Getting ready for Winter….

It’s getting colder by the day and although we tried to last as long as we could, our heating is now back on for the first time since Spring and this, added to the fact that the nights are drawing in and X factor is back on TV can only mean one thing – Winter’s coming.

Now I know it might still seem early but it’s October next week and I did read somewhere that we”re going to have a really cold Winter with snow forecast as early as October.  So I’m going to start getting ready for Winter over the next couple of weeks.

Here’s our to-do list:

• Check the Emergency car bag and make sure that the car breakdown cover is up to date because the last thing I want is to be stuck in the car somewhere with no supplies and no one  to call for help.  Make sure you put the telephone number for your breakdown service in your contacts in your phone as well.
• Change our quilt from the thin Summer one we use to the winter one that is bagged up somewhere in the loft and add some extra blankets to the kids rooms because they both hate sleeping under a quilt for some reason and choose to sleep on top of it and cover themselves with a couple of blankets.
• Buy some wellies because last year when the weather got bad, everywhere selling wellies at a reasonable price sold out.

• I’m going to need to do something about our front door – either make a draft excluder or hang a thick curtain because it’s really draft, even though it’s a new house!
• I’ll make sure we’ve got some matches and candles in just in case there’s a power-cut and light bulbs in case any blow out.  I’ll also be checking the torch to make sure the batteries are good.
• Cosify the living room because that’s where we’ll spend most of our awake time at home.  I’ve already bought a bargain rug (£24.99) and a new throw (reduced half price in Tesco) along with some new lovely scented candles so we can all snuggle in on a night.  I’d love some fluffy or knitted cushion covers but I’m hanging out for a bargain.
• I also buy some cheap table salt to keep for icy weather as our path is on a slight slope so I like to sprinkle it with salt to avoid icy disasters.  I’ve read somewhere that 1 tablespoon of salt is sufficient to clear a square metre but I use a little bit more to make it work quicker!
• Winter wardrobe time which means a shopping trip to eBay, the kids have lived in shorts for the last few months and they grow so quick that most of their clothes that are suitable for Winter are too small now so we’ll need some new jumpers and jeans for them both I would think.

Look at my pretty new snuggle blanket!

Another thing I’d recommend you to do is to make sure that you’re on the best deal possible for your gas and electricity.  I know I say this all the time but really, at this time of year when you’re going to be using more energy than ever, you really should make sure that you’re paying as little as possible.

Anything I’m missing?