Preparing for Winter V

Princess_kate

This is the thing about the thread, it may seem like you're just listing the random items you felt were important to you but you can remind someone else if what they need to get in to feel prepared! Glad to help toozie! I've not tried my cat on Aldi food, I think if there was nothing else he'd eat it but I have 4 large boxes of felix sachets stashed in the shed so he should be fine!

I love Aldi & have converted so many people, really impressed with this weeks voucher, £10 off £50. I'm so frugal tho my bill was £50.61, checkout girl commented I was close, oh how lucky I said, (hardly, I'd added it up as to get the maximum discount from my vouchers!) only one I was sad about was the Brie voucher, I love it but as I'm pregnant I'm not allowed to eat it! Hubby will have to sit in a different room with it!

calicocat

If those of you with cats use clumping cat litter, B n M have the Bob martins stay fresh bags in for a couple of quid. I have found it quite good and have stocked up on a few bags.

I was using Silica litter, this was expensive, plus read somewhere it can be bad for the airways, so have stopped using it, and am finding the Bob Martins one both good and a lot cheaper.

Brambleberry

Ooh good point calicocat, if it gets icy, so many people here panic buy the kitty litter for paths, there's none left for the puss! Mine has posh tastes and prefers the catsan, but I remember having to eke it out a bit longer in 2010!
I just hope that it was all the cat [STRIKE]owners[/STRIKE] servants being forced to buy it as a last resort because all the others had been bought up - I dread to think of the mess it would leave on a path or driveway after the snow cleared!

Princess_kate

I think people make the mistake of using cat litter as grit once, tun they realise the mess it makes & never do it again!

Cheapskate

Calicocat, thanks for the tip about cat litter - we've only been owned by our cat for a few weeks, so still not in a proper routine yet and a novice where litter is concerned! I have to confess that I once used el cheapo cat litter as a salt substitute on the drive, never ever again!! I will pay for ice/grit if I need it.

I need to finish off my car kit (still!), just edibles, though, and check the tyre pressures etc. I keep the car at least half full of petrol these days, always dread running out or a petrol run or strike, or whatever.

I've decanted my bramble vodka into little bottles ready for gifts, but there was a tumbler full that wouldn't fit, so DH and I had to test drive it - very glad of it, yum! The sozzled brambles are waiting for some ice cream tomorrow night. . The sloe gin should be ready to decant in another week or so, but need some more bottles first.

Kittie, thanks for the comments about dunelm curtains; we still need door curtains so I might look at these as I'm running out of time to sew anything not Christmas related. We have bought some cheap !kea throws, like thin red tweed, to cover the sofas, very seasonal and add more warmth than I thought they would, four for about £20, not too bad.

A xo

rufydoofyM

Car went in for a winter check last week and was all good so no extra expense there phew ! We have everything bar the kitchen sink in ours thanks to me I'm told:o OH hates clutter, but I call it prepping :rotfl:and he's often glad of it. We (I) got our high vis vests on am@zon for about £2 each and they're reasonable quality too.

Pooky thanks for making me consider sleeping bags in the car. We have a trip planned in January so that will be added to my reminder list should the weather take a turn.

One thing we did learn in the last bad winter was not to rely on bog standard screen wash. The supermarket stuff often freezes when the temperatures really drop so it's a good idea to check that the stuff you have or are buying can cope with winter temperatures. The T's one was only good to -2 at the time although now their all season one is ok to -5. We thought the washer was broke:eek: but it was just frozen. We now buy one that is good to at least -15 just in case so we are never caught out again and keep some spare in the boot.
I find that cars are like handbags, the bigger they are the more I find to carry:o because you never know when you might need .........

pollys

Happy December.

December has certainly started with more seasonal weather than of late. It's much cooler here today with temperatures not set to rise above 5c for the remainder of the week.

Keep warm.

Polly

Crochet_Teapot

pollys wrote: »

Happy December.

December has certainly started with more seasonal weather than of late. It's much cooler here today with temperatures not set to rise above 5c for the remainder of the week.

Keep warm.

Polly

Happy December to you as well. Yes It's more like it should be for this time of the year. Cold and windy here. Not unusually cold though.

Today's update on BBC weather website:

"Monday 15 December—Sunday 28 December
What will Santa be wearing?
The big question on everyone's lips is 'will it be a white Christmas?'. If I had the answer to that, I would have bet on it a long time ago! While we do not know the weather will be on a day to day basis this far out, we can gauge some signals from long term computer models. Currently, those models signal that there is no one favoured type of weather expected. To expand on this a little more, we are not expecting long periods of high pressure nor are we expecting just low pressure. However, there are some signs that a more unsettled picture is on the cards bringing wet and windy conditions at times along with some colder and settled periods in between the various weather fronts that will move through."

SpikyHedgehog

DS2's new base layers came today (sp0rts d1rect, delivered to work which means that I'm there to get it and I don't have my home address on the packaging so it can go straight in the appropriate bin :cool: ) I did get a set of ice grippers for each of us, but resisted any more hats

I was waiting for DS2 outside the cinema yesterday (he saw Paddington with a friend from school) and was glad of the neck wrap I found in my pocket, but other than that was okay in a heavy fleece jacket over a light jumper. Today's been a bit colder.

DS2 announced tonight that he wants fleece pyjamas. This is the same boy who protested my buying new pjs for scout camp and staying at his dad's, saying 'I hate pyjamas, I'm never wearing them!'

I'm struggling to find fleece pjs in his size (13 years) so far though, and really can't go as big as men's as he's short and sturdy (built like Paddington, now I think about it...) and only needs 13 years for the width, so the length of men's pjs would drown him.

calicocat

Hi folks,


Got some de-icer and screen wash in today. The screen wash I got goes to -36......so I should be ok....:D.

Stocked up on food and treats for 'she who must be obeyed/Asbo-cat'.....:) will get some more litter in tomorrow.....this should be her sorted now I think as she already has a new tree and new toilet....(that's her xmas for this year...and an expensive one!)

Had a look at car tyres myself, they seem fine so might not fork out for a winter car check this year....and try doing it myself this time and save 40 smackeroonies.

Halfords do a free Winter check..but don't look at tyres or breaks...what they do I can do myself.....but for anyone with even less knowledge than me (unlikely)....Halfords will do it for free.




Plan tomorrow is to tidy and clean conservatory as it is a pig-sty at the moment...clean windows...sort plants that need to come in etc...clean windows and hoover.

Will also charge the torches tomorrow.


If i'm not asleep soon...I may get up and do conservatory in an hour.....the perils of working night shifts.....:rotfl: shopping in Asda at 4am isn't unheard of here either...