is anyone prepping for this winter?

[petemurphy]

so wondering if I should be stocking up with anything given the dire predictions this winter.

anyone else doing so?

wondering if its worth getting a small generator in case there are power shortages. although what do i really need elec for - a cup of tea and charge the mobile maybe. if the mobile masts have power that is.

any other thoughts bar buying guns lots of guns..

[MikeM6]

I think you might be overthinking this....

I'd stock up on money. Lots of money to pay the bills.

[petemurphy]

MikeM6 said:

I think you might be overthinking this....

I'd stock up on money. Lots of money to pay the bills.

ha true!

[Crumpet]

Just wood. Lots of wood. The wood burner has always been for ‘effect’ really but this year it’ll be doing the daytime heating. Might even use one of the ornamental antique copper kettles for heating water on it during the day….

But other than that I’m doing some insulating, as we don’t have much at the moment, and getting a dehumidifier to make a ‘drying room’ for laundry. And I’m not going part time like I wanted to.

[croyde]

No retirement for me now, although I might splurge remaining savings on a new litre plus motorcycle and go out with a bang.

[Gecko1978]

Just chopping wood is all fir the fires

[eliot]

I bought this winters logs when is was 40’c outside - I joked with the delivery driver that I must be his only customer and he said far from it - he expects to be sold out way before winter.

Critical loads in the house are on a dedicated consumer unit which I can run from the protected output of my solar & battery storage or from a genny.

Solar panels are ‘dc connected’ which means they keep charging/suppling the house even with grid loss - not much use at night, but you get the idea

[stuckmojo]

wood for the wood burner.

and stuff that will go up in price and is not perishable:

- Barolo, Rioja, wine which is rising in price fast and I can stock my cellar with
- beans, tuna, high quality pasta, oil

As for the rest, we're all equally fked.

[gotoPzero]

Crumpet said:

and getting a dehumidifier to make a ‘drying room’ for laundry. And I’m not going part time like I wanted to.

Watch out they can burn quite a lot of electricity mine runs about 300W and whilst they are very effective it takes 7-8 hours to dry clothes etc.

[cml24]

I fixed my energy bills yesterday, so they're quite manageable for a year.

I've lived in two places that faced occasional sporadic food shortages (of specific items, you'd not have starved), so I'm used to changing my meal plans if the shops don't have certain items.

We won't starve, and blackouts and water shortages are soemthing I've dealt with quite easily.

[tighnamara]

This

https://www.hygger.com/en/public/nanuk.html

[croyde]

tighnamara said:

This

https://www.hygger.com/en/public/nanuk.html

Ahead of you there, been wearing mine around the flat for the past two winters

[AC43]

tighnamara said:

This

https://www.hygger.com/en/public/nanuk.html

Thread winner.

[PositronicRay]

AC43 said:

tighnamara said:

This

https://www.hygger.com/en/public/nanuk.html

Thread winner.

I had to stop reading at "featuring a silky micro nylon rip stop shell and micro nylon tafffeta lining'

[ScotHill]

cml24 said:

I fixed my energy bills yesterday, so they're quite manageable for a year.

Who is offering good value fixes at the moment?

[Timothy Bucktu]

petemurphy said:

so wondering if I should be stocking up with anything given the dire predictions this winter.

anyone else doing so?

wondering if its worth getting a small generator in case there are power shortages. although what do i really need elec for - a cup of tea and charge the mobile maybe. if the mobile masts have power that is.

any other thoughts bar buying guns lots of guns..

You need a surprisingly big generator just to boil a kettle. One that is bordering on too heavy for one person to lift.
You're better off stocking up on camping stove gas bottles for basic cooking needs.
You can charge a phone from a decent sized solar panel even in winter. A single 200w panel with a 5v USB regulator would be ideal. But even a small 10w one will do the job.
Also, some sort of insulated jacket for the freezer.

But if you want to go all out prepping nut case...then you need weapons, water purifiers, security. But that won't be necessary...hopefully.

[Arnold Cunningham]

I fixed with octopus a week ago. Currently paying maybe 10% above the variable tarif, but in 3 months I reckon I’ll be doing well enough.

Seeing if I can get solar and battery installed before winter.
4 working fireplaces and 3 metres cubed of wood in store.
Might get a 32A plug on the main house feed to so I can run the house off a generator if required.

[ScotHill]

Arnold Cunningham said:

I fixed with octopus a week ago. Currently paying maybe 10% above the variable tarif, but in 3 months I reckon I’ll be doing well enough.

Were you with Octopus already? Pretty much all websites from suppliers and comparison sites seem to strongly discourage switching at the moment, with Octopus you seemingly have to telephone them and make a case for switching!

I'm not sure the business sense behind fixing customers at 10% above current variable when all indications show that bills are going to jump by 75% in the very near future....

[Arnold Cunningham]

I was. But.

Originally was with peoples energy. They went bang and I got pushed onto British Gas. They are terrible, IMVHO. So I phoned up octopus and said, yeah I know I won’t save money with you, but I’d appreciate the better customer service. Switched to them earlier in the ear, on their standard variable tariff. And then switch to their fixed rate deal a week or so ago.

I assume they are hedging, so have futures bought against their fixed price deals. But not my problem.

For the record, I am very impressed with octopus.

[croyde]

Octopus