Preparing for winter III

tugrin

Farmers wife - there is no real significance to the candles except that we were debating about fragranced candles earlier in the thread and the general concensus is that the yankee candles and wax tart thingys are very good as they hold their smell which so many cheap ones dont. There was also some info about the fact that burning one must produce some heat and then there was a bit about kandle heeters which are a US thing with a flower pot and a coach bolt to store/diffuse the heat - but I think we all thought that was a bit far fetched, especially for the price.

adelight

pollys wrote: »

Sorry things are tough at the moment adelight. I have a dehumidifier (years old) and it's brilliant, there is a washing drying setting on it and this does warm up the room, but not as much as a radiator, just takes the chill off. Modern ones will probably be much more efficient.

Hope you get everything sorted.

Pollys x

I will look into one of those, hopefully they are a touch cheaper than ones combined with a heater :eek: Hopefully the reduced humidity will make the room feel warmer, right now 18C feels freezing because it's so damp.
I changed my sheets last night and there was mould on the sheet running along the wall No wonder I haven't been able to shake my runny nose. New sheet as well!

rising_from_the_ashes

Adelight only one thing I can say ..... ((((hugs)))) things always seem to happen at the same time and seem almost insurmountable because of it - you will get there.

bacardi66 wrote: »

However tonight one of the fuses in my fusebox blew and most of the lights in the house went off, followed by me rummaging around in the pitch dark to try to find candles, lighters/matches and a torch which I knew were somewhere but not exactly where :mad:

You are probably all much wiser than me and do this already but I am now going to make sure that I keep all my candles/lighters/matches/torch in one place (rather than random places all over the house!)

Been there done that too!:D Now you've done it, believe me, you'll know where every candle / torch etc is in the house!

LavenderBees wrote: »

I have read every single post in all 3 threads (it has taken weeks and is so addictive).

Welcome Lavvy:D

Wow to reading all the way through is all I can say!:eek:

FarmersWife_2

Thanks for the candle answer.

<currently slicing a sack full of onions>

tugrin

Adelight- thats not right - are you in rented or is it your own? You need a good dehumidifier for that much damp so look carefully at whatss on offer - ebay ones are usually pick up only and you dont say where you are so that might be difficult.
Have you got an open fire in the place - I used to find that a fire helped a lot when I was in the damp houses of my youth. Also pull the bed away from the wall as far as you can or you will be really ill.

fluffymuffin123

Good Morning Everyone,

I haven't posted for a while but have been slowly catching up with this thread.

The last 9 days have been rather busy, most of them we have spent with no hot water, heating or the use of the gas hob. The council came round for their annual gas inspection. The gas man found a leak and capped the gas off until an engineer could come and fix it. This was last Thursday...

By Monday morning we were fed up of washing with a kettle full of water and not being able to cook things that needed the use of the hob, so I rang the council to see when they would be coming. If I hadn't have phoned they would have never known about it, no one had put in an order to generate another appointment to fix it....:mad::mad:

Still, it's done now and we have all had a bath and washed our hair, the house is warm again and all is right with the world.:T:T

I have read through the previous posts this morning and thought about leaving bottled water in a car emergency box. If it is really cold in the car overnight it might freeze. It might be better to bring the water in each time and leave it in a place that you will remember to take it with you again, maybe with the car keys.

While the children have been off this week I have taken the time to do a few more preparations for the colder weather. I have invested in some new duvets and will use the old ones for under the bottom sheet.

I have also made up a simple lidded plastic box and have left it on a shelf on the landing with matches and candles and candle holders. Should there be a power cut and it all goes dark in the night (children still need the landing light on..we use an energy saver bulb of course;)) I do not have to go downstairs to get the candles and matches. So we have a box of candles upstairs and some downstairs.

I have done the same with a medicine box, just plasters, savlon, paracetamol, cough mixture, rennies, my migraine tablets etc.. When I get a migraine, (usually in the night) I can't walk downstairs to get my tablets so it will be handy to have everything upstairs too.

