Planning for a colder winter at home.

[Florencenotflo]

Like a lot of people, we're not going to be able to have the heating on as much this winter. What should I be buying now to make it as comfortable as possible? More for our 2 DD's (6 and 3). I don't have much extra money but I can buy things gradually over the next couple of months.

So far I have on my list:
Fleecy onesies to go over pyjamas
Warmer/thermal socks
Hot water bottle each

I'm thinking of killing 2 birds with one stone and putting a heated airer in their rooms. MIL has just given me her old one so I have 2 now, they might just take the chill off. I'm still going to need to dry clothes.

I wfh so I'm planning on asking a couple of family members to club together for my Christmas present and get me a heated throw. I already have fluffy slippers from last year.

Is there anything else I could do to make it easier/comfier?

For us adults it's oodie dupes, sheepskin boots and electric throws for christmas gifts. Still got 3 throws and 1 blanket to buy for our elderly parents and adult dd/sil. Need to pick up a hot water bottle for dgd (6) this week. I keep thinking the government will step in but realise they won't so have been prepping for a while. Don't plan on having the heating on during the week just weekends sparingly, shower less, less cooked meals. I want to help my family out as much as I can this winter.

Buying extra duvets now would be a good idea, I think the cost of them will increase slightly with supply and demand. I think people will be buying more duvets / blankets in a few months. Even a cheap 13 tog from asda will be beneficial to have in the bed or sofa in addition to whatever you have now.

I had my gas fireplace ripped out. I live by a local off road walking route so will collect branches and burn wood.

I also have spare duvet and blankets for sofa, move my clothes drier (like a dribuddy) around the house with me. To multi task drying clothes and keeping warm.

Lots of thick socks. I give the pets hot water bottles on the coldest days whilst I'm at work.

I've replaced the glass in the windows and changed doors (planned and needed but hoping it helps).

A friend gifted me some very thick curtains when she moved last Christmas. They'll be going up in the next few weeks.

I'll be dusting off the halogen oven too. Cooks faster and cheaper.

Is anyone else preparing for the possibility of power cuts?

@Nagado yes, my in laws have given us a camping stove with about 8 little bottles of gas. Their old house was a park home with very unreliable electricity, they have since moved. We only have gas heating, none of our appliances are gas so if there are prolonged power cuts, we're screwed.

I must admit, I’m thanking my lucky stars we went with a gas cooker. We’ve got a combi boiler so if the electric goes, I’ve bought one of those whistling kettles to fill up hot water bottles. We’ve also got torches, a supply of candles and matches and I’m going to buy a power bank for our phones. If the gas goes, we’ve got the microwave, a slow cooker and an air fryer. If both go at the same time, we’ll be outside huddling round a disposable bbq!

@Bunnynames101 i wouldn’t try and burn foraged wood if I were you. It’ll be damp and you’ll be smoked out AND cold. Better to order some kiln dried logs - they’re still far cheaper than running a gas fire. If you’re going to buy them, get them soon to beat the price rise. Ours are arriving this morning.

I’ve kept my immersion heater as, if the gas goes off, I’ve still got hot water.

@StillMedusa

Can you put up some chunky curtain rails ang get some very thick/thermal curtains? Shouldn't be too expensive! (I've read on here that dunelm are good for curtains)

@Florencenotflo
@Mrsfussypants1

for kids I'd get the bean filled type hot things.

hot water bottles are far too tempting to play with the stopper!

@Nagado

Most gas cookers need electric to run them. Have you looked into that?

@TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination yeah, the oven won’t work because of the safety ignition thing which needs electric, but you can light the hob with a match, so we can still boil hot water and cook the basics. And if we need to cook anything defrosting from the freezer, my mum has a really retro style gas cooker with the grill over it, so can always nip round the corner to hers.

Not to worry. I've been gifted some for this year and started collecting for next year early in the spring. Thanks though. X

I'm not trying to be goady but is this much planning of layers really necessary? UK winters are really mild

I live in a new build and my house doesn't get that cold? Is that maybe why I'm thinking it isn't that cold for the UK? South East at least

I really need to think of a way to dry my washing as I have a disabled child and the drier is on constantly!

If thick insulated curtains are beyond your budget, try one of those fleecy bedspreads (you know the sort that used to have pictures of tigers, wolves etc on them). They’re really thick, will block the draft and you can get them pretty cheaply (under £20). Just fold over the top and sew a channel for a curtain pole, or use bulldog clips or get those curtain rings with the hooks on.

