Keeping your place warm in the winter

Posted: October 6th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Household | 5 Comments »

Okay, so maybe this post is a bit premature, but I still say it’s never to early to start planning! When I woke up this morning it was 40F outside, but it’s supposed to be in the 70s and 80s this weekend so who knows (hello? 80s? Is this really Boston, or did I get sucked into a wormhole and I’m actually back in Texas?)

Despite the heat wave that’s heading for us, I’m determined to save tons of money this year on my heating bill in wintertime. I’ve heard a few people talking about how it’s supposed to be a super cold winter this year, and though I don’t really believe them, I keep having memories of last year, where we had the heat set to 64F in our 500 square foot apartment and STILL were spending almost $200 a month. Not happening this year. Not on my watch!

Here are my ideas:

  • Insulate the windows in a few weeks (early November). Last year I waited until February for the dumbest reason. I actually didn’t realize that people insulated their windows unless they lived in, for example, Russia. I won’t really go into why, but it has to do with my memories of growing up in Alaska and Pennsylvania, and the differences between winter in these two places, and … I don’t know. I’m probably just dumb. Anyway, I had just gotten it in my head that it wasn’t something people did unless they were in EXTREME COLD.
  • Make some rice bag insulating things. I had read about this before but for some reason figured I didn’t need it because our front door is pretty good. Then I realized that these can work for individual rooms or as bed heaters. Again, I’m not very bright.
  • Get a water heater snuggie. The way our house is set up is that our water heater is IN THE BASEMENT. The partly windowless, unheated basement. Everyone else has a little closet on their floor, which houses their water heater. We are unlucky in this respect. Water heater therefore gets its own snuggie.
  • Stock up on tea.
  • Make a Solar Heater.
  • Magnetic vent covers? Need to research this…
  • Insulation board? Again, more research.
  • Styrofoam outlet insulators?
Yes, I am obsessed. It’s sort of like playing Limbo with my heating bill, how looooooow can you go?!