Preparing for Winter

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.

Soubrette

We don't have the upstairs heating on and hot water bottles (with a cover) are lovely - if your feet are warm then nothing else feels quite so cold

Might be worth seeing if they're any cheaper at the moment as they're 'out of season'

Sou

[Deleted User]

So glad I came across this thread- you've reminded me to fill the salt bin! Thanks

sammy_kaye18

beingfrugal wrote: »

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 )

http://www.hivis.net/c6/Hi-Vis-4-Kidz?gclid=CMPdyeid0qICFUeK3godFRBtgg

This site is for hi vis things and has hi vis accessories on there too. The road we use on the school run can be very dark come winter so I will be getting Ben one too - possibly some stickers to go on his lunch box and my bumps buggy to make sure we are all seen.


I agree with Mardatha with only living space being heated. Our bedroom is dreadful for heat loss and we will have a 6 month old baby in there with us by then too so need to get the broken radiator sorted out or insulate it properly - although we are in flats and have an above neighbour and adjoining sideways neighbour and one behind so only one outside wall so hoping to steal some heat too.

I tend to heat Ben's bedroom, (no point in ours as our radiator is broken!) the bathroom, and the living room. Reason for this is the tiny kitchen joins on our long living room and so any heat form kitchen is left to leak into the living room and vice versa, the bathroom gets really warm and joins our L shaped hallway where the dog sleeps opposite the front door, but he has a cuddly bed he can bury into opposite the door or we leave a blanket folded up under the sink in the bathroom for him so he can go in there if the rest of the hallway gets too cold. Bathroom is also one of the small rooms in our flat so is ideal place to dry clothes etc.

Pound land have some nice little hot water bottles in with covers available and some places if you want to spend a little extra (or if girls are young) have the heat up teddies you just pop in microwave. Personally Ben has a dog teddy called Merry who is filled with a rice/bean filling and I just pop her on top of a warm radiator to warm up and give her to him when he goes off to bed.

As for the gas bill - we are trying to pay off a big bill at the minute too and I was paying £100+ a month but now have been put onto meters so I'm hoping that if I put £40 on to cover the debt that will get taken every month and another £40 on for our own usage then we should be ok come winter. Boyfriend likes baths but he only ever heats water for an hour, and Ben only likes shallow baths or showers, I am a shower girl myself (ours is electric too) and with money saving winter preparations it should only really be for cooking that we use any gas.

Love winter time and getting all cuddly indoors - which reminds me i will start stocking up on candles soon.

HockeyDuo8083

I love this thread; this is my second time reading through as I found it this time last year and it's invaluable. Thank you for all the tips.

It is very wet and windy here today but I had a shock earlier when the power went off! Ok so it was off for about 5mins but I was grateful I could lay my hands on candles, lighter, torch and flask.

I have found the delights of Dunelm and Wilkos online so I am stocking up now on blankets, slippers etc. House is in tip top shape thanks to sorting it out last year. I am also in credit on the gas and electric which is partly due to switching the heating off very ealry this year and chucking on the layers instead.

I have been laughed at by friends for my winter proofing ways but so far it is me that's had the last laugh. So folks it might be 25deg outside but dag nammit I'm off to buy some foil for the radiator!!!

p.s Sammy: You sound like such a hard worker for you family, I really admire you and others on this thread. Good luck with the birth, bring on the Frugal Generation! Lol

beingfrugal

I too love the feeling of getting ready for the colder weather. There's nothing I like more to see my littleones all snuggly warm,curtains closed, candels on and DH and I snuggling with our thick fleecy layers.

I do have so much to learn about winterproofing this draughty 'lovely'hole.. off to start at page one then! For me, it's the bay window curtains for now - had blanket up there last year lol

ETA: Thank you for the hi vis link. Desperatly need another vest as DD will be walking this year. It's a horrible fast road we have to walk along.

psso

Hi everyone, I`ve been lurking on here for ages and putting your suggestions into practice.

Was in Asda today and they have the single ring gas cookers for sale £7 -ish and the gas canisters were 4 pack @£5.75 or two packs for a tenner so bought them in case of power cuts. We have a coal fire but I thought a pan of soup / kettle for cuppas would heat quicker on the gas stove. Another step nearer.

smileyt_2

I can't understand those of you who love winter! I've realised this year that I only truly relax when pottering in the garden, and I also suffer badly from SAD. So winter is a double whammy for me!

This year I'm going to experiment with taking Vitamin D, if I can find a reasonably priced vegan one. It's supposed to be the sunshine vitamin and there's evidence to suggest it can help with depression. I do also have a SAD lamp but it's no substitute for a sunny summer's day!

My SAD affects me so badly that on the longest day I feel miserable because I know the days start getting shorter!

Lindy_-_Loo

Hello, havent posted here before, but want to get ready for the winter months. hopefully it will be alittle warmer this year as we finally saved enugh money to get a new back door which doent have an inch gap at the bottom. we rent our two bed house but the landlord said the door did not need to be replaced as it met all its requirements - its also next to the bathroom which doesnt have a radiator in only one outside it next to the gap!

Have read some of the thread and got some ideas. Could anyone give me any ideas on making a bay window warmer or less draughty? We have lined curtains. OH wages havent gone up again so money seems tighter than normal, we get tax credits as he earns less than 15,000 but with debts I brought from first mariage and eveyday debts we r just about getting there. on a happier note - bought first xmas present for DS1 from car boot today, an un opened ben 10 jigsaw for 50p!

thanks and take care xx

Kitchenbunny

Right, I've now made my list in a spreadsheet with action points to help me out. I figured that if I put away £1 a day from now, I should have a goodly amount (about £150) to go towards the bills - that's at the end of the year. If I do that until the end of Jan or whenever the first bills come in, then there'll be a bit more and hopefully that will take care of them all. I'm also looking to make a couple of additional curtains to go over existing blinds to help insulate the place. Thanks for all the tips - I shall keep reading and hopefully pick up even more tips.

KB xx