Preparing for winter III

Rainy-Days

I see Birmingham City Council have had a fleet of brand new gritters at a cost of £2 million and they have been stock piling the grit for the last year. They also have detachable snow ploughs to the front of the gritters as well. They said they needed to do this because of the catastrophes of previous years but also because they have been forewarned of an impending bad winter this year!!

prepareathome

I have never dyed velvet, I guess it would depend on what they were made of, cotton velvet I would presume would be ok. There was a lot of talk about dying earlier in the year and last year on the Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies thread maybe someone on there could help, no harm in posting more than once.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2426287 thats the link to it.:)

rising_from_the_ashes

RachelG - what are they made of? (velvet can be a variety of different fibres).

Some dye really well but some fibres (eg polyester) are really difficult to dye and don't take colour very well so you can get a mixed result.

Does it really matter if they're faded (my velvet ones in the lounge are really sun damaged around the bottoms/edges) or the wrong colour?

Personally, I'd rather they were the wrong colour/faded and I was warm.....

Emmala

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

RachelG - what are they made of? (velvet can be a variety of different fibres).

Some dye really well but some fibres (eg polyester) are really difficult to dye and don't take colour very well so you can get a mixed result.

Does it really matter if they're faded (my velvet ones in the lounge are really sun damaged around the bottoms/edges) or the wrong colour?

Personally, I'd rather they were the wrong colour/faded and I was warm.....

Hi, no it doesn't really matter, I just thought if it was possible to dye them then why not? Though I'd rather leave them than risk dyeing them and it going wrong!! I think they are cotton velvet, so I might give it go......thanks for the advice and for taking the time to reply x

tugrin

Rachel - I dyed some cotton velvet once and it does make the velvet lose its nap - ie the pile didnt seem to lie down in that lovely velvety way anymore. I think I made a costume for a school play from it. Still it can be done and cotton velvet is quite a tough fabric in terms of wear, I certainly have one velvet curtain that I know for a fact is over 40 years old and its still going strong.

Natty68

Hi everyone, have been reading the thread for a bit but have decided to come out of lurkdom I know a few on here, *waves hello* and hope you haven't fallen off their seats in shock that I have surfaced at long last after being in my own little bubble and not logging on for nearly a month with hardly any contact.

As it is nearly winter here, although it is still really mild here in Kent. I shall take advantage and sort out my winter list before it gets too cold.

Oooh I did notice earlier on in the thread you were all talking about Yankee Candles.. I have about a couple hundred different ones of these, and I much prefer these to the synthetic candles you can get from supermarkets etc. Yankee ones have the essential oil going all the way through the candle so that you benefit from it even when the candle or tart has burnt down to almost nothing. Also they are made from Soya/Paraffin wax and are really good if you someone in the house who is asthmatic. My DH can't have Glade or any like that in the house, but burning Yankees have no effect on him at all.

Another idea is if you have any votives, as well as your tarts, then you can cut up the votives into quarters and burn these in the tart burner. They are slightly stronger in scent too..

Unfortunately https://www.yankeedoodle.co.uk have stopped selling Yankee candles, they are selling off all their old stock now. But you can go to anywhere like Yankee Direct or Yankeecandles.co.uk. Basically anywhere that has Yankee candles online. I do have a couple of ebay sites I buy from too, these usually sell the USA scents and often rare or hard to find Yankee candles.

Yikes I seem to have written a novel regarding Yankee candles lol. But if anyone wants to know anything about Yankees then feel free to pm me - I am sure those that know me will vouch I am a Yankee addict..lol

Hugs everyone..xxx

Emmala

tugrin wrote: »

Rachel - I dyed some cotton velvet once and it does make the velvet lose its nap - ie the pile didnt seem to lie down in that lovely velvety way anymore. I think I made a costume for a school play from it. Still it can be done and cotton velvet is quite a tough fabric in terms of wear, I certainly have one velvet curtain that I know for a fact is over 40 years old and its still going strong.

Thanks for that. They are big curtains and one would cover the window with plenty of gather, so I might try dyeing one and see what happens, then if it's a disaster, I can just use the other one. It's just for the winter in my daughter's room, as this year her bed is under the window, so it won't matter if it's one rather than the pair!

I knew you guys would help.....this is such a supportive and helpful board!!!:) Thank you!

By the way, I've been beavering away with winter prep, with DH chuckling away thinking it's all faffing about......can't wait for a cold snap so I can prove him wrong!!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

dizzybee

not posted in a while but have been reading the thread,i have know caught up with you all,
my winter prep is going really well manged to get two rugs from Ikea for £10 each and they are big and lovely under foot,all drafts have been sealed so much so the house is fairly warm and i haven't had to put the heating on yet.
i am know stocking the cupboards up with extra food,pets sorted they have enough food,hay and sawdust to last till feb hope fully.

adelight

What does everyone think is a good amount of water to have in your store? Four days worth? I'm in London so mad snow is a lot less likely and threatening than in other areas.
I'm doing an online order right now for stuff to go away for winter. Mainly for things that are ready to eat cold and some basic house stuff, but also trying to make sure they will be used up after winter if left. Does this look okay for 2 people? I don't have a lot of space for much more.
20L water
big bag salt
10 lighters
20 candles
40 tins pulses
20 tins toms
6 big tins grapefruit
20 tins tuna
2kg oats
2kg rice
3kg flour
I'm assuming there will be periods where I can't get to the shops. I don't want to get anything frozen in case the power does go. I have more than enough cleaning products and toilet paper already

nikki2804

Hi, ive been AWOL for a while.

Gave up winter proofing my house as everything kept going wrong and the Landlord wouldn't fix it. (I currently have no oven - thank goodness its the weather for soup!)

Anyway, I'm moving on December 15th to another rented house. Family friend is renting out her house. Lower villa, closed plan, its super cosy.

The best thing is that they redone the outhouse at the bottom of the garden and it has power running to it. The kitchen is a strange layout and can only take a small fridge/freezer however they are leaving the existing one. That means I can have my two freezers in the out house and the one in the house. Super stocked up!

The house is also near the shops so if its bad snow again I can walk to the shops.

Also, cheaper rent and council tax (saving £53 a month - so MSE!!)

On a side note, I now have two snow shovels, 7 cans of de-icer and a bag of grit. Lots of tea bags and pasta too!