Preparing for winter III

kit

Morning all.

Thought I best join this thread .... last night I was tucked up in bed wearing my all in one fleece PJ's for the first time this year. Not got the heating on yet; wanna try and hold out till November!

For info .... I live in a rented semi detached 2 bed bungalow, currently is has no loft insulation, no cavity walls, drafty (but DG) windows, an old boiler with no timer and a large flat roof over the lounge and dining room (which is in desperate need of being replaced).

My to do list:

Get loft insulated and cavity walls done (November 3rd - yippeeee)
Put up blind in bathroom DONE! only taken me a little over a year to get it up!!) and do something to make it less drafty (only single glazed window)
Get door curtain for front door
Get curtains that fit for lounge (current curtains end about a foot above the window sill!!)
Get door curtains for both arch ways in kitchen
Line curtains in bedrooms, lounge and dining room
Move DD's bedroom round so clothes are not stored on outside wall (they are coming out the drawers wet!).
Get blankets to put between mattresses and sheets.
Wrap outside tap

Is there anything else I can do? I refuse to spend another winter as cold as I was last year!

EDIT - stolen ideas from others .....
Stock up on prescription meds
Get more long life milk
Make sure car is all sorted for winter (gotta drive to Gatwick and back in December - from South Devon!!)

Not going to worry too much about stocking up the cupboard; I have quite a lot anyway and our little village shop will manage to get stock somehow or other (last year a delivery van refused to enter the village when it snowed .... shop had to get a 4x4 to go meet it!).

Butterfly_Brain

kit try making window quilts I have them for my downstairs loo, bathroom, hall and landing windows which are the draughtiest because they have top vents. I will change them when I can afford it but in the meantime the quilts work wonders

http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm

singlestep

I have a few things to do to make sure I keep on top of things, mostly to be done the week after next when I have a week off. This includes:

• Deep-clean of flat before I'm barely at home while it's light enough to really see properly.
• Windows washed and cosier cutains to put up.
• Prescriptions and flu/cold season stock-up (done at work but not at home).
• New boots and coat and thermal in-soles.
• Christmas shopping - including cards and wrapping, sweets etc.
• Maintaining my food provisions, particulary making sure my spices and condiments won't run out.

I have managed to clear some more room in the freezer, which will be replaced by some stuff I'll cook while I'm off. I'm going to make sure I 'make too much' and pass some on to my mum for her freezer, too.

cydney65

Went to Asda asnd Lidl yesterday for stock cupboard items. Managed to get bread mix and cereal that I like, more UHT milk, bottled water and some doggie bits. Today we have brought some of the milk, water and dog tins indoors from our stock in the garage. |Also put some emergency chocolate in the car along with the space blankets and first aid kit. Now just waiting for the wind up torch that I've ordered and that'll be the car done.

Yesterday we put the heating on low as it was really cold. We have decided this year to keep the heating on all the time, but low during the night and evenings. This hopefully means that the house never gets too cold and we waste fuel turning the heat on high all the time. Well that's the theory. My carer still complained of the cold this morning though

singlestep wrote: »

I have a few things to do to make sure I keep on top of things, mostly to be done the week after next when I have a week off. This includes:

• Prescriptions and flu/cold season stock-up (done at work but not at home).

Thank you single step I need to do this

Gettingtherequickly

While not exactly winter prep, but bearing in mind we are trying to get stuff in for the bad weather, Sainsburys 8 pack of pepsi on bogof. I thought some may prefer to use cans as mixers,for the long winter nights when we can sit back smugly and bask in our achievements, rather than opening a bottle and it going flat.

supasick

got abit behind on prep money cos my laptop charger decided yesterday was a superb time to die! So thats another 34 quid to buy another one. Luckily i've also decided to exchange old mobiles for tesco clubcard points. Two phones snagged over 2100 points and i still have another two to sort out. Rather chuffed with that. Its raining over here but its not too cold as yet! Have been enjoying snuggling under my fleece blankets though!!

greenbee

I have cleared and cleaned my shed today, and am in the process of putting away all the garden furniture and making sure that all the stuff I'm going to need over the winter (kindling, tools, salt etc) is easily accessible.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Heating went on last night (new house, minor panic getting it to work - apparently with a combi boiler the heating won't come on at the same time as the boiler is running to heat water, not sure if this is normal). But it's off again now as it's warmer outside than I was heating the house to!! Lovely day for clothes drying.

UHT milk ordered. Only two litres as we're in the South and in the worst of last year's weather the supermarket was only running out of supplies for a few days.

Salt ordered. Only 2 x 3kg bags of Sainsburys dishwasher salt (plus we've already got a nearly full bag). I worked out that it's about the same price (50p p/kg) as buying the huge 25kg bags yet will be much easier to store. Again, we're in the South so won't need so much as others in chillier parts of the country.

Thermal curtains order soon - just need to check on colour with OH. We're getting curtains for the dining room first - it has patio doors and is in the semi basement of our solid walled Victorian house and currently has no window coverings at all!! I've already checked that the ones I'm going to get are machine washable - we both get allergies so normally aren't that into curtains. They're very expensive (window is c210cm by 210cm) so I'm just buying one set for now to see what we think. I'm afraid that sewing is a bit beyond my capabilities!!

Mulled wine ingredients ordered. The OH is Danish and the Scandis love their gløgg which is a mulled wine usually with almonds and raisins in. There are various recipes - I use red wine, orange juice, vodka if we want it more potent and cinnamon. In Denmark gløgg is served with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86bleskiver which are basically jam donuts even though it translates as apple slices!!

tugrin

Right preppers - I have this morning picked up a moulinex bread machine from freecycle!!! - and I am currently listening to the sound of it doing the hard work with some rye and kamut flour BUT wait for this - I have used my homemade sourdough starter - so more experimentation in this household than goes on in the average nuclear power station (thank goodness).
I love the people on freecycle and everytime I pick something up from one of them I count my blessings and hope they know how much they are helping me.

herbily

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I've got a "bad" feeling too - hopefully it will be proved wrong but would rather be over-prepared (if there can be such a thing) than under.



Has anyone got boots for their dog?
Can anyone recommend any?

I'm looking at them just now - you would not believe how many different once there are, or how much they vary in price (I've seen some at £75:eek:).

I thought I'd found some reasonably good ones for about £23 but then found (in tiny writing) that they're only for use in the dry - what *^*&* good's that!

Thinking I may give these a go http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=54592&dept_id=123 only £12.50 for 12 and you can easily replace one if it tears/gets lost rather than having to buy a whole new set.

He hates his feet "meddled with" so not relishing the thought of trying to get them on at 5:30am!


I did manage to get his winter coat altered a couple of weeks ago so at least that's ready - he hates that too but hoping as it fits a bit better now he might put up with it as he's now ancient and needs the extra protection!

I've got some neoprene Walker boots from Jan's Greyhound Gifts:
http://www.jansgifts.co.uk/list.php?type_id=15
(scroll down to the bottom for the boots) They only stock the large and extra large, but I'm sure if you googled you'd find something similar to fit your dog. They're soft boots with velcro straps, but they stay on skinny greyhound legs. My old lad isn't too keen either on having his boots put on, but he hates ice between the toes even more! As a result, he's a bit more patient now when it's time for "boots on"!