Preparing for Winter

BigMummaF

linni wrote: »

I managed to get a double sized electric blanket for £2 at a boot fair....

Might be worth seeing if your local trading standards office can check it out for you..our local fire stations usually have an 'open day' where they look over lekkie blankies...

annie123 wrote: »

Zara, I tried a duvet at the window today.
Used dd's old single one length ways so it fitted and used drawing pins to hold it in place, and left it there for a few hours, neighbours are used to me doing odd things, I used my front bay window to test as its north facing

Made a big difference to feeling warm, would be lovely in winter but for the life of me I could not get it to roll up without being the thickness of a sleeping bag, looked ridiculous and would be a lot of weight to hold.

Would work very well as a fixed panel that doesn't matter if the window light is blocked for the winter.

Might use her old duvet as a curtain for my front door, north facing and a bad fit, even got bits of snow in the hall once:eek: will be warmer than my curtains and fleece I think.

Having a 'wottiff' here, so bear with me...attach the duvet to a broom handle/ length of baton/ 2x1/ something , then hang the pole from cup hooks across the window. You could remove the whole thing of a morning & put it back when it starts getting dark? I don't know how practical that would be tho...

Fleece--where to buy & what sort of price. A$da, !kea, Te$co..they have been known to be as little as £2 each for a decent size. Alternatively there are places like Dun3lm Mi!!s & 3bay, where you can get a blanket or sometimes by the metre; it doesn't fray so no need to hem. This option can be a better buy if you have children, as you can get all sorts of patterns. HTH.

BigMummaF

Forgot to say :doh:
Many Happy Returns Rooster :bdaycake:

W!lkos & R0bert Dya$ are on line too, although I'm not sure what their boundaries are.

Can't believe how early it's getting dark I swear there used to be twilight till 9:30 of an evening into late September but these past three or four years, the nights are well & truly established by then in August :eek:

And Mar's list [MUST be time for bed--I'm such a scatter-brain ]; I'd add candles & MATCHES.

annie123

BigMummaF wrote: »

Having a 'wottiff' here, so bear with me...attach the duvet to a broom handle/ length of baton/ 2x1/ something , then hang the pole from cup hooks across the window. You could remove the whole thing of a morning & put it back when it starts getting dark? I don't know how practical that would be tho...

I like your 'wottiff' think that would work:)

roosterpotatoes

Thanks everyone for the "Happy Birthdays" We are going to the cinema in the morning to watch a film (dont know which film until we get there) at cineworld, the have "film and fun for kids" on a saturday at 10am for £1 each, so that should be good.
In the afternoon ive got my mum coming so ive baked some blackberry and apple muffins with the apples out of the garden and blackberries out of the fields near our house so they will do as my cake

mardatha

BMF excusez moi darlingg but I did say candles and matches !
(typed in a dead affronted tone of type)
In my coal & gas run house thats a major priority

missychrissy

BigMummaF wrote: »

Forgot to say :doh:
Many Happy Returns Rooster :bdaycake:

W!lkos & R0bert Dya$ are on line too, although I'm not sure what their boundaries are.

Can't believe how early it's getting dark I swear there used to be twilight till 9:30 of an evening into late September but these past three or four years, the nights are well & truly established by then in August :eek:

And Mar's list [MUST be time for bed--I'm such a scatter-brain ]; I'd add candles & MATCHES.

I completely agree with you. My impressions are that I can feel Autumn 'in the air' earlier and earlier in August. It used to be the last week in August but I could feel it night before last when I walked my dog.

The climate is definitely changing.

parsonswife8

Happy Birthday Roosterpotatoes:beer:
It's been fairly nippy here in the South East too, overcast and quite a cool wind. More of the same here this morning.

I am a Southern hemisphere baby and, after 11 years in the UK, still find it very difficult to cope with the cold and the dark.:(

mardatha

I dont much like the idea of Scotland getting any colder and darker in winter than it already is Summers are light and lovely but only 12 weeks as it is.

mennie

mennie wrote: »

last year we didnt get out the house for 6 days and we coped just about but we were cold and have the heating up full blast. We were lucky we had no power cuts, but in past winters have gone with out leccy for 1 full week.

I need to do the following

• Buy stick on velcro dots and fleecy blankets and line all my curtains with the blankets - Have seen fleeces for £1.70 each in Ikea and Velcro tape for £8 inc pp for 6 M on Ebay
• Buy loads of table salt
• [STRIKE]
• make two draught excluders - with one old thick pair of tights
• [/STRIKE] Done and quite proud of myself too!!
• Stockpile the following - tinned foods, pasta, tea, coffee, rice, cous cous, bread making items, beans, squash, noodles, sugar
• Check the halogens still work
• Convince DH of the benefits of thermals
• Get winter boots
• Stockpile cold and flu remedies
• Maybe get/make a coat for the dog
• Make sure I have a load of charged batteries for torches Starting chargeing this weekend
• Make Sloe/damson/rasp gin and vodka for those cold nights
• Make up an emergency box for the car
• Buy a cheap/2nd hand big flask - ours is quite small.
• Get a king sized flannelette sheet for our bed
• buy a winter duvet I have seen a king size 13.5 tog for £11.99

I already have

• Hundreds of candles and matches
• Gas hob and heating
• Thick curtains to replace the summer ones
• 3 hot water bottles
• Lots of scarves, gloves, hats, wraps
• A full freezer, rarely run it down, always make extra for the freezer and never have less than 3 weeks meals in it.
• Wind up torch and other various torches
• Books, board games and jigsaws in case of power cuts
• Masses of toiletries and cleaning stuff.
• Bubble wrap - not sure what to use it for though??? I am going to use it to line the bathroom window and window in my front door

Any more suggestions are appreciated............

I have written my list and I am basing it on 2 people and 3 weeks

1 kg pasta
1 kg rice
1 bag of cous couse
3 packs noodles
1 kg dried mixed beans
4 tins kidney beans
8 tins baked beans
8 tins tomatos
2 tins hotdogs
1 sack potatoes
8 bottles of powdered milk
2 large tubs marg
8 bags of bread flour
4kg sugar
4 packets of yeast
3 kg salt - for paths too
1 sack of dog food
6 bottles of squash
2 boxes tea
2 jars of coffee
2 bottles bleach
1 bottle stardrops
3 shampoo and conditioner
2 deodrant
3 bars soap
large tub of washing powder
soda crystals
large bottle washing liquid
at least 50 candles
3 boxes of matches
5 packets of ibruprofen
2 packet of lemsip
1 vapour rub
3 packets of strepsils
2 bottle of cough syrup
1 packet of tampons
12 toilet rolls
3 boxes of tissues


This list is based on the fact that I always have at least 3 weeks of meals in the freezer

Kitchenbunny

I found my mini hot water bottle while clearing out the top box of the wardrobe! Now I can take that on the journey to work for a bit of a warmth boost. That'll be useful, and it is already in a white fleecy jacket so I don't need to worry. I've been stocking up on little things like milk powder (for emergencies) and loo roll (likewise) so I don't need to go out. Thinking about it, I'll get in a few other things like packs of pasta and tins of tomatoes, etc.

KB xx