Preparing for Winter V

LadOnTheHill

Out heating has gone on, but we've had to turn it down.

We've had certain rooms with external walls insulated, with some special insulating plasterboard, and had doors put on the rooms. It's made a huge difference. It's now cooler in the hallway, but quite a bit warmer in the rooms we're actually in. DH wanted the temperature set higher than I did, but he's said himself that it's too warm in those rooms now to have it at the original temperature.

During the summer, we put a nylon fly curtain across on the the doorways that had no door, and there was a noticeable temperature difference from one side to the other. Not as much as an actual door, but it definitely helped. £20 for the curtain, and you can just walk through without having to think about it. No need to try to manage a door handle with your hands full. Kept the flies out a treat, too.

tboo

Si_Clist said:

summertime_2 said:

..my large slow cooker now being used daily in rotation, one day stews, next day cake or fruit puds ...

Oooooooooooooh now that's stopped me in my tracks.  I didn't know you can make cake or a pud in a slow cooker.  My present repertoire only runs to chicken casserole, pork apple 'n' onion or my patent Bean Bungit so it's high time I diversified.

Anybody care to take pity on a poor ignorant bloke and point him towards a website that will tell all about making cakes and puds in a slow cooker?  Proper cakes and puds, mind - not artyfarty ones    

At the minute due to my expanding waistline, I'm only making rice pudding but I have attempted a sponge pud.

If you want to be super-duper economic, you can do 2 meals at one in a large crockpot, using liners and a bit of foil

Pineapple upside-down cake

It uses a boxed cake mix, I assume you can use your own cake recipe

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-pineapple-upside-down-cake/f4a52245-95d2-403d-9d8b-320d6b9f485e

summertime_2

Si_Clist said:

summertime_2 said:

..my large slow cooker now being used daily in rotation, one day stews, next day cake or fruit puds ...

Oooooooooooooh now that's stopped me in my tracks.  I didn't know you can make cake or a pud in a slow cooker.  My present repertoire only runs to chicken casserole, pork apple 'n' onion or my patent Bean Bungit so it's high time I diversified.

Anybody care to take pity on a poor ignorant bloke and point him towards a website that will tell all about making cakes and puds in a slow cooker?  Proper cakes and puds, mind - not artyfarty ones    

 l use ''momswithcrockpots.com' . l like that  website as it has recipes for cakes /puds with fruit. Most  only take approx 10 to 20 min to prepare before putting into the slow cooker...Has things like apple coffee cake, carrot cake, pineapple upside down cake, banana cake etc etc. And one called 'gooey choc cake' l want to try soon .  As only me and hubby at home we like to make cakes that can eaten hot as a pud with custard on 1st day ,,then cold to have with our 4pm  cuppa on 2nd day. Has slow cooker soups, main meals as well on their website. Hope this helps.

Elisheba

There are loads of slow-cooker cake recipes on old posts on this forum. 
Think the easiest way to access the super list would be to go to the oldstyle board, and look on the... Grocery challenge post I think. There's a new one each month, but the first few posts each month are lists of recipes and some links to other lists on here. 

Si_Clist

Si_Clist said:

...  pie/crumble/whatever or spotted !!!!!! or carrot cake ..

That's interesting. Must remember to call it Spotted Richard next time I refer to it on here.

Anyways, thanks to @Nargleblast for the link.  That's more like

Jellytotts

Beautiful day here, sun is shining, skies are blue and there's enough breeze to keep the bedding fluttering on the line but not enough that I need to close the doors or windows.  There's woodland behind us and we are set down slightly into the hillside so once we get past midday now, the sun is behind the tree and drops below the hill so the temperature drops with it, I make the most of the mornings to get some fresh air through the house.

Still haven't had the heating on yet, have lit the log burner a few afternoons/evenings but my big duvet throws and crocheted cowls and wrist warmers are doing the trick.

Laura_Elsewhere

I've unpacked my £9.50 2nd-hand curtains now and they look barely-used. Two in fact really look as if they never were used; the other two look only very lightly used. I assumed I would need to wash them but in fact six minutes in he tumble-dryer wth three old tennis balls and they look as if they're fresh from the cleaners'  but with no clinging chemical smell! I dot a drop or two of essential oils on the tennis balls too  

So now I have to work out what size of engineering-circlip to order (far far far cheaper than curtain-rings, esp for our rented flat's big thick modern-fashionable poles!) and then we can have curtains in the bedroom for the winter... we'll still sleep with the window ajar right through all but the bitterest weather but I close them in the morning after airing the flat, and we have them closed til bedtime and he curtains will help make the evenings cosy (We rarely use our north-facing sitting-room in winter evenings, preferring to use the south-facing bedroom as a bed-sitter for watching tv, etc.). 

Then the other two can be sewn top to bottom to make a long narrow curtain to hang just inside the front door. 

summertime_2

Do you have money saving 'rules' that you and the family follow ?

