Winter is coming: Frugaleers keeping warm

[Myturnnow4]

Shall we share our tactics for a toasty, frugal winter?

line your curtains - you can get thermal lining fabric cheap on eBay or buy cheap fleece blankets from IKEA, Aldi, Lidl, Poundland etc. cut pieces just a little bit smaller than your curtains and pin or sew on the wrong side - it makes a huge difference to the warmth in the room, especially with old fashioned windows.

Batch cook warming meals [soup, stew, chilli, bolognese and curries all work really well for this] and freeze in portions (boxes cheap 5 for £1 in poundland) - saves on fuel and you have a load of healthy homemade "ready meals" to reheat for busy evenings.

It sounds really dumb but having a cosy blanket on the sofa that I wrap around me has revolutionised my evenings - we live in a period home with old single glazing and it is COLD at night. I am toasty under my lovely silky blanket.

I'm going to give the lining curtains a go (perhaps a sign of my laziness, I am even more tempted now I've realised I could just pin or tack the fleece on). Bit worried about my curtain rails being strong enough.

I am also going to give the bubble wrap a go, at least in the bathroom.

I'll do the cook-offs nearer the time as I'm not very good with batch cooking (I get bored of the same meal) and doing it will get the kitchen nice and warm. IKEA had some great little tupperware boxes that are now full of beef madras in my freezer.

Is it sad to love brushed cotton sheets? I remember my nanas pastel stripy ones. They were so so cosy

Cosy clothes, throws and slipper socks are a luxury I don't scrimp on peony. I also wear a cowl, fingerless gloves and sometimes stick a hot water bottle up my jumper when I'm working from home and sat still with the laptop for extended periods of time.

I love flannelette sheets, are they the same thing?

Hi everyone, just marking my place .

Oh well then , should I use my wood burning stove this winter? I've never used it.

Winter checklist

1. Finish draughtproofing the wooden floorboards - a job for this wkend.

1. Check round the doors to find draughts when it's windy and replace the spongy stuff

1. Line curtain to downstairs living room French doors

1. See about getting a smart meter to keep an eye on energy usage

1. Maybe a big kitchen rug to cover stone floor

1. Big lined curtain for main front door.

1. water bottles x 3

1. Look into decent energy bulbs that put out a decent amount of light

1. Buy cheap winter clothing now

10......Will add to this as I go..

collie thanks for the link....worth looking into. I've got wooden double glazing that's draughty a third layer might make a big difference

Bought ds pj's in primark last week, last year I made the mistake of waiting until they were needed and lovely (£6) dressing gown in asda.
Started having much shallower baths (have no shower) while the weather is warm to hopefully have a bit of credit on gas account before winter starts.
Applied for warm home discount (haven't heard back yet)
Just remembered I need to get a couple extra cheap fleeces to tuck over mattresses for cosy beds and 2 nice new hot water bottles.
Fix curtain rail so winter curtains can go back up.
Want to try foil behind radiators this year too if anyone can advise best type?
My aim will be to cosy myself up in cold house on the days ds is not here so I can keep it nice the 3 days a week he is at home. Every year I panic I will run up a bill I cant pay.

If you live in a HA house they may provide and fit the foil for your radiators. Ours did, it's thick foul on on a long baton.
Would anyone be able to link to cheap flannelette sheets? Thanks

Would people keep an eye out for bargains on fleece and flannelette?

I'm also interested in the foil behind radiators. I'm going to take a leaf out of wheely's book and make an actual list:

1. Research radiator foil.
2. Check Dunelms, The Range and IKEA (online) for fleece material [any where else I should look?]. Decide how much I actually need.
3. Also flannelette sheets.
4. Price up curtain poles for doors in more rooms.
5. Continue the hunt for bubblewrap (appears to be a situation where you can go too cheap).

Thanks Seven its a private rental tho.
is the bubble wrap for your windows? I did that once on a single glazed kitchen door, it was really effective.
I'm also interested in the magnet strip secondary glazing for 2 velux windows in our loft bedrooms, I never want to pay out too much for anything for rental properties that I couldn't use somewhere else but my landlord is really good and says I can be here indefinitely so this year I will look into that.
I saw these which will tuck around my sons cot bed mattress I dont worry so much about mine because I take a hot water bottle to bed.

