How are you preparing for autumn/winter?

[magicalkitty]

With mortgage rates going up, and gas/electric costa, I wondered how people are preparing for another long winter.

The gas and electric rates may have dropped marginally, but with no £400 this year the costs will likely be more than last year.

I have built up around £300 credit with energy company for winter in prep. Last year we had the heating at 15c for 3ish hours a day, but not sure if we can manage at that temp again. The combined bill was still £230 per month in the coldest months though.

I have oodies, electric blankets, fleece bedding etc. I wear thermals for about 6 months and fingerless gloves inside.

I’m about £400 in credit for gas/leccy now, and I’m hoping to keep the heating off until at least October.
I never had the thermostat above 17 last winter, but I’m not doing that again.
And it looks like one of my DC is moving home, so that’s going to cost more as he has lots of showers due to exercise.
Unfortunately DH is retired so he has the heating on all day.

We are buying perspex secondary glazing to fit in our windows. We live in an old listed building and our bills are astronomical.

We are also in an old listed building and it costs a fortune to heat. Last winter it was so cold: we’ve all got used to having the thermostat low but the gas bill was still massive.

Gas prices are down a bit this year and I’ve worked out the optimal length of time to run the boiler to heat all the radiators - they’re cast iron so retain heat well when the boiler goes off. So there’ll be a lot of on-off-on-off during the day, to maximise the gas use.

I’ve bought some rolls of thermal insulation strip to go round the worst doors and windows and am hoping this will help with draughts/keep the heat in

Also trying to get ahead on wood chopping - we have a ready supply of fallen branches and a couple of fallen trees, and the more we can use the log fires, the warmer we will be!

My DS moved out today to live in his own house. I'm very certain my electricity bill will come down. I've got individual valves on radiators so will switch one on the gas radiator in his room. I think that means I might be able to switch gas down a point but still have the same heat in the sitting room, dining room and 2 bedrooms being used. I've built up about £190 credit but paying the same each month so hoping will use less in August, September and October so will have built up more credit by then. Also I have moved on to a fixed tariff with Octopus, called Loyal Octopus.

Nothing. I bought the oodies, electric blankets, thermals etc. last year.

I also insulated as well as I could.

This year, it’s just going to be a matter of using the things I already have and keeping the heating as low as possible (by which I mean as low as is comfortable with the extra layers not ‘just above freezing’).

Lots of spending the evening in bed with the electric blanket on in my future, I think.

I don’t want to build up too much of a surplus on my energy account since they don’t pay interest and I get 4.5% on my savings.

Also, it may not cost me much more for gas than last year. British Gas insisted on putting up my gas direct debit to a ludicrous level last Autumn and refused to lower it then this spring emailed me to say they were reducing it to £15 (not a typo) because ‘I had built up a surplus’. That would be the surplus they insisted would never occur which is why they refused to reduce the direct debit in the first place.

Atm im crocheting my son a blanket to
match the one I made in April for myself

Bought a 'pre - loved' Oodie from Vinted ready for this winter. When we got the extra cash over last winter I bought a heated throw, an electric blanket and some thermals... I have been fortunate in having a fixed energy deal for the last 2yrs, but this ends in October, so I'm sure I'll be in for a shock.
Have been selling stuff on Vinted and keep that cash in a separate account for emergencies.

We will be about £700 in credit with Octopus by September so no need for dds to go up ( we didn't increase them last winter either)
Not planning anything different to what we did last winter....we are sensible with heating/ hot water without being cold. I cook from scratch and meal plan...no waste at all.

We have topped up the heating oil tank for winter (after replacing for a bigger one) this should last all year being sensible.
We have fixed our electricity and have some credit building.
We need to change windows and doors but will have to wait for now.
There is plenty firewood in storage.
Food planning and cooking from scratch already happens.

gas and electric credit will be approx £500 in september but we had a really cold snap last decenber and that week spent £90 just on gas (3 bed house) so it can be very quickly used up

im stocked up with coal and wood till ear;ly spring
buying some new curtains but even though they are thick not sure if they will help much as have had a new 8ft double glazed patio door put in

also from end of july have been stocking up the cupboards with non perishables etc as im going to have a full knee replacment in the next 3 months so having extra will be handy

Chimney swept last week, log shed now full to overflowing but there are some logs left for DP to split.

Pickled some of the harvest from the garden and will start berry picking soon to freeze for winter puddings.

I haven't done anything much but hope this thread will help me make a start. Live in a very cold house, last winter it cost about £10 a day (not including solid fuel) to keep the rooms I use in double digits when it was around or below zero outside, plus multiple layers of clothing. I'm also really intolerant of the cold in general and WFH so heating is my absolute priority.

Lucky not to have mortgage payments to make anymore and am saving for better windows and increasing my earnings steadily but it's difficult on one income. Starting a second role in September which will help if I can manage the extra hours. A sensible person would move to a modern flat somewhere but I love it here.

