What Do you do to Save During Heating Season?

[Judi Dial]

I realized I hadn't included this when I did my top 10 frugal hints.

1)I found a down comforter at a Thrift Shop. We put that on top of the mattress, under the fitted sheet. Helps keep us toasty and doesn't cost a cent! (You do have to rotate it a bit though, or it gets thin where you sleep all the time.)

2)Put the plug in the tub or (carefully) put a washcloth over the drain in the shower when bathing. I find that I can stand water that isn't really hot when I'm standing in warm water, so I think a lot of the heat I want is to keep my feet warm! A mat to stand on might work, maybe?

3)If you make pasta, use the warm water to rinse dirty dishes instead of clean hot water from the tap. I'm not advocating washing dishes in dirty water, just getting the excess food off the plates before you wash them.
You can stack most of your dishes in a washbasin with the largest on the bottom, smallest on top and pour the pasta water into the smallest, swish out with a rag and then put it in the sink with fresh soapy water or the dishwasher. Then do the next dish. You'll end up with warm very dirty water, rinsed dishes, and you used the energy for heating the water twice! I don't know if this will hit folks' "ick" factor, but it makes me mad everytime I throw out a stew pot full of hot water from cooking pasta or potatoes!

(I've also been known to use it in making bread.)

The year we didn't have a water heater, I developed a routine for washing dishes. This takes a lot of work, but it's what we have to do when we lose power, as our new water heater is an on-demand type. If this will help someone else, I'll post it. I had written it up for a friend in France.

JD

[YankeeMom]

1. The number one thing we do is keep our thermostat set at 59* nearly all day every day. It gets tapped up to 60* or 62* in the mornings (when everyone is showering/getting dressed), but the rest of the time it's set at 59* We have a programmable thermostat so it's set to turn on to 62* at 6am and go back to 59* at 9am.

2. We use our wood stove (and mostly free wood) to supplement our natural gas furnace. It's usually only during the evenings because no one is home during the day.

3. We all have heated mattress pads on our bed. They are FABULOUS on cold nights! They don't use that much electricity either. I would love to find a heated pillow case For now, I just throw my pillow under the covers while I'm getting ready for bed so that it gets warmed lol.

4. We all wear slippers/socks and hoodies/sweatshirts around the house.

5. I cook a lot in my crockpot. I know a lot of people like to cook with their oven just to heat up the house a bit, but this does not work in our house. The oven only heats up the kitchen, which is on the very back of the house & is of benefit only to the person in the kitchen (we don't even have an eat-in kitchen). This is good in the summer though, the heat of cooking with the stove/oven doesn't spread to the rest of the house.

5. We seal our windows with Wind Jammer. I'd love to do plastic, but dh really doesn't like it, plus we have some 50-plus windows...it would take us from October to April to get them all done

[nuisance26]

~Window blankets/quilts and draft stoppers are wonderful for holding in the heat! That reminds me, I have a few more to make before the cold weather hits. That's 3 months away still.~

[Darlene]

We keep the thermostat down, especially at night, it's a bit nippy getting up in the middle of the night but you make it a quick trip.
Keep it at 65º during the day 50º at night unless there is a chance of power outage and then we keep it warm so if it does go out the fireplace (with insert & blower) doesn't have to work so hard. Have generator at the ready to keep the blower and things going alternating between various appliances. More than you wanted to know but oh well/

We also heat mostly with wood we have gotten from the woods surrounding our house. I'm home all day usually so can keep the home fires burning. We have lots stacked seasoned & just had the fireplace insert cleaned out so we are safely set to go.

[Denvergirlie]

Put the plug in the tub or (carefully) put a washcloth over the drain in the shower when bathing. I find that I can stand water that isn't really hot when I'm standing in warm water, so I think a lot of the heat I want is to keep my feet warm!

After my shower, leave the tub plugged until all the heat from the water is gone, I use the heat in the water to heat the bathroom, and into the hall. Why let that heated water just go down the drain?? I harvest it back into the house before letting it go... of course the tub gets a bit more grimy faster, but since I scrub it with cold water and we don't pay for water, it's still better all around.

Shrink wrap the windows, but we put bubble wrap between them to add another layer of insulation. Awful windows in this house and it does really seem to help.

Check door drafts and fix with foam or whatever.

Hang nice wool blankets over windows and doors to keep the heat in. (Got from thrift store)

Keep heat at 60 as a general rule, 64 is a luxury and only turn it up into the 70's when we have company which isn't often.

Close doors to unused rooms and close all closet doors in all rooms... why heat my closet?

Socks and slippers are wonderful, dress in layers.

I work from home, so have space heater under my desk, if I'm cold during the day it's a lot cheaper to run that for a few minutes than it is to heat the house.

Electirc blanket in bed with lots of covers mean that the heat can dip down to 55 at night without an issue.

Here in Denver it's dry, so adding moisture to the air helps it feel warmer, used humifer or boil some water on the stove.