We do, its a habit we just all automatically do, so l dont notice them till l was thinking about it last night.
here's a few of them.
rule no1*. when curtains opened up in all the rooms, early in morning, NO lights are put on till we close them at sunset. Getting darker so much earlier now, so curtains all closed at 4.30pm.
No2* we waste absolutely no water, as we have been on a water meter since all the children married and left home. Hubby fills large milk jug as tap runs from cold waiting for it to get hot to wash up ( he does all the washing up for me, 'This milk jug water is used to water all salads and herbs pots at  front & back door, l have loads. In summer we will use the 'grey water' to water flowers in front garden.  we have 3 waterbutts in bak garden for the veg plot. im also trying to grow only all scented cutting flowers in front garden, as l love flowers in the house.
no3.* we recycle everything, glass jars are washed and stored away for my summer harvest jam making/pickle making in Autumn. Kitchen waste is all thrown in garden compost bin/or for the 'lasange' containers. l never ,ever buy soil. And this year the soil to buy is going to be ridiculous prices !
All newspapers, waste paper/cardboard is put in large in container in kitchen, to be ripped up weekly for the compost bins or made into paper pots.
no4. junk envelopes are kept for for seed packet as l write out on them the sowing instructions and then file them in month order for when they are to be sown. Also used instead of note paper for my shopping lists.
no5. All junk letters that have no writing on other side is kept for list making..l write a lot lol..ie first thing in morning as im having my cuppa in bed, l will write out our 'to do' list for the day on back of these junk letters,then at night its chucked in paper  recycle container in kitchen. l must use equivalent of a pad a week. Wonder how much l save a year on those lol ?
no6. l never chuck old clothes or jumpers away if they can be made into something else. l unpick newish jumpers if no longer fit etc or car boot finds (cheaper than charity shops) l look to see if the jumpers are 'seamed' some can be un picked even if they look as if machine knitted. but they must be 'seamed' and not overlocked sewn. Newish unfaded fabric is saved to make loads of things from aprons to cushion covers to even made into new clothes. l made all my children clothes when they were toddlers.
no7. all milk jugs, loo rolls, old yogurt pots, even food tins are washed and ,saved for seed sowing..we try to have  almost zero spend on our veg garden as much as we  can apart from few seeds l buy every year.. But we do save a lot of my own seeds, ie beans, tomato seeds, potato's, pepper seeds, onion seeds, garlic bulbs, lettuce seeds. 
no8..l never throw out flower Bouquets if hubby or family buys me during the year. They know l like roses and spray carnations and l will 'root' them after they finish in the house. My driveway narrow boarder that divides from my neighbours drive is filled with scented spray carnations that l rooted from bouquets of flowers over the years. My neighbour is very impressed lol.
no9. l dont get my hair cut or dyed. l have almost waist length hair that l side plait during the day or will style to a updo if going out.
l used to have years ago  trim & blond highlights put in my long hair at £76 ,every 2 months.. l wonder how much it would cost now ? what a fortune l save now. And hubby is happy as my hair is almost waist length and beautifully white ;(
no10. l dont buy ridiculously expensive face products. All my teens & married life iv always used Astral cream ( same as Joanna Lumley uses) , honey face masks and baby oil face cleaner. Hand creams are double used as neck and foot cream.  But l do send off for  free samples if l see them and have won quite a few toiletries over the year from my comping hobby that wel do in the Winter, lm proud to say l have no face wrinkles at 70 yrs old. My 2 grown  daughters are very impressed. 
no10. We dont buy magazines..l read them all on line. l used to read them at the library but l dont go to the library any more.
gosh l didnt realise how much we saved following these 'rules' as iv loads more we do as well. 

anybody else have any ?

Nonnadiluca

Wow summertime_2, that's really impressive! Can I ask how you root your flowers?

summertime_2

Nonnadiluca said:

Wow summertime_2, that's really impressive! Can I ask how you root your flowers?

its really easy, just take off the  lower leaves from the rose stems and remove the dead rose head, then where there is a lower node on the lower part of the stem, you just gentle scrape away a bit of the green bark on opposite site of the node. The rooting with grow from this node when pushed well into the soil. It can be a bit of a hit and miss if you do this at different times of the year, but l usually get a least one to root from a bunch of roses. Iv just done this with a bunch of red and deep pink roses that hubby bought me last week as it was our 50th wedding Anniversary so im really hoping l get at least one of each to root. l have 2 lovely climbing roses l rooted last year from a bunch of flowers and im alway rooting spray carnations if l get them in a bunch of flowers.
The same is done with the spray carnation but l just break the stems up to where a flower node is(next to a leaf) and no need to scrape the stem. it wont work with  bought single carnations are they are greenhouse flowers.
There are instructions  on how to do it if you do a google search on 'rooting rose cutting'