I'm a great fan of insulation, thick curtains and draught excluders actually. Why pay for heating just to see it all vanish out the cracks? We had our walls cavity insulated five years ago as part of our big house renovations and the temperature inside the house rose dramatically...which was just as well given that our boiler was out of action from Feburary that year untill the new combi-boiler went in in May. Even with all the curtains etc, I make a point of walking round each room with a lit candle and the lights off each autumn...if the candle flame starts guttering or blowing sideways, you've got a draught and need to stop it up.

My heating is on now, but just a couple of hours in the evening when it's getting dark. We have individual thermostats on the radiators so it gets fine tuned...never put my bedroom one on, ever. (Except briefly once per month to check it's working.) By Decemberish the CH will be on two hours in the morning, from just before the kids get up for school to just after, then from about 3pm till 11pm max. I spend most of the daytime in the study, where we don't use any heating because the PCs blast out plenty, and the kitchen which is unheated but draught free so plenty warm enough anyway. I keep bedroom doors etc shut during the day to stop the heat getting out because even with lots of draught excluders the hall is definately colder. The cats, who can always be relied upon to find the warm spots, sleep up in the platform bed in the study during the day on an old duvet. (At night they sleep on top of me and Hubby, lol.)

My last winterising project will be the utility room. It's downstairs in the basement, unheated, twenty foot high ceilings and lots of draughts round the back door. For various reasons it's impractical to put a curtain or draught excluders there so I am actually going to have to buy (!) some of that stick on foamy edging stuff and a brush draught excluder for the bottom of the door. I might put a muslin curtain up across the window too...it's double glazed and pretty draught free, but I think it needs something. I've got washable rag rugs for the stone floor. I hate going down there in winter but that's where the washing machine lives.

Little_Vics

does anyone know where you can get those double door draft excluder thingys that you slide under the door and have a sausage on each side? Am I making any sense at all???