Preparing for winter IV

[Deleted User]

Today our second lorryload of logs was delivered and we now have a completely full logstore, and backache!!!!! But it's so worth it to know we'll be toasty warm this winter whatever happens and it's all paid for so no nasty bill will be coming at the end of the cold weather, The woodburner is the VERY best investment we have ever made, Cheers Lyn xxx.

hollieinbloom

Bought some flannelette sheets for DD's bed today from Matalan and a thick under blanket thing from QD which felt like teddy bears and was on offer for £3.99. It should keep her toasty, now I will wait til next payday to buy them for our bed as the double costs more! good job my OH is always hot so i can cuddle up to him if I'm cold! x

nicki_2

I'm going to attempt to knit us new gloves this year. DD and I both have long fingers and I didn't realise how easy they are to make until today so o
when I go to see my parents on Monday I'm hoping to come away with some of my late nannas knitting supplies and will get stuck in. Hoping to have warm and fully functioning fingers this winter :rotfl:

Vala-Mal-Doran

Has anyone else noticed all the geese flying south already? Im sure they dont normally fly until late september...has me worried

lobbyludd

I think I'll get a cheap duvet to throw on the sofa for me and DH to snuggle under - the kids are in the habit of bringing down their sleeping bags when it's cold so I reckon we should have something to curl up under too! Argos have them for £6.99 for a single, which isn't too bad if it saves a couple of evenings worth of coal. We had to eek the coal out at the end of last winter as we pretty much ran out and couldn't afford any more, so a duvet will hopefully get us through those days a with a bit more comfort!

tiffany - you could always use the duvet from your bed for this - no outlay and then it'll be pre-warmed for when you do go to bed. OR you can look at the supermarkets getting rid of summer weight duvets - I got a double for £2.30 last year - this will be useful for summer also, so isn't a winter only expense.

£6.99 isn't a big amount of money, but it is money you can't then spend on something that you have no option but to buy. I have found myself buying things in preparation for winter when if I'd looked around I could have repurposed something I already had. consequently I had less money for stuff that had to be bought in.

can you burn non-coal - wood etc? my local tip/recycling centre is full of wood that people are DIY-ing out in summer: great, seasoned, burning wood that could eek out your coal (and at our tip they are more than happy for people to take stuff away if you ask because it's less stuff they have to pay to process).

I've mended the curtain rails in my bedroom so they actually hang the curtains - just have to interline them now - that's another tip - sometimes, depending on the size of your windows, it's more economical to buy thermal interlining for curtains than fleeces. Because it is the same width as curtain material and you can buy what you need to the half (or sometimes quarter meter) it can work out cheaper. I've just bought some for £1.50 a meter - 1.45m wide (from a local material shop) so if you don't already have fleeces that you can use it may be less costly to price up interlining.

Vala-Mal-Doran

Woke up this morning to a power cut-it only lasted an hour (after waking) and its not like its cold or dark now but it makes you think about what we'll need if it cuts out for longer!
Im now going to find all our torches and make surebthey have batteries in them and will make sure I keep my phone fully charged when I can.

Homeagain

A while back on this thread someone kindly posted a link for a kitchen air vent (I think it's called). It was one where you can close the back. I should have bought it then but totally forgot. I have an air vent in my kitchen which is basically a covered hole in the wall. I think it will be awful in winter and I think the one that the poster referred to would be perfect. Can anyone help me here? Thank you.

Confuzzled

well that's all the radiator reflectors done, couldn't do any for the bathrooms as the tiny radiators in there are too close to the wall but they are both internal so that's fine, also didn't do one for my room, it's internal sorta, shared with the building next door but i like my room cooler anyway and i ran out of space blanket

all in i did 4 large ones and i'm happy to be done to clean up the mess from it

i also stretched out my solar fairy lights so they are a runner along the skirting board all the way up the stairs, i had had them on the other side of the stairs but they weren't getting enough light, now they are less in the way and will receive daylight all day and intense daylight in the afternoon plus it's now easier to slide my hand in and turn them off if i want to conserve battery power til before bed.

we're making a day of going to ikea tomorrow so i think i'll buy some of their cheap fleeces for upstairs curtain liners. the neighbour gave me some of her old curtains and i think i have a no cut way of using them, i'll still have to sew in the magnetic strip and the fleeces but it's easier to remove those and still have curtains than to cut things up, wish me luck!

fuddle

Homeagain wrote: »

A while back on this thread someone kindly posted a link for a kitchen air vent (I think it's called). It was one where you can close the back. I should have bought it then but totally forgot. I have an air vent in my kitchen which is basically a covered hole in the wall. I think it will be awful in winter and I think the one that the poster referred to would be perfect. Can anyone help me here? Thank you.

In post 1179 mrslurcherwalker tells me about a vent cover. HTH

bossymoo

Hi to those prepping for winter for the first time! Last winter was the first time I consciously prepped, and started early, and this year, most of my finds are still useable (lots of fleece for curtains, hot water bottles etc) so it's making this year much easier - I can focus on consumables eg de-icer and bits for my store cupboard.

I also decorated DS bedroom earlier this year, and had a blind made for him - chose thermal blackout fabric plus left up the verticals all for a little extra insulation. He is a hot bod generally, so when I saw fleece pjs to fit DD yesterday, I never looked for him, but when he saw them he asked where his snowy sleeps are lol, he is only 4! Well trained in getting ready ahead of the winter!