Preparing for Winter

Confuzzled

well i'm feeling fairly pleased with myself, having just done some winter prep i'd been putting off

ALREADY DONE:
stocked up on thermals and fleeces for me and my daughter

bought more socks

daughter has winter boots with good treads

new winter coats for us both

made thermal/blackout curtains for us both, already hung up

stocked up on uht milk, flour, oats, sugar and basic baking supplies, baked goods make winter more bearable

bought unscented (so hard to find for this person with lavender allergy!) cherry stones to put into home made 'wheat bags'

DONE TONIGHT:

bought a camping stove with 8 canisters of fuel

bought a 10 pack of the 8 hour tea lights. i have other candles too but i thought some long lasting ones would be good if the electricity went out as extra heat!

FINALLY got a Wii usb ethernet adaptor (only had the wii for a year!) and an ethernet cable...

what's this got to do with winter prep? well we're not going to be going out a lot if it's nasty outside and getting this will allow us gain access to more games (some are free downloads) as well as get weather/news/bbc iplayer on the tv (sitting at my desk is uncomfortable to watch a movie!) and she can play against others now when i'm not in the mood! good prep for long cold hours indoors.. plus i'm buying her (ok, us!) just dance 2 which i know for a fact allows you to pay to download more songs woohoo! (more fun and cheaper than the gym, and cheaper than storage heaters )


STILL NEED TO DO:
find last years bubble wrap for the bathroom and inner door windows, i know they are big enough and the perfect size so worth hunting for

see if i can alternate hooks and add my original curtains in front of my themal one

stuff bedroom windows gaps with brown paper

buy more tinned salmon, mackeral, tuna and corned beef

buy more big bags of salt for the walk done

continue trying to find boots that actually fit my long wide feet (hopefully done, we'll see if they fit when they arrive)

dig out the winter scarves, gloves etc and hang them up with the new winter coats

fix my clothes airer

make wheat bag for myself and xmas pressies

collect crab apples rosehips, rowanberries and elderberries to be made into fruit leathers.

stock up on some winter meds and antibacterial handwash and hand gel, i don't normally use this stuff but if we have flu like last year i will do again! done

i'm sure there is more but it's late and i can't remember, let's just hope it comes to me before i need it

mcjordi

well im getting my loft insulation topped up next week.. when the housing dept had the boiler serviced they checked the level of insulation in the loft was too low ( 2") and is supposed to be 12" :O.. no wonder its always cold lol

csarina

We had ours done last week as OH is over 70 we got it done free, we should be warm and cosy this winter.

jcr16

ChocClare wrote: »

I think this is a brilliant idea. We still occasionally use babies' cellular blankets as wraps and my "babies" are 18 and 14!

For the duvet cover: I don't know if you've ever seen those duvet covers (Laura Ashley does them, I know) where instead of popper fastenings the cover folds over and is buttoned? Can't find a picture of a duvet cover, but kind of like this cushion cover here ?

If you are using baby duvets, you wouldn't even need the buttons - you just cut out two pieces of material. The top of the cover is slightly shorter than the duvet. The bottom of the cover is long enough to cover the duvet PLUS AN EXTRA EIGHT INCHES TO A FOOT to fold over the top.

How you make it is:

Turn under and hem one short edge on both pieces of material;

Overlap and pin these two short edges together, right sides together;

Still with right sides together, slide the two pieces of material together so that the bottom edges match. You should now have a double thickness of material with a pinned "seam" about eight inches from the top and a fold at the top.

Machine around the three raw edges, press and clip seams, unpin your opening (oo-er missus) and turn right sides out through the opening. Press.

You can now slide your duvet in like a pillowcase. You MIGHT need a button or two, but you probably wont. You can have the opening on the back if you prefer.

