Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

I'll pop up with my usual recommendation of the old 'stone pig' hot water bottles- you find them in charity shops, etc., often sold for doorstops or decorations, but with a new washer cut from a cork tile, and so long as no cracks, they make excellent small "mini storage heaters".
They are a glazed earthenware bottle with one flat side to lie on, a screw-top hole in the upper side to fill them, and a knob on one end to carry them (hence the pig nickname). If you fill one from a boiled kettle and cover it, ie in a bed, or as a footrest but with a blanket or towel snuggled round, then it will stay hot- not just warm but actually hot- for 6-10 hours depending on size. If used just as a heated foot-rest without any cover, then it will be tepid within two hours but will have warmed the air nearby. We fill our bedtime one about 9:30pm and it is still hot, not just warm, at 8 in the morning. 
Caveats: they get very hot so best to cover them (cut the sleeve off an old jumper, tie a knot in the cuff and slide the pig in at the shoulder-end, use a hair-elastic to close up the open end)- they can be hot enough to burn skin if uncovered! When you are filling them, best to immediately carry them to where they are wanted, before the outside has got completely hot. The big ones can be very heavy, so a small one can be more useful. If you use one in bed, you need the sort of bedstead with a foot to it, so you don't kick the pig out to smash on the floor! 

We love ours- they make a real difference. 

Primrose

Thank you for the detailed explanation on how to cover them effectively.  I can imsgine that these  items  gave enormous comfort in  the cold and unheated cottages of a couple of centuries ago..  
Reminds  me of the old metal Jerry can my dad used to fill with boiling water and put  in our greenhouse in a arge Haybox every winter to give some nocturnal comfort to an elderly feral cats we used to care for when I was a child.

Cherryfudge

Primrose said:

Thank you for the detailed explanation on how to cover them effectively.  I can imsgine that these  items  gave enormous comfort in  the cold and unheated cottages of a couple of centuries ago..  
Reminds  me of the old metal Jerry can my dad used to fill with boiling water and put  in our greenhouse in a arge Haybox every winter to give some nocturnal comfort to an elderly feral cats we used to care for when I was a child.

I used to heat a couple of house bricks in the oven and wrap them (newspaper? Rags? I don't remember) to put in the hutch with the rabbits during the very cold winters of around 2010/11. I also put the hutch in the most sheltered place near the house with lots of bedding, put polystyrene packaging on the top, blankets over and waterproofing over that... temps were down as low as minus 12 or so and all the animals came through okay though I'd have had them in the house if I could.

YorksLass

Primrose said:

I suspect we,re wll starting to buckle down for winter thie year with an increased level of anxiety, especially those of us who  are pensioners, live alone or who are disabled. So all hints on anything that will help make life a little easier will hopefully be shared.  Sometimes very simple  things that we haven't thought of can make a useful difference, particularly now heating/energy saving is going to become increasingly important.

We'll not get the winter heating allowance this year as we're not eligible for Pension Credit - not poor but not rich either.  DH feels the cold very easily because of his cancer (he's on end of life care now) so we're thankful for the Attendance Allowance he gets as we can use that to pay for any extra heating he may need. 

I've already dug the sofa throws and winter clothes out of storage and will soon be swapping the curtains over to heavier, lined ones.  And I've had to give in earlier than I would have liked to wearing socks again.  Summer clothes haven't had much of an airing this year at all.

Other than that, I think we're as prepared as we can be for winter but I do need to look out for a camping stove in case of power cuts.  We have gas central heating but electric for cooking.  During last winter's power cuts my next door neighbour who has a gas cooker very kindly boiled water and filled flasks for us so we could at least have a cup of tea and cup soups.  And I need to check the hot water bottles aren't leaking.  I remember the stone pigs from my childhood but so far haven't seen any in the charity shops.

MrsCD

Same here, @YorksLass, not eligible for PC, not poor but not rich either. I'm sorry your DH is so poorly and I hope you both can keep warm and make some good memories.
I've been 'saving' by paying a bit extra on our electricity bill each month so I'm hoping we'll be able to put it on when we need to. We're all electric on economy 7, so the day rate is extortionate! 
Go Outdoors had some camping stoves a couple of weeks ago at a good price. DD bought one.
We had our first 2 hour unplanned power cut yesterday. We managed well! 😊

Sarahspangles

I have a ten day break from work coming up, when my colleague asked about our plans she summarised the answer as ‘you’re winterising’!

I need a first pass at tidying the garden, the next will be at Christmas when everything is dormant and then I do a final prune of the roses at the end of February. I will tidy and bring in the houseplants that spend Summer in the back garden.

Indoors I’ll have a thorough clean, check food stocks and possibly do some cooking for the freezer. We don’t have seasonal decor other than throws - for the cat’s benefit! But we spend more time indoors so a bit of decluttering is in order.

The one tip I have is that running a dehumidifier in the bedroom seems to make the bed more cosy.  OH is always airing sports gear up there so it gets that dry sooner. This Winter will be the first since we replaced the windows. We have trickle vents and I want to try leaving those open and letting the room get quite cold. But keeping it dry, I used to stay at a B&B near Kinder Scout when I worked away, where the rooms were definitely chilly. But with warm blankets and a coverlet I got the best night’s sleep.

Floss

@Sarahspangles I have always slept with my window open, even when in Andorra, the Alps or Dolomites skiing. As you say, a cool room but warm covers equals a good sleep, certainly for me.

Auntycaz

@YorksLass sorry to hear your husband is on end of life care. Hope you manage to get a stone pig water bottle as they really do stay hot for a long time.
Don't forget draught excluders for your doors and a thick dressing gown. I have throws on my sofa. but wear my dressing gown over my clothes indoors as i can move about without getting too cold. I will still get my winter fuel payment as I'm on pension credit but my rent increased by £140 per month in May so my pension increase was swiftly eaten up and I'm still financially worse off than last year. I've built up a bit of credit on my energy account so I wont worry so much about putting the heating on if it gets really cold. I also have a stock of most things in the cupboard so I dont need to go out if the weather is too bad and also keep a carton of milk in the freezer.

Wednesday2000

I checked the heating last night and it does work. It wasn't that cold last night so we only blasted it for an hour to take the chill away. It looks lovely and sunny out today. I am going to look for a "new" winter coat in the charity shops at some point.

I called up my local pharmacy yesterday and the lady said she is expecting the flu vaccines in next week so to call back to book our jabs. I looked at our medicine drawer and the only thing we are slightly short on is ibuprofen so I will buy some in the next few weeks.

Sarahspangles

Wednesday2000 said:

I checked the heating last night and it does work. It wasn't that cold last night so we only blasted it for an hour to take the chill away. It looks lovely and sunny out today. I am going to look for a "new" winter coat in the charity shops at some point.

I called up my local pharmacy yesterday and the lady said she is expecting the flu vaccines in next week so to call back to book our jabs. I looked at our medicine drawer and the only thing we are slightly short on is ibuprofen so I will buy some in the next few weeks.

Our heating came on for the first time this morning as the living room was a little below 18C but I’ve tweaked the thermostat so there’s an extra half hour before it kicks in, which will give the sun time to warm the room.

The NHS Covid and flu jabs start on Thursday 3rd October which is later than in previous years but designed to give good protection over the main period that we need it. 75 to 79s are also being offered an RSV vaccine by GPs for the first time. It’s the third of the seasonal respiratory illnesses that can lead to hospital admissions and you only need that jab once.