make do and mend for tougher times

fuddle

Loads to think about there. I thank you all so much.

The basic calor heaters look quite alright, you can get them in black now. It would sit on the fire place I think but need measurements. Definately a fire guard... Alfie has a collie's tail, I shall say no more!

I like the idea that you pay upfront.

this is £79.99 without gas. If DH says it's a goer I could get that in a few months and the gas the next month. Hopefully start seeing some central heating savings around New Year. I use £25-£30 per month in gas just in water usage. If we could knock the heating on the head or just heat the bathroom for bath time we could potentially save around £70-£90 per month in the real thicks of winter. We've plenty of hot water bottles for beds.

AMazon have them for £59.99 without gas

Also, I have a carbon monoxide detector already

Condensation is an issue in this house anyway. Every morning I have to get an old towel and wipe each pane. Thinking of getting one of those window cleaning rubber wipers

Popperwell

We used to have a portable gas heating perhaps 30 years ago can't remember why we got rid of it but I have a feeling they are not allowed now by people renting from some councils/housing associations but may be in private rented or owned properties.

GreyQueen

smileyt wrote: »

Where is Greyqueen? I am worried that the slugs have kidnapped her!

smileyt wrote: »

It's the same one, Fuddle. Glad to hear Greyqueen is prepping, I'm relying on her to stop the Zombies invading the northern end of our fair isle!

I'm alive and well, thank you for noticing, just having to keep off this seductive thingy called the interweb or nowt else gets done. On the subject of the zombies, I shall marshall my troops and attempt to hold them at Watford Gap. If we are overcome, I hope someone will light the beacons and send warning to our northern outposts and that you will survive.:rotfl:

Did some gardening yesterday and may have accidentally impaled 3 slugs on the tine of my fork. Trickier than slice n' dice with the spade but it was the implement to hand. I was surprised to see that the clutch of slug/ snail eggs I exposed the light last weekend by moving a bucket haven't been eaten by the birds or a hedgehog or something. They've had their chance and I shall scoof the eggs up with a teaspoon into a plastic pot and smush them to smithereens. Got to try and get the drop on the gastropod horde before the next growing season.

S'pose it could be worse; we don't have deer or bunnies at the lotties.

Aslo, there is a dead mouse upside-down on my lottie "patio" which is probably a little token of affection from one of the lottie cats, who generously allow me to share their hunting grounds. It's the thought that counts, isn't it?

GLad to hear that PAH is still about and hoping all goes as she wishes it to go, and that she'll come back to posting one day.

JKJ glad to hear that you're derivng comfort and companionship from the toughies and sorry that life's a bit rubbish for you at the moment. Pull up a mug of your favourite beverage and share the good and the bad; we've all had plenty of experience of both.

Fuddle, what a cutie that Alfie-dog is!

Right, finish my cuppa, socks on and hit the streets, or rather the cycle paths and head lottie-wards.

Cover me, ladies and gents, I'm going in!!!!!!!!!!!

2tonsils

We use calor gas for both the cooker and the bedroom calor gas heater as there is no natural gas here on the islands. I love it and have never had any issues with safety for the gas bottles. I had to laugh when I heard that Greeks check for gas leaks on them with a lighter....highly risky I would have thought but the man at the gas factory told me that the gas is under high pressure so the bottle would not blow but send out a high pressure flame...I didn't believe him then and still don't. My naughty husband takes great pleasure in shouting BANG!!! very loud if he sees someone approaching a gas bottle with a lighter to check it....it certainly makes them think again about doing it again...

Our dehumidifier has a setting to control the humidity level in the room and we usually set it around 60 percent which feels comfy to us but not too dry. If we set it any dryer we find we start coughing because the air is too dry, its nice to get a happy medium. At the moment its really humid here and very warm its like being in a sauna.

We are on our third day of horrendous thunderstorms. We are getting short breaks in between but the thunder is there all the time in the distance. We went to the car boot sale today and there were four trees down on the way home and tons of gravel on the roads. It makes for dangerous driving conditions on the bendy mountain roads.

Only one stall was at the car boot and that was mostly old clothes and computer gadgets, although I did get a big heavy casserole pan for 5 euros, perfect for my winter casseroles and big soups. I went to the ex catalogue shop as spied they were open...illegal here on a Sunday. Only bought a winter weight top as the stuff was all crammed together and the shop was dull and dingy. It put me off looking through all the other things and I am sure some of it was a bargain. They import it all from the UK then sell it by the kilo in weight so I got a 9 pounds George at Asda top for just 5 euros. I sorted my clothes out yesterday so know where the gaps are in my wardrobe and that is all I will buy this year.