Moved house in 2014 and only one set of our curtains were longer than the windows - all about 8" shorter. Have bought two new sets so far, but aim to buy some full length curtains for our bedroom before winter.

It's worth shopping around for cheaper energy prices - we pay far less with EDF than we ever did with Southern Electric, and use more in our new house as it's larger.

I've been known to wear my dressing gown over clothes rather than put heating on.

Yes, I understand that you spray a little water on first and then the bubblewrap clings on. Great to hear that it's effective.

It is really good, but we had a massive sash window over a radiator which we also intended to cover, every few days the water would dry and the wrap would drop! We gave up, but tbh if I were in the same flat now I would just keep putting it back but I was richer then.

Do you cover just the pane or the frame as well. Covering the frame makes more sense to me, but would lead to more wrinkles and gaps I would have thought.

I just covered the pain but right to the edge. I suppose you could tape it if you wanted an overlap. In my sons room I do the same with water spray and foil behind the velux blind to make a black out and when the foil is too long the light actually gets through more, I think the water bond is better if there are not extra bits not stuck down IYSWIM.

Ok, Dunelms appear to have some lightweight fleece blankets with 50% off. They measure 120cm x 150cm and two of the colours (red and pink IIRC) are down to £2.49. The other colours are still £5 though.

Rugs. I get my heavy cotton rugs out (concrete floors on the ground floor) even with reflective foil liner, thick foam underlay and a carpet it still feels cold in winter so cover the floors with rugs. It really helps.

Not long had triple glazing installed. Not sure how good that will be but all cracks around windows are sealed and I certainly feel warmer even with no heating on and the windows shut.

Foil behind the rads works a treat! If you are a bit broke aluminium foil stuck to cardboard and slotted behind does the same job or use offcuts of foil backed underlay. All the same idea.

Draught excluders have just been topped up with old socks. summer ritual here to sort socks, get new ones and use the old ones to stuff draught excluders.

Places like mountain warehouse have a sale on. The do great waterproofs, used them for years, and many of the items are half price right now.

In the spring sale I bought snow boots £20 (swear by them even if its just really wet. Walk everywhere and they are so snug!) a feather filled gillet for £30. Its so warm can't wait to use it this autumn. My winter coat was from there too. Just reproofed it and its in its 3rd year. Found their thermal leggings to be really good too. More expensive than tights but if like me you still wear a dress in the winter it works wonders to keep you warm. Worth the £10 and I wear them with my long boots.
The kids stuff is just as good. Great coats for school for under £30.

Thermal underwear is fab, I have leggings and long sleeved tops. They are from M&S and not frumpy at all, it just looks like a normal top.

You can easily fit a pair of jeans over the top of the leggings.

Loft and cavity wall insulation, British gas still do it free and building regs say 270mm is now the norm, lots of houses still have 4 inches so about 100mm.

Get any random crap out of the loft, if it needs to be up there you can buy loft legs and board over the insulation but if you put stuff on the lagging it squashes the air out and the air being trapped is what insulates. If you board a loft over to use as living space you need to use solid loft insulation.

Close off rooms that you dont use, switch the rad off and put a draught excluder on the door.

I second door curtain - makes a massive difference and you can get them used on eBay or try charity shops, if you can get a thick, already lined one then so much the better!

Also thermal tops and leggings as fluffy says - I got some thin thermal "heat tech" tops from Uniqlo and leggings, they are really cheap and look like normal t shirts, I wear them under everything in the winter. A pair of thin tights under jeans also works wonders.

If you have a bath leave the water in until it cools, you've paid for the heat. Same if you use the oven, leave the door open afterwards.

fluffy will BG do it free even if you aren't a BG customer? We are in a very old rented house with single-pane windows and I doubt there's any insulation, but landlord unlikely to play ball...

Yes, the landlord will need to give consent but it's improving their property for fuck all so they shouldnt be too cross about it.

Have you looked in the loft?.

Is the British Gas thing only for their customers? (Is that a daft question? Thinking that perhaps they got the contract from the government!).

Fleece blankets from Dunelms and sat waiting for a spare evening...