Preparing for a very frugal Autumn/Winter anyone?

[caughtupinthismoment]

It maybe a little early but its no harm being prepared.
I'm going to learn from my mistakes last Autumn/Winter

My clothing for the cold weather wasn't up to scratch it just wasnt warm enough. this year I'm going to outlet winter stores to buy thermal fleeces hat scarf gloves ect I also need to wear proper footwear converse dont cut it feet like icicles and wet most of winter. My dd was kitted out properly all snug waterproof just forgot about myself.

Im going to stock up on the meters before the winter sets in. I plan to be snug and warm with a hot choc in hand instead of trapsing to the shop for the meters.

This year I shall be making more hearty comfort food such as stews soups, broths and casseroles. I do make them but not so often.

Im going to bulk buy dried goods cans ect to get us through the winter. I tend to go out to buy fresh every other day/ week but there more expensive in winter so i'm going to buy seasonal and keep loaves in the freezer and long life milk just in case.

Im defo not spending lots on xmas this year cutting back drastically most people seemed to forget I existed at xmas and they didnt seem to appreciate all the effort I went to making hampers for them.

Xmas and Bday presents for my Dd are going to be things she needs. She has enough toys and Im sick of plastic tat that seems to break when I accidently stand on it as she has so much.

I'm going to start saving now so that I can have a nest egg incase I need to use it. seemed to be skint most of the time and january bills were hard.

With our filled stomachs of homecooked food and Our thermal clothing we will be able to venture into the unknown (wink) i.e long walks to jump into the crisp snow and to crunch on the autumn leaves to collect pine cones and such to decorate and we will come home to a warm house freezer and cupboards full to snuggle by the fire with a hotchoc and a family film.

Minimalist momma, I tend to use the woodburner during the day when it's just me in the house. I find a few logs thrown on about midday keeps the front room warm enough for me to sit in comfortably. Then we have the heating on for an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evening. We top up the evening heat with the burner.

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Thank you sleepy that's good to know!

Alice We've wanted a woodburner for about ten years and we bought our cottage about 19 months ago and we've been saving like crazy for it and doing other renovations. If it makes you feel any better, I'm staring at brick walls which won't be plastered until the spring!

...wanted to say we chose woodburner over paying for plaster LOL

I would too

Alice

Sorry to post and run,
I'm a single mum, who works part time. I need this winter to be much better than when I moved out (that was October/November). Last time, I was cold, hungry, and sat in The dark.
I can't change the place where I live as it is a rented place. But I can better prepared.

Hi all - I'm looking for advice where to move DDs bed. Currently in box room length against gable wall, window at foot. The gable wall gets v cold (no can't afford insulation !). I was going to switch it to opposite wall which is interior wall, window at head of bed, radiator about half way down. Door would open at foot of bed (would not open all the way). Now thinking of moving it to middle of room, parallel with window wall, with foot touching gable wall, head beside radiator. Any thoughts ?

Head beside radiator would be very uncomfortable I would have throught if it's switched on overnight?

Evil have you read the frugal blog A Girl Called Jack?

There is a really good thread in classics for those wanting tips on keeping warm

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/a1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

Snowier..historically people used to hang tapestries on walls to keep heat on :)
How about trying to get a tapestry fabric and a pole and making it look like a proper wall hanging?

Snowie, how would you feel about an electric blanket for her? I've lived in some very cold houses and left ours on the overnight setting.

New ones are very safe.

snowie I wouldn't think having the head by the radiator would be comfortable. Have you thought about hanging something on the wall - tapestry fabric as mentioned or quilt? Other options are simply warming up the bed itself - put a fleece under the fitted sheet, layer up the blankets, and use a hot water bottle. There's always the electric blanket too, although I have to admit I'm not really a fan of them, especially with children.

Not sure if it's still available but years ago I had insulation paper on a bedroom wall, it was like very thin polystyrene, came in a roll and could be painted or wallpapered over. Was really cheap too...

just wanted to reiterate going online and finding out about the warm home discount with your energy supplier.

i applied online and left it at that. i pay by direct debit but it doesn't matter how you pay your bill.
about four months later i got 140 quid credited to my account.

criteria is low income under 16k
worth it.

a few weeks ago i received a letter from energy company which i just had to sign to say circs were same.

