Preparing for Winter V

boultdj

Blanket whilst watching TV.
Thin quilt under sheet of bed if you have someone bedbound.
Wind up radio for news and entertainment if we get power cut's.
Find quick cook recipes or batch cook.
Agree with the layers.
Fill flask with hot water and you can use it for different drinks or cup a soup.
Hot water bottle with cover, stay's hotter for longer and less risk of burns.

[Deleted User]

Mine would be:

• soups are your friend. Batch cook in larger quantities for warming lunches
• Hot water bottles - we wouldn’t be without ours
• Salvage all the free wood you can. Our NDN has just given me a pallet, I’ll be chopping that up tomorrow 
• Quick showers, brisk towel dry and into flannel PJs 

Si_Clist

Deleted_User said:

... Our NDN has just given me a pallet, I’ll be chopping that up tomorrow

Good luck with that.  Having broken up about 110 of them for firewood over three days about 15 years ago, I still don't fancy doing any more.  Having  said that, though, we're still making kindling from the tail end of the bits of 'em.

Anyhow, on the subject of free wood, never ever go past a skip without checking it out for firewood.  If there's builders about and you ask them nicely if you can pick the scrap wood out and put it in a pile till you work out how to get it home, you might even find one of 'em offers to drop it off on his way home.  (Obviously works best if you're over 60 and walking with a stick!)

Nathalia

I get cold hands and feet, so wear two pairs of socks in winter and I have a pair of knitted fingerless gloves so I can still use a keyboard without my hands getting painful.

fionaandphil

Si_Clist said:

Good luck with that.  Having broken up about 110 of them for firewood over three days about 15 years ago, I still don't fancy doing any more.  Having  said that, though, we're still making kindling from the tail end of the bits of 'em.

Anyhow, on the subject of free wood, never ever go past a skip without checking it out for firewood.  If there's builders about and you ask them nicely if you can pick the scrap wood out and put it in a pile till you work out how to get it home, you might even find one of 'em offers to drop it off on his way home.  (Obviously works best if you're over 60 and walking with a stick!)

Our builder was asked to pile up all the offcuts when doing our house 17 years ago and since then he phones every now and again asking if we need any. Sometimes it's crappy wood but we've also had a whole load of floorboards joists and last year somebody was removing a woodburner and we got their woodpile - already cut!! I also have friends who phone when they are getting rid of wood. Once people know you are looking they can be quite helpful. Hope the cutting goes well @asparklyblonde

Kaylataste

A heated mattress topper is worth it’s weight in gold. I don’t mind having a cold bedroom as long as my bed is toasty. I turn it off when we get in.

Laura_Elsewhere

Re curtains - temps outside start dropping in winter about 3pm, so if you can pull the curtains closed in rooms you aren't in and half-closed in rooms you are still in - ie home-working, you might close sitting-room curtains but only half-close spare-room-office curtains...

Lots of people wait til it is dark or getting dark and you could have been losing heat out of the windows for two or three hours by then. The worst habit is when people eat in their kitchens and only pull the sitting-room curtains when they go in there about 7pm after dinner! Hours of heat-loss! 

Open for solar-gain until 3pm, but then close them as much as you can... 

Floss

Primrose said:

I read  in the paper this morning that on Monday alone of this week electricity prices in the UK surged to 11 times above normal levels. - a record high caused by a crunch in the gas supply chain and a lack of wind to power renewable wind turbines.

Re this, electricity is bought from the grid on rates which fluctuate through the day, week & month. It may be that for a period of time the price was 11 times "normal" levels, but that may well have been a reaction to industry news or press interest, and what reports won't say is that the price will have dropped again. All the speculation about the UKs gas supply won't help, as companies will want to secure a good rate for future supplies and demand will push price up - basic economics. 

cornishchick

re tariffs and fuel prices... I am a little confused.  my fix ended at the beginning of this month and I rang and got the lowest tarriff I could. now that equates to £70 a month. but! my DD is still set at £55 a month duel fuel. I have approx £50 in credit right now .
 so, Will, I come out of this winter owing them a ton of money ? 
 I hope to keep doing the things I do all tear round to try and keep costs down. 

Floss

@cornishchick I would ring the energy company - it may be that your next payment will be at your new amount of £70, but better to be sure.