I wasn't going to post today but I just received an email from a reader who needs our help to stay warm. Here is part of her message:
"Last year I had three months of $100 heating bills. This year I was determined not to have that again. My thermostat is set at 58 when I'm home, 50 at night. I breezed through Nov. without the $100 bill and felt good. Same with Dec. I'm feeling really good. Then Jan., Feb. and now March are here and these are the coldest in record. Wind chills of below zero and I am freezing every day in my home and still have heating bills of over $100 a month. All practical measures have been taken -- windows with plastic on them, rugs up at doors, everything sealed nice and tight, wearing 3 and 4 layers of clothes, microwave rice/grain bags to keep me warm. It's just darn right frigid and cold. Sometimes I just give up and go to bed 3 hours early -- what a waste of time!
Any and all tips from other people in cold parts of the country would be greatly appreciated. To use wood heat, would cost me an arm and a leg to get it installed and vented properly. Add to that some states in the U.S. are now only letting you use a home fireplace on certain days (gov't determines what days those are). Some states (Colorado) have not been allowed to burn their fireplaces at all this winter. I could use some help and I'm sure I'm not the only one."
I know very little about heating a house, our aim is to cool ours. So it's over to you, dear readers. I hope you can give us some frugal tips on how you stay warm in the depths of winter.
"Last year I had three months of $100 heating bills. This year I was determined not to have that again. My thermostat is set at 58 when I'm home, 50 at night. I breezed through Nov. without the $100 bill and felt good. Same with Dec. I'm feeling really good. Then Jan., Feb. and now March are here and these are the coldest in record. Wind chills of below zero and I am freezing every day in my home and still have heating bills of over $100 a month. All practical measures have been taken -- windows with plastic on them, rugs up at doors, everything sealed nice and tight, wearing 3 and 4 layers of clothes, microwave rice/grain bags to keep me warm. It's just darn right frigid and cold. Sometimes I just give up and go to bed 3 hours early -- what a waste of time!
Any and all tips from other people in cold parts of the country would be greatly appreciated. To use wood heat, would cost me an arm and a leg to get it installed and vented properly. Add to that some states in the U.S. are now only letting you use a home fireplace on certain days (gov't determines what days those are). Some states (Colorado) have not been allowed to burn their fireplaces at all this winter. I could use some help and I'm sure I'm not the only one."
I know very little about heating a house, our aim is to cool ours. So it's over to you, dear readers. I hope you can give us some frugal tips on how you stay warm in the depths of winter.
