Preparing for Winter

mama67

psso wrote: »

As well as collecting cones from the nearby wood, I take an empty cardboard loo roll tube and shove 3-4 other tubes inside it. Have a basket almost full in the bottom of the bathroom cupboard ready to put out in the shed. They make good firelighters too, and cost nothing at all.

I do this too,

ginnyknit

Well Sammy you are going to be busy but sound as if you have got everything under control and are working through your list!

Im just hoping the new windows make a big difference to the heating bill next year. I need to buy more pyjama's for me and get a quilt for grandson, he will be big enough for one by winter. Did layers of fabric for upstairs windows last year and they are washed ready to go back up. Crochettted lots of extra throws last year too - well there wasn't much to do with all that snow around.

HoneyBee83

Mmmmmm....i've been thinking about getting bits sorted for winter.Dont like to think about it whilst the sun is shinning but needs must!
Going start by getting my curtains up.
Buying some fleece throws to snuggle into to keep heating bills down.
I'll invest in some really warm pjs for myself and daughter.
Going to buy a new water butt and collect water ready for next summer-veggies (esp runner beans) seem to prefer it to tap and it'll save on water bills.
Need a new hotwater bottle too,love crawling into a toasty bed!!
Going to look into planting winter vegetables too see if i can save some pennies there.
Need to look up some new and tasty winter dishes.Nothing like a filling homemade dish to warm you up!

Thats all i have so far but enough to keep me busy!

mummyslittleboy

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

I made a c*ck up last winter and paid the wrong amount on each payment card for the gas adn electric so whilst my electric which I pay £50 usually on a month came down nicely adn is at £131 to pay, my electric which I usually pay £100 a month on kept going up, and up, and up, and I now owe £500+ :eek::eek::eek:and am on a payment meter to sort the debt out! Not good but at least I don't get any bills and it can only come down now! Only problem is come winter I don't want to be left with no gas and struggling which is why I hate them in the first place but was my only option!!

(before you ask Im in a shoddy, mould infested council flat) not nice.

Hi Sammy,

I am on pre payment meters to what I do is in the summer I put £15.00 a week on to my gas as I only use £4-5 a week of this and the rest collects for winter by the time I need it there is usually £200+ in credit on there and that helps carry me over the winter and I top it up by £20 a week during the winter to keep us going this year after winter I was still in credit by £80+ so had a nice couple of weeks break and used the money to buy the kids some stuff they needed.

If you are in council property they should short the mould out for you and they will also draught proof your home if it needs doing mine re did all my draugt proofing last year! Hope that helps.

sammy_kaye18

mummyslittleboy wrote: »

Hi Sammy,

I am on pre payment meters to what I do is in the summer I put £15.00 a week on to my gas as I only use £4-5 a week of this and the rest collects for winter by the time I need it there is usually £200+ in credit on there and that helps carry me over the winter and I top it up by £20 a week during the winter to keep us going this year after winter I was still in credit by £80+ so had a nice couple of weeks break and used the money to buy the kids some stuff they needed.

Thats what Im hoping to do - figure if I put £80 on a month I should end up in credit come Xmas and that will cover what they are taking to repay my debt too. Plus Im sure a friend of mine mentioned a cold weather payment too if it falls below freezing for so certain amount of time.

beingfrugal

It's very windy here today, quite cold (my two little girls have their dressing gowns on having their breakfast, so cute!) So it has me thinking about what we I have to do to prepare for winter.

We lost our home last year, we've found a lovely house to rent but it's cold, so cold and eats up the gas. Money is tight but thebig bay windows upstairs and down need dressing this year. how i'm going to go it remains to be seen but it's a must!

Other than that expensive problem I have to:

• buy wellies for my girls
• waterproof coat for my youngest
• thermal vests for us all walking to school
• a hi vis vest for my youngest
• slipper socks for us all
• thick pyjamas for us all
• dresing gown for me
• rugs for all 3 bedrooms (upstairs is laminate brrrrrrrrrrrr!)
• electric heaters for the bedrooms (1p a minute ones)
• candles, matches
• put money aside for extra fuel usage (should have been doing this already but been paying off our over usage for last winter )

Toonie

We're really hoping to be in a different flat by winter. The last two winters we have got by with no real heating (one radiator sort of works in the study). Now of course, the heating is fixed and our immersion heater is broken, so the only way to get hot water is with the heating on! So, we're looking for somewhere new to rent. Obviously no idea what we're going to get, so I'm just thinking we'll need to buy a few extra blankets, candles and matches and then we'll wait and see what we get if we manage to move. I have been putting money aside to cover any extra winter related bills, but it's only £5 a week at the moment as money is tight, but it's a start.

Broomstick

Assuming we stay in the same house (should know next week) we have got to get the kitchen/dining space sorted: lovely stone floor which is easy to clean and brilliant in the heat but unbearably sub-zero in the cold weather. So I have started two rag rugs with the old clothes that were beyond wearable even for the charity shop and I'm going to work my way through every design of rag rug I can find to get the floor covered by the time the cold sets in. The latch-hook rug I am trying out is working wonderfully well using little strips of old t-shirt.

I also need to work out how to construct and suspend a back door insulating 'blanket' without anything to hang it from. Don't think the landlord will be too happy with a rail being put up.

The other things we need are some bags of salt. Last winter people were getting these cheap (when they could actually get hold of them) from stables suppliers so I need to investigate that. Oh, and I need to find some of those anti-slip things that you attach to ordinary shoes (bit like crampons) that also sold out last winter. My elderly, but normally very mobile, parents really could do with some for next winter just in case. Does anyone know what these things were called? I can't remember.

Thanks
B x

mardatha

Being Frugal - the secret in a big cold house is to shrink the living space in winter heat only the main rooms like livingroom and kitchen....dont try to heat all the bedrooms . Make the kids stay downstairs in the warm until bedtime, then throw them into warm cosy beds and lights out right away. Otherwise the bills are just silly money.

beingfrugal

mardatha wrote: »

Being Frugal - the secret in a big cold house is to shrink the living space in winter heat only the main rooms like livingroom and kitchen....dont try to heat all the bedrooms . Make the kids stay downstairs in the warm until bedtime, then throw them into warm cosy beds and lights out right away. Otherwise the bills are just silly money.

Thanks mardatha. That is exactly what happened last year. The radiators upstairs were constantly clicking on and to be honest there was hardly any heat anyway. That's the plan this year, living room and kitchen warm along with bathroom with door closed to keep heat in (toasty, no windows or outside walls) and upstairs thick blankets, hotwater bottles, fleeces galore. No rads.

Dh was the problem last year. Psychologically he was upset that we lost the girls their home and refused to have them in cold rooms - those rooms were hardly even warm with the rads costing us a fortune so hopefully this year we'll get wrapped up and have an adventure!