General Chat

OH's parents were the first English people I knew who had central heating ............. radiators.


My father died very suddenly in late September 1970, both of us went back for the funeral ............... and I well remember walking into the in-laws' house, and m-i-l saying ...............


"we knew Sylvia would feel cold, so we've turned the heating on, to 50"


That was 50F :-)

We have a laundry (known as a utility room in UK)... a big tub, the washing machine, dryer & a couple of cupboard for things like vacuum cleaner, brooms, mops, cleaning products etc). Our washer is a top loader (I couldn't cope with a front loader, with my wonky hips) and the tumble dryer is mounted on the wall, with a vent going outside. We have a washing line that gets used most of the time, but in January & February we have to use the dryer to "finish off" things, because of the humidity.... the washing is slightly damp, and if I put it away like that it would quickly go mouldy.

We had a front loader washer/dryer when we lived in Europe, and I hated the thing. It took about 6 hours to wash and dry one load, so I had to do some laundry every day.

Heating the house? It doesn't get very cold here in winter, but we have a gas heater in the living room. We use bottled gas, as we don't have mains gas here (we've used 4 bottles in 8 years). It's usually enough to heat the whole house, but on the really cold nights (when the temp gets down to a freezing 10C lol) we use other heaters in the house. We use the aircon more than the heater. Very important in Oz... we have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms.

:-)

No way in the world would I iron sheets!

we have a top-loading washer. Never had a dryer ......... we have lines strung in the laundry part of the basement as well as a maiden, and hang all our clothes.



I would not have a front loader machine (either washer or dryer) .................. my experience with ones in England was that I had to iron things that had never needed ironing before!




I don't iron sheets ...............

.................... or towels or underwear :-)


I iron only when absolutely necessary .............. and make sure that we don't buy clothes that do need ironing.

My ironing board and iron have not been out for about 6 months.

You keep a maiden in your basement?

Poor girl ~ do you let her out on holidays?

:-D

Ok if you can afford to wash sheets daily and have heating high rather than add a layer of clothing but it isn't very environmentally friendly. I am a very chilly mortal and love clean linen etc but manage in a house with no central heating so no rads to dry clothes on. We have a washer drier but I rarely use the drier, maybe sometimes for towels if the weather is bad. We have a gas fire in the livingroom where there is an open plan staircase so heat goes to landing and bedrooms.

Yesterday we arrived home to a house that had been unheated for a week of very cold weather, the temperature was 10 degrees inside! We put the gas fire on high for an hour and put on an oil filled radiator on the landing. We kept several layers of clothing on while we unpacked the car and by the time we sat down the temp was up several degrees and increasing enough to warrant turning the fire down to 2. We were quite comfortable and today the room is 20 degrees and I am happy.

Lizx

LS ............


:-P :-P

Reading these posts,and being of a certain age...I am like uzzis m.i.l.and I do like to be covered in a sheet .I also,at home,have light blankets and bedspread,so that you can choose to throw off a layer if necessary .

I can't see that you get tangled up in a sheet if it is tucked in properly at the bottom.
I believe the Queen also has sheets, blankets and bedspreads in the traditional manner!

Whatever you're comfortable with,but changing big duvet covers is not for me.
I have duvets in my guest room but with a top sheet as well.

We used to buy a pair of sheets,but seems they sell singly a lot of the time now.

Brenda ...........

I've always bought my sheets separately



we have a double bed made in Denmark bought in the heyday of teak furniture back in the 1970s ........... but which turns out to be longer than the standard North American double bed


Add to that, the fact we like to have hang over at the sides for the top sheet ...................


so I buy double fitted sheets ............. which fit fine if tightly.

but I buy queen size flat sheets so I get enough tuck in at the bottom, plus hang over at the sides



I also don't see how anyone gets tangled more with a top sheet and duvet than with a top sheet and blankets


but that may be because I hate to be tucked in tightly down the sides, so my top sheet and blanket were never tucked in ........................... just as the top sheet is not tucked in now.



When we stay in hotels ................ I have to untuck their very carefully tucked-in sheets :-)

Just the duvet, would get tangled with a sheet as well...not changed a duvet cover for over 5 years HID does it :-D

Never heard of a maiden till HID said it (scouser) we called them a clothes horse (Essex girl)

Why iron bedding? it's creased after one night anyway

Sylvia,
I like cotton sheets..and I used to have a guest house with monogrammed flat sheets and was used to doing hospital corners,but like you,I only tuck the sheet in at the bottom along with the blanket/s.

Im not particularly keen on fitted sheets as they dont fold as easily,but I do use them these days for the bottom sheet,but it was more practical to have both as flat sheets so you could alternate top to bottom and spread the wear...suppose people dont think that way these days!

I come from an age when we have turned sides to middle....and I have made under pillowcases out of older sheets!....those were the days!

Brenda ..........

we'd been married about 20 years before we finally bought fitted sheets .............. we did the same as you with flat sheets.


but fitted sheets are so much easier to keep in place, and therefore I think more comfortable.

When I got married in 1980, ex's aunt bought us a 'pair' of percale sheets - I say 'pair', as one was double, one was king sized!
In those days, we didn't use a top sheet with the duvet in the winter.
The double was always on the bottom, the king-sized - which we only used in the summer, on the top.
I'm still using that king-sized sheet :-D
The double 'wore' in the middle, so I cut down the sides and made a bolster cover.
My bed-base is a 1930/40's sprung metal frame with solid wood veneered headboard and footboard. On top of that, I have a sprung mattress. :-D
There's a gap between the mattress and headboard, hence the bolster.

When it's really (UK) hot in the summer, we'll use a flat sheet as a cover. As OH likes to hang his toes over the bottom it gets untucked and in a proper tangle!