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...of Creative
Frugality
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Creatively
Frugal Utilities
How do you keep your utility bills
under control during the cold winter months?
"I live in Alberta, Canada.
Winters are VERY cold. I have started making my family wear
sweaters and slippers in the house and I keep the temperature lower
than I used to. At bed time I turn the heat down even more and have
put more blankets on everyone's beds. So far, no complaints!"
~ Anonymous
"In the winter when temperatures
drop, I like to keep the thermostat as low as possible. We
wear long sleeved shirts and sweaters, and warm slippers. Sometimes
if I am extra cold, I might sit with a rice warmer heated in the
microwave or a heating pad. Warm the body not the house. I also love
to have a pot of soup on the stove and maybe a loaf of bread in the
bread machine and possibly even baking cookies or some dessert in
the crock pot. Some how good food cooking always seems to warm my
soul which warms me. It works for me." ~ Darlene in Co
"In addition to the obvious
dressing in layers, I try and do some baking in the morning to
warm up the downstairs. We also have a small space heater
that we use in the bathroom. When it is really cold, we
place it in each of the bedrooms for about 10 minutes right before
bed to make it nice and toasty." ~ Jeanne in Ohio
"Although we don't live in one
of the colder parts of the country, we have found ways to cut
our heating costs. We have a 1,000 gallon propane tank. We set
money aside monthly so that when propane is at its lowest,
usually August or so, we can afford to fill our tank. We keep
our thermostat at 60 degrees day and night. Since
we homeschool, we are home most of the day. We are used to
the temperature and wear some extra clothing. Our children do
not mind because they realize that with the money we save, our
family will be able to make some wonderful memories together
doing other things.
A bigger tank was a must for us and
it took some searching to find a company that would rent us one.
Most of the people I know who heat with propane end up having to
refill their tank mid-winter, when propane is at its highest."
~ Rhonda in MS
"I was fortunate to buy a
home with zone heating
in each room, electric baseboard heat with a
thermostat in each room. There are also doors on
each room so that each can be closed off. Since
it is an all electric house, my utility company
gives me a lower rate. Although I live in the Deep South, we do
get ice, snow and temperatures that