One of the easiest and most effective ways to keep your heating bill down this winter is to turn down the thermostat. This means cooler temperatures in the house but there are several things you can do to help keep your family cozy and warm while saving money at the same time.
Be proactive – Plug drafts with caulking and weather stripping, replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed, make sure baseboard and floor air registers are unobstructed and clean, and close off unneeded rooms to trap heat where you need it. If you have any bubble wrap lying around from packages and shipments you received you can place it inside windows and it acts as an insulator. Put clear plastic dome covers over basement window wells to trap debris, keep cold air out, and allow light in.
Blankets – Now is a great time to dig out all those extra blankets. Use a couple underneath on top of your mattresses and underneath your fitted sheets to make a soft and warm pillow top for the bed. Heavy blankets and quilts can be hung inside window frames with adjustable shower rods to insulate and stop drafts. Thin blankets and even baby blankets can be rolled up lengthwise and then placed in front of doors and windows to act as homemade draft protectors. Blankets can also be draped over leather couches and chairs to keep to keep them warm and toasty. Hang some decorative quilts on walls to provide extra insulation.
Sweaters – Take a trip to the local thrift store and pick up some cheap, 100% wool sweaters. Wool is great for helping you regulate body temperature. You can wear the sweater if they are the appropriate size but you can convert them into MANY other useful products. You can sew up quick and easy wool pants for babies and toddlers using the sleeves as legs. Diaper covers can be made the same way just cut the legs short. Wool works wonderfully for diaper covers because it is naturally waterproof. You can also use the wool to make pillowcases or even doing a patch job to make blankets and sheets. Wool is also naturally flame retardant so it is a great bedding alternative. Slippers, socks, do-rags, and scarves can also be fashioned from old wool sweaters.
Get Knitting – Speaking of home crafting why not use the winter lull to learn how to knit or crochet. Then you can make scarves, hats, and gloves that will keep you warm in winter and give you something enjoyable to do. Handknit items are also great as gifts! Take a class with a friend if you can and you won’t be sorry you did.
Rugs – Buy several rugs at second hand or discount stores and place them on cold floors so that no one gets a chill walking on them. You can make handmade rag rugs from worn sheets and old t-shirts too. A big rug on the tile floor in the bathroom can make a BIG difference.
Just get creative and you can find many ways to warm things up and save money.
Wow – what a sell out. How disappointing this site is.
If you can you should use a stove to heat. If you’re home most of the time heating with wood is very in expensive. If you have land with hard wood you can cut your own, but you have to cut it in June or July so it will be dry for burning. You can heat a whole house that’s well insulated with one stove. The sound of the crackling wood is very pleasant.
If you do heat with wood, make sure your wood furnace or woodstove is properly set up and that the chimney is clean. Usually, you have bricks that line the bottom, and there’s an insulating cord that seals the door. Get someone who knows what they’re doing to set up the drafts for you, too. If too much air hits the fire, you’ll go through the wood like it’s paper. If not enough air gets in, the flame will die out and you won’t get warm. Also, make sure you get some good, dry hardwood. It takes longer to burn, and is good for night-time. It is a bit more expensive, but you can use softwood to get the fire going, and hardwood to keep it going or mix the two together. Oh, and save any junk mail you get. It works VERY well at helping to start the fire – and it’s free!
Making a passive Solar heat system is a nice project for Dad and the kids to do and study. Most the items needed to make them can be found laying around somewhere or even in the trash can. Basically the concept is to make a box with a glass top.. Create lots of black surface area inside the box under the glass and vent the box into the house. You can make a box to sit under a window with an opening that allows heat to rise from the box and through the window. Some drafts can be good.
Another reuse idea for stoves is to buy a bag of rags at a thrift store, here ours are $1.00/ very large shopping bag. Remove the buttons off of the articles of clothing and save for future use if you are a sewer. Cut the bottom off of the t-shirt and cut in half, use it to tie your bundle together. Gather old newspaper or if you do not have enough go to your local recycling center and you can usually find a bundle from the local newspaper. Using one sheet of newspaper and 1/2 of the t-shirt roll together to make a log with one end having the paper sticking out. Start the paper on fire and once it gets to the cloth it will burn slower and will really help to start your warm fire!! I suggest not using children night clothing, especially baby clothing, because most is flame retardant.
