Wednesday Tip Day---Heat only the space you occupy!

If you live anywhere in the Hudson Valley

the cool weather has arrived.

We live in an older home with old windows ( I'm saving up to replace them), which makes for cool drafts.

This time of year the house is usually comfortable during the day, but it can get pretty cool at night.

Since we are usually in the bedroom by the time it gets cold, we use a small space heater in the bedroom(s) rather than turn up the heat in the whole house.  Despite the slight increase in our electric bill, this is still much more economical than heating the whole house.

Here are the things I try to do to stay warm on a budget.

1. Heat only a small area using a portable heater.

2.  Bundle up.  We overlayer and underlayer

as much as possible to stay warm.

3.  Use cooking heat to warm the house.  With little kids it is not always possible to leave the oven open after cooking,

but when it's safe we do just that. 

4.  Add insulation when possible. 

Even simple things like closing curtains can help.

How do you save money on heating?