Preparing for Winter V

Cherryfudge

Oooh, @mumtoomany, I think I might have to give that a try. When I tried overwintering tomatoes before, I think it was the whole plant. Side shoots would be a lot more manageable and possibly more resilient. As you say, there's nothing lost by trying.

London_1

DGS earthed up my potatoes for me on Thursday bless him I have two rows one of Wiljas and one of Charlottes which will be cropping late November hopefully. He was home from Uni for a couple of days and goes back tomorrow as his new part time job starts on Monday (he's landed some shifts at Subways and the staff can take home odds and ends left over at the end of the day so free salad and bits will help him and his two student housemates streetch their food budget.
When earthing up he spotted a forgotten left over spud from my first crop of Pentland Early's and said can I turn it into something Nanny. I said yes no problem So he took it indoors cut into wedges, and oiled and seasoned it and cooked in my air fryer. I was very impressed and it went down well with his two bacon rolls I had made for his lunch .That boy will go far he won't waste anything if he can help it.:)  It was a good sized spud and he was chuffed to bits to show me how he cooked for himself at Uni . he's my youngest grandson and at 19 over 6'2" tall it only seems five minutes ago i was changing his nappy bless him.. He was telling me how him and his pals sort out bills in their house share.They are seem to shower if they can at the sports unit at Uni to save on their hot water at the house The have a 'whiteboard' and work out their food bills between them They are three very canny young men who are doing their best with limited means. Their landlord is pretty good and if they keep the grass short and neat he knocks a bit off their rent.So the boys take it in turns to mow the gardenTheir house is quite near to a Tesco superstore so they also check out any yellow stickers to go into their freezer  for when things get a bit lean. 

I think we will all be doing as much as we can this winter to streetch things.
My eldest DD spotted a long coat /cardigan online reduced from £60.00 to £14 its a rather startling colour of cerise, its not something I would wear outside because of its colour but its wool, and long with a belt so I'm thinking yes that will do nicely in the winter to keep me cosy indoors with a throw over my feet. Certainly keep the draughts at bay and warmer than my dressing gown. So £14.00 well spent I think  

Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

Siebrie

My Mum is looking into replacing her lovely but thin dining room curtains with insulating ones. My Dad passed in May, and she is like a diesel train, chugging along with one task after the other. Admin is pretty much sorted, now she is focussing on the house. Her pension almost halved when my Father died (it's still comfortable), and she means to stretch that money to be able to visit relatives all over the country. Getting proper helpful curtains at the back of the house are now priority.

SuzeQStan

@Siebrie - similar situation here re curtains to your mum.  

As I’m a bit of a bodger I used an old blanket which I pinned to the back of the curtain covering our large sliding door at back of house.  

You could of course cut the blanket in half for a pair of curtains.  

It worked really well last winter and the difference to temperature in the room was appreciable.

Or if your mum wants to do it right she could get backing material and thermally line the existing curtains. Should be a lot cheaper than buying new curtains.

Especially if the curtains are lovely - a shame to get rid of a good thing.

London_1

could you not perhaps sew some stud fasteners to the existing curtains, and again on lining material or blankets then come the spring just unclip them if the existing curtains match her decor and she doesn't want to change them.

I did that when we had a very old draughty Victorian end of terrace house with no CH or double glazing back in the 1970s when the mortgage rates went through the roof and money was very tight.

The windows were the old rattley sash cord type which the wind whistled through. The previous owners had left some nice curtains in our sitting room and they went nicely with the decoration in there I couldn't afford new curtains anyway I found a dark blanket in a charity shop for £2.00 and bought a couple of cards of stud fasteners and sewed them on along the top of the curtains every 4 inches on both the curtains and the blanket that I cut to size of the curtains I didn't own a sewing machine so I had to do it all by hand with the help of lots of pinning I laid the curtains on the floor and worked on them there My late husband thought it was a hoot me sewing this on the curtains but to be fair it worked a treat and as the sitting room was the only one in the house with a fire place it made it a lot warmer when the cold weather came Come the spring I just undone the studs and I had my nice thin curtains back for the spring/summer again.
I wasn't worried about how they looked from the outside as long as we kept the heat in. I remember my late Mum doing something similar with blackout curtains when I was a little girl

JackieO xx

weenancyinAmerica

I have fleece blankets on a spring-type curtain rod behind curtains in several of my rooms. Some of my curtains are different anyway - two rooms have shower curtains in place of regular curtains, the kitchen has tea towels hooked to curtain rods (can still use them as towels if I needed to) that I bought on sale - 24 for 25 cents each, my bedroom just has fleece blankets as window curtains (were even the right length) on clips on a curtain rod. Regular curtains were just too expensive.