If you do have a woodstove, make the most of it: Make stews and soup stock- A good cast iron kettle can be found at most Sports/Outdoor stores or on the internet. The kettle must have stock added from time to time, but that’s no bother, really. And there’s nothing quite like flapjacks fresh and hot- cooked on a woodstove in a castiron skillet.
Another tip: Do not use pinecones for kindling- the gum resin eventually tars up your chimney. Use birch bark or junkmail instead.
I live in a house where our only source of heat is a wood stove and we were warm and toasty last winter,except in the mornings when one of us forgot to get up and feed the fire during the night. We cut trees from the woods our landlord owns with his permission and thin out his tree farm. (I live in Denmark)and dry for a minimum of 9 months before using. We also clean up fallen trees and overhanging branches and as a result have an enormous woodpile in the backyard. The cost of the woodpile is 60 dollars a year. Buying wood needs to be a frugal persons last alternative since many people cut down trees in their yards during the year and an ad in the local grocery store can yeild lots of wood. Even if you have to share it with the owners of the tree you will still get a lot of wood out of half of a fairly large tree. We also cut mostly in the wintertime to avoid being eaten alive by bugs and to get the heat of the excercise. I have noticed a good time to purchase wood cheap is after wood stove season is over and many people sell their extra for some reason. Sometimes you can get it for free if you offer to clean up thier woodpiles.
If you do knit hants and mittens,and scarves, remember that wool is a better choice than acrylic, even though the yarn is a little more expensive, and you may have to hand wash, because wool can hold up to eighty per cent of its weight in water and still keep you or your loved ones warm. And if you have part of a ball left over, don’t worry – just use it to add stripes to your next project.
Something else I do when knitting mittens for children – I use a pattern that has no distinct “left” or “right” mitten, and make three of them. That way, when one invariably gets lost, you still have a pair. To forestall that loss, I leave a very long tail, 12 inches or so, to my cast on, and use that to crochet a loop when I’m done. Safety or even nappy pins can be used to pin the mitts to the child’s coat sleeves.
my son lives in a 100 yr old house with very thick walls. he’s sort of an urban pioneer. the first year he owned his little house (4 rooms), he kept the furnace set just warm enough to keep his pipes from freezing. he was able to stay warm all winter by dressing in layers at home and burning a few candles in each room. he saved a bundle on his utility bill. he had no fireplace, so his choices for cutting back were limited. of course, he sealed the windows and used draft dodgers on the doors and plugged other holes like electrical outlets. i’m proud of his serious attempts at saving his money and the environment.
I live in a 1 level home and during fall and winter I have the heat on very low and I’ll have something cooking at all times. For example on one day I’ll be using one or two crock pots, they use little electricity and let off heat. One of the crock pots I might have heating spiced apple cider to drink through the day. The next day I would be home canning the homemade soups I made the day before. If I did it in a pressure cooker it would only let off heat for an hour or two, so instead I do the canning in a water bath which takes up to 8 hours. With all the warm heat coming from the kitchen the only time I turn the heat up to 68 is at night
There’s a lot of little things and they all add up. We vent our electric dryer into the house during the winter (don’t vent a gas dryer into the house). Lots of warm air and added humidity.
I use the heating pad if I’m chilly instead of cranking the heater on high. I also have a tube sock with some cheap rice in it. Microwave and then wrap around your neck. That will reall warm you up.
Put your baking stone in the oven, bake a couple chickens, or a couple pans of lasagna (multiple meals, some for the freezer), then leave the oven door cracked when you’re done. The baking stone will release heat for some time.
Make window quilts and install pelmets over the windows. Heavy drapes or layers of sheers can make a big difference if you don’t sew. Bubble wrap is decent window insulation and can be attached to the glass with soapy water.
Don’t run out and buy new, hit the thrift stores and ASK people. Cheap is good, but free is better! A lot of people have stuff they don’t use and will be happy to give you.