Preparing for winter III

LavenderBees

chirpychick wrote: »

Hiiiiii

find 3 water bottles in my price range!!!! ANY SUGGESTIONS???
!

Hi,

I noticed full size hwbs in A$DA for £3 (apparently rolled back from £6)

HTH

Lavvy
x

tumptyteapot

tiff wrote: »

I'm in Bristol too, my car read 9 degrees at 4pm this afternoon, very chilly and another one with a log fire burning. Bit of a novelty as we got our old fireplace up and running on Friday and burnt all the wood we had already lol

have you got a wood supplier? I've got the number of a bloke who delivers bags of offcuts for £1.50 each - can you email me if you want it (I don't like messages on here, I've got too many message systems as it is)
moomum at lactivist.co.uk

Fruball

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Thanks for that ... my house has been under 12 deg pretty regularly the past couple of weeks. I finally gave in and put the heating on for a bit a couple of days ago (has been on now & then since) as the house was feeling really damp and the condensation was awful.


I might have to reset my programmer with a slightly higher temp .... it's set at a minimum of 7 just now. I find if it's much more than that it comes on practically every night!

The big problem I have with that is that the boilers in the kitchen - right under my bedroom and wakes me up every time it goes on & fires up:( mmmmm.

The max temperature here today was a bone chilling 4 deg :eek:. Why did I move back to Scotland? (shakes head and slopes off to turn the hot water up for a thawing out bath)

Have you thought about sleeping with 'white noise'?

for instance, in the summer I have air con in the bedroom and altho it takes me a couple of days to get used to the noise, I soon sleep thru it. Its about training your brain not to wake up to any noise. It works for light sleepers too as, oddly, your brain has to work harder to switch off and therefore goes into a deeper sleep - takes about 4 days to break the waking habit but after that you won't wake up to the boiler - need to keep doing it though. If its going to wake you up all winter then its definately worth the 4 days of getting used to sleeping with noise.

A radio on, just barely enough for you to hear it if you concentrate, would do the job nicely, as would a very small fan set to its lowest setting.

I now fall asleep to a hypnotherapy CD but I haven't had trouble sleeping/waking up in the night for years (I used the radio technique years ago).... Its waking up in the morning I have trouble with :rotfl: despite 5+ alarms

mcjordi

its cold here atm but im not putting the heating on just yet.. duvet keeps me warm enough..

im nearly done xmas shopping wise..
still need to buy some candles ( i know i need to get my bot in gear)

tiff

Frugal wrote: »

Ditto :beer:

I can't help myself Even tho the living room was 17c this evening, I still had to have a fire - novelty has not worn off yet

Enjoy!

I've never had a real fire before but after last winter we decided to have an alternative to the central heating as it struggled last year to keep the house warm in sub zero temperatures. We have been looking at this fireplace for the last 12 years that we've been in this house but never had it working!! Why we took so long I'll never know. Still havent really got the hang of lighting a fire but once its going its lovely!

Fruball

Did anybody watch the Panorama Energy programme on BBC1?

I wonder if that family were one of us

Complaining and trying to combat energy price hikes
Becoming 'grumpy' about lights being left on
Foraging for firewood
Kids making HM pizzas
All on the sofa with fleecey blankets/sleeping bags

:rotfl:

'Fess up... Who is it?

LavenderBees

tumptyteapot wrote: »

has anyone still not put the heating on? the weather for Bristol says 12 degrees today but it certainly doesn't feel like it!

Not me yet...was this close this morning (imagine finger & thumb very close together) as it was thick frost outside, and streaming condensation on windows inside. Was -1 according to the car this morning at 7.45, so not too bad. I am a rufty tufty Geordie girl after all :rotfl:.

But then I saw the forecast and it's getting milder again, and sure enough, I got home from work, and the house is warm again. Certainly warm enough to just need a fleece and a HWB stuffed down my front (that way, I can carry it around with me). Mind you, I have had a huge plate of mince & tatties for dinner...and dumplings, too.:spam: Can't find a picture of dumplings so spam will have to do

I have night storage heaters (horrible things), so I have to be one step ahead on deciding when I need them on or off. Only been here 6 years, and obviously still haven't got the hang of it. I'm thinking this year though, that I'll switch them on when we get a sustained cold period, say more than a night or two.

In the meantime, I have my multi fuel stove (which I generally only use at weekends as don't have time to clean it during the week), and various throws/hwbs, so I'm pretty toasty, really.

Long may this continue. I was determined not to switch the heating on until Nov regardless of the weather, so am well chuffed to have got past that. Anything else is a bonus.

Lavvy x

tiff

tumptyteapot wrote: »

have you got a wood supplier? I've got the number of a bloke who delivers bags of offcuts for £1.50 each - can you email me if you want it (I don't like messages on here, I've got too many message systems as it is)
moomum at lactivist.co.uk

That sounds good, have sent you an email. :beer:

mcjordi

Frugal wrote: »

Did anybody watch the Panorama Energy programme on BBC1?

I wonder if that family were one of us

Complaining and trying to combat energy price hikes
Becoming 'grumpy' about lights being left on
Foraging for firewood
Kids making HM pizzas
All on the sofa with fleecey blankets/sleeping bags

:rotfl:

'Fess up... Who is it?

gotta be someone off here... im sure mse andrea asked for families to take part...

Fruball

tiff wrote: »

I've never had a real fire before but after last winter we decided to have an alternative to the central heating as it struggled last year to keep the house warm in sub zero temperatures. We have been looking at this fireplace for the last 12 years that we've been in this house but never had it working!! Why we took so long I'll never know. Still havent really got the hang of lighting a fire but once its going its lovely!

SNAP!!!!!!!!!!! 11+ years of glaring at the ugly gas fire, back boiler behind so big expense upgrading the boiler and moving it upstairs... Finally got the boiler done in Spring.... saved up... got the open fire sorted and I just love it

I think it is costing me more in coal/logs etc than gas would atm as I love to see how hot I can get the lounge, like a challenge - get it far hotter than necessary tbh and it is a novelty atm 25c is my best so far BUT most of my wood is free when I get around to sawing it up (broken pallets from various sources and i'm not afraid to knock on doors when someone has old pallets from building work outside and offer to take them off their hands :rotfl: ) and I haven't driven past a decent log without picking it up and chucking it in the boot despite the funny looks I get from other drivers Will forage in the woods for wood too.

Have come down in the morning a couple of times to find glowing embers so cannot help but chuck a log on for a bit of morning warmth

Best investment, electric saw from argos Makes wood cutting a million times easier.

Best bonus of all - I rented this house out for a while when I moved elsewhere and the tenant had left what I thought was a collapsed dog crate at the end of the garden hidden behind the composter... It just crossed my mind one day that it 'could' be a fireguard, pulled it out and IT IS!!!!!!!!! So I have put that up and feel safer knowing the DDs won't fall into it - they know to be careful but accidents can happen - so I am really chuffed with that find, even tho its not exactly attractive.