MrsCD

Last winter, I hung a spare pair of curtains on the same curtain rod as my bedroom curtains. I put them back to back with each other so the right side faced out on each pair, and they made a big difference in the temperature in the bedroom, so we didn't need to use the heater as much.

Siebrie

Thank you for all the advice. The ceilings are 280cm, and the curtains are floor to ceiling, so fleece blankets will be too short. She also needs to replace the roller blinds in the kitchen (they have tears) and has decided to buy them all from the same firm, who will come and replace all in 1 day. Mum is 87, has the funds (she will make sure of it) and can't deal with much hassle. She has sewn many curtains in her life, and is happy to outsource it This is why she's living as frugally as she does.

That said, I will probably go with your advice and line our curtains with lightweight fleece

nicki_2

I'm creeping back in having been AWOL for a while

My winter preps are limited this year as I've just had major abdominal surgery on just 2 weeks notice so I'm not allowed to lift anything more than a kettle for at least 6 weeks, but I'm doing my best with what little help son can supply around his work & uni as he's not living here any longer. I'm just grateful he's still in the same city!

Also inhibiting is a distinct lack of money as I'm not currently working (I'm self employed so I'm back to work Monday but I'm not going to be at "full capacity" until December even with sons help!) and have been struggling to earn for the past few months due to a sudden decline in my health so I had to drop unreliable customers, and wasn't able to get another business I wanted started (spent 2 years doing research & gathering materials I needed) or even get stuff listed on selling sites as I was so exhausted all the time. I was literally working at half the pace I normally do, too tired to think straight, didn't have the energy to sit at my desk to work or was sleeping since I caught the 'nasty' bug back in January which decided to turbo-charge another health issue I didn't even know I had until May!

So my plans are roughly:

• Replace the sealant around the back kitchen window & door which was removed in April (this is going to have to be sons job as I can't stretch etc)
  
• Put up the blind and door curtain in the kitchen (also for son as I can't handle the drill nor lean across the kitchen sink)
  
• Make a small curtain for a serving hatch between the un-heated kitchen and livingroom to reduce the draft.
  
• Make a new door curtain for the door between the kitchen and livingroom (that may have to wait due to the weight of the material it'll require)
  
• Wash all the winter gloves and hats
• Make thick floor mats for under my desk and for by the front door (Also going to have to wait a few weeks until I can lift heavier stuff)
  
• Find something to line sons bedroom curtains with& line them!
  
• Rearrange bedrooms to move stuff away from external walls in the hopes of avoiding mould growing (that'll have to wait a few weeks) - and treat the walls in sons bedroom!
• Get the boiler's temporary draining fix properly fixed! (October - I want the all clear from the hospital before I bring workmen into the house due to the dog!!) 
• Get front bedroom and livingroom windows replaced (Landlords responsibility but she wants me to handle it - she'll just pay - but again waiting on the all clear from the hospital due to workmen)
  
• Start making Christmas gifts for my son, niece and nephew (sewing projects - the ideas are there in my head, I just need to get them onto paper and find the materials using what I've already got in)
  
• Get my remoska fixed or replaced with a small oven (thats going to cost more than I can afford for quite a while unfortunately)
  
• Go through my wardrobe and work out any clothing needs
• Try to get a storecupboard started so I can avoid the shops as much as possible, and meal plan filling but cheap meals minimising the use of the oven unless batch cooking (Batch cooking will have to wait until after halloween though I fear as I don't have the strength to bend over to use the oven!)
  
• Deep clean of the fridge & freezer
• Start buying stuff for Christmas Dinner
• Do visual check of the outside of the house (roof, chimney, gutters etc) to check for leaks or loose things.
  
• Salt the patio - we have weeds coming up between pavers as all the pointing is failing and coming out. I'm hoping putting salt down between them in the gaps will help kill the weeds!
  
• Gather/check all the winter blankets etc ready to put on my bed etc. I plan on having my heating at 17degreesC this winter for the most part and except on nights when I'm working, being in bed by 9pm.
  
• Find a rechargeable or solar powered lamp I can use at bedtime to read - no candles here as dog sleeps in my room and I can't have a lamp plugged in due to the location of the only socket in the bedroom.
  

Okay that's a bigger list than I was expecting lol I should write it out somewhere so I don't forget it. I'll be working on the meal planning today as I need a grocery shop so son and I will combine one and get a delivery here on Tuesday as his dad is coming to help him move the last of his stuff to uni (all the kitchen breakables etc) so it can be moved in the car and at least I know he'll be able to eat properly for a few weeks!

Cherryfudge

Wow @nicki_2, you've had a rough time. Take it steady and give yourself time to heal. Would cardboard be a temporary serving hatch cover and save the sewing job till later? Is there a Repair Cafe local to you that would take a look at the remoska?