Preparing for winter IV

Pooky

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Hi all, came over from the frugal living challenge to see if you all had some tips for me.
Live in a rented house which still has single glazing, this year have hung curtains at the front and back doors in a bid to keep out the draughts, need to get some thermal/fleece linings to back them with.
I've also been reading about foil behind radiators that are on outside walls. Anyone have any recommendations on what to buy/homemade alternatives?

Lidl have the radiator foil insulation stuff in at the moment - £4.99 a roll - think it's 6mts. I got a roll to do DD's rooms but it's sitting there looking at me at the moment as we haven't got the heating on.

In the past I've used basic tinfoil or the silver emergency blankets from the 99p shop wrapped over cardboard, it made a big difference.

Mrs_Cheshire

Pooky wrote: »

Lidl have the radiator foil insulation stuff in at the moment - £4.99 a roll - think it's 6mts. I got a roll to do DD's rooms but it's sitting there looking at me at the moment as we haven't got the heating on.

In the past I've used basic tinfoil or the silver emergency blankets from the 99p shop wrapped over cardboard, it made a big difference.

Thank you do much, will pop to Lidl when I get five minutes

Rummer

Does the foil really make a noticeable difference? I have always been a bit skeptical about it, however as our bills are so high at the the moment I am willing to give most things a shot!

What I really need to do is get curtains up in the living room but we are struggling to get the rail to stay up.

This week I am going to add some more cupboard foods to the shop.

[Deleted User]

Rummer. A wooden baton first, screwed to the surface and then the rail screwed to the baton

Snorkypants

kittie wrote: »

Rummer. A wooden baton first, screwed to the surface and then the rail screwed to the baton

That worked for us too with our kitchen blind. We couldn't manage to drill into the concrete lintel but were able to attached the baton with wood glue and short screws. The wooden baton is painted to match the walls and blends in nicely.

Fruball

Rummer wrote: »

Does the foil really make a noticeable difference? I have always been a bit skeptical about it, however as our bills are so high at the the moment I am willing to give most things a shot!

What I really need to do is get curtains up in the living room but we are struggling to get the rail to stay up.

This week I am going to add some more cupboard foods to the shop.

Hi Rummer :hello:

Yes, the foil panels really do make a difference. When your heating is on, put your hand on the wall behind the radiator and then do it again another day when the foil has been in place. The wall absorbs a lot of the heat from the back of the radiator. The insulated foil sheets deflect it back into the room so less is lost through the wall

I got the silver windscreen covers from poundland and they do just as good a job if not better than the purpose made stuff I had before.

Hope that helps

bossymoo

My store cupboard is fit to bursting! Admittedly it's not very big, but it's sufficient to tide me and the kiddies over for a good few days if we can't get to the shops for whatever reason.

The rest of my jobs involve tidying the garden (once the leaves are all down), sorting car box and power cut box, and then we are ready and I can return my eye to the December festival

My stepdad went up on my roof a few weeks back to set my end ridge tile, it had lifted and was looking a bit precarious. When he came back down he said he'd really need to go all the way along as they were all a bit iffy. So I might ask him when he'll be able to finish that lot. I have some home made goodies to bribe him with and of course I pay him for his time. But in true builder style, he never lets you know when he can do it. But at least I know he will do it properly.

We had sunshine today and felt quite mild, no heating needed here.

MrsCD

Just popping in to report that DH bought 100 'AA' batteries today! £14.99 at Maplins. We got some last year and the few that are left still work well, so haven't lost their power. 3 of us in our house and we have torches everywhere, including work bags.
I've also been buying Heinz soups and beans in packs of 4 when they've been on offer at Asda for £2 or less. Extravagant, possibly, but I've tried the shop's own and didn't like them, so went back to the one I like!

115K

We are getting a £45 refund on our electric bill which will come in handy as I need to renew our stock cupboard as we seem to have eaten through most of it despite it not being cold yet lol.:D

I am sticking to a religious budget and doing a meal plan including hub's pack lunches so I need to batch cook and plan our meals a few days ahead.

I still need to decide what I'm doing about the new curtains and need to get some bubble wrap or something to block up the cat flap as that seems to be where the cold air is coming through at night!

[Deleted User]

re power stations, winter blackouts are likely on the cards and the first real test will likely be towards the end of november

Power stations will not be able to run at full capacity but 75% if we are lucky

Just think back to how we did it in the relatively old days. One room warm and children changed in there and straight to bed warmed by a hot bottle. Trick is to be able to keep one room a bit warmer than the rest of the house.