Help needed to combat the price of cold weather!

[SueC]

We are having the coldest winter in years - records broken all over the place. My problem is that after 8 weeks of cold weather, I got my power bill - lets just say it was a shock. Now normally we rely on a couple of small fan heaters. I know they are not the most cost effective, but for the 2-3 weeks we use them it is no big deal. But 8 weeks in and the prospect of another 6 - 8 weeks of cold weather, how can we do this more efficiently? I have told the kids to use a blanket for warmth before they turn the heater on. I thought I could probably use the heater for a little while to take the chill out of the air and then turn it off. Part of the problem is a house that is designed for air flow to cool the place. But we are freezing here! more layers of clothes sort of works, but we dont really have a winter wardrobe.

 

I thought now was the time to ask - before we move to a cooler climate!

[Leah]

You need to stop that air flow! Hang curtains or blankets in doorways; check around windows, electric plugs, and light switches for airflow with a lit candle.

 

Don't walk on bare floors, the cold will go right up through your body...

Leave NO bare skin! Wear something around your bare neck, wear socks. Always wear a hat outside - you lose a great deal of warmth through your head, including ears. Hot water bottle in the small of your back will spread warmth throughout your body.

 

Snuggle up - it's fun and sharing body heat is one of the best ways to keep warm

[Nett]

Seal windows with plastic. Blankets help. Hoodies are a lifesaver. That is all I can think of now. Daddy says that is the reason that all the kids slept together. When you heat with a fireplace what are you gonna do? If I think of anything else I will let you know.

[mommato3boys]

Okay here we go...some of this is a repeat from above but I typed what I could remember we did.

 

plastic over windows outside is better but inside will work too.

 

hang curtains (two sheets with plastic between them will work) over windows

 

hang blankets over doors to stop the drafts.

 

roll towels up and put at the bottom of the doors.

 

light a candle and walk around the room when the flame flickers start feeling for the draft and block it.

 

If you have an electric dryer vent it into your house. This is only for electric dryers gas is dangerous. Put knee high or panty hose leg over the vent to catch lint. Be sure and cover the outside hole for the vent.

 

Close off any room that is not used. Like the bed rooms during the day. If worse comes to worse move everyone into a common room and heat only it when sleeping.

 

Layer clothes. Two pair of socks won't hurt. Put a hat on the kiddies heads. Something like a ski hat.

 

Rice packs work better than hot water bottles. They hold the heat longer. They are easy to make. Take a hand towel and fold it in half sew three sides together fill with rice and then sew 4 side closed. Heat in microwave for 2-3 minutes (smell is strong but the warmth is worth the smell)

 

Feed them lots of soups and hot chocolate.

[SueC]

Ok - beanies not generally used in this state! So I need to find some. I have been making wheat bags. I figured they were better than hot water bottles because they need to keep changing the water. Doors - well we never close them, so maybe we need to think about that. The living area is all open plan so kitchen dining room, passage to lounge room, and passage to bedrooms - no doors. We are seriously going to watch the power sucking heater usage. It didn't help that there is 9.5% rise in electric charges as well. I am doing things like closing curtains the moment the sun goes down if not before. I am still training my husband that fresh cold air is not needed. I seem to close the same windows all the time! Doorways and blankets - bit hard as they are not axactly doorways so much as openings. I have a sand snake at the back door it also helps keep the mice out. I will need to make one for the front door too. People will think I am paranoid, but I dont like paying the power bill! I prefer to heat with a method that is paid for up front and you can see how much it is costing. Then it is choice whether to budget an extra heating cost.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am also going to light some candles tonight to see if that makes a little difference.

[Deb2of9]

You are right about those rice packs. I have several I have made. I use them for heating pads for my back and knees, but also to warm my bed up in the winter before I go to bed. I heat them in the microwave and put them under the covers before I go to bed, then if I am really chilly, I reheat them just before I get in and have them up against me. Sometimes they feel to warm to keep right up against me. I love them!!!! And I am cold all of the time.

[Cat]

Do you have warm socks? If my feet are warm, the rest of me is warmer, too.

 

I use "slipper socks" in the winter. They have rubber-type paint on the bottoms so you don't slip. You can just use fabric paints on regular warm socks... paint stripes or designs on the soles, let dry, then turn inside-out when washing to help it last longer.

 

(beanies? You mean hats?)