HTH!

excellent thankyou for that. it was only after i posted i thought why not make it like a pillowcase. i will prob have to use a button tho. as my 3 are really snuggers and wrigglers ( age 6, 5 and 2) but i'm thinking i'll keep them in the car .

after posting out our move to the country and saying about a land rover discovery. and then lots of posts on here about them. i think were even more convinced it is the car for us. but having never driven on i think test driving one first might be a good idea,lol. us prob making all these prep i bet once we move the island never gets snow again,lol.

mardatha

I know this will have been asked, and answered, many times before. But the state of my head today I wouldn't have a hope of finding it. So can I ask you again for the most economical way of heating a very cold stone cottage ? For my daughter. No gas and no radiators, 2 coal fires but we need instant or background heat for the hall & bedrooms.
ty !:D

jcr16

in our old huge 1733 flat ceilings that were so tall you need bincoluars to see them ,lol. we bought some of those 1p per hour panel heaters. they were very cheap to run and we found that they worked perfect for us. we got our's mail order. but you can get them ebay, argos, amazon etc.

fluffymuffin123

:wave:Hello, This is my very first post ever and I hope you don't mind if I join in to this amazing thread.

I have read through all the posts so far and have scribbled down as many ideas as I can in an effort to cope better this winter.

Firstly can I say what a friendly group you all are and so supportive of eachother, everyone has good things to say and just reading through your posts makes me all cozy and fuzzy inside...

So, if that's ok and I can join in too, i'd better tell you about me.

I'm a single mum with four children and trying my bestest to be industrious and hard working for my family, we are not well off but are rich in so many other things. Who needs money eh? (ok, just a little bit would be nice). We have foraged for fruit and made 16 jars of "scrumpedberry Jam". We use blankets and slippers and put on a wooly jumper when we are abit nippy instead of the heating. The children love to have a hot water bottle to go to bed with.

As the nights draw in the windows are shut, curtains drawn and blankets get brought out. We do lots of frugle things and have an extensive pantry, this year we grew lots of vegetables and scrumped berries, plums and apples from the park.

We buy value things in the shops and look ahead for the coming months and what that season might bring, so for spring I invested in lollies for the freezer, lolly moulds and so on for summer, at the end of summer is a time to gather salt for winters slippery pathways, berries for jam and invest in winter shoes and see who needs gloves, hats and scarves replacing, (why do boy's always loose theirs first??)..

With all your expert advice this year should be easier. Last year was dreadfull as the country almost grinded to a halt, shops empty, schools shut, pavements like an ice rink.

So we are getting better at being more self reliant.

I hope, if I think of anything that keeps our toes warm and our purses full I can share too. But the only thing I can think of at the moment is when I cook dinner, I turn off the oven just before it's finished, and as my children are aged 9-15 and reasonably sensible, I leave the oven door open to let the warmth into the room. Our kitchen is a diner aswell so we can beneift from the oven heat whilst we eat dinner.

Thankyou for letting me waffle on, i'll sit quietly in the corner now.:shhh:

lunar

I spent last night sewing lining onto a charity shop curtian which I have hung at the front door. the door really needs replacing as you can feel cold air blowing through. That job will have to wait till next year though we have replaced the boiler, had roof insulation installed and had cavity wall insulation done. We took advantage of the government boiler scheme and got that done for £2000. the others were done at reduced cost as it was subsidised by our local council. Thats as much as we are spending on big jobs for now as we are aiming to be debt free for christmas. I really need to get some lining on the other curtians, we have double glazing but it was fitted 20 years ago when the house was built and really doesnt keep the cold out.

I had asked on a previous post about where people were getting grit/salt from. It seems so expensive and the cheapest i have found it for is £15 delivered for 25kg. Tesco do table salt for 23p per kg, will this work as well and if I stock up do i need to mix it with anything?

jackieglasgow

Table salt won't be as good, but you could try dishwasher salt, Lidl's is pretty cheap from what I can remember, and I would mix it with sand or grit.

Jo4

Hubby ordered 300 gallons of oil yesterday and it is being delivered tomorrow. We normally use 300 to 400 in the year and we have between 50 and 100 gallons left so fingers crossed it will last us through the bad weather. Last year between one thing and another I didn't get the oil ordered until before Christmas and it took them over a month to deliver it so I have learnt my lesson. Also we have the money saved for it thanks to what we have learnt on this site! :money: :j

I really must make it a priority to sit down and read this site to see what I need to do. I have the medicine cupboard reasonably well stocked but could do with another cough bottle and some sugar free lozengers.