Preparing for winter III

mcjordi

bought a windscreen cover for the car...prep is slowing down..

helen_jelly

I gave in and put the heating on tonight for a little while, temp was down to 15 - even DH was cold and he never feels cold!!

Finished knitting DD's wrist warmer/fingerless gloves tonight

Helen

nuttybabe

slscarborough wrote: »

Have you used these before and are they any good? I am looking into something along these lines as was after recommendations. I am new to this thread but am keen to learn!

no i havent used these before. i have read alot about them on here and on another forum. and i read reviews. i couldnt go for spikes because i am in school and around kids alot and these are spring so seemed safter.

Pigpen - she is lovely. almosts makes me want another until i remember what they grow into!!!!

Thriftkitten

Just come home from a girlie naughty knicker party and parted with some cash for a bra that looks lovely but will probably fall to bits in a month grrrr, the house feels verrry cold tonight in windy Cornwall, Ds1 and DS2 both asked for the heating to be put on, but I explained that as I had to PAY Santa this year(haha), we had to wait another week or so and that with all their fancy all in one's from primarni and their microwave bears AND a hotwater bottle, they would be lovely and toasty, so after some warm milk and cookies they are snuggled up in bed just as warm and I have saved myself a few quid......which in turn I spent on the bra hahahaha not very frugal, but hey ho!!!,
Our 2 senior pugs are curled up in their little den under the counter top that once housed an under the counter fridge, with even more padding as I have thrown in 2 old pillows and they also have the vintage ceramic hot water pot....with very warm tap water I might add (not hot hot) So everyone is warm and snuggly in the thriftkitten household tonight.
Meanwhile I have decided that it is time to face the overdraft sitch that I have been living in for too long! So now that the chicks are in their nest and I have some quiet, I am really facing what comes in and what goes out... Something I should have done a long time ago, but got caught up in a fast paced life, I have decided that I will open another current account, put a few weeks of my tax credits in there and then transfer my Direct debits over to that account, then will tackle paying back some of this god awful overdraft, instead of living in it any longer!!!! Preps for winterising the car were going to start tomorrow but will now be on hold until Tuesday as I have been offered some overtime.
Hope you are all staying warm and cozy, FRUGAL you are making me jealous with your open fire project, I would love one and really miss our old character cottage, we now rent an eco home.... It's just not the same, not even a chimney pot for 2 miles!!!:o

angelaloveschocolate

Pigpen, so happy for you, shes a little sweetie!

Confuzzled, please share your reciepe for bacon and lentil soup. sounds yummy.

Rising, my skinners arrived yesterday, so convenient having it delivered and no complaints from my two cockers, thank you for your help with that one.

Angela, xx

twiglet98

lilme wrote: »

For all those with cars, if you don't have roadside cover I would definately recommend it. The bigger companies cost £28 for the year which I always grudged paying until I buckled my wheel hitting a pothole on a freezing cold february night and couldn't get the wheel off. I don't know what I would have done without it and it's something I will now never be without.

I agree, especially with DDs both now driving, nobody in the family having a clue how to fix cars, and hating being towed. They have Tesc0 clubcard key fobs so anything they buy there goes onto my Clubcard account, and I get the top level of family RAC cover from the Clubcard deals each year, which I would not afford otherwise.

twiglet98

pigpen wrote: »

Yep.. She is 3 weeks old today.. and it has gone far too quickly. She was 5 weeks early Gratuitous picture sharing cos she is scrumptious..

What a beauty! Congratulations, she is absolutely gorgeous. Nothing like cuddling a baby to keep you both warm x

twiglet98

ILoveEoin wrote: »

http://www.homebargains.co.uk/search.aspx?searchterms=hot+water+bottle

or some nice smaller 1's in poundland, i had mine for few months now and it going stronge no leaks:)

Does anyone know if all hot water bottles take the same size stopper, are they interchangeable, and can you buy replacement stoppers? Both DDs had HW bottles as part of last year's Christmas pressies, as I was being so mean with the heating (and will be more mean this year), and they have BOTH lost the stoppers. My bottle was from Boots, its stopper seems to fit their bottles but I haven't tried with hot water!

twiglet98

grn.w.nv wrote: »

Toots - thanks they sound scrummy, will go on an ebay mission in a min, see if I can find them.