I'm not trying to be goady but is this much planning of layers really necessary? UK winters are really mild Most UK winters are really mild. But if there is ever going to be a year where there’s 2 feet of snow and arctic blasts, this is likely to be the year! And a day or two of not having the heating on can make a huge difference to the temperature of the air, especially in older houses.

Can you still buy those really heavy thick curtains that your grandparents had over the front door?

@heshehahahehe our house with no central heating on will happily sit at 8 degrees inside. It's old and has a weird ventilation system I haven't got the hang of yet.

We'll be using the log burners this year

We've all got nice thick blankets, a hot water bottle each, slippers and thick socks.

I am at home all day and was planning on not having the heating on at all when the kids are at school but wondering on the coldest of days if my Dyson hot/cool fan would be cheaper to run to just take the chill off the room I am in? It does warm up instantly.

Drying clothes - considering getting a retractable line for my utility room. I do have 2 airers and a dehumidifier (and a tumble dryer) The room has 2 opening windows and an opening roof light but I'm still worried about damp from drying clothes inside. I'm thinking about putting a load in the dryer for a hour and then hanging it on the airers, rather than the 2+hr usual drying cycle.

I think we may also go to bed early - we have a TV upstairs and can just watch that under the duvet sharing body heat! Plus all downstairs will be switched off so should save a bit of electric too.

I want to get some battery lanterns (keeping eye out for end of summer camping sales) because we have had a few power cuts this year including one in the middle of the night and it caught us off guard. The kids panicked, my phone battery was too low to use the built in torch etc it was a bit frantic. We also have a power bank I am going to make sure is charged at all times and in a safe place.

Will be using the slow cooker, air fryer and microwave more. Also trying to have easier meals - e.g. beans on toast or omelettes to save on cooking time and washing up.

My living room in March was 14 degrees. Not freezing of course but even sitting in a woolly hat, scarf and blankets was miserable after a couple of hours.

I'm in Ireland, so even milder winters, and I found WFH very difficult last winter. I'm obese and don't normally feel the cold as much as other people but resorted to a heated throw around my shoulders and fingerless gloves last year.

We don't turn the heating on much. We have an open fire and light that when the kids get home from school. For bedtime, the kids have electric blankets which go on for an hour before they go to bed. They used to have hot water bottles but we had two leakages, one cold and one hot, and decided it wasn't worth the risk.

We have an air fryer this year. I've had a google and it doesn't seem to use as much electricity as a conventional oven, plus our cooker is a range that's as old as me and I dread to think how inefficient it is. So everything will be done in the air fryer, slow cooker or instant pot. And there'll be a lot of nice hot (cheap!) soups.

I don't like drying washing in the house, and I have a heat pump tumble drier, so I think we'll stick with using that. Though I can stick the clotheshorse in front of the fire in the evenings if necessary, we did that for years before getting the tumble drier.

I also save money by not ironing

I'd recommend a dehumidfier instead of a heated airer as it removes the moisture from the air from the drying clothes whilst also warming the room as they put out warm air - the Ecoair one I have was about £100 4 years ago and has the added benefit of removing dust and mould spores from the air.

When the air is dry, clothes dry quicker and the house feels so much cosier generally. Its 580 watt per hour which is 16p an hour on the current price cap - that'll be about 28p per hour if the price cap goes up 75% in October.

(that cost per hour is on it's highest setting so could be half this if on low)

@StillMedusa agree - thick/ thermal curtains or blinds.

You could even get a room divider/screen to place behind the curtain as an extra barrier and if you hung material over it to the floor *with draught excluders between it and thermal curtains) you'd have an effective thermal barrier. Wouldn't look pretty though :/

Insulate conservatory windows if it's really bitter - seal up drafts, buy thermal window film or even use bubble wrap.
Don't forget to open a window ever so often to ventilate it.

Our last place the conservatory attached to the North facing sitting room, luckily with doors and actually helped to keep sitting room warm in winter. What was brilliant was those vertical strip blinds (you know the rather dated ones you still get at dentists with beads strung between the bottom ends?). They provided extra insulation in winter and in summer prevented the sitting room getting hot.

How are people going to keep elderly cats and dogs warm?

All refuse pet beds which is annoying.