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Every Day

Getting Ready For Winter

Winter is coming whether we like it or not. In a few short months it will be here. 

As I was walking toward my front door yesterday, I saw that sunlight was coming from under the door and leaving a spot of sun on our entryway rug. It made me realize that we have a leak under the door. So I asked Hubby to check it out and get it fixed soon. It looks like we need a new sweep put on the door. That is not something I want to let go with the heat going to be turned on soon. A lot of $$$$’s could leak out all winter. UGH!

Before he goes to the hardware store for the sweep, he will check our other two outside doors to make sure that they are airtight.

It will also be time soon to put our storm windows down instead of the screens. So that has also been put on my to do list.

If you haven’t stocked up on furnace filters, it is a  good time to do it….before you need them. I just purchased 12 of the cheapest filters I could at Home Depot on the recommendation of our heating expert. They were $.98 each. They get changed on the first of every month in our home.

Hubby is always cold in the house when cold weather hits. I didn’t understand it because we keep our heat at 70-72. But let me tell you, I understand it now. Since I have lost so much weight, I am always cold. So the both of us plan on bundling up this year inside the house. I have very few long sleeve shirts that fit me. So every week when I go to the market, I hit up Goodwill and look for them. So far I haven’t found any that I like that will fit me. But I will keep looking. 

In the meantime, I have sweaters and sweatshirts that I will wear. They are 4 sizes too big but will work when no one sees me. If I have to, I will put on my too big coat in the house. Hubby wears a coat and fingerless gloves  most of the winter in the house.

I refuse to put the heat up higher than 72 so we will just have to layer and go with it.  

I just washed all of our extra blankets that have been off the beds all summer. They will get put on soon too to keep us warm before the heats goes on. When the heat goes on, Hubby sets the night time temperature to 65. When he does that, I put the electric blanket on our bed.

Hubby just caulked windows last Fall but he will check and make sure that it does not have to be done this Fall. 

All of our energy saving shades are in good shape and fit tightly so none of them need to be replaced.

We will use our garage door to enter and exit our home because it is more protected than the other doors. That will help keep as little cold air out of our home as possible. 

Hubby has scheduled the appointment to have our sprinkler system blow out. After the company does that, he will turn the outside water faucets off in the basement and drain the outside faucets so they don’t freeze during the winter.  

I am sure you have all noticed that I have been stockpiling for the winter. I will be doing one more  large stockpiling shop just before Thanksgiving when turkeys and hams go on sale really cheap.  I will stock on turkeys, hams, stuffing, butter, sugar and flour. Perhaps a few other things too. 

We have enough other meat to get us through the winter. Matter of fact, I am cooking my first sirloin roast of the Fall in the pressure cooker today along with some veggies and some potatoes for Hubby. It just seems like a Fall day today plus I have a ton of errands to run so cooking quickly in the pressure cooker will work well.

The reason that I stockpile is so that I don’t have to go out too many times over the winter to get food. I do not like driving in the snow and ice. And I don’t like the cold. This way I can also stock up at rock bottom prices too. 


When and if I need fresh stuff or dairy, I now have Top’s, Wegman’s and Super Walmart’s pickup or delivery available to me which I will use. If we get a stretch of really bad weather, I will place an order. If I know that it is going to be a good winter day, I may do pickup. It will all depend on the weather. 


If I am going to pay for delivery, I will wait until I have a large list to make the delivery charges worth it. There is really nothing that we can’t go without until that happens. We have plenty of food.

What are you doing to get ready for winter? Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us. 

      

Categories
Every Day

Do You Have a Stockpile?

UPDATE:  I fixed the link that was incorrect.

If you don’t, you should think about building one.
I am reading more and more articles like this one that I saw today: Russian Hack.

I am not one to get really worried about much after my 70+ years. However that said, this hacking thing especially of the power grid is happening too frequently for me. I was thinking about getting my stockpile down to 3 months worth of food. But this coming out today has changed my mind. We all need to stockpile in case the grid does go down.

A couple of years ago when the ” Doomsday Preppers” show was talking about this, the media was acting like they were nuts. It doesn’t look so nutty to me now.

I also have noticed lately that a lot of celebrities and Silicon Valley bigwigs have been purchasing “second  mansion homes” in New Zealand. An awful lot of people who work for the big companies like Google have jumped ship and bought property on either an island or in the middle of nowhere. You have to wonder why. Do they know something that we don’t?

The fact that this latest one and many others haven’t compromised the grid doesn’t mean that the hackers don’t have the means to do it. It would be foolish to believe that Russia is the only country that has the means to do this in this cyber world that we live in. I believe that China, Iran and N. Korea could all do it.

Our power grid is very old and very fragile. It wouldn’t take much to take it down if someone wanted to do it.

So I will be slowly building my stockpile over the next few months keeping my $ 75. a week grocery budget.

Obviously, if the power grid goes down freezer food would spoil unless you have a generator and the fuel to keep it running for a very long time.

So I will concentrate my efforts on shelf stable food and water. We have a lot of water stored at the moment but not as much as we would need if the entire grid went down. They say you should have at least 1 gallon per person per day for cooking, drinking and hygiene. I will talk more about this as I stockpile.  

So do you have a stockpile or are you thinking about it?