I've stocked up on pulses and other affordable wholesome staples and can batch cook and freeze as reheating these doubles as heating the kitchen for an hour or two a day inexpensively. I've also picked up a few extra rugs and curtains and blinds. Need to get back into knitting and crochet, I've been knitting a luxury giant jumper in alpaca and silk and some kind of fluffy, blown wool for years. It will be good to wear that.

I think fairly well prepared from last winter.

Have a new floor with insulation in the kitchen which should help a bit, but most of the work was done last winter.

Also improved the size of the radiators in the rooms that I actually use, so now it will be easier to get the heat from the boiler to where I want it in the house and cut off the rest rather than having to heat the whole house to keep 2 or three rooms warm.

Not done massive amount as did bit last year
So plenty blankets/throws,onsies/ oudies/ fleece bottom bedsheets/ new hot water bottles.

Last winter we got new boiler
We need to replace single glazed door and window next.
Would love a Woodburner but can't afford one.

We overpaying council tax as variable pay so instead 10months we on schedule for 2months we paid double so nov be last payment.
Have £500 left on school trip pay before xmas.
Also really want xmas shopped and wrapped by Dec 1st as busy month in work.

Last year I started buying extra food each week just need hide choc.
Tesco have tubs choc currently 4 quid with a clubcard..

I'm building up some credit on my utilities account.

I've ordered two wool sweaters in the sales.

During covid/furlough I learnt to bottle fruit & make jam so am busy making stuff that ds and I will eat through the winter to cut the food bills a bit. Bottled blackberries, damson jam, home made passata and chilli sauce all work well. I freeze cooking apples and veg.

And I have a woodburner so I've been stacking garden prunings and waste wood since April.

It all adds up to savings of about £25 a week which helps a little and costs nothing.

I’ve replaced a towel rail in the bathroom with a big radiator. When I put the towel rail in I was told it would be adequate heat, but it wasn’t, so the radiator I’ve put in is much bigger than the original.

Not much for this year, having a lot of the basics already, but I did buy an over the bath airer this summer as our (stupidly small - thanks previous owners!!!) towel rail that is the only heat source in the bathroom was neither drying the towels nor heating the bathroom.

We've been using it all summer already as it's so effective.

We've had some minor roof repairs done too which will help, and a new handle/lock on the bathroom window (last one broke off) is clearly creating a tighter seal.

I need to sort out the gappy windows in our bedroom which I've tried a few fixes with, none of which have worked. Doubled over thermal/blackout curtains on an extension rod inside the frames (so behind the 'real' curtains) helped a lot last year.

We have a multifuel stove that we stopped using in pandemic years, so need to decide whether to get that serviced this year and the chimney swept as we have fuel sitting doing noone any good.

DH hates being cold, but also refuses oodies, blankets, hot water bottles, electric blankets etc so I try to keep as much heat in as possible. At least he has improved on the days when he'd put the heating on all day wfh whilst I was out at work, and then open all the windows cause he was too hot in a t shirt. 😫

We when it was coldest, turned the living room into a cosy den, everyone in the same room keeps it warmer. I got these thermal trousers and tops, from the men's section as the guys thermal wear works better than women's, although you can get some thin women's thermals and just wear them under your clothes. Works. So does my beanie hat.

Honestly, i haven't done anything. My boiler broke 14 years ago and never been able to afford to get it replaced as it breaks health and safety in its current placement so they won't give me a new one without moving it elsewhere in the house. Previous winters i have gotten by using an electric fan heater but they are silly expensive to run, and last winter it broke right at the start of January and i didn't replace it so my bills for jan feb of this year, were the same as they currently are for my summer bills. I got by with a big oversized hoodie and lots of blankets, so i may just do that again and hot water bottles if needed. My current energy bills are £65 a month electricity, and £10 gas (only got a hob).
They will go up a bit for having to dry everything in the dryer, but with the cost of electricity coming down slightly, i could stretch to £100 a month electricity for the extra of running the dryer.

Two jobs I'd like to get done before end if September are defrost the freezer and get all the winter blankets/oodie etc washed ready for winter.
I'd like a new dressing gown as mine us very ratty now, but I'll wait until January sales for that.

This thread has made me think ! Thanks op .

please can anyone recomend thin but effective thermals that cd be worn under tops and trousers?
not merino.. too £££
also any long lasting elec blankets? Or dog pawed at outs last year and broke bith ( a waste of 150 quid )
thanks and haopy prepping!

I’m well prepared, wood store full for the wood burner, I will book a delivery for mid November, plenty of throws, woolly jumpers, wool socks I’ve knitted etc
i have sheepskin slippers too. The food cupboards are well stocked, freezer is full.
I’m £400+ in credit with my energy provider.

We've been renovating to improve the efficiency and warmth of the house. Big upfront costs, hopefully long term savings. These have included new smart boiler and bigger radiators to stay at an ambient temperature most of the time rather than cranking up to full blast twice a day. New thicker carpets and extra thick insulating underlay. Thermal curtains.

Last year I bought some Uggs and good winter coats from ebay and we all have primark oodies to snuggle into.

We have just added more insulation to the eaves above our downstairs windows which made cold spots in the living room.