Preparing for winter IV

annie123

amiehall wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can get cheap thick curtains? The curtains in my (rented) house are basically so thin they're see through. I feel like I'm pouring money out my windows even trying to heat my house.

You could attach fleece linings to them, either with safety pins or hooks on the header tape and take them with you when you leave. Fleeces from £1.60 at Ikea

Try freecycle or charity shops for curtains, but I'd still attach fleece linings

the_cake

amiehall wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can get cheap thick curtains? The curtains in my (rented) house are basically so thin they're see through. I feel like I'm pouring money out my windows even trying to heat my house.

There are a few small auction houses round where I live, have big mixed (very mixed!!) auctions every couple of weeks, and some things go very cheap indeed (a couple of quid). Hopefully there may be one or two near you. If you are not used to bidding at auction, have a word with them first, they will be very helpful, I'm sure. If you find some curtains, I would give them a sniff (!!), as if they are very fusty they will need to be dry cleaned. If they smell very damp, I would avoid them, as I have found it quite difficult to get that damp smell out completely. I have bought some magnificent bargains at small auctioneers over the years. Good luck, and hth, the cake.

pinkmami

annie123 wrote: »

You could attach fleece linings to them, either with safety pins or hooks on the header tape and take them with you when you leave. Fleeces from £1.60 at Ikea

Try freecycle or charity shops for curtains, but I'd still attach fleece linings

Exactly what I did last year in DS's room. Although very small it was so cold even with a radiator.

This year in a new house we have double insulation yet I'll attach the fleece to them cos they're unlined (unlike the curtains in the girls room).

in fact I'll do it this evening!

mwddrwg

pinkmami wrote: »

well that's it!!!

Winter on teh way cos there is SNOW on the peak of Snowdon:T:j YEY!!

And as I'm currently typing there's a massive hailstorm battering my window....and my stove had been glowing for 7 wonderful hours!

Ahhh winter. I Love it!

Is there?? Never noticed on the way in to work this morning. Thought it was colder this morning too. No hail stones this morning at ours though even though we live quite high up

missrlr

Oh tip here - instead of salt / grit try calcium carbonate dihydrate it lasts forever as you need so little to clear pats etc and is easy to store as not so abrasive as salt / grit combos.
Useful for cars and where space is a premium. We buy 1 x 25kg sack and it does a 25 space car park all year without the mess of clearing up grit.

bossymoo

Well. Day 1 of my week off and I have:

Switched on my little freezer, and been to freezer shop, to fill it with good bargains.
Bought some little bits of tat for my nieces, am sending them a treat parcel.
Found two longer length tops in sale at Evans to wear over jeggings. Been trying to find something for weeks!
Got some calcium and vitamin d for kids in boots 3 for 2 offer.
Took DS curtains down and safety pinned a fleece to back of each.
Got drill out and put up new curtain pole and hung recycled curtains on landing. Hurrah. First time we've had curtains at that window since we moved here 5 summers ago...
Got carrot and coriander soup going on in the slow cooker, some for my friend, some for tomorrow's tea, and some for freezer!

Very productive day. More planned for tomorrow.

spinningsheep

Started the winter prep today.

winter duvet is on bed (cost me about £40 from Next about 4 years ago, its one that has two halves that pop together for winter/summer, best £40 spent)

heating went on for the first time, just on low all day to try and "warm the bones" of the house (old victorian end of terrraced) I find once I warm the house up, I only need to top up the heat, if I just had it on bursts in the morning and evening it would never really heat up

Load of logs chopped and stacked for the woodburner

Dehumidifier on in downstairs loo, gets damp easily, should sort it quite fast

New uPVC front door and dining room window going in within next 2 weeks thanks to amazing landlady, should stop draughts

Started arranging the "thrift and tins" cupboard, plenty of soups and sauces ready for the freezing weather

Still plenty to do, I have a chest freezer that is full right now, and I can run it down a little but will still be loads in it, and I want to defrost it, any ideas on best way to do it?

Confuzzled

mineallmine wrote: »

I must write/finish my winter prep list. I must sort a bag for gloves/scarves in the hall.

Is dishwasher salt good for clearing paths? We bought that other rocksalt but it is hard to store I've found

i used it last year with good success, it's cheap from lidl i think it's 85p a box

you can also use table salt if you need to

mineallmine

Thanks confuzzled, I'll give it a go this year with dishwasher salt.

Been thinking about the medicines cupboard (cough mixture, painkillers etc). So that's an important thing to stock up on too, and prescriptions.

Also I'm going to try to spread the word with friends/neighbours too

Raksha

mineallmine wrote: »

Thanks confuzzled, I'll give it a go this year with dishwasher salt.

Been thinking about the medicines cupboard (cough mixture, painkillers etc). So that's an important thing to stock up on too, and prescriptions.

Also I'm going to try to spread the word with friends/neighbours too

Second the cough and cold remedies thing - especially the 'all in one' type which are only supposed to be sold max 2 packs at a time (the ones with paracetamol), as 2 packs is going to go nowhere if you've got a family of 4 all struck down at the same time...