What Preps are you doing this week? Part 13

[Frnc]

Decorator finished and gone. Forgot to give him oustanding £400 cash, and he had to come back! Heat's been up and down to suit painting/drying, so got the therostat set to 17 for the spring. It was 18 in the winter. Need to check all the TRVs. Boiler has stayed at 58, and will do so for a few weeks, then drop to 54. Winter default is 61.

Got plenty to do. Have put a new throw on the sofa. Gonna wash the actual cover in the bath next week and line dry, not that you can see it with the throw on top. Got some pictures to put back up, books to sort etc.

Some stuff from prep room will be moved into the spare front bedroom, which will have my exercise stuff. But the exercise bike is too heavy to move, so it will stay in the prep room. So I end up having two prep/exercise rooms.

I was going to take the bed downstairs, but my knees were a bit iffy, so I had to leave it upstairs. But I don't know if I want another lodger anyway. It's an option. I have two rooms I could use, but I think downstairs is best from a noise point of view. So the front living room is another spare room. It has a wardrobe and drawers. I can keep a few other things in it, like my clothes drying rack, and one of my dehumidifiers. But should be able to dry laundry outside now winter's over.

[Kiwififer]

Helping my old man rig up a more efficient water system to collect rainwater from the roof over the last week. Sealing off gutters etc, there’s been a bit of rain and the leaks have stopped so he’s quite happy.

Hopefully home at the end of next week.

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Now that it appears to eventually stopped raining, ti e to hit the garden. I know one thing - if you've got a garden that's not been looked after, you don't have to pay for gym membership ...

[Frnc]

Not doing any gardening yet, not that I do much anyway. But got my winter duvet cover washed and on the line, and hung the duvet over the bannister to air for a few days, before bagging it up. Couldn't do it earlier because of the decorator. Line was dirty by the way, don't forget to clean it after winter.

Got the furniture back in living room. Washed Ikea armchair cover in machine. Machine was a bit iffy about this, and paused for ages, going backwards and forwards, trying to balance the load. Finished eventually. Got it more or less dry. Was a struggle to get foam back in, but it looks fine now. No way is the sofa cover going in, gonna wash it in the bath. Sofa has a throw on it now, anyway, which looks nice.

Front bedroom is now Prep room 2/exercise room 2.

[Arzosah]

Well, I have hot water again, though the heating's still on the blink. Convector heater really isn't the same I'll have to phone again on Monday.

Also paying attention to my garden again - I really want to plant the seeds I manage to grow this year! And I want to take cuttings of my sage and my rosemary, which are both horrendously leggy.

For the last few weeks, I've also been decluttering - not preps, but genealogy notes, massive amount of duplication and nonsense. I've sorted out what else to take to the tip - pans that died, garden solar lights that died, a cassette player likewise, a horrible faux leather footstool, and as many bags of shredding as I can fit in the car at one go: all that lot is due to go to the council tip. That's a prep because, erm, various preps want the room all this other stuff was taking up

[Frnc]

Thermostat heated living room too much yesterday, and the day before. GPT thinks it needs 1.5 v batteries. It has Eneloops, which are 1.2. So I have ordered some 10 year shelf life 1.5v alkaline batteries. GPT advised these. I think rechargeables are 1.2. It did say I could try Eneloop Pros. These are 12 for £5 and should last many years. The other thing is they are sensitive to position, so I've tried to keep that the same as before, with books behind but not too close, on the same shelf.

Having said that, I was way under gas budget yesterday. Main reason was sun heating living room in the morning/early afternoon, which causes heating to stay off, or go on minimally.

[Frnc]

Well, I have hot water again, though the heating's still on the blink. Convector heater really isn't the same I'll have to phone again on Monday.

Also paying attention to my garden again - I really want to plant the seeds I manage to grow this year! And I want to take cuttings of my sage and my rosemary, which are both horrendously leggy.

For the last few weeks, I've also been decluttering - not preps, but genealogy notes, massive amount of duplication and nonsense. I've sorted out what else to take to the tip - pans that died, garden solar lights that died, a cassette player likewise, a horrible faux leather footstool, and as many bags of shredding as I can fit in the car at one go: all that lot is due to go to the council tip. That's a prep because, erm, various preps want the room all this other stuff was taking up

I think decluttering is an excellent prep. Not just to have more room. Clutter is demoralising. And it makes me feel disorganised. I need to get rid of quite a bit myself. Am going to start a major clear out. No excuses now I have two spare rooms. I think I'm gonna put everything that needs to go in a pile in the front living room, and then get rid of it all. The front bedroom is empty bar wardrobe, drawers, and dismantled bed. I'll move some stuff I want to keep in there. Ultimately, the 'prep room' will get back to being tidy, organised, with more space.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Well, I have hot water again, though the heating's still on the blink. Convector heater really isn't the same I'll have to phone again on Monday.

Also paying attention to my garden again - I really want to plant the seeds I manage to grow this year! And I want to take cuttings of my sage and my rosemary, which are both horrendously leggy.

For the last few weeks, I've also been decluttering - not preps, but genealogy notes, massive amount of duplication and nonsense. I've sorted out what else to take to the tip - pans that died, garden solar lights that died, a cassette player likewise, a horrible faux leather footstool, and as many bags of shredding as I can fit in the car at one go: all that lot is due to go to the council tip. That's a prep because, erm, various preps want the room all this other stuff was taking up

If your short on heating Asda have 2kw fan heaters reduced to £4.97

And Morrisons small oil filled radiators £7

Summers coming and they want the shelf space for fans

[Frnc]

I highly recommend 700W Dimplex oil-free electric radiators. Set to about 33%, they use about 0.25 kWh per hour, which costs about 9p. They raise a small room's temperature noticeably, but gradually.

[Arzosah]

Ooh, thanks both - an oil filled radiator wouldn't go amiss, actually. Never heard of an oil free radiator, Frnc, I'll investigate.