Getting through Autumn/Winter 21/22

[AppleButter]

I have been checking this board daily for weeks, to see whether there were any new threads about the upcoming Autumn and Winter specifically. Prepping now is more important than ever, everything has gone awry, no certainties anymore, supply chains, energy, food. And the jury is still out on whether the Winter will be a front-loaded freezing one or not (hopefully not).
I think basically everything we prepped for Brexit is now valid again, more than previously actually.
If anyone more established wants to start the Winter thread I will happily have this one deleted. 🙂

Following, thank you for starting!

I've done my Christmas present shopping, so that's one less thing to worry about. I've also done the Christmas meal planning, and identified what can be (a) bought in advance, (b) prepared in advance, and (c) what is non-negotiable vs negotiable, and come up with fall back options if my preferred options aren't available.

For autumn/winter generally, I have a spreadsheet of things to do. The boiler is serviced. I have a chimney sweep booked. I have enough wood stored for the whole winter. We still have to do the standard winter tasks of clearing gutters, putting the wooden furniture away, and stuff like that. This weekend we are checking the winter coat situation, and replacing as necessary for the children; it's been mild enough to push that activity back until now.

Also following and looking forward to hearing everyone’s plans.

I get my weather forecasts from the amazing Gav’s Weather Vids on youtube. He is amazing and somewhat predicted our cold and rainy summer. Completely science-based, considering about 300 different factors and datasets, and doing magic to statistically guess the livelihood of weather states. The Winter prediction isn’t finalised yet.
Does anyone have other good prognoses yet, on what Winter will be like?
m.youtube.com/user/GavsWeatherVids

I have started winterizing the garden and have given the kitchen a deep clean.
I have also started picking us extras of our basic necessities like cornflakes, coffee beans, flour, pasta etc. I always make sure we have at least 3 months of toiletries as i buy them on offer.

If anyone more established wants to start the Winter thread I will happily have this one deleted. 🙂

don't be daft. why waste a perfectly good thread? Everyone is welcome.

Christmas:
started buying food. Have chicken, pigs in blankets, vegan sausages, shloer, pepsi, stuffing cranberry sauce, Pringles.

have some presents.

Winter:
still not managed to replace the double glazing... arse. nor managed to take up the wooden floor board by board in the loft and lay insulation below those bits: last year I insulated the loft hatch a bit more. Not completely insulated but better than a piece of hardboard. and managed to stuff some insulation under the boards near the edge of the hatch.

Still not managed to replace the boiler. I may wait to get a grant for the heat pump. we still have a hot water tank.

Lights: solar lantern, wind up lantern.
Power: emergency power banks. (need to find where they have been put as we took them out so they need recharging)
cooking: Kelly kettle and ready cut up sticks and kindling in the garage.
cotton wool and vaseline fire starters

warmth: need to boil the hand warmers to recharge them.
need to wash the last of the fingerless gloves and replace in school bags.

have already put the winter bag in the car. (blankets, gloves and hats.) need to add the bag of salt and deicer.

I need to retrieve my sleeping bag from my Mother's house. and possibly some of the wool blankets that are there as moth food.

garden: planted perpetual spinach in a pot at ex's ready to harvest next year.
planted herbs from asda (50p ones, split the root ball and planted in larger poots with fresh compost. They seem to be growing ok )
planning on buying more pots for next year. (need to order)

I need to plant up some of my own windowsil pits and grow fresh salads and herbs.

I am saving bubble wrap for garden pots and the tap. Collecting large transparent clothes bags for late winter freezes, when things have started to bud snd a a very hard frost arrives, they just get put on top of the plant pots as air-trapping hats. And have bought some pot feet, just need to get them into place.

I am so behind with winter home prep things I wanted to get done : folding blinds over windows, curtains across draughty doors, putting foil up behind the radiators. Insulating window gaps.

There is a current thread that may be of interest: I don’t know what caused the power cut in question, but the misery is instant and the shrugging of the energy supplier is predictable and mean.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4380998-No-electricity-since-03-30-a-m

yep, already posted on there. it doesn't happen often but when it is uyou it happens to...

@BlackeyedSusan I have noted your useful post on there - I know these are prepper essentials but I still haven’t got those things (power bank always ready, camp stove) and my torches have been mislaid by the DC playing about 😕 - but that thread shows how quickly it gets uncomfortable without diversified resources.