Blankets, blankets, blankets. Can always wrp up in a blanket sitting at my desk, on the coush, I've even wrapped smaller one's about me like a bath towel when cooking in a cold kitchen.

Move more... if you are cold, take a quick walk around the block and get that blood flowing, plus when you come back in from the cold outside the house will feel so much warmer than when you left.

Vent dryer inside instead of outside... but be careful that you don't get to much moisutre in the house doing this... moldly window frames are more expensive to replace than letting that heat escape outside.

Drink warm drinks, tea, hot coco, can warm you up from the inside. Soups too are great in the winter.

Open curtains in the day to let sun shine in and warm the house, but when the sun moves on, make sure those shades and window covers are back in place or you will lose more heat than you just gained.


That's it for me right now, I'm sure their are other things we do, but can't think of them at the moment.

[freyadog]

We just have wood stove in winter with free wood from our acreage. I refuse to pay the price of oil for the furnace. I stoke the fire before I go to bed and when dh gets up he does it again.

Plenty of layers of clothing works for us. We tend to gather in the kitchen where the cooking is going on and its a tad warmer.

We save our tp and ptowel cardboard rolls. During the year we shred our mail and stuff it into the rolls. when starting a fire in the wood stove this goes in the stove first like kindling.


We put heavy covers over the french doors and only open that part up in the afternoon which is facing west.

My joints are getting arthritis especially my elbows. So for extra warmth in those areas I cut the toes out of dh's old over the calf socks and pull them up over my elbows. When my knees act up I do the same there.

[kabin63]

I keep the heat set at 68 during the day, no wood heat here, and 64 at night.
I have been known to put blankets over doors and windows to keep the cold drafts out. I am also planning to make window quilts soon.

[jinx]

For the first time since we moved I will be putting heavy insulated drapes on the floor to ceiling window in the Dining/Living room and the Sliders in the den. Draft stoppers across all doors. The heat is at 66 during the day when nobody is home, and 68 at night until we go to bed then it is back to 66.
Down comforters on both our and ds beds. Along with extra blankets.
I keep a couple of large very warm afgans in the den and the living room.
We have a fireplace but dont use it often. It is mostly for decorative purposes. We do have glass doors across it to keep out the drafts.
The kitchen opens into the dining/living room so I cook in the oven quite a bit to warm the front part of the house.
One good thing is our ceilings are low 8 ft. so there isnt much space for heat to rise.

[CrunchyMama0607]

wow, awesome tips!!!!

[ilovechocolate]

Wearing a hat in the house helps me keep warm. I also wear good acrylic socks.

[Edna_E]

Wow! I do so many of these too that it feels wierd to read it coming from someone else. I also run a vaporizer, because our air gets SOOO dry that it feels colder, and I burn candles both for heat and light and because I like them. I close the vents in unused rooms, and I use thermal curtains, and I wear thermal underwear much of the time. I have been known not to light the furnace until the weather drops into the teens, but my house is pretty well insulated.

[cab54]

DH is always warm. DS's too are warm when they are home on visit. I knit myself sweaters. and wear thermal undies. I'm always cold.

[Nada.Leona]

2)Put the plug in the tub or (carefully) put a washcloth over the drain in the shower when bathing. I find that I can stand water that isn't really hot when I'm standing in warm water, so I think a lot of the heat I want is to keep my feet warm! A mat to stand on might work, maybe?

Actually that's true! There's a saying that goes "Put on your hat to warm your feet!" The reason is that your head looses heat faster than any other part of you, so all the heat from the rest of your body, starting at the bottom, rises up to keep the most important part (the brain) working. That's why your feet get so cold all the time. By keeping the water in the tub, you're able to keep your feet warm at a constant temperature and thus your whole body.

[Jaded]

Of course, living in S. Florida, I don't have as big a problem as most, but I still try to conserve. I just put on lots of layers, and use afghans wherever I'm sitting. I have to keep it at least 70 for the birds, but even that is chilly for me (very cold natured). At night, I cover them to keep them warm, and turn it down to 68. I just can't sleep when it's colder than that. I get up earlier in the morning, turn it up to 75, get the house warm, then turn it down to 70 during the day.

I have a heat pump, so it can vary from 3-5 degrees off what it's set at. I try to keep an eye on it, and make sure it stays comfy for the birdies.

I know I'm lucky that I don't have to freeze in the winter, but one year, my central H/A went out, and I had to sleep on the couch in the living room with only one small space heater, and one for the bathroom. It got down to the 40's that winter, so it was pretty uncomfortable.

I bought a heated mattress pad last year on sale after Christmas, so I'm planning on using that this year as well. I figure I'll be able to cut the heat down to at least 65 using that.

[c1cooper1]

I bought 2 used crockpots at a yard sale and keep one upstairs and one downstairs and use to put moisture in the air. Moist air is warmer than dry air.....I love crockpots!