Preparing for Winter

Ellidee

[quote=Gabriella;14740307


Picked up a good recipe from Nigella`s TV show last week................celery and green pea soup (just saute a whole head of chopped celery for about 10 minutes, then add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and simmer for another 5 minutes, then blitz and add a tablespoon of green pesto. Amazing flavour and I am doing what she did..............fill a flask with it and drink it anytime you feel chilly.............instantly warms and nutritious too !![/quote]

Gabriella - sounds fab - did you add stock and if so how much please ? TIA

D&DD

Well I went to our large Tesco's the other day and invested in a sexy new set of thermals :rotfl: OH decided to disown me at this point after seeing me sitting there the night before knitting wristwarmers too..He thinks I've been watching the Day after Tomorrow a tad too much :rotfl:

Debt_Free_Chick

Ellidee wrote: »

Gabriella - sounds fab - did you add stock and if so how much please ? TIA

Well, I've not tried it (but certainly will do), but I'd go by the texture. If too thick, add stock. If "OK" then don't

Caterina

Hi

I decided that changing my hair colour for winter would cheer me up, and it did! Wearable with my "Ninja" thermals!



£1 worth of henna, as opposite to my usual past £50 worth of hairdresser! I am happy!

Caterina

bellybabe_2

Caterina wrote: »

Hi

I decided that changing my hair colour for winter would cheer me up, and it did! Wearable with my "Ninja" thermals!



£1 worth of henna, as opposite to my usual past £50 worth of hairdresser! I am happy!

Caterina

:T
I'm a henna girl...one of my fave bits of moneysaving. I buy a packet for about 75p, and use a third on my long-ish hair - love it! Especially in winter as it cheers me up when the rare bit of sunlight catches it.
Great pic.
BB

Scubabe

We have just moved down south and moved into a rental property. The rent is almost 4 times what our mortgage was on our old house, so while we considered ourselves well off before, we're now having to really pull in our belts & budget hard. Oh well, it's only temporary, hubby's pay packet will double in April, but until then we're feeling the pinch.

We've decided not to fill the oil tank this winter - we've never used oil before, it appears to be really expensive and we just don't have a spare £400 bare minimum required to get a minimum delivery. The oil would only be used for the central heating, the hot water immersion heater has an electric on/off switch.

So.... we have an old farmhouse in the country, with single glazing and no central heating, which is situated in a valley and thus gets very cold.

We've purchased a convection heater from Argos for £30 which heats up a room very quickly. We were thinking of getting another 2 of those, and use them to heat the lounge/kitchen/master bedroom etc for just a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening.

For drying washing, I don't have a tumble drier, we use maidens in front of the heater. The house is starting to show signs of damp by doing this (mould in the bathroom, excess condensation on the windows, clothes and bedding constantly feel damp) so I was thinking we should get a dehumidifier. I'm thinking £99 from Argos - would one be enough, and I could run it upstairs during the day and downstairs overnight - this should also help the washing to dry I think?

The loungeroom has an open fire, which I need to get swept (£20??) and then we need to buy a fire guard (£40), grate (£35) and tools (£30) - these prices are all quoted from our local junkyard, is there a cheaper place to buy fire-type things?? We'll then use the fire in the evenings in the lounge.

I also need to buy some curtains. Really thick heavy thermal ones to keep in as much heat as possible. I'd prefer plain chocolate-brown coloured curtains. Can anyone suggest a good place to buy proper thick thermal lined curtains? I don't have a sewing machine so even though I can sew and could make them myself, I don't have the machine to run them up on. I was thinking of just getting curtains for the lounge and bedroom at this stage. I need to get these as cheaply as possible as ideally I want to get them from my next paypacket, but this is starting to get expensive.

I also rug up in the evenings, use a lap rug on the sofa, I'll pick up a couple of hot water bottles as well soon. Also, we have labradors, which are fabulous for snuggling up to on the sofa and getting warm in the evenings

What I need to do/buy:
Get Chimney Swept £20
Buy 2 x more heaters £60
Buy dehumidifier £99
Buy fireplace stuff £105
Buy Curtains £??? (might have to buy these from Nov pay packet, don't think I can afford them in Oct anymore...)

Any other Old Style tips for me???

Thanks in advance (and thanks even more for getting to the end of this monster post!!)

Ness

Daisymac_2

Scubabe wrote: »

We have just moved down south and moved into a rental property. The rent is almost 4 times what our mortgage was on our old house, so while we considered ourselves well off before, we're now having to really pull in our belts & budget hard. Oh well, it's only temporary, hubby's pay packet will double in April, but until then we're feeling the pinch.

We've decided not to fill the oil tank this winter - we've never used oil before, it appears to be really expensive and we just don't have a spare £400 bare minimum required to get a minimum delivery. The oil would only be used for the central heating, the hot water immersion heater has an electric on/off switch.

So.... we have an old farmhouse in the country, with single glazing and no central heating, which is situated in a valley and thus gets very cold.


Sounds like you live on the same farm as me, in a valley, Oil Central Heating etc etc, it is not in Bucks is it :-) I would say think carefully about not filling the oil tank, we didnt for the first winter and within days of being freezing we had to order some, we got a good deal from a company called Fuel Care, we pay them monthly so instead of getting one big bill we can spread it out through the year, it is always seems to cost us loads if we use the immersion heater switch instead of the oil. We do use quite a lot of oil but only have out tank filled twice a year so it is not too bad.

Gabriella_2

Ellidee wrote: »

Gabriella - sounds fab - did you add stock and if so how much please ? TIA

Oh sorry, forgot to mention..............I added vegetable stock - just enough to cover the celery (I didn`t make it too salty though because the green pesto is fairly salty - just keep tasting and you can always add more flavouring.

sassypie

Hiya Scubabe

Your plans sound great, and this post is definitely the place for bright ideas!

If its any help, I spent yesterday evening watching tv curled up in a mummy-style sleeping bag (£3 at the car boot!!) - toasty as anything, and if it gets any colder I'll be sleeping in it under my duvet!!!!!!! :eek:

2 quick questions - people have mentioned damp absorbing crystals,but I seem to remember something about using salt ??? and then drying it out in the oven to reuse it again. Any ideas?

also, anyone know where I can buy proper leggings (that don't stop below my knees!) cos I don't really like the flowery wooly patterns on thermals (thanks for posts re Primark and Tescos, checked Primark, local tescos don't have them yet. May check Aldis). My best outfit is thermal vest (smooth cotton type) from Damart, long leggings, jeans, chunky roll neck pullover and huge fluffy cardy (last 2 from car boot, £2 total). Cosy!

mackidee

I missed the duvet slippers at Lidl but got some furry boot slippers yesterday from Tesco - a fiver,and worth every penny! They are the most comfy thing I've ever had on my feet and so warm & cosy,not the most feminine footwear but they fit in fine with my current impression of a giant teddy bear! OH thinks I've lost it altogether - wait till he sees the fingerless gloves:rotfl: :rotfl: