Preparing for winter IV

aggypanthus

the_frugal_frog wrote: »

thanks so much for the link, I am sold!!! will see if I can pick up one tomorrow from Argos. Wondering if it will work as a throw over the sofa whilst I am watching tv, never actually had one so will see.

You can get an overblanket, seen them in Aldis add this week for £30.

Underblankets are really cheap to run, £2 a year according to Which.
Best not to leave it on all night.

calicocat

Had a trip to H/base (not the cheapest of shops but the one near to me as had limited time today. ) Had a look at the foam outside tap cover things.....it was over £7..!!!!, which I thought was rather expensive to be honest for foam. wish I had seen this before throwing all packaging of stuff I have bought recently away.

Anyhow, came home and wrapped lots of bubble wrap around it, about 7 layers I would estimate, and then covered with a plastic bag, and then again with a black bin liner. It has quite a bit of padding around it so hope this will work.....and a bit more MSE than a certain shop.


I love loads of hot water bottles too....and end up with 20 tog of duvet plus other blankets and bed covers.

I have had the heating on, but have found in this house so far that I can switch the radiators off upstairs as all the heat floats up there (house is pretty open plan with stairs off the middle of the lounge). I was going to curtain it off, but think I will leave it as it is as it may work out cheaper in the long run if I don't really need upstairs rads on much.

Sorry to hear about people being wary of putting heating on yet due to finances, it always makes me feel depressed that in this day and age this happens , and having been there myself I know how krap that can be.I worry that my mum is frugal with her heating, and more so every year. I've told her not to worry about bills as I would help her out but she just ognores me.

Blue bag, I don't know if you cook much, but if you do, leave the oven door open afterwards rather than shutting it when you are finished, can really help to warm up the kitchen.

Another fan of socks in bed when it's really cold. I live Northeast, so it can get very cold. Some of my soft southern family didn't know how I survived up here....lol.

Bella56

SuiDreams wrote: »

Think I need to rethink the drying washing process for the winter had heating on and dehumidifier on all day yesterday and some things still didn't dry (cardigans), so back to the drawing board.

Are you putting the dehumidifier in a small room with the wet clothes? Ours tend to dry overnight, around 12 hours, in the bathroom this way and we don't bother putting the heating on, but ours does have a max-extract button.

Confuzzled

calicocat wrote: »

Blue bag, I don't know if you cook much, but if you do, leave the oven door open afterwards rather than shutting it when you are finished, can really help to warm up the kitchen.

i do this too, also a new trick of mine is to shove something in the oven first thing in the morning so i am not tempted to turn the heat on. we've been eating better and resisting take away as i'm much more inclined to prep a meal first thing in the morning than at night after i finish working and it really takes the edge off the house.

i may start prepping more in depth things the afternoon before so we can have corn bread or cake or muffins quick enough to shove in the oven and warm up the kitchen lounge (open plan) whilst we're puttering around making our hot waterbottles and coffee etc for the day. so far it's been shoving chicken or today a lamb roast with some potatoes and onions etc in, i don't mind a quick warm up in the microwave later.


i asked before but didn't get a response so i'll ask again, the pipes for my flat and the one next door are in the close, it has a door but gets quite cold, now i can't really get to all of the pipes but i can certainly reach the ones by the close door downstairs, they go directly underneath the pavement just outside (i watched the council hooking it all up!) so i'm wondering, do you think i should bubblewrap or foam lag them? i'm not sure how much i can get in there but i could try

do you think it would make a difference if i can't lag them all the way (they run up along the ceiling!) or do you think it's warm enough inside the unheated close? they are plastic pipes if that makes any difference

SuiDreams

Bella56 wrote: »

Are you putting the dehumidifier in a small room with the wet clothes? Ours tend to dry overnight, around 12 hours, in the bathroom this way and we don't bother putting the heating on, but ours does have a max-extract button.

I'm putting the dehumidifier close to the airer unfortunately the one I have at the moment doesn't have different settings its just on or off.

calicocat

CONFUZZLED......i'm assuming they are water pipes you are talking about? I don't know what a "close' is so can't picture what you are meaning, but I do know that when I lived in my flat the girl upstairs had outside water pipe that burst the two last cold winters we have had. However they were on the outside of the building so no protection what-so-ever. Hers were plastic but I don't know if that makes a difference either. I guess bubble wrapping it certainly won't do any harm, but i'm no expert, and wouldn't even have thought about my outside tap if it hadn't been for this thread.

Actually I should probably go down and do my mum's soon. Not sure if she has ever done this..or has a proper cover, will have to check.

Fruball

If you turn the water off to the outside tap, and drain it, I don't think you need to insulate it as there is no water to freeze to expand and burst it...

calicocat

Fruball wrote: »

If you turn the water off to the outside tap, and drain it, I don't think you need to insulate it as there is no water to freeze to expand and burst it...

Good thinking batman......not sure in this house where I would do that, will have a hunt around.

Fruball

Or I think if you loosen the tap so it isn't quite dripping but not fully off, if it does freeze, there is space for the liquid to expand... Not 100% sure on that though.

the_frugal_frog

thanks for all your replies

yes I have bedsocks, not got a hat so will pop to the charity shop and get one, I saw they have a bargain bucket with hats and scarves for 50p .

I read my own post again and I sound like I live in a massive house, ts not , just a 2 bed, but its just me so it feels big.

I leave the oven door open after cooking and the kitchen is lovely and warm for about an hour.

I have bought a snug/shrug whatever they are called, really long fleecy thing with arm holes. I put that on the bed and oh my goodness fleece is so nice. it was a fiver from one of the cheapo shops here.

I remember the fairytale the princess and the pea where she has so many layers on the bed, well that's me, if I layer up the bed anymore ill need a ladder to get into bed.

The cat usually sleeps by me but she has for the last 3 night slept in my office, I suspect next door has heating on as its quite warm underfoot there.

I have had my first mince pie of the season, with a nice hot cuppa.

I have saved a few pounds this week, literally a few, and have a savings pot for when weather freezes , so I will be able to have the heating on a bit. I have saved throughout the year 50 pounds of food stamps so I should be able to use them in bad weather and put some cash on the gas meter card. ( was saving them for chrismtmas but I don't know why, I am on my own and the whole thing wont cost more than a tenner!! :rotfl: still, money is money .

Everyone at work are talking about how it will be the worst winter yet, don't they say that every year in the papers??