Off to do my ironing while the storms are in the distance. The tv signal is poor so we have turned it off and are both on the computers instead. Its very quiet in the village, it feels like winter, although its too warm for this time of year!

Pooky

fuddle wrote: »

Loads to think about there. I thank you all so much.

The basic calor heaters look quite alright, you can get them in black now. It would sit on the fire place I think but need measurements. Definately a fire guard... Alfie has a collie's tail, I shall say no more!

I like the idea that you pay upfront.

this is £79.99 without gas. If DH says it's a goer I could get that in a few months and the gas the next month. Hopefully start seeing some central heating savings around New Year. I use £25-£30 per month in gas just in water usage. If we could knock the heating on the head or just heat the bathroom for bath time we could potentially save around £70-£90 per month in the real thicks of winter. We've plenty of hot water bottles for beds.

AMazon have them for £59.99 without gas

Also, I have a carbon monoxide detector already

Condensation is an issue in this house anyway. Every morning I have to get an old towel and wipe each pane. Thinking of getting one of those window cleaning rubber wipers

That's the one we got. With the bottle in its approx. 29" high, 17" wide and 18" deep.

fuddle

Oh for f sakes! :mad: Checked my tenancy agreement as per popperwells suggestion and I'm not allowed portable gas heaters in the house.

Back to the drawing board. :mad:

mardatha

AWH bloody landlords!!
I'm looking for ideas on how to dye or whiten Ikea nets. We have them in the bedroom because I never close my curtains here, and from outside they look greyish. What could I use to whiten them or change the colour?

shegar

fuddle wrote: »

It all helps, thanks both. Well that's the bio ethanol idea out then, burn in 20 mins is just a no go. I was concerned about ventilation too Lyn.

I'll look into calor gas burning heaters. DH works in tools/plant hire and maybe have links to calor gas reductions. He used to, not sure about his newer job.

Is there anything carbon monoxide related I need to know about calor gas burning indoors?

Lyn cleaned out my cookware cupboard to find room for my pantry stock and found DH's old tupperware bait box... ideal for baking storing

A heated throw? I'll definately look into that

edit: oh yum



price is a bit much but that is only 2 months gas charges for me. A discussion needed with DH, thank you.

My son bought one of these heaters, and he is very pleased with it, the gas bottle cost £33, but does last quite a while at burning the stove at least 10 hrs per day.....

He as got storage heaters but they cost a bomb to run plus the dam things run out of heat mid afternoon, so theyve turned them off and make do with the gas stove, with the small window on the jar...........

My other son as got LPG heating which he finds expensive to run,as those large gas bottles are £73 :eek::eek: so he as bought the other portable gas stove which as 3 heat settings, also the gas bottle is £33, they heat the one room with it nicely........And also dont use any other type heating.......They are not at home all day so by using the gas stove of a morning for an hour and 4 hours of a evening it works out quite reasonable too.......

Im going to light my fire this arvo, its a lovely sunny, bright, windy day, not that warm though , ive got all washing line dried this morning, so I will have open fire alight instead of the GCH............Most of my windows are large and south facing so the place is very warm while the sun is out...........Hope your all okay and remember its a sunday afternoon which means afternoon of rest...!!. I t use to in the olden days .!!

fuddle

It'll depend on what the nets are made out of Mar as to whether the material would dye. I'll go look on Ikea see if there's any info on the material of their nets and i'll try to draw upon my after collage job in a dry cleaners knowledge.

Edit: the only thing I can find on there is 100% polyester net curtains. If they are polyester then I'm afraid the dye just won't take. The only way to dye poly is with stupidly hot temps and home dyes just aren't compatible with those heats. Sorry Mar

Thais says you can dye poly http://www.wikihow.com/Dye-Polyester but that goes against everything I was taught. Worth a try?

Aha!! http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_8705249_whiten-polyester.html whiten might be easier. They say, but I won't do it that to whiten your teeth you should use bicarb and lemon juice but I refuse to strip out my enamel for a bit whiteness but it might just work for ya nets

westcoastscot

Hi Everyone,
Can I come back to the club hut if I promise to behave???? Have climbed a few personal mountains and am looking forward again.
Getting ready for winter here - its very cold and wet, we've had frost a couple of mornings and are having regular power cuts - power was off overnight for 3 hours last night, not sure why.
I see prices rising left right and centre, so looking where I can cut back a little more - I have a full set of magazines called Self Sufficiency (then went to Home Farm and something else I think) - Katie Theare editted them for years - they're in the loft so going to get them out and see if they offer any useful advice now - they were aimed at both small-holders and urban homesteaders - had forgotton about them until I couldn't find my spiral sock pattern.

WCS