[ArmyOfFive4God]

You can also use old socks for the rice packs. Be sure they are clean of course, LOL

[MommyofSeven]

Socks work good for the rice/wheat bags, too...no sewing, just tie it off at the top.

 

I don't know if they have these in Oz, but if you can find a propane camp heater, they are fine to use inside with as drafty as your home is, and you can put it in one room, move everyone ito that one room to sleep. One can of propane lasted two nights.

 

Sweats are good, fleece is warm and soft to sleep in. You can layer them too.

 

Those prayer candles, the tall thin ones in glass, can make a huge difference in room heating. We use them a LOT in winter. The thermostat in our house is near the kitchen, so it picks up the heat of cooking and the appliances running, so our bedrooms are icy. Those candles really help. One would last a bit more than a week if we ONLY used them at night, and they are cheap. You could feel the difference, walking from the hallway into a room that had had a candle on for a bit.

 

Newspapers in between the box spring and mattress will help stop the cold from the floor from seeping up through the bed, and also help reflect body heat back to you.

 

Mo7

[Deb2of9]

That newspaper idea is a good one. I hadn't thought of it, although I had heard of them being used as extra insulation by the homeless stuffed in their clothes to help keep them warmer. I will have to try that. Where I am now the bedrooms also get so drafty. I have been piling extra blankets on and had even tried a blanket under the sheet. Newspapers would be easier and readily available.

[Leah]

I have one doorway that is 52 inches wide. I use a tension shower curtain rod to span it, with thick curtains hanging down to within 4 inches of the floor. You could use something like that for those passage openings.

Also, if you have bare floors, try to find rugs to cover. At least little ones in the places where you stand - front of the sinks, refrigerator, etc. Be sure to tape them down. I use old rag rugs in a line in my garage to keep feet warm while looking in the extra fridge and while doing laundry.

[Mt_Rider]

Did anyone mention using clothespins to attach blankets/sheets/ empty paper feed bags... over your windows?

 

 

AND, you could do housework for the reason of keeping warm...

 

It goes like this:

 

You feel chilly so instead turning up the heat you

 

 

Then you can for a while and :ebay:

 

 

A little later there is or baking a

 

 

 

 

For really chilly ----> and

 

 

 

 

OK now it's the next day and your house is chilly but spotless. The only solution is (besides coming to my house to do more cleaning..... ) is:

 

 

:jumping2:

 

 

EXERCISE!!!!!

 

 

Hey, it's better than

 

 

 

In my crisis this winter (propane company quit delivering in the mountains in January) I did this for real. Well, not much of the exercise part unless you count snowshoveling..... you don't have to do THAT do you? It gets you reaaalllly warm!

 

But for sitting still, I began by wearing (seriously): 1-2 tank tops, T-shirt, long sleve shirt, sweater, another sweater. Definitely a thin and then thicker pair of sox and footwear. A pair of pj bottoms or long johns. Then a pair of sweats. And a stocking cap if you're still cold. The thing to remember in layering is that all layers have to fit over the bottom layers COMFORTABLY. The top layers might be borrowed from DH! Don't be tight and restricted. Cuts down the warmth and makes for a miserable day. Make sure you shed layers as your activity increases and add them as you cool down. Yep, High Maintenance!!! But it's worth it. I found that I adapted to a much lower temperature after about two weeks.

 

 

BUT the bathroom is always WARM when I have to shower. (shudder) Nope, not gonna be takin' no cold showers 'less I really have to!

 

 

 

Good luck and don't use any heater that will chance asfix...asthfi..... grrrr.... You know -- cause a lack of O2 or cause carbon monoxide! Or fire!

 

 

MtRider

 

 

 

 

 

 

[westbrook]

My only heat is a fireplace in the living room... I too have an open floor plan kitchen, dining, living room. I do have a door to close to the back part of the house so there I would use blanket or curtain if I didn't have one.

 

to heat your house.. use your oven! bake, bake, bake!

 

Bake Chicken, bake a roast, bake potatoes, bake break, bake pies, cakes and cookies.. just bake!

 

If you don't have the time to do all the baking (when everyone is home and no reason the kids can't get a roast in the oven!) use a crock pot. that will help generate warmth.

 

turn on 1 fan to circulate the heat around. This is where ceiling fans come in handy.. but if not.. put one up high to gently blow the heat back to the ground as heat rises.

 

I have a plug in oil heater in my bathroom that comes on in the morning with a timer. It comes on 1 hour before we have to get up and heats the bathroom and turns off when the last one is up.

