Preparing for Winter

BitterAndTwisted

The man has just been to read my gas-meter this morning and my usage is over a third less than it was last year. Last year I was working full-time putting the heating on for three hours a day and this year I am not working, sitting here in the chill. I think my gas bill will be about £80 and I believe doing without was worth it. Still, it wasn't fun piling on the thermals and extra socks when the thermostat read 11 degrees centigrade that's for sure.

Electricity reading is due in a couple of days but I know the bill will be higher than last year

jamanda

rachbc wrote: »

I've just had my winter quarter bill and despite how cold its been and having the heating on lots my usage is still down on same time last year which feels good...those thick curtians draught excluders and shouting at the kids to keep doors shut must me paying off a bit

I too am very thankful that we took as many precautions as we could before the winter, e.g. thermal linings, warm blankets, thermal clothing etc. It has been a very cold one so far, but we are coping much better than we would have done. DH was acquiring scrap pallets etc. through the summer as well, so we have plenty of wood for the fire. I dread to think what the bills would have been otherwise, although I seem to think the electricity has gone down a bit - probably due to groping round in the semi-dark when on my own, and following DH around switching lights off, drawing curtains at dusk, etc.

mama67

westcoastscot wrote: »

Morning,
Woke on the west coast of scotland to a white world again - very pretty but very unusual! Snow rarely lies here, but we have a white world from early december until mid january, and now it's back. Realy cold again too! We're pretty cosy with the stove going 24/7, but am resolved to make window quilts for the bay window this year before winter.
WCS

We had the same here this morning as well, although it has now all but vanished.

BigMummaF

I want to put bubble wrap up in the bathroom windows, but upstairs especially gets that awful black mould We never had a problem till the LL did a 'refurb' & now the tiles all around the bath are covered :mad: There's an extractor fan in there & I always open the window of a morning, but it's a persistent little balooga
Our gas bill was a :eek: & I MUST have a look to see if it's estimated..I'll go do that now before I forget again :doh:

ginnyknit

I am hoping that all the advice I took from MSE has helped my bill, have been very frugal but with DH disabled he has to keep warm. Am getting used to wandering round in layers of woolies and boots. The padded curtains in the bathroom and loo have helped a lot but new shower in bathroom has added to mould so have to have window open as much as poss to dry the room out. Hoping the landlords plan to put double glazing in next month will help a lot - we shall see!!

mardatha

I'm reading a book about a woman who lived for a year as they would have in 1790. She said in winter the cottage was down to 4-6C and you could see your breath . Even on sunny days because the cottage walls were sdo thick and the windows tiny. makes us look right wimps eh !

Frugaldom

Mardatha, we can see our breaths in the bedrooms here when it gets really cold but I'm wondering why whoever re-enacted the 1790 lifestyle didn't just light the fire? I'd be interested in reading the book, any chance you could post the title & author? Thanks

Gigervamp

Oh, is that The Garden Cottage Diaries? I got that for christmas. It's really interesting.

Frugaldom

Gigervamp, thanks for that link, will try to borrow a copy from library, as it looks interesting. This winter has brought me a reminder that we can never have too many logs in stock, but I'm interested to find out how they managed back then with no modern transport and extra livestock to feed. I could do the 'take the horse into town' part but only if someone gave me space to keep the horse, and hay, and straw and feeding and... it's never ending. The more frugal we are, the more space we need and space is what we're running out of here.

mardatha

Yes that's the book - but that was with the fire ON ! She actually lives near me, in the same village where my son had his wedding. But I can't understand how she grows all those vegetables when I CANT !!:(