Preparing for winter III

[Deleted User]

CHEAPSKATE - tinned sweetcorn is nice in a jacket potato with tuna, also nice on its own. You either love or hate mushy peas, I love 'em and the tins make a very nice base for a pea soup too. Tinned kidney beans, chick peas etc. are very useful and can make a protien base for a main dish as well as padding out casseroles and stews, I always have a stash of all these as well as the ubiquitous baked beans and tomatoes. BYATT - we have a sweep once a year and he costs us £35 which is for a full clean, check of the liner in the chimney and check over of the stove itself. He always does a smoke test and would be able to tell you of any problems. Make friends with your woodburner, it really is our delight to use ours in the winter months. Docky loves laying in front of it and I'm sure Bess would love it too Cheers Lyn x.

prepareathome

You can buy a heater that runs off the same type of gas canisters the flat camping stoves run off and it does give out a good heat - we have one, not had thankfully to acutally put it to use during cold weather but have tired it out and it gave out a lot of heat so although most likely cost to much to run all the time ( and of course you need ventilation) would be handy just to give short blasts of warmth to keep you going during a cold spell and no power.

When we had the GCH put in 3 years ago we dithered over removing the gas fire, its a horrible thing I always meant to change but its never been high on list of priorities but we decided to keep it for back up as of course the GCH still uses electric so would go off.......its a gas guzzler and even with prices going up our gas bills have gone down since using it, am paying half of what I was paying 4 years ago since stopped using that fire, but any port in a storm if the power goes off in middle of a freezing winter for more than a day or so. Now its hidden behind nice fire screen so doesn't bother me still having it.

poohbear59

Our main aim for preparing for Winter this year is to insulate the vaulted ceilings/roof as they definitely don't have as much insulation as the main roof voids. I have found some cheaper Kingspan on eebay so am going to order a small sample to make sure it is up to standard.

The second major job is to insulate the two cold spots in this house, the dining part of the kitchen which is an extension put on in the 80s and the hall. We still need some more double glazing but the plastic film worked very well last year. Still waiting for a joiner to come and fit the outside porch doors for us too. Good thing DH has some work for a few weeks as I am going to spend it all on insulating the house..

poohbear59

Last Winter our power was off three different times for more than 48 hours so I would recommend that everyone has an extra means of keeping warm, other than the central heating. Especially if there is someone very young, elderly or frail in the house.

bossymoo

muffin_man_7 wrote: »

remember if the electric goes then so does the heating

we've got gch but no gas fire cooker is gas so plenty of hot drinks and hot water bottles which reminds me we need a few new ones this year just to be on the safe side we are lucky in we don't have all that many power cuts but better safe than sorry i think i will also be getting a few big candles to help keep us warm as well as be able to see i like to save empty jars for this reason as it's safer still have wind up lanterns and torches for going upstairs cos i don't like the dark :eek:

Of course. Still, we have the fire, and torches and battery lamps. I will get candles in, but with 2 kiddies under 4yrs I'd rather avoid them :eek: As long as I can feed them and have some way of warming some milk at bedtime, that'll do for me x

Byatt

Mrs LW, thanks, the clean isn't as bad as I thought it would be! mmmmhhh, I will sort it out next month and as Fuddle as said, once I light it I won't stop. I'm being silly really as we had a coal burner, many years ago, but I made the fire in it etc...ohhh I'm getting excited now. Need to move the fish tank as it currently resides in the inglenook, did I mention I have an inglenook?

The only tinned veg I really like is sweetcorn and mushy peas. Oh and the red kidney beans. But definitely going to try PAH's suggestion of S's tinned potatoes.

bossymoo

I have an empty tension rod at my landing window. Have just hung a large fleece over, we'll see how long it stays up. It's a reasonable heavy one, doubled over because of the size. Nice and snug to the size of the window.

May save on stitching? If it works I'll try on a wider window - this one only 2 panels so 3-4 feet wide. Might suit my bathrooms too as easy to pop off and wash / dry if it gets all steamy...

[Deleted User]

AUNTIE BYATT - yew's gotta ingleynook? I fort yew sed she wozza boxa doggie!!!! Luv frum yer frend Docky xxxxxxx.

Molly41

bossymoo wrote: »

Of course. Still, we have the fire, and torches and battery lamps. I will get candles in, but with 2 kiddies under 4yrs I'd rather avoid them :eek: As long as I can feed them and have some way of warming some milk at bedtime, that'll do for me x

I bought some cheap lanterns from Ikea which hold candles. These are much safer - I use them because I have kids and inquisitive Westies who get their whiskers singed!

Also bubblewrap windows - I tried this last winter on my large bedroom patio door and it worked a treat.

nicki_2

Got a phonecall today from the company that does the boiler services so thats booked in for Tuesday Fortunately DD now has her own key so she can come home on her own and I don't have to worry about picking her up so no worries about appointment time. We're taking babysteps in responsibility ready for secondary school in September

Hoping to get the backdoor fixed soon but with appointments & school events coming out of my ears for the next couple of weeks as well as work I don't know when I'll be free for him to come and fix it

Spoke to the landlady about getting the new fire (both of us forgot about it..how I don't know but there you go:p I think I can blame the 'once you've lived with it so long you stop noticing it' thing and she's got multiple properties she manages herself and has had quite a few personal things to deal with including going abroad a few times to deal with them) so she's asked me to remind her later in the year due to me being so busy for the next few weeks & then she's going away for 4-6 weeks so won't be here to deal with it. I'm going to put a BIG note on my calender to remind me to call her on the 3rd September. :rotfl:

Right, I'm off to go and see if I can buy DD a 3-in-1 coat that won't break the bank. Her current coat sleeves are heading for her elbows again. I don't know what she's eating but I'm sick of the growth spurts and therefore the outgrowing of clothes! She's costing me a fortune!!