 

I do have electric blankets on the beds which are also on timers.. comes on a 1/2 hour before going to bed and goes off about 2 hours later when I am fast asleep.. the down comforter and wool blankets takes care of the rest.

 

 

[SueC]

Wow - that has raised lots of ideas! Thank you all so much. Now to print out the list so that I remember for next year as well!

 

The temperature has come up a little - but the way our winter has been this year anything could happen. Heater in the bathroom - definitely - I dont like freezing as I get in and out of the shower. Tension rods for curtains - I love the idea, have to check the shops and see if I can find some. Baking sort of works but this house is like a rabbit warren and the heat doesn't get very far through the house. But I figure that every little hint helps in the long run.

 

Thanks

[Nett]

Layering is the best. I knitted house socks for everyone here. They will not wear house shoes or their regular socks but love the hand knitted ones for around the house. You can apply fabric puff paint to the soles and helps keep them non-skid. But my kids love the "skating" factor. Great for polishing floors.

[ArmyOfFive4God]

I forgot to mention, we like to curl up in the bed, me n the kids, and watch a movie. Of course, not much gets done, but it's good quality time spent!

[Deb2of9]

I agree that is a good method of staying warm even if no "work" gets done. Kids love it and all of that body heat helps to keep everyone warmer. The same method works while reading a book too.

[mistylady]

There are already a mass of great ideas! Bake... bake lots of things and you get the warmth from the stove plus the treats you bake!

[FLGardenGirl]

Living in FL, I don't really have that problem too often. How about flannel sheets?

 

Also....a question about rice bags (or flax seed bags)....is there another method of heating them besides using a microwave?

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: FLGardenGirl

Living in FL, I don't really have that problem too often. How about flannel sheets?

Also....a question about rice bags (or flax seed bags)....is there another method of heating them besides using a microwave?

We can probably make due with the hot water bags...LOL. Also they age old trick of heating a brick and passing it over your sheets. The more modern sheet warming of a blow dryer.


Just a few ideas.

[Leah]

"It was nine feet high and six feet wide, soft as a downy chick

It was made from the feathers of forty-'leven geese

Took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick

It'd hold eight kids, four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed

We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma's feather bed."

-

TO MAKE FEATHER BEDDING

http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org...sweet/sp74c.htm

[MommyofSeven]

Originally Posted By: FLGardenGirl

Living in FL, I don't really have that problem too often. How about flannel sheets?

Also....a question about rice bags (or flax seed bags)....is there another method of heating them besides using a microwave?

You could heat a good sized pot of water to boiling on the stove, turn it off, put a plate on it, put an insulating cloth on that, put the bags on the cloth, and then another cloth over top of the whole thing.

Mo7

[mommato3boys]

Originally Posted By: MommyofSeven

Originally Posted By: FLGardenGirl

Living in FL, I don't really have that problem too often. How about flannel sheets?

Also....a question about rice bags (or flax seed bags)....is there another method of heating them besides using a microwave?

You could heat a good sized pot of water to boiling on the stove, turn it off, put a plate on it, put an insulating cloth on that, put the bags on the cloth, and then another cloth over top of the whole thing.

Mo7

You can also toss them in the dryer to heart them up.

[Leah]

Cook your meal in the oven, turn it off, then put in the bags?

[Mt_Rider]

Quote:

Also....a question about rice bags (or flax seed bags)....is there another method of heating them besides using a microwave?

FLGG, I don't use/own a microwave. I put some rice (not Uncle Bens) on a double layer cookie sheet and heat it up in the oven....and oven lends to more room heat. Any shallow cake pan or whatever with a lip of some sort would do. You have to stir it up a few times. I use a double layer (cake pan on a cookie sheet works) to reduce the risk of scorching the grain.


I have also used a very smooth/seasoned cast iron fry pan (or other non-stick would work) and heat carefully on low. Keep stirring so it wouldn't burn and smell nasty. You don't use any cooking spray or anything like that on either the cookie sheet or the pan. Just dry fry...

Because I heat up the 'innards' this way - I didn't sew the cloth sack closed. I just make a good knot or heavy twist tie or whatever.

NOTE: Watch the temperature - it doesn't take long to get the grain pretty doggone hot! Enough to cause burns. Might need an additional towel around it and then take it off as the rice cools.



MtRider