Preparing for Winter

storymaker

I'm new here too, mind if I join?
I've been reading all your posts and I feel all christmassy

I'm a married mum with 2 children (3yr & 5mth), I go back to work in 2 weeks after my maternity leave ends

I seem to be quite organised with emergency things such as candles, matches, hot water bottles etc
We have central heating and double glazing but should gas/electric fail we have alternatives, such as gas fire and gas cooker, electric heater and microwave/crockpot.

If you don't mind I will list below where I'm up to so I can keep on top of things.

To do: -
Put up curtains in Babies room (she has a blackout blind so it's only to stop any draft from the sides.
Attempt to knit some hot water bottle covers.
Check the supplies in the car and add a few blankets etc.
Make sure we have plenty of food supplies (3 weeks worth) by the end of October. i.e. pasta sauces, dry pasta, uht milk, water, soups, cat food, baby milk. I'm going to buy one or two extras each week with my regular shopping. Then when the snow hits we don't have to make little trips to the shops.
Order a folding snow shovel for car.
Check supplies of hats, gloves etc (kids grow so fast).
New wellies for 2 of us.
New boots with good grip on for 3 of us.
Stock up on medicines
Get some fleecy bed socks
When the new black bin is delivered by the council use the old bin to mix the sand and grit into and keep in the garage ready for the bad weather.

Done/Ready: -
Hot water bottles ordered.
Camping kettle (for gas hob) ordered.
Fleecy Blankets, spare quilts & sleeping bags etc ready.
Candles & Matches ready.
Plastic sledge ordered.
Christmas cards purchased (just need cards for work & neighbours etc)

Blimey, looking at this I still have a lot to do.

Cx

shaz_mum_of__2

mardatha wrote: »

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

Mardatha i think ceramic halogen heaters are the most economical electric heaters but not sure how they compare to a portable gas heater

Uniscots97

mardatha wrote: »

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

I was also going to suggest the panel heaters jcr suggested. My parents had a similar stone cottage. No central heating and a coal fire at one end in the living room and the other in my bedroom. They had a panel heater in the hall, one in their room (none in the bathroom and it was freezing!). But other than that they had a heavy velvet curtain over the front door. We didn't have double glazing so curtains were drawn until my Dad managed to get clear perspex cut to fit and taped it into the hall windows (meaning we got the light but not cold). Put rugs down too as we found being a stone built cottage even the carpet could get cold! When we had both open fires roaring we would open both room doors letting the heat travel to the rest of the house.

Also check for cold spots in the ceiling, might be worth a coat of (not sure what they call it) that stuff that looks like paint but fills in small cracks.

Hope this helps

PennyPinchingPrincess

Well, I bought some lined curtains for the bedroom

But the money had to come out of my housekeeping budget and now there's hardly anything left for the rest of the month, just enough for my travel and a few bits I'll need :eek:

I was building up a nice stock of tins and dried foods, but a lot of that will get used up this month now.

Oh well, one step forwards, and only one step back - could be worse! :rotfl:

pollyskettle

lunar wrote: »

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?

I have a lidded bucket thing from Morrisons (£1.99 at the moment) and I put in it a bag of dishwasher salt, about four bags of sainsburys table salt and I add sand if I have some about, but I rarely do as I find it works well with or without it BUT this is probably because I have the worlds shortest front path I don't add anything else as I hate cleaning it up from the hallway.

Frugalista

Charis wrote: »

It only takes me ten to fifteen minutes from home in town to my friend's place in my car . It would be impossible for me to walk or cycle, too far, no pavements, very fast roads. And I'm running out of steam.

I wouldn't want to live there, it's constantly colder than here in town and with a wind like a knife most of the year. There is literally no large land mass between her hill and the Ural mountains. Lovely views though.

Ooh! Does she live on the Bromyard Downs - I seem to remember an information board that said the above?

Sessie

"scrumpedberry jam"

Love it!

Welcome to the site! You're right, it really IS a lovely place full of helpful souls.

I've been waxing lyrical to friends and family about this place and this thread but, because the sun is still out, they're all laughing at me and telling me there's, ".. LOADS of time to think about all that later.."

Ha ha. We will all be safe and warm at home with full bellies in the shivery months and they will all be sitting in traffic jams in ice with no blankets safely stashed in their car boots waiting to go shopping and spend their Xmas present money on food and be in debt forever and.. and... OK so I'm getting carried away now... but you get the picture!!

Long live OS!!

x

Janeryan

[QUOTE=fluffymuffin123;36396845, This is my very first post

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:[/QUOTE]

What a lovely first post! I do exactly the same with my oven-I also pop any slightly damp clothes on top of it(making very sure that none of the rings are not even remotely hot!) to just finish them off.

I also pop coats/hats/scarves and gloves over a radiator to warm up before going out in the morning.

ginnyknit

Lovely to hear from newbies.

Fluffymuffin you sound like a great Mum. I was discussing this with Dd tonight, having children should mean you think of them first in most things and keeping toes warm is a really caring thought. Her friend is due to have number 4 this week and she described her children as a burden - how sad

I heard my Dgs making brum brum noises at 4 am and then heard my daughter laughing at him, ok so she is tired today but laughter is priceless - I think I may be a bad influence as Dgs and I watch motor racing together ( he is 4 months old) and he has a toy steering wheel which he turns one handed like a racing driver hence the brum brum!
We are just working out how to weather proof her new house - she moves on Saturday - and so its off to Ikea for fleeces for the window and Im making her draught excluders. baby has those grobag things for bed so thats good. She also uses fleeces as cot sheets, not only do they look fab but insulate him from the bottom up - and wash and dry quick too.

Charis

Frugalista wrote: »

Ooh! Does she live on the Bromyard Downs - I seem to remember an information board that said the above?

She lives about seven miles away, on the east side of one of the southern Malvern Hills. Her home is much higher than mine and gets the full blast of the east wind. :snow_laug