So for a lot of people reading this, winter has hit. If you live in a tropical climate, I’m jealous.
Personally, I love winter, but I definitely don’t like being cold. I’m always looking for inexpensive ways to stay warm. I currently live in an apartment building where our heating bill is included in our monthly rent, so it doesn’t matter how warm I keep things in my apartment – I always pay the same amount. But still, I try to be frugal with the temperature for a few reasons. First, even if it doesn’t cost me money, it’s just a waste of energy, and I try to be at least a little environmentally friendly. Second, I don’t want to get used to being toasty warm all winter and then move to a place where I do pay for my heat and have to suffer through the first winter. Third, our heat is SO DRY. I run humidifiers all winter and fight to keep the humidity in the 40% range. The less heat I use, the better.
That means I’m always looking for cheap ways to stay warm.
One thing that I learned in my last place was that draft dodgers are excellent. What’s a draft dodger? No, I’m not referring to the military. A draft dodger is essentially a tube of fabric filled with stuffing and something to make it heavy (usually sand) that is then shoved up against the base of a door or a window to prevent cold air from getting in. You can buy these at the store or you can just make your own. A tightly rolled towel will also work. One trick is to get some big rubberbands to wrap around the rolled towel to keep it from unrolling.
I did a lot of research and bought a good space heater – the kind that doesn’t get hot to the touch, so as to prevent fire hazards as much as possible. Why heat the entire apartment when I’m just in one room? It’s nice because it just takes the chill off in the early morning.
I have an electric blanket on my bed that I turn on about an hour before I go to bed. I turn it off when I get into bed because otherwise I get too hot at night, but it’s so nice to slide into a toasty warm bed on a cold evening.
I’m also a big believer in dressing in layers and drinking a lot of tea. I love big fuzzy socks.
What do you do to stay warm in the winter? Do you just crank up the heat and bask in the warmth? Do you turn your heat off completely? Do your kids wear snowsuits in the house to keep warm? Do you live with someone who has opposing views (you like it warm, they like it cold or vice versa)?
We have a space heater, though it’s one of those ones that gets hot, so I’m wary of using it too much.
I’m big on wearing scarves inside–I buy the big dramatic ones, and they go over my head and around my neck. I find that it makes a huge difference for me.
Other than that, we mostly huddle together and encourage all the animals to sleep on the bed.
I need to buy an electric blanket! I think I’ll ask for one for my upcoming birthday. My Mom has one and loves it, using it exactly how you do.
I layer, drink lots of tea/cocoa, wear big fuzzy socks and have a mini space heater. We pay for our heat (you’re lucky!) so we generally turn it on around 8-10pm for a few hours and keep the temperature around 64 degrees. The heat rises to all our bedrooms upstairs and they stay pretty warm throughout the night!
Great post and lots of good suggestions
We have two dogs (short ones; fairly low to the ground), so I worry about letting the house get chilly, but fuzzy socks are a must! I would love a portable room heater, but our lease specifically precludes these, and I would love even more to have an electric blanket, but a childhood incident scared my husband into nixing them outright. So…fuzzy socks, and piles of dogs. Yeah, that works. =)
Thanks for a great blog. I do enjoy reading it!
My husband is the total opposite of me. I run cold most of the time, so I rarely – if ever – turn on our AC/heating unit. I’ll either put on some boxers to beat the heat or snuggle up in blankets. He, however, would rather run up our electricity bill than put forth the effort.