Apart from that, all is well and I hope everyone's preparations are going OK. This week I will be holding some children's classes in our house on "how to shut the front door" and "answering the door and then shutting it, but not standing on the door step chatting to friends letting all the warm air out". I have lost count of how many times I have shouted "Were you born in a barn!!!".....:eek::eek:

shirleymarye

tugrin wrote: »

Blimey Shirley - its amazing they didnt kill you all. My mum wouldnt let me go to an open air school with my severe asthma because it was boarding - Im really glad now. How in heavens name did you keep warm??

I have to say that I was there for 5 years and I loved it! I don't remember ever being cold,we were always well wrapped up,I always have to have a window open wherever I am,it obviously did me good as apart from the odd cold I have been fine the last 60 years!

angelaloveschocolate

[QUOTE=fuddle

So much for the prediction of snow in October, I've only seen frost here 1 morning. Any one get any snow yet? [/QUOTE]

We've had snow here in N-Ireland. last week it snowed in a few areas close by and also on the high hills on the outskirts of the city, but thankfully it did'nt reach us so we escaped. The floods however have been horrendous!:eek:We have escaped but our neighbours from my husbands village, where my stepchildren live all had to be evacuated. The flood effected all the houses up the street and down the street but our house was ok, phew!:)

Adelight, I'm shocked about the mould on your sheet, I do hope you can get that sorted. I'm also considering a dehumidifier and quite fancy a delonghi as they seem to have good reviews. But, wow, what a price:eek:, anyone got any reccomendations?

rachbc

Finally had a quote to get our draughty sash window repaired and a quote to get an exact replica remade as a double glazed unit - its the first price we are anywhere near being able to afford and we have decided to go for it - I'm more excited about the fact that once its done I will finally be able to make my blind out of beautiful fabric I have been hoading for 2 years! Unfortunatley there is a 6 week lead time so a while to wait yet but am very happy none the less.

It will mean cutting some corners on the bathroom redocoration but I can live with that.

My long search for snow boot for the kids has also proved fruitful and ds 13 is finally accepting that he will need a winter coat that is both warm and waterproof....

pigpen

Winter prep list for Pigpen

I need to..

*make door curtains for front and back door
*Draft tape ALL the doors and the remaining 4 non-DG windows.. My bedroom window done.. it made a huge difference.. but I needed extra double sided tape
*get blinds cut to size and put up in the kitchen
*Boots for DGS 9/9.5F
*make draught snakes for back, front and french doors... I have a pattern finally
*make linings for boys room curtains and put up their blind

Have already.

*wash and sorted everyones winter coats
* sorted shoes for everyone and boots for most.
*Washed windows
*put up back room curtains
*Get guttering replaced back and front
*Get quotes for DD2's bedroom window and back room bay window so I can save up for them to be replaced in the new year... these are now being replaced in TODAY AND TOMORROW!
*get new locks for front and back door and get the back door one in the french doors
*get curtains back up at the french doors.. they blew a hooley through there last winter!
*get girls room plastered..
*make sure everyone has hats, scarves, gloves & vests..
* stove kettle for power cuts.. which we get a LOT of!!
* Boots for DD3 got

Adding a shopping list.

* curtains tracks for front and back doors
* Boots for DGS (9/9.5F)
* Plastic carpet protector for hallway.. it is getting grotty and was hideous last winter with leaves and mud etc.
* coal/logs .. in case of dead boilers we WILL have heat!
* snow shovel is a good idea.. might help OH with snowman building!
* Refill medicine cupboard.. calpol, tixylix, ibuprofen, cocodamol, day/night nurse capsules, anbesol, infacol, savlon cream, lip balm, strepsils, vicks sinex, rennies,
* Wind up light
* Battery charger
* protective doormat/runner for the hallway and kitchen..

Idiot questions...

What is the rough and vague price for coal??? I want to get a couple of bags for those just in cases and power cuts.. a nice fire also provides light and I am happy enough to sleep down here with the baby if it is freezing upstairs

oh.. electric fan heater.. I want one for my mother 2Kw min. with shut off switch for when the dogs knock it over.. has anyone seen any bargainous ones anywhere????