A little tip for keeping warm from someone who is very 'nesh' (and a bit poor)

[jjazz]

Go to an area of town with lots of charity shops- not difficult so far. Hunt out the nicest cashmere jumper you can find. It has to be 100% cashmere and roomy enough for a couple of layers underneath. This is also not difficult as they were very popular a couple of years ago and stupid rich people are now bored of them after a couple of wears and find them far too hot in their super toasty houses! I got one for £5.95 last week (which is the most I have ever spent on one item in a charity shop.) Hand wash it & dry flat (this is the not so good bit...waiting for it to dry aint fun either) wear with a couple of layers (i.e. vest and long sleeved skinny rib/polo neck type thingy) under. You will not ever be cold again. xxx

Blegh, that was incomprehensible.

It's a hinged rod mounted on the door and the frame, which carries a curtain bigger than the door, but opens and closes with the door.

Primark have 2.3Tog rated socks at the moment. £4 a pair so not cheap but they are nice and warm. Those are mens socks but they may well do womens sizes as well.

As a bloke I also like their cuffed trousers. Wonder if you can make your own using elastic to make the bottom of the trouser leg a bit smaller.

Do you think there is any truth to if your feet and hands are warm then the rest of body feels warmer?

Threepiece you have to boil them to get them back to start. That's the only reason why I hate those things.

I've had the same hot water bottle that was given to me as a present about 10 years ago. It has a slip in the cover, or an over flap thing, for me to put my feet in. It's the most important thing in the world to me! I happily use it before putting the heating up.

My tip for draughty doors is to wedge a scarf in the gap!

I get a knife and hold the scarf lengthways, then push the middle of the scarf in the gap with the knife (or ruler!) It leaves some hanging out either side which helps too. It really does keep the wind out!

This could also work on other gaps as well :o

I've been wearing long socks in winter for years now. Great at work as no-one notices. Today I'm wearing a second pair of socks and my feet are toasty warm.

Layer, layer, layers is my solution. I always wear a vest (strappy top really) and now it's below 0 I've started wearing two under my work clothes (unfortunately I'm in an office so can't wear huge thick jumpers )

Newspaper is great for blocking up drafts.

Keeping feet up off the floor when sitting down is good too (footstools etc.)

Nesh is used in Yorkshire as well, but more with a sense of "weak / pathetic / wimpy."

Get yourself an electric throw blanket and put it on the sofa or whichever chair you usually sit in. Get some proper wool blankets from charity shops and make a duvet cover to fit over them. Sit on the sofa with electric blanket beneath you, cover self with wool blanket, turn off electric blanket after 5 mins when warm. Job done.

I'm so glad to read these tips I was about to start a thread asking for some as we've used all £15 of our Gas in the last week and this morning our front door was frozen shut Now trying to stretch our last £5 of emergency credit to another week until we get paid. I'm pregnant miserable and cold I could cry honestly we're on the cheapest tariff we can get .

Sorry for the rant I'm going to read back through the thread now and start putting some of these to use once I feel brave enough to get out from under the blanket I have on the sofa

I like this thread, full of useful ideas! :)

I treated myself to a lovely cashmere jumper bought new as a post-birth gift. Six years ago. I lost it within a month.

I still cry, it was feckin expensive.

Right, off to look at wristwarmers...I did think about making him a couple of sweatshirts with thumb holes, might have an experiment later. He gets grumpy abot having long sleeves dangling over his hands, but he might be ok if it was a nice tight sleeve. Or maybe that felted lambswool jumper might get repurposed into wristwarmers. He's been in tights under his trousers for the last month, DH gets very jealous. Little does he know that I've bought him thermal longjohns and meggings for Christmas ;)

If anyone on this thread found a low v-neck cashmere sweater from an ethical clothing brand, in 2006/7, and didn't hand it in at the London toy library where you found it, you're a bastard and I hope it gave you a nasty rash.

