Preparing for Winter

Fire_Fox

I second the heated underblanket idea, which are soooo cheap to run, along with a good duvet. We never heat the bedroom (nor any other part of the flat for two winters), tho we do have double glazing so no draughts. I am cosy as anything as long as I get into a nice warm pre-warmed bed.

Savvy_sewing

Money_maker wrote: »

The Works have some lavender wheat bags on their site at £2.99 or 2 for £5. You pop them in the microwave and they're warm and smell gorgeous. Was looking for some for ages for a little old lady I look after as she has arthritis. Ebay was always quite expensive once you look at P&P. The Works website does it on weight, cost me £2.25 for one wheat bag and a childrens book I haven't read for years. Saves me a trip to the nearest store.

These are quite simple to make, I used a bag of barley from Mr T, (cant remember the price), and just a piece of fairly denser fabric, or fur fabric I did for one. Drop some lavender oil, or lavender heads into the barley, before closing the end of the fabric. Costs pence, and about 10 minutes to do.

As they are heavy, the postage gets higher.!:rolleyes:

cheerfulness4

northwest1965 wrote: »

Are they easy to make?, we need a couple here, have to say I'm not the best with needle & cotton

I actually knitted the covers for mine last year so those ideas others gave will be great for me as I add extras this year.

I just cut off the legs of a pair of tights and filled them full of strips of 'past it' clothes that I'd gathered over time. (Actually anything that was fabric). I then tied a knot in the end and knitted a long narrow rectangle using up odds and ends of wool in matching colours to the room and hand sewed it into a tube to hold the tights leg.

Little hooks on the bottom of the door with loops in your cover (or ribbon tied round each end) mean that you can attach them to the door so that it rides with it -rather than be left away from the door once you go out and let the cold in.

Bargain_Bunny

Money_maker wrote: »

The Works have some lavender wheat bags on their site at £2.99 or 2 for £5. You pop them in the microwave and they're warm and smell gorgeous. Was looking for some for ages for a little old lady I look after as she has arthritis. Ebay was always quite expensive once you look at P&P. The Works website does it on weight, cost me £2.25 for one wheat bag and a childrens book I haven't read for years. Saves me a trip to the nearest store.

I tried these a couple of years back and it completely ruined my microwave!! the inside started to peel away..I put it in on the recommended setting/time. Would'nd use them again sorry. Alternatively you could place them on the rad for a bit?

BB

Gigervamp

Bargain_Bunny wrote: »

I tried these a couple of years back and it completely ruined my microwave!! the inside started to peel away..I put it in on the recommended setting/time. Would'nd use them again sorry. Alternatively you could place them on the rad for a bit?

BB

That's interesting. I know that pure, undiluted essential and fragrance oils can melt plastic and strip paint or varnish.

pipkin71

I've had the heating on a few times already in the last week or so, as I really feel the cold at the moment.

I need to get some draugyht proofing strips as there is a draught coming under the windowsill, where it meets the wall, and you can really feel the chill when you put your hand there, so it definitely needs sorting out.

carriebradshaw

Bargain_Bunny wrote: »

Thinki am going to throw a fleece blanket over the curtains, we have dg but i had problems last winter -i sleep next to our en suite but i do put a blanket at the bottom of the door, for some reason there seems so be a draft round my face all night and i wake up with red/sore eyes (u should see me trying to put my lenses in)i put myhead under the duvet but hubby thinks i will suffocate during the night..

BB

you could try one of those blackout /sleep eye masks, it would protect your eyes from the draught

downshifter

pipkin71 wrote: »

I've had the heating on a few times already in the last week or so, as I really feel the cold at the moment.

I need to get some draugyht proofing strips as there is a draught coming under the windowsill, where it meets the wall, and you can really feel the chill when you put your hand there, so it definitely needs sorting out.

I had that problem and ran filler along under the windowsill, makes so much difference. I used one of those guns with the foam stuff, quite a bit drops off but if you do it in small layers it's fine. If the gap is really big stuff damp newspaper in first.

pipkin71

downshifter wrote: »

I had that problem and ran filler along under the windowsill, makes so much difference. I used one of those guns with the foam stuff, quite a bit drops off but if you do it in small layers it's fine. If the gap is really big stuff damp newspaper in first.

Thanks downshifter.

It's amazing what a small draught can do to the temperature of the room. Hopefully sorting this one out will help with that.

esmf73

We lived in Cyprus for 2 yrs with the army and have just come home. The lessons learned in a cypriot winter were invaluable! The houses have no central heating (it gets down to about 2 - 3 degrees at the coast!) and no air con. So we froze or swealtered!!

The sun was our only form of heat in the winter except for a calor gas fire. So I lined the curtains and closed them early every day. I got rid of all the draughts, we all wore extra layers including socks and proper shoes (I found that thick plastic soles were warmer than anything else). We had a hot meal every day - so used the oven which helped to heat the house as well, and shut off any doors to unused rooms.

At night we used blankets and if necessary wore extra layers. We were fine - just didn't let ourselves get cold as it was harder to warm up if we were cold.