Preparing for Winter

bellaquidsin

I'm a fully paid up member of the stump soup club too.

Bella

Ches

sassypie wrote: »

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?

I think cat litter would be better to absorb moisture. I would half fill old ice cream tubs with it but I don't know about putting it in the oven as it may smell/melt and its cheap enough to chuck when soggy.

Bree

Regarding the cost of oil, in our village one person has organised a bulk buy of oil for all villagers intreasted. Everyone says how much oil they want, then the organiser gets a quote from the oil companies, then works out how much every one owes, all cheques are made payable to the oil company and the oil company delivers the oil to everyone. It works out cheaper than if everyone ordered individually. Its been going for a couple of months now. I'm not involved in it as we use solid fuel and leccy.

white_labrador

Regarding wrapping up for winter I just wanted to point out that Lidl have great wax cotton jackets in today at £24.99 each - choice of dark blue or dark green. They really look nice!

10past6

housebug wrote: »

I've heard this morning from a friend in a similar situation. She's really upset as she simply can't afford the extra. Too many ordinary working people falling through the cracks in the system and facing real hardship this Winter. :mad:

It's comforting to know, we're not alone then

Scubabe

There is absolutely no way on earth we can buy a tank of oil - we do not have that kind of money. My neighbour just filled his, cost him £1600, and he said he HOPES that will last them the winter!!! I cannot even scrape together £400 for a bare minimum fill, which wouldn't even last us to Christmas.

No, there is just no way I can afford it.

Lilo, thanks heaps for your tip about the heaters and about getting the fire stuff from Argos, didn't know they sold that kinda stuff, off for a look there now.

Nobody has given any suggestions for good places to buy heavy lined curtains, does that mean you just all make your own?? If anyone knows of a good place to buy curtains I'd love to know.

Cheers!

mumoftwo

Scubabe wrote: »

There is absolutely no way on earth we can buy a tank of oil - we do not have that kind of money. My neighbour just filled his, cost him £1600, and he said he HOPES that will last them the winter!!! I cannot even scrape together £400 for a bare minimum fill, which wouldn't even last us to Christmas.

No, there is just no way I can afford it.

Lilo, thanks heaps for your tip about the heaters and about getting the fire stuff from Argos, didn't know they sold that kinda stuff, off for a look there now.

Nobody has given any suggestions for good places to buy heavy lined curtains, does that mean you just all make your own?? If anyone knows of a good place to buy curtains I'd love to know.

Cheers!

It is really sad for all the staff and at this time of year too, with Christmas approaching but Roseby is having a sale on because they have gone into liquidation. I bought heavy, lined curtains for £7.50 but they weren't long ones. I spoke to the sales assistant and asked her if there was a chance if they might be taken over and keep their jobs, but she didn't think so, I felt so bad for them, they were still friendly and helpful, don't know if I could have been

Olliebeak

Scubabe wrote: »

.........Nobody has given any suggestions for good places to buy heavy lined curtains, does that mean you just all make your own?? If anyone knows of a good place to buy curtains I'd love to know.

Cheers!

Have you checked out local charity shops? When my bf moved into his flat a few years ago, I got him about four pairs of thermal lined curtains from the local Help the Aged shop. They weren't quite his 'thing' - but hey! I paid for them so they didn't cost him anything. I quickly reminded him that if he gave me the money for fabric and lining, I would go and buy the stuff and make them to order for him - he soon kept quiet!

The thermal-lined curtains that I've got at the moment came from Wilkinsons and we really feel the benefit by closing them as it goes dark outside. However we have a small bay window which is where the Christmas Tree goes. Once that goes up, we won't be able to close the curtains at all, but with the tree in the window area, we still seem to be insulated from the cold of the outside world.

elljay

There is absolutely no way on earth we can buy a tank of oil - we do not have that kind of money. My neighbour just filled his, cost him £1600, and he said he HOPES that will last them the winter!!! I cannot even scrape together £400 for a bare minimum fill, which wouldn't even last us to Christmas.

No, there is just no way I can afford it.

I'm in the same position, there's no way of affording a tank or even half a tank of oil and I'm down to around 2 inches, once it finishes it's really hard to restart as air gets into the lines. However, yesterday, having heard that the price of oil had dropped, I rang my own oil company and a few others to see what the price was.In one company, I spoke to a really nice lady who told me about their monthly payment plan, for no extra they will do a monthly direct debit, as with your electricity etc so you don't have to pay so much up front. They were also the cheapest for oil too of those that I rang and she said it would probably come down during the week. (48.9 + vat now) She's sending me more info and a form.They spread it evenly over the year.

I know it makes sense to put money by over the year in a high interest savings account for this blah blah to pre-empt people who might want to tell you this, - like we don't already know!!- but this is the real world and I already save for my tax bill (self employed) and can't save any more. And people who can get gas don't have to do that anyway so why should we be penalised?

So it might help to find out if your oil supplier does this, then you can order oil and be warm without worrying as much. Not all of them do, my normal one doesn't, so ring round. I'm so worried about people being cold and damp this year. I haven't had the heating on more than an hour or so over the weekend but the house is clammy and feels damp and it's not nice or healthy.

Rant over, off to work to warm up!

Liz

Uniscots97

Scubabe wrote: »

There is absolutely no way on earth we can buy a tank of oil - we do not have that kind of money. My neighbour just filled his, cost him £1600, and he said he HOPES that will last them the winter!!! I cannot even scrape together £400 for a bare minimum fill, which wouldn't even last us to Christmas.

No, there is just no way I can afford it.

Lilo, thanks heaps for your tip about the heaters and about getting the fire stuff from Argos, didn't know they sold that kinda stuff, off for a look there now.

Nobody has given any suggestions for good places to buy heavy lined curtains, does that mean you just all make your own?? If anyone knows of a good place to buy curtains I'd love to know.

Cheers!

www.halfcost.co.uk sometimes have some good heavy curtains but if you want really heavy duty curtains try the charity shops, my friend got some lovely heavy velvet ones for a fiver and they really keep the cold out.