My tip is to keep warm (& relaxed) by having a regular [fbrew]

I'm waiting to get my roof insulated for free; got draft excluder on my front door, main problem is that my bedroom window is broken & drafty - i can't afford to get it fixed yet, so i had to tape scarves round the gaps.

Outdoors i find that fingerless gloves are best - to get to your phone etc.

A hat or wide wool hairband, & a scarf added to any outfit look good & make me feel warm whatever else i wear.

Don't forget to wrap up any outdoor taps for the winter: in a towel & plastic bag with sellotape - stops pipes freezing.

Loving your use of the word nesh, nobody ever knows what I mean when I say it!

WHY have I never thought about knee-length socks before?? what a bloody brilliant idea

Never heard of the word 'nesh' but then i'm from down South...

Cotton socks underneath, (real) wool socks on top. Works a treat.

Nothing like wool for keeping you warm... :) My sister swears by her fleeces, as in sheep-skins, not the polyester kind. No, they aren't cheap, but they last for ever and are awesome to sit on with a blanket over you.

She lives in a flat with no central heating in Edinburgh, so she knows all about being cold :(

Belina, buy your husband tights or leggins. I have seen lots of cotton and fleece leggins/joggers in Sports Direct, very cheap but warm. Tesco sells thermal leggins for men for 8 pounds but I have no idea how warm they are.

This thread is awesome

I'm sooooo cold right now

Question: if I make myself some draft excluders tonight, out of old trousers, what else can I stuff them with? We don't have any craftsy stores around here to get filler, is there any sort of standard household item that would work? Newspapers?

Thank you all for brilliant top tips.
You can get foam draft excluders that don't look like the 70s; they sort of cup the bottom of the door and sit there filling the gap between the floor and the door.
I shrunk a cheap cashmere size 18 jumper to a 12 / 14 (by mistake) and now it is a lovely base layer. I also wear heattech all over. And (this is tragic but we are really cold at home) if I wear a hoody, I wear the hood up. It makes a difference.
Look in charity shops for good quality branded hoodies - they make a difference - much warmer than cheap ones bought new. I hate to say it because I hate logos but there it is.
Microwave hotties are safer for little children than hwbs
Sometimes we put some music on and dance around
If desperate, pick up a pile of books and everyone go to bed!

dreaming, the filler of the 70s was american tan tights, iirc

Another tip:

Look on eBay for damaged cashmere jumpers, the bigger the better. Get them cheap, stick em in the freezer overnight to kill any moths, wash them, cut the body off for a fab snood and the arms can be used as legwarmers or sewed tighter to be armwarmers.

Or you could just wear it as it is

Also. If you can find cheap-ish sheepskin insoles (used to be on eBay, not sure about now) and put them in fake Uggs it makes them much warmer AND they dont smell. The insoles are also washable to revive the pile.

If you can find cosy socks, esp cosy long ones, they too can double as arm warmers. Keep your head, neck, wrists and ankles covered and you'll be amazed at how much warmer you feel.

Second the fabulousness of draught excluders. Get the ones that slide under the door and move with it. Not pretty but the do the job. Also door insulating foam strips for your doorframes from B&Q are brilliant at cutting draughts.

We bought electric oil heaters. Currently one is working in the living room. There is one in main bedroom and one in children's. The heaters have thermostats.

Dreamingbohemian anything that can be packed in there to make it into a semi-stiff tube (oooh-er missus) will do (even scrunched up newspaper) if there's nothing else to hand, just make sure you don't sew the ends up so tight you can't open the draught excluder later to replace it. Other things worth considering are "dead" clothes or tights, or even summer wardrobe clothing that can be taken out & washed come the spring. Spare towels make a reasonable excluder too, though they need more careful placing so they don't slip down. Local markets if there's one near or fabric shops often have cheap foam chopped into little bits usually used for cushions, that's ideal if you can get it.

Use a feather duvet on the sofa, it is awesome. I've been able to let the heating go off when the kids go to bed, and be toasty until bedtime. Also, doing the ironing is a great way to stay warm!