Preparing for Winter

bevrob

im a newbie as you can see ,but my favourite has to be the old style forum, you lot have this down to perfection. i am following all ideas for the winter and love to hear what everyone else is doing.
all i have done so far is stock up really well with logs for the fire,they are all lined up the side of my house and also in 2 composting bins that i had to empty due to wasps nests this month.
please keep all your ideas coming as i am following everyone. thanks

sammy_kaye18

Beccatje wrote: »

And I am scowling around internet and everywhere to see where I can get the cheepest wood to burn.

Becca

Becca

Have you been scavanging for wood? do you have a local wood/forest near you?? Even small branches and small bits fo wood cna make good kindling to get it started - also i think you need to bring it back and dry it out before it cna burn properly.

Also anothe ridea that someone has put forward is to ring a local tree surgeons and ask if you cna go to where they are next cutting and see if you can get a few logs form it - buy a decent saw and get hackign that into bits - that should give you plenty of free wood for yoru stove - also someone mentioned making paper logs ot get it started so maybe that would be an idea for you too

sammy_kaye18

bevrob wrote: »

im a newbie as you can see ,but my favourite has to be the old style forum, you lot have this down to perfection. i am following all ideas for the winter and love to hear what everyone else is doing.
all i have done so far is stock up really well with logs for the fire,they are all lined up the side of my house and also in 2 composting bins that i had to empty due to wasps nests this month.
please keep all your ideas coming as i am following everyone. thanks

bevrob - welcome to the forums. They are indeed a friendly bunch even if a few of them are a bit weird, and if your a bit sqeamish id avoid any weezl threads Lots of people here are only to happy to help and offer advice and their knowledge on things but you sound as though you are off to a good start with getting your log supply. More links for preparing for winter would be the avoid gas and electric thread, and the if things get tougher thread (these are currently lurkign ont he first and second forum lists at present,

also dont forget that we all didnt jsut become OS overnight - it takes alot of practice.

annie123

this weather site says poss a colder conditions this year for winter
http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twonews.aspx?release=1646

I am sure the 'eskimo' look will be fashionable this winter...well at least in this household

nicki_2

Posting & bumping this thread as I'm planning on starting my preps for winter

Rowan9

Knitting needles going to come out of hiding here! I started a jumper for meeee last autumn with a cable pattern and after DS was ill I had some time off work and wasn't up to 'complicated things'. Soooo....that jumper will have to be knitted in time for a cold winter as I had a massive clear out of my clothes, chucking about half (DD was involved - she sat on bed and said 'out', 'out' 'out'. It really helped as I can be a bit of a keep of things.)
Oh, and I'll wear a hat inside. I did this for a while last winter and it really kept me warm!
What else will I do? Not sure yet but will certainly keep checking here for inspiration! I like the idea of heating fewer rooms but I do that anyway I suppose as if it's only DH and me I turn off radiators in other 2 bedrooms.
w

pigpen

I am going for carpet in the hallway and landings.. that HAS to make a difference!! The draughts through the naked floor boards are unreal. We are also looking at putting a wooden floor OVER the concrete floor in the back room.. we can add insulation too which should make it warmer.

I keep the curtains closed in most of the rooms as well it saves heat escaping through our huge windows.

I have made curtains for our french doors and am going to make draught excluders for them as well.. they are poorly fitting and need replacing but we can't afford to do them before winter so this is the next best option. I might do those today actually..

nicki_2

I've got a few advantages this year which I didn't have last year

• Ex has moved out - he used to sit up until the early hours with the fire and light on, on his laptop. He always put the fire on when he got home from work in the winter and it would be on ALL night.
• Its alot easier to convince DD to layer up than it used to be
• I'm going to be out during the day on a training course, so less electric & gas as well as food used
• DD and I love going out for walks, so we'll wrap up and go out - even less electricity & gas used.
• I've bought a tumble drier - so I no longer need to use the gas heaters in the bedrooms or the gas fire for hours to dry the washing (or traipse out to the local laundrette with a huge suitcase of washing, spending £5+ a time to get it dry!)

I've already compiled a list of jobs for me to tackle before winter sets in - hopefully this year I'll keep our fuel bills to a minimum.

miemie

Over the past few weeks i've started to worry about winter and the rising costs of living, so have decided over the warmer months to start a winter stock cupboard that will hopefully help ease the food bill during winter and the money saved can go towards the gas/leccy bill.
Basically what i've started doing is at the end of the week if a have any money left i have bought a few items to go into a cupboard thats built into a wall in the front room that we don't use, so far i,ve bought pasta, tinned veg/fruit, tea bags,coffee,pudding rice, dried milk, lentils.I have also put any BOGOF items in here, so one in this cupboard one in kitchen cupboard IYSWIM.
I,m hopefully going to build a little stock pile and start using it around November. I've also decided that any money i make from ebay/surveys etc is going towards buying items for this cupboard.
I understand not everyone is in a situaton where they have any spare grocery money left at the end of the week or month,i just thought i would share the idea in case its of any help.
Miemie

Pink.

Hi meimei,

That's a great idea! I'll add your tip to the preparing for winter thread as it helps to keep all the ideas together.

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