Preparing for Winter

sandraroffey

my sons girlfriend has just moved in with us and has brought her tumble dryer with her. she uses it without a second thought and doesnt even put the washing machine on a long spin!! the dryer goes on for at least an hour on the timer, then she goes off and leaves it!! whats in there could have been dry for ever but she wouldnt know. had to have a word last week!!! 'too much electric' and 'bankrupt' were mentioned. we dont have a garden but up until she came, i dried at the laundrette if it was absolutely necessary, (which is only 20ft from my house) OR use the huge rack in the bathroom!!!!.

Shortie

Gryfon wrote: »

It cost us about £450 to fill our tank in March which should last us till next Spring. I have a question though, I've put our Stanley (like an Aga) on low to keep the chill off the house and also I hang my wet clothes above it and in front of it and they dry either during the day or overnight. I don't have a tumble drier which I would be using otherwise. So do you think I'm actually saving money drying over the heater rather than using a dryer?

I have no idea about the cost differences, but you're not just drying your clothes... you're also heating your house as you say.

I've never had an Aga or seen a 'real' one to be fair, but I guess there are other ways to use that low heat too like warming plates/drying herbs.....

Couldn't get that much out of a tumble dryer

Princess_kate

Iv never had trouble with damp, I do try & open the windows when I can tho, Just on the tilt bit at the top (tilt & turn windows) nice to get some fresh air in too! I dont have much option ofther than use portable heaters as my storage heaters dont seem to work & also I dont get the point of them kickin out heat while im in work in the day!

bandraoi

Princess_kate wrote: »

It was easy, however after a few hours they fell off! I think maybe because I used velcro dots & not a whole strip, wasn't enough to hold it up, anyway.....I have re-attatched them, with ribbon. I have a pole & curtains with eyelet tops. Anyway i cut 3 small slits in the fleece, 1 either end & 1 in the middle & tied it to the pole behind the curtain, if you know what i mean. When eyelet tops curtains are threaded onto a pole there is one part your cant see the pole & thats where i tied it. When I draw the curtains it just moves along with the curtains & will be easy to remove in summer, if we ever get one!!
Sure they will make a difference, my bedroom windows now have blinds, curtains that are lined with blackout material & now fleece blankets too! hehe
By the way, I used asda smartprice fleeces, £1.77 each & the ribbon was actually from a fleece I bought from primark, came tied around it & I knew it would come in handy for something! Goodness I have officially become moneysaving!

Hope this helps!

I also used the same fleece to make a draft excluder!
We should write a book, 101 uses for a smartprice fleece!

Kate

I used these:

except bigger I think.

Two in the top of each fleece the same distance apart as the window and hang them on net curtain hooks.

You could also put four or five of them in and use ribbon/string/wool to tie the fleeces up along the length.

Skintmama

Gryfon wrote: »

It cost us about £450 to fill our tank in March which should last us till next Spring. I have a question though, I've put our Stanley (like an Aga) on low to keep the chill off the house and also I hang my wet clothes above it and in front of it and they dry either during the day or overnight. I don't have a tumble drier which I would be using otherwise. So do you think I'm actually saving money drying over the heater rather than using a dryer?

It depends on whether a Stanley, like an Aga has to be on constantly. If you can turn it on and off then you will need to work out the cost of heating being on low and use of a tumble drier (sorry cannot help with the maths!) versus the warmth of the Stanley and the washing being dried. Presumably you are also cooking in it too? For me the Aga being on means the heating is off, I rarely use a TD, I never have an excuse to buy baked goods or ready meals and it saves on the ironing too. Another way to make use of the heat is to keep a large stockpot of water in the low oven so that you have plenty of hot water for washing, washing up, or cleaning etc. Basically, you have to do everything you can with it to make up for the cost of the oil.

Princess_kate

Aldi have the dehumidifying crystels on offer this sunday, 19th October.
You get the holder & 2 refils 1.2 kg each for £5.99

HTH
Kate

glitterycloud

Scubabe wrote: »

Awwww thanks so much for your post! It's good to know I'm not the only one who's chosen to foresake the central heating and use portable heaters instead!
Did you find you had any problems with damp if you didn't use the central heating? I'm noticing it already, so I'm hoping to buy a dehumidifier this payday.

Ness

Hi yes we do suffer from damp/mould/condensation last year (or was it earlier this year? cant remember) we got a small dehumidifier from local adtrader it was second hand but it does the job, when it starts to get a bit damp we stick it on and its right as rain the next day. I would defo recommend a dehumidifier as its suprising how much warmer the place is once its been on for a day or two.

Caterina

sandraroffey wrote: »

my sons girlfriend has just moved in with us and has brought her tumble dryer with her. she uses it without a second thought and doesnt even put the washing machine on a long spin!! the dryer goes on for at least an hour on the timer, then she goes off and leaves it!! whats in there could have been dry for ever but she wouldnt know. had to have a word last week!!! 'too much electric' and 'bankrupt' were mentioned. we dont have a garden but up until she came, i dried at the laundrette if it was absolutely necessary, (which is only 20ft from my house) OR use the huge rack in the bathroom!!!!.

Ask her to stop this habit of hers or pay a larger proportion of the electricity bill!

I got rid of our tumble drier because my son used it just like this girl, and sometimes just because he wanted to dry ONE t-shirt! He is quite non-compliant to "green" requests so this was the only way to stop him. The guy who came to pick it up from a freecycle advert was well chuffed - wait till he sees the electricity bill hehehe

Caterina

Fruball

We finally had our cavity wall insulation done this week - it cost £200 (large 3 bed tce).

I put the heating on earlier for a quick blast and had to turn it off pretty quick and open a window as I was toasting I won't be so quick to put the heating on next time - Have never ever had so little heating in Oct as we have used this year - all our curtaining has really payed dividends!

(I guess part of my generated heat was the heavy duty cleaning I was doing as DD2 had taken her nappy off before her nap and made poo art on the wall which I didn't find til she woke up :eek: :eek: :eek: ) (I actually took a piccy to embarrass her later on )

Its not been a good day

ailuro2

ceridwen wrote: »

So - pretty much sorted. Just waiting to see if its possible to make a lapquilt out of an old duvet (ie if it can be done without feathers going everywhere).

You need to stitch along the edges at the size you want it before you cut it down to size - that will keep the feathers in.If you make it the width of a single duvet you can use an old duvet cover to make it look nicer, and can wash the duvet cover easily when it gets splashed with tea etc.:D