Preparing for Winter

parsonswife8

Well, the kingsize summer duvet is now between the mattress protector and the brushed cotton bottom sheet and the winter kingsize duvet is now on the bed.

I spent last night watching the telly, wearing socks and slippers, track pants, a brushed cotton sleepshirt and my nan's old crocheted shawl!

What a sight! I'll easily scare the kids away on Halloween.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

housebug

Well I think we're as ready as we'll ever be. Draft-proofing is done. Energy saving bulbs in. Thermostat down. Finally got into the habit of switching off lights etc.. when not in use. I got another fleece blanket for the front room, a pair of fluffy boot style slippers and fleecy pjs for me (sex-ayyyyy! ) all for under £15 at Primark today.

So bring it! I quite like Autumn. Its a great time of year. So I'm going to relax now and stop fussing about the bills. :cool:

housebug

sassypie wrote: »

also, anyone know where I can buy proper leggings (that don't stop below my knees!)

If your tall like me, you may have to shell out for proportioned leggings from a store like Long Tall Sally. I've never been able to get leggings long enough for me from the usual shops.

LameWolf

A winter must-have for me is my trusty bottle of Tabasco sauce. A couple of drops of that turns shepherds pie from a warming meal to positive personal central heating!:p

Debt_Free_Chick

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.

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

Probably be as cheap to fill the oil tank and put the heating on. You probably wouldn't need the humidifier then :rolleyes:

Whilst filling the oil tank sounds expensive, it's just that you pay your heating bill in one go, up front - rather than monthly

AFAIK the price of all fuel - gas, electric & oil - is driven by the price of crude oil. I'm not convinced that heating by oil is more expensive than oil or gas .... it just seems that way because you pay for a whole tank in advance.

mumoftwo

Beccatje wrote: »

quote=elljay;14704501]

Your coal burner looking great sis. Looks cosy in the room as well, here is to a warm home this winter without the hight fuel bills

meanmarie

No comment on pensioners as I know that our pensions are totally different to yours, I do understand how elderly people can find it difficult to get on with electronic switches etc so may be cold without needing to be, the same with hunger.....allegedly we all start to 'switch off' in old age and can literally starve ourselves to death....can't remember where I heard that several years ago, apparently that is Nature's Way. There is often too the pre-occupation with 'saving for the rainy day'....my late FIL when in his early 90s still felt it necessary to think about that although I firmly believe he would have chopped up all the furniture in the house to avoid being cold!

Thanks bandraoi for the word on Penneys fleecy throws, could do with four or five to line curtains in the coldest rooms.

Today I contacted a company for a quote to spray foam insulation into the older roof...no access for someone to insulate as there is no attic in that part of the house...hoping that it will stop the freeze in the 3 bedrooms on that level, we tried dry lining some years ago but the roof is the problem.

Can't remember who was wondering whether to buy heaters etc instead of oil for an existing system in rented house...buy the oil, be sparing with it and implement other heat saving means you can....if there are working fireplaces scavenge as much timber as you can to burn in them to keep the need for heat down, but there is nothing like the security of knowing that you can flip a switch to prevent frost bite if you need to do so.

Marie

moneysavingfamilycomp

D&DD wrote: »

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:

i got tesco thermals aswell been wearing t shirt under cardigan today and boy are they warm im getting more when we next go:D . my OH disowned me weeks ago now when he comes into room he just raises his eyebrows as im sat there with only my head sticking out of a fleece blanket lol:o . but the best of all was my DS whos 15 iv been encouraging him to put more clothes on instead of turning heating up and when he came in from school on friday he told me hed worn a pair of pj bottoms under his school trousers but he forgot that school arent moneysaving and had heating on so he was roasting all day lol :rotfl:

Beccatje

Thanks mumoftwo!
It is SOOO cozy!!

Tried to take a picture of it lit.. but the flames don't really show up on the piccie.. so sorry...

it is just lovely.. it looks great in the house as well..

Scubabe: It sounds to me like you could just as well fill that oil tank up! By the time you've bought all that stuff you're well under way! Plus all the energy it will take to run it...
Can you not work something out for payment?.. Maybe monthly?

Becca

liloandstitch

Scubabe, If you are looking at heaters, we have convector heaters, but find oil filled radiators to be cheaper and more effective - they are about the same price (although can spend a lot more) and plug in just the same.

Re the tools etc for the fire, try your local freecycle, or argos do a small range of cheap tools - they are not bad, although they will not last years and years - but saying that ours are on their 3rd year and still going strong - and as mentioned before, try and scavenge wood from local woods etc plus dried pine cones make ace fire lighters.
Hope this helps - lilo