I just have to say - I've sorted the hay problem! I am so relieved as it's been a weight on my mind for a while now. It's being delivered on Monday and we should have more than enough for the two girls. I even got a free bag of Hi-Fi Lite for Rosie as the shop was running a promotion where if someone recommends the delivery service to someone else, they get a £10 voucher and the noob (me) gets a free (£10) bag of feed. Obviously roped my friend in so she's well chuffed as she got £10 for doing nothing!

To celebrate, I'm migrating my list to this new thread, and actually have something to cross off of it! Woohoo!

House / Other

[STRIKE]Get salt / grit for steps[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Buy cover for outside furniture[/STRIKE]
Get boiler serviced - Quotes obtained, waiting for payday
Have rads replaced in bedroom and bathroom - Quote requested
Fix gutter at front of house - Don't have a ladder long enough, and if we could borrow one, we don't have a suitable car to transport it
Buy draught excluders
Possible curtain for front door
[STRIKE]Buy blind for bathroom[/STRIKE]
Finish painting windows (2 down, 3 to go!)
[STRIKE]Paint fence / shed / decking[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Buy hot water bottle
Add extra insulation to loft
Buy Yaktrax[/STRIKE]

Car

Buy 4 new tyres (very cheap and nasty ones when I bought car = very slippery in rain!)
Buy glow plugs and change - bit of a nightmare, managed to change 1 of 3 successfully, but broke the other 2, need to order more

Horses

Send rugs to be washed - change of plan, only one really needs washing, so will send that in at the weekend
[STRIKE]Buy hay[/STRIKE] :j
Get outdoor coat zip fixed
Buy welly liners
Buy soft hay replacer feed for old girl
[STRIKE]Buy lo-cal chaff for fat pony[/STRIKE] - £FREE :j
Buy and install remaining electric fence rings to protect rugs from fence damage (my horses are hooligans and don't understand that rugs cost money!!)

Glad you got your hay sorted, and got a good deal with the HiFi! My farrier says he has heard of a few people having 50 small bales stolen in each hit - just enough to fit on a trailer, or a Transit-type truck... I need another 50 or 60 to see us through winter but can't afford it at the moment, rent due on the field and barn, feet last week, teeth next week, and 8 rugs have been with the rugwash lady since August. I did do the rugs small enough for the launderette but we haven't clipped and the girls aren't wearing any yet. Meant to get the muck heap removed in summer, it means driving through the field gateway and can only be done when it's dry or frozen, but that's been another unaffordable expense this year with so many car and appliance repairs

DD25 has a hole in her wellies (pink Hunters) and for the first time, I won't be buying her new ones. She is using mine currently, she has more sense than to pinch my ancient dubarrys, but I'm tempted by the Muck Boot Company boots and we could share them if necessary. Might be on my Christmas list!

singlestep

Pigpen, many congratualtions. Your baby is gorgeous!

Rummer, I also had trouble getting gifts delivered and therefore have also already started. My friend's kids were wondering why she got so stressed over the whole thing as at least they'd still be getting their gifts from Santa! I don't have any children of my own but once it gets cold and icy, I'm often doing shopping on the behalf of older family members.

I've decided to buy some of the cheap hot water bottles various people have recommended and take it to work. They switched the heating on at work on Friday (and it was indeed too warm as a result) but I was thinking of having one handy to fill up for the journey to/from work. It can take nearly 90 minutes on the train when all is well and, a few times, the train has simply come to a stop for up to 40 minutes with no heating when the weather has been particularly cold.