Country Heart and Home

Staying warm without going broke..... can it be done?

I hope so and I intend to give it my best shot!!!

Here are some of the things we do to keep warm in the winter..

* The windows in this house leak air like a sieve, which means when the heat is on its practically going right out the windows and not doing us much of any good. To combat this we put that special shrink wrap plastic on the windows. Is it pretty, no but its effective and until we can remodel and replace the windows its our best option to stop all the warm air from leaking out and the cold air from leaking in.

* All of our beds have flannel sheets, and boy are they cozy!!

* Our beds also have quilts and extra blankets as needed.

* my boys wear flannel sleep pants and tshirts to bed to keep them warm

* I have a no bare feet policy that starts about this time of year and I really enforce it. All of us have to wear warm socks on our feet, no excuses, when its really cold the boys and I wear them to bed too, but Hubs says he can't sleep in socks so he doesn't.

* When at home we are all usually in sweatpants and shirts

* This time of year, I use my oven more than I do other times of the year, after I am done baking I leave the oven door open a crack so all the heat can escape into the house* I also use a baby gate to keep littles out of the kitchen until the oven has completely cooled off.

* If we curl up to watch a movie, we normally have throw blankets on us, my boys think this is especially great because they love to lay on the floor to watch a movie, well the idea of them laying on cold hard wood floors doesn't appeal to me so we make them a "spot". We usually put down a thick comforter, the boys get their pillows and stuffed animals and pile down together on the comforter and then cover up with other blankets to watch their movie. It really makes for a nice relaxing weekend afternoon to be curled up on the couch with a blanket and the boys curled up with their pillows watching a movie, just don't forget the popcorn!!

These are just a few of the things we do to keep the heating bills from going through the roof, and even with keeping the thermostat on about 68-69 it stays nice and cozy here in the house!!

Untitled Comment

10:25, Tuesday, November 18, 2008 .. Posted by joshields

I really like all your ideas on how to keep warm without turning the heating up. I must remember the trick with the oven door, that could be useful.

Another way of keeping warm I find useful is to carry a thick pair of "slipper-socks" (very thick socks with plastic tread on the soles of the feet) in my bag when we go to visit people. Other people's houses often seem much colder (I think because most people have a bigger house and they don't heat as well), and it's always so much easier to not get cold in the first place than to warm up later.

Best wishes,
Jo

try this, too

07:20, Tuesday, November 18, 2008 .. Posted by kjprice616

Try turning your thermostat down 1 degree for a few days and see if you notice a difference. If not, go down one more degree, etc. until you find the temp that is just too cold. I was able to set my thermostat set on 65 during the day and 63 at night (11pm - 5:30am). You'll save 8% for each degree that you can lower your thermostat! Now, when I turn the heat up to 67 or 68, we feel like we are roasting - LOL!

Kris

Great Ideas!

05:42, Thursday, November 20, 2008 .. Posted by Raina

I'm going to implement some of these at my house. We have the thermo set at 72 so I don't think 69 will be bad. And I already do the no barefoot policy!

Thanks for posting and be blessed!