Preparing for Winter

sammy_kaye18

have been sat today prioritising my 'to do' lists that are accumulating nicely

winter preperations (house)
winter preperations (us)
winter preperations (food)

and basically this is whats included in each


winter preperations (house)

1. rug for living room floor (currently laminate)
2. fleeces for sofas
3. new curtain rail holders (ours stick out a foot from the window so big gap means lots of breezes!)
4. new longer curtains (ours dont quite touch window sill)
5. line curtains with old fleeces
6. emergency box made
7. stock up on candles/matches etc
8. board games/jigsaws incase of power cuts/mudslides

winter preperations (us)

1. outdoor jacket each
2. snowsuit for holly
3. jumpers/hoodies/fleeces for us all to wear indoors
4. slippers
5. dressing gowns
6. pyjamas each
7. sleepsuits for holly
8. wellies for school run and dog walking
9. hat gloves and scarf set

winter preperations (food)

1. boxes to store dried goods under bed
2. stock up on nappies and store under cot
3. sort cupboards out properly and declutter
4. use steamer more
5. buy new slow cooker
6. stock up on tins/packets

basically this will all start after ben goes back to school but it all needs doing asap really as in wales the cold wet weather seems to set in quickly and in a single glazed flat its bloody freezing.

Plus our village has 3 roads in.
1. shut due to the mudslide that destroyed a couples house and its being re-stabilised so closed for 18 months!
2. is prone to mudslides every few months or when heavy rain sets in
3. is round the edge of the mountain and totally the wrong direction to everything so adds an hour to a 15 minute journey.

so should really get my backside in gear once September comes around

NualaBuala

Confuzzled wrote: »

excellent! so i HAVE been doing it right then :rotfl:

i've never actually seen instructions on any that i've ever come across and it's been a fair few... i wonder how many people are as confused as i am, or should i say as i was!

Well I was confused even though I had the instructions - it took me ages to get it right!

jackieglasgow

Do you not turn the power off to them when you aren't using them though?

SwipernoSwiping

Mine stay off at the wall all through summer as this place is a greenhouse in summer, but I think I will be turning them on a low input soon, make sure they are all working. If another bitter winter like last year they will be on high at times, the 4 setting is usually enough to make sure we aren't getting up to an ice box. They are not supposed to come on before the Eco-7 trips over to night. We've sat and calculated the difference and ours do burn some electric if on at the wall during the day - so I leave it to last thing to switch them all on.

The more modern designs ( if warm front come through we'll have one in the dinning room) have a daytime boost - for heat during the day, (not to be confused with when the most heat is released boost as discussed before!)

I'm contemplating keeping them low this year, just to take the bite out of the room then getting the coal fire roaring.. I think this might well work out cheaper in the long run, little point in having rads and fire... too hot and we have to open windows :eek:

Miche*

I've a bit of a problem. Any words of wisdom or ideas would be fab.

We have 2 bay windows, the one in living room has a secure track for curtains and is in hand (fleece linings etc) the one in our bedroom is my problem. Very cold large room, laminated to make it worse (we rent privately) one small radiator in room, in the bay window. Last year we closed the curtains straight across the window but that was blocking the heat from the radiator. We've put a curtain track round this summer, it's only just holding very thin curtains. Infact the last rack fitting is reinforced with celotape because the track doesn't grip to it's holding well at all..

So, how can I insulate the curtains in that room? Somehow I've got to make something that will insulate but is feather light? Tall order eh?

redlady_1

I have now stocked up on logs and the coal has been ordered today. Mum is coming to visit at the weekend and she has made me some curtains with interlining and thermal lining so I will be right snug when the fire is lit.

I am also a rare fan of storage heating. I had it in an old house once but they were new heaters and it kept the place like toast. Input high in the winter and output low until you get home then hit boost. Remember to turn the boost down again at night otherwise it wont last. You really do need new heaters though not the pants old ones. My bills were nice and low with no gas.

SwipernoSwiping

Ladies... (mostly ladies here I believe !?) in my "what I am able to do while attempting to entertain and watch over the 5 year old..." time I've rescrubbed my slow cooker. It generally only comes out for winter when the stew pots are popular, but can anyone recommend other good slow cooker recipes?

Thank you to the people that have suggested daylight bulb places - when some more money comes it - it will be going right back out again!!!

jackieglasgow

There is a slowcooker thread somewhere........


Found it

SwipernoSwiping

redlady_1 wrote: »

I have now stocked up on logs and the coal has been ordered today. Mum is coming to visit at the weekend and she has made me some curtains with interlining and thermal lining so I will be right snug when the fire is lit.

I am also a rare fan of storage heating. I had it in an old house once but they were new heaters and it kept the place like toast. Input high in the winter and output low until you get home then hit boost. Remember to turn the boost down again at night otherwise it wont last. You really do need new heaters though not the pants old ones. My bills were nice and low with no gas.

I like storage heating, I don't like irresponsible LLs that don't bother updating when they are way out of date. I can see how decent ones running overnight would work in a well insulated house. Stick it with some form of solar power set up.. I am sure someone could work out the techinical bits!
Lot less mess than all this flipping coal!

Speaking of which, any ideas how you remove coal dust from a beige carpet (not my idea either)? The wet/dry shampoo vax just laughs at me when I use it.. It's almost grey now - compared to the black it was last winter, with us cleaning it 4 weekly through summer, but stuck for how to protect and clean it. We have a rug in front of the fire, but that just means we have a nice lighter square there when we move it!

mardatha

I love coal. Its warm, its cosy, and it stays warm & cosy when the elect goes off !