Preparing for winter IV

Becky_2

A couple of weeks ago I said on this thread that OH was helping a friend cut a tree and that the wood would end up in our house for free. Well, it wasn't just one tree it was four! This weekend we spent an hour to start cutting the wood into logs and kindlings and set up a suitable storage place. It's a rewarding but hard job but all the free wood should last at least half the winter and save us money. We are planning to spend an hour or so every weekend until all the wood have been sorted.

Once a month or so I go out in our garden and collect twigs and small branches from our neighbours large tree that have fallen onto our garden. I have already collected a banana box of kindling this way.

pinkmami

I've started buying kindling from a local yard. 2 huge sacks for £2 each - amazing bargain!

back next week for another 2!

And I've had some fencing dome & every piece of wood on the floor goes straight into my log basket.

Plus I have a dead tree in a field of mine which need chopping up and it will last is a very long time!

alice-mary

I broke up for the summer holiday yesterday, so the 1st thing I had planned was to get the chimney swept at 9am. The Sweep turned up half an hour early so it has already been done and now I need to book the delivery of coal and logs that I have ordered! Feels daft doing it when it is so hot but it is lovely knowing I will have a safe fire over the winter months!

Alice
xx

ScottishOstrich

Hello,
Like many, I have been enjoying the summer sunshine by getting ready for winter hahaa
I got my other half to put up a new curtain pole in my spare room. complimented by a fantastic pair of long faux suede curtains i got via freecycle.
put in my meter readings today and i am so glad i did a fixed deal with Scottish power. with my new efficient heating system is paying me back already with putting me into £189 in credit.
I have a question tho. I do not have any blinds up in my living room and I am considering getting some.What do you think are the best at keeping the heat in and the cold out?
was thinking of getting a roller blind /black out one, but not sure if perhaps vertical blinds would be better.
All advice appreciated.
Now back to finishing off the jam i have stupidly started to make.
Cheers
Ostrich

fuddle

Hi princess. You could line your curtains with bubble wrap.

I just wanted to mention the iffy subject of calor gas heaters when renting. I was not allowed to have one in my previous rental so worry it may be the same for you especially as they seem to be very OS savvy re:bubble wrap tactics being a fire hazard.

Princess you should have a copy of your rental agreement it will be in there. Both you and LL are issued with one.

Soups and broths will be so nice for your OH. Nice rustic crusty bread. A wholesome warming lunch for the worker, better than any bakery/sand which shop/supermarket offering and loads cheaper

Bubble wrap is excellent! I do hope you can get round this glitch because it helped us so much in the past.

The slow cooker chuntering on during the day is so nice for a quick warm up. I once read that if you're wrists are warm then the rest of you stands a chance of being warm. Maybe cods wallop mind.

Can you put a few pound away during these summer months to help out with the heating costs? Blankets on sofas, hotwater bottles are fab for getting rid if chills and making things bearable to avoid those big heating bills but I do worry about homes being cold, too cold for bodies to warm up properly before enduring colder outside temps

fuddle

Hi Scottish, I've not had vertical blinds but like the thermal backed rollers we have on the children's rooms. They do the trick but I can feel draughts round the sides and feel curtains will be super warm, just not yet.

Would vertical blinds let in draughts at every section I wonder?

cuddlymarm

Good morning everyone

When I was a little girl ( long, long , long time ago) we would religiously get a bag of coal a week, no matter what the weather. It saved on buying extra in winter and kept the coal man in a job.
Also it was a way of saving cos if you had no money for extra food or coal in those days you made do with what you had.

Ok memory time over
Have a good day
Cuddles

alice-mary

Morning Preppers,
As it is already too hot for me today, I won't be venturing outside (unless we get the rain that has been mentioned) and have picked up my knitting bag. The main project is an Arun Jumper, so YES, on a hot summer day I will be finishing off the back section of a chunky jumper, ready for this winter. Once that is complete, it will be back to the 5 scarves that have been requested for friends and their partners. It is good for 2 reasons... 1st, it is good to plan ahead and 2nd, the knitting keeps my hands busy and stops me eating!

Have a good day everyone,

Alice
xx

Cheapskate

Isn't it funny how we all start winter prep with a vengeance as soon as the summer hols start? I've been gradually washing all the fleece blankets we have during this nice weather, and this week will be going round the house to make a list of things I need to do/make/buy, as last year's winter preps were a bit hurried.

Going to read the meters today, hopefully we'll now be in credit or at least breaking even, so by the time we need the CH on we should have a decent amount of credit.

I'm also scouring freegle etc for curtains to use as door curtains, which we badly need, and scanning CS and sales for flannelette sheets and other warming things. We're replacing the kids' blind with curtains this summer, so will sew some sort of linings into them for extra warmth. Their room's not too bad, but it will save having the CH on most of the time.

Is it just me, or does anyone else like watching films set in Arctic weather in the summer, as a way of getting in the mind set for winter preps? (Thinking Day After Tomorrow, parts of Narnia, Lord of the Rings films, etc! :rotfl:)

Today I'm buying some cheap wool and knitting needles and crochet hooks, so I can start practising before autumn - dolls' cot will have the first (prob pathetic!) examples whilst I explore! :rotfl:

A xo

Pooky

Part of this years winter prep was a new boiler and a few new radiators, all but one were replacements for rads that were over 25 years old and had rusted through. It will be nice to have a more even heat distribution. We also had a rad put in the kitchen as there wasn't one and my golly it was cold out there. The original kitchen had been knocked through into an extension which added a 19 x 12 ft to it, three huge windows and a back door (all double glazed but very drafty). When we stripped the old kitchen out we found lots of old vents that weren't closed off into the cavities and the windows were badly fitting. That's all been sorted so hopefully it will be much warmer this year.

I've had a half tonne coal delivery and we have enough chopped wood (mainly from pallets) to see us through the season. Our "pallet man" has lots for us so I will get them chopped and stacked for next year, I can't turn down free wood. I enjoy the chopping bit too, on a chilly autumn morning it's lovely to get out there and warm up.

I picked up a pair of full length cream curtains that I can use across doorways, £3 at a nearly new sale. I've got plenty of fleece blankets I can line them with and have saved the old kitchen curtain poles to hang them from over the living room and dining room door ways.

I need new jumpers this year, mine are all 6/8 years old and looking very ropey. I like ones that come down to mid thigh, so shall keep an eye out with the new seasons stuff coming into charity shops. I may even treat myself to a couple of new ones (oh the indulgence).

Everyone needs new slippers which I shall endeavour to sort in the next week or so and I know DDs will want some more of the thermal tights from primarni...

Bring it on.....I can't wait for the Autmun to hit (and it looks like it may be a chilly one)