Happy New Year Abingdon!

The new year has started very crisply hasn't it? The grass looked like frost on frost on frost this morning which was very beautiful.

My frugal tip for this time of year is to wear more clothes. Honestly! Add layers, ladies and gentlemen before you run to the heating thermostat. Having your home like the Bahamas while it is so cold outside is a recipe for condensation and mouldiness in cold spots like window and door lintels and parts of the house which are less well insulated.


This kind of thing isn't pretty but it won't kill you. A wipe with some white vinegar will get rid of the blackness and reducing the temperature inside the house will help the condensation too. Wiping the windows isn't a bad idea and a microfibre cloth from your nearest pound shop is the ideal thing to use. This problem can't me prevented entirely because you can't stop the cold meeting the warmer walls and windows of any house.

See my Topical Tip of the Month from this month last year for more ideas on keeping warm.

Where is the board shepherd when you need him?

Here is another lonely lost board. Keeping very poor company too.

This one is lost near Rivy Field on the path that runs from the crossing by the junction of Audlett Drive and Thames View all the way to the Nature Reserve. If you are a driver and not a walker you wouldn't even know that this path exists. It is a mostly leafy and green alternative to walking along Audlett Drive or Radley Road which is much more pleasant than breathing in traffic fumes.

Most towns have their paths which can make getting about on foot easier than driving and Abingdon is no exception. It took me years to understand how Peachcroft was connected to Radley Road or Appleford Drive and I still can't quite believe that it can be so much quicker to walk from A to B than drive despite Mrs Simpson's assurances.

On a different note, this week's tenant Problem of the Week is mildew. Not Toxic Mold as found on US websites but just ordinary mouldy mildew caused by having the heating on too high, taking long hot showers, drying clothes indoors and not opening the windows enough. We have dehumidifiers out in 3 flats at the moment and have been giving tenants information on ventilation and wiping off mildew with a solution of white vinegar on a cloth.

Modern folk like to be hot and expect to be able to wear t-shirts and shorts indoors even in winter. To do that comfortably you need to have your heating on at about 25 degrees which will play havoc with the cold spots in your house and moisture levels in the air.

I'm not that old as you know but I am an avid wearer of lambswool jumpers in winter and very happy to keep one on indoors and keep the heating low. My dear wife is also a fan of wool and our younger two are big fans of layering but our older kids are hard as nails and only wear a coat when its snowing. I feel cold just looking at them.

My tips to prevent mildew are: keep a window open a crack during the day to keep air circulating, think about how to keep your body warm and not the air around you, fit curtains over your doors and windows to keep heat in, open the bathroom window after having a shower to let the moisture escape and lastly, turn the heating down and invest in some jumpers!

Topical Tip of the month

It is freezing some nights isn't it? If you are cold, your pipes are too and if you drink the water from the bathroom tap in the middle of the night you might freeze your teeth! Brrrr.

Here are some tips from Direct Line insurers

• Insulate your pipes with preformed insulation, and replace the washers on any dripping taps - if the taps freeze, the pipe will get blocked.

• Know where your water valves are, and learn how to shut them off in case a pipe does burst.

• In very cold weather the heating will need to be on low, or set to come on a couple of times a day, especially if you're going away.

• Open the loft trapdoor on cold days to let heat in.

Click here to read more about protecting your home from leaks caused by burst pipes.

We Simpsons are about as frugal as you can be in lots of ways but we don't scrimp on keeping the house warm enough to keep the water flowing through the pipes. We don't have it like the Bahamas though! We use an oil filled radiator in our living room, freeze in the kitchen and get under the feather duvet at night but we keep the heating switched to constant and the thermostat on about 12-15 most of the time A few nights this month we have heard it click and the heating come on inthe small hours but this is a GOOD thing.

Keeping the chill off the house while you are at work means that it warms up more quickly when you get home. Your central heating switching on and switching off is good for the boiler and keeps it all from seizing up through lack of use.

If the bills worry you then save money elsewhere by taking a packed lunch to work, leaving your car at home when you can and asking your Mum or Gran for some tips on cooking from scratch to save on all those take aways!

Water going places it shouldn't can lead to scenes like this:

Thames Water had a broken pipe under the ground in front of this flat. The grass and weeds there grew like...grass and weeds but the flat was also curiously damp despite there being no leaks from anything inside and the shower pressure was very low. After investigating all possible causes we ended up calling Thames Water to check the pressure on the water main.

They found a crack and got some men out to fix it the same day. Thanks to our dehumidifiers the flat is now nice and dry and the problem is solved. Who'd have thought one call could make diggers appear so quickly! If only everything could be fixed so swiftly and without a bill to the landlord!