My dc have hot water bottles every night when the weather turns :)
I love electric blankets.
Love them.
But Dh is a hot bodied freak and can't stand it so no electric blanket for me
:(
They also have dressing gowns, slipper socks (gave up with proper slippers years ago) and we have fleecy blankets for when we are watching TV.
We don't put the heat on til October - Dh insists - and I find all the above helps!
We do have an oil filled radiator in the conservatory too..was only about £40 - that kicks out a lot of heat when needed.
In other news out shower is broken and the pressure in the sink Taps is buggered :(

Mine have long johns (long underwear, thermals, whatever you want to call them) that they can wear in the winter - either by themselves or under their pajamas. And slipper socks. And dressing gowns. We layer like crazy.

But ds2 is like a heater - he is always tossing off his covers.

Badvoc - how about a single electric one just for your side of the bed :)

I'm not planning on turning the heater on for a good long time. When it does go on, it'll only be for 3 one-hour long periods at a time, as I will put it on the timer. The only "thermostat" on the heater is not by temp, but shows coloured bars and although I have tried for years to figure out what the temp is for each bar, I've finally given up. I use the timer almost all winter, starting at one hour time periods and gradually widening it up to two hours. Occasionally when it's very cold, I'll put it on more, but not often.

I'm on prepaid meter for my gas and electric, which I know a lot of people don't like. It used to be billed quarterly, when stbx and I were together. He'd whack the heater on and literally want it left on all the time, so he could walk around in tshirts and bare feet. I stressed all winter over the huge bills that I knew we'd be getting. One of the first things I did when we separated was ring and get them changed to prepaid meter. I LIKE not having to get a huge bill. I've found that as I'm paying as I go, I'm more careful about what I'm using. And I can easily budget for it ahead of time by topping up the meter so it's in credit. So for now, that's what works for me.

The Lakeland heated airers have 20% off until tomorrow night. I know it's a big outlay when we're being frugal but the saving is good and I've heard they work really well.

someone up thread said electric was cheaper than gas actually mains gas is much cheaper than electricity as a heating method

Duvet under the fitted sheet. Hot water bottles. Socks. And blankets on the bed.

Fleece lined tights. Super toasty. Primark and new look sold these last year.

If I'm home during the day I tend to make pots of tea and coffee so I don't need to keep boiling the kettle.

I charge phone/blackberry (and sometimes kindle) at work.

Use work computer for printing.

Keep doors and windows closed in rooms I'm not in. And switch off lights once have left the room.

Use tumble drier only for small things. And to fluff up towels. Saves energy. Everything else is dried outside/on airers.

Only buy what I need. And set a day for shopping.

One of our best purchase last winter was an electric stove style fire for the lounge previously we were always putting the heating on in the day to keep warm. This chucks out so much heat and is really cheap to run as well. Best £90 we ever spent.

Collected new bedroom rugs and they feel so nice underfoot rather than bear wood.

Need to collect the kids new gloves as we have odd ones are ones that are to small.

With regards to the door curtain I just need to buy one we've lived here two years and it appears we have a track above the door to attach one. I do clean their honest

Good idea re the tapestry I am planning to make a quilt but obv that costs money to buy the batting & fabric etc altho I will use old fabric for most of it.

Question on gas usage: our main heating is gas mains we only use electric (oil) heater in kitchen as it only has one small rad for large area. We tend to put the heat on and off on a timer too & find that's fine. However I heard before its more efficient to have heat on low but constant rather than coming on and off at higher temp. We don't have a thermostat (may have had years ago but it doesn't work now) so just usually have the heat level around the middle in the winter.

Snowie I have heard that too, re the gas usage. However, I don't have a reliable thermostat, so I have to use the timer. I may toy around with it this winter a bit more and see if I can find an acceptable level. The other option is to get a digital thermostat installed, but I'm not sure if I want to add that expense or not.