Anyone planning ahead?

Slinky

I wonder if carpets will start making more of a comeback if people are heating their homes less? Our house has an extension built in the 1970s where we have vinyl sheet on the floor which is really cold. We're currently using this as a sitting room whilst our house is being extended. We ended up using an offcut of carpet in front of the sofa to stop the floor making our feet cold. This room will be our dining room eventually, I think we'll try having a rug under the table and chairs. Could be difficult as the cat likes 'scrabbling' under rugs.

mumf

We prefer carpets.We are in a Victorian terrace.Our neighbour has laminate floors throughout,and it ‘feels’ cold all the time,if that makes sense? As for Winter: We heat mainly with solid fuel,so already I have made sure there is enough coal whilst the price is lower than it will be! And wood,well how much do you want? Heating sorted. We are also keeping stocked up on food.

Gin_and_Milk

mumf said:

We prefer carpets.We are in a Victorian terrace.Our neighbour has laminate floors throughout,and it ‘feels’ cold all the time,if that makes sense? As for Winter: We heat mainly with solid fuel,so already I have made sure there is enough coal whilst the price is lower than it will be! And wood,well how much do you want? Heating sorted. We are also keeping stocked up on food.

We have wooden floors in the hallway - it's more pet friendly, but other than that everything (apart from kitchen and bathrooms) are carpeted.  Our den was originally a large cellar, so that is a stone floor, and there's no way I would do without a carpet.
I plan to stock up on things like wood, kindling etc throughout the summer, as well as non perishable items too. As mentioned earlier, we bought a chest freezer last year which has already proved to be incredibly useful - possibly even more so this year, as I'll be keeping an eye out for bargains along the way!
Think I will also consider wearing fleecy clothes around the house, as they should be warm and will certainly dry quicker.  We don't have a tumble dryer, so drying clothes can be a real pain in winter.  There is a launderette in the next village, but for some reason we never think of using it.  Might have to reconsider that one, but for fleecy stuff to wear around the house I'll be happy with second hand stuff.  As long as it's warm and comfy I don't really care what it looks like!

Floss

My home has ceramic tiles in the kitchen  (with a mat to stand on by the sink) and laminate through the g/f. The sofa & dining table are now both on rugs & I noticed a difference over the winter where my feet go when sitting.

leftatthetrafficlights

Other than our kitchen, utility, bathroom and hallway all other rooms are carpeted and have good quality underlay too - when we had dogs everywhere was laminate downstairs to make it easier to deal with the dog hair and I never liked it as it always 'felt' cold mentally, despite having rugs. With carpets, everything feels better and I'd never go back! My sister has tiled floors and underfloor heating so the actual floor is warm but it still has that lack of coziness to it for me... 

I'm pretty much always planning ahead- particularly with foodstores! I'm a total food hoarder which is a result of me being a feeder I think - I can't bare the idea of anyone feeling hungry in my house so always have very full stores - admittedly, I'm trying to actually run them down a bit now as even I've realised that I don't need anywhere near the amount I have 🤦‍♀️ 

We grow veg and preserve in a variety of different ways so will rebuild our stocks of those during the summer and autumn - although I want to rely less on the freezer this year as I'm conscious that if a prolonged power cut hits (as it did for a number of areas during the storms earlier this year) we are going to waste a lot so next on my list of things to work out how to do is 'canning' - I'm sure that the prepping thread will have info! 

I bought a load of logs a couple of weeks ago ready for the winter and I've started to get a couple of bags of coal a week to stock up too - we have oil fired heating and hot water alongside the open fires but I love the look of the fire so use it frequently during the cold months - thankfully now I'm of a certain age, I don't feel the cold as much (particularly at night!) so can turn off the heating in the house when the fire is on. 

We have a budget for electricity and heating oil which is over what we generally pay so the excess is put into a fund to help when the prices increase again although we are changing our boiler and oil tank this summer so I will have to fill the the new tank and this may reduce that fund dramatically depending on the price! However, the new boiler should be a lot more efficient (old one is 20+ years old and really hanging on by a thread!) so that will help offset some of the costs. 

MingVase

I've always hated bare floors, never understood the fashion for laminate or sanded floorboards. Looks to me like  something out of the workhouse or 1920s.  You lose a lot of heat with a bare floor. I love good wool carpets - but I expect now they might get dearer as everybody will want them.

tooldle

I definitely wouldn’t want carpet as I have a significant dust mite allergy. Wood, tiling and laminate, are perfect for me. I can’t say I find it cold though I do wear slippers in the winter months.

Mojisola

weenancyinAmerica said:

In the old castle days, they put tapestries on the walls mainly to keep out the drafts. You can also hang up pretty quilts on the walls where the cold comes through the uninsulated walls or even the padded blankets used to cover mirrors and furniture when moving. Several layers of rugs are better than just one layer for keeping the cold that might be coming up from underneath. Switching to heavier curtains or adding two or three layers to the curtains helps too. 

Many houses used to have a heavy curtain that could be pulled across the front and back doors at night and on very cold days.

YorksLass

We have good quality wool carpets with thick underlay in the living room, bedrooms, landing and stairs and yes, they were expensive but last a heck of a long time.  They'll certainly see us out!  We have non-slip vinyl floor covering in the bathroom, laminate in the hallway and vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen, all practical and easy to clean.  This last though has a concrete floor under the tiles and is very cold underfoot, so I buy small carpet off-cut squares from the market (about £2-£3 each) and have one in front of the sink and another in front of the cooker.  We also wear slippers and socks, sometimes two pairs if needed.

We've done all the usual things to keep the house warm - double glazing, heavy lined curtains, door curtains, draught excluders for letter box/keyholes etc - and have more than enough warm winter clothing, not to mention throws.  We've prepared for winter as much as we can, so now I'm concentrating on keeping a good stock of long shelf life foods bought at the best price I can find and any cash savings are being squirrelled away to put towards the horrendous energy bills that are being predicted.  We're well versed in good budgeting and frugality but I fear it will still be a challenge for us and many others.

Siebrie

Gin_and_Milk said:

My feet feel the cold too, especially when I'm working in the study.  That was an extension which was built before we bought the house, and it's obvious they didn't bother with any sort of insulation.

I wear thick bootstyle slippers in the house, with a thick sole (it really makes a difference, both in lifetime of the slippers and in cold-repellant), to which I add lambswool inlays that I bought on sale for €1. If it's really cold, I put a piece of cardboard on the floor underneath my feet.