It would be uncomfortable with them, never mind without. And that when well. The whole family is poorly.

My mum's boiler went wrong when we went to stay. It was grim for just one night. My boiler has been broken for a couple of years... Which proves we don't particularly need it. (we are deciding on replace or repair...we may go straight to heat pump... Got to get windows replaced first.

) need to negotiate who pays what. Divorce etc.

Windows are tricky as getting access requires scaffolding...or fitting from inside.

Thanks for starting this thread OP. I've been looking in on the board for the past month or so, and it seemed surprisingly quiet given the circumstances you've outlined. That said, I used to be a regular thread starter here under a different name. I think I ended up feeling a bit burned out a few months into the Pandemic, so kept away for a while.

Anyhow.. this is what I've done so far:

Nearly all Christmas presents done.
Garden sorted, wood shed stocked.
Quite a bit Christmas food bought already.
Checked stocks in pantries. Rotated, restocked where necessary and given stuff for Harvest festival this week.
Stocked up on candles, matches, water, blankets, light bulbs, batteries etc.
Updated the oh fuck backpack.
Am keeping the car full with fuel.
Need to purchase draught excluder for badly fitted front door.

Need to do more. Thanks to Blackeyed for her usual super lists. You've just reminded me to order Schloer for DD. Oh and also cotton wool balls and vaseline are a great idea!

Nicked from the internet zebra.

I am really worried about food and energy prices next year and I don’t know anyone in RL who wouldn’t be dismissive of me saying that and being a worrywort complaining about normal things.
Also bird food and pet food. Cat food seems harder to get hold of online in bulk packages. Bird food sells out for a while as soon as there is a cold snap (replenished weeks after in normal supply chains) so if anyone feeds the birds/garden creatures, and if you can afford it, buy for winter a bit in advance.

@RainbowZebraWarrior what blankets do you stock up on?

Hi @AppleButter sooo blankets... Well I have an old favourite, which is a heavy brushed cotton. It's king sized, but gets used as a picnic blanket in summer. It's been aired and is now in use by DD either on the sofa, or she takes it to bed as an extra layer (mostly under her as she loves how soft it is) I've got 2 king size faux fur throws too, so I've given them a bit of a shake. I'll pull the 2 cheap festive fleece blankets out from the loft asap too. I've even dragged out all of DDs baby blankets and washed them!

I figure if it does end up a really harsh winter and I'm worried about my energy bills, then me, DD and the cat can get wrapped in as many layers as we like. I'm now off to the charity shop in search of a nice eiderdown. Totally kicking myself for not grabbing a beautiful vintage one I saw last year for £15!!

D Cat currently occupying said brushed cotton blanket

Can we have more pictures of the cat?!

For those with old windows like me, I really recommend the window foil - it’s made a huge difference to the amount of condensation we’re getting! You can literally feel the difference it makes - the uncovered windows are much colder than the foiled ones.

I have my fluffy covered HWB back out again so definitely ok for a winter thread (in my case, DH is still too warm so won't change the 4.5 tog to 7 tog duvet yet - we can snap together a 9 tog to the 4.5 tog in the depths of really cold winters, but it is rare enough we get that bad).

I need to get wood for the stove this weekend (surprisingly, DH mentioned that!), and I am waiting on a decent sized power bank in the post (my current 2 are tiny crappy things for 1 phone charge while travelling - I wanted to be able to recharge my phone and ipad a few times, and my camping lights if necessary). I had already got a solar panel in the summer for camping, which could recharge those power banks if the predicted power cuts are worse than expected. We have also got PV solar panels on the roof over the summer, so we would have some power by day even if the grid was down...although I am not quite sure how well that would work in reality. Hence power bank sourcing.

And as teen DD and the puppy we acquired in the spring have claimed all the house rugs and blankets between them (DD to snuggle under in various rooms, puppy in her bed and to protect the furniture from her claws....), I bought a new fleece blanket in Ikea at the weekend to put over my knees when WFH in the spare room.

Oh, and got more big pillar candles in ikea - I have loads of tealights (and terracotta plant pots if needed) for some light (and could be used to heat a room in emergencies), but I was very short on decent large candles for decent light for long evenings.

There's a winter weather thread running
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weather/4353891-The-mumsnet-annual-winter-weather

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weather/4353891-The-mumsnet-annual-winter-weather-watch-thread doh! I deleted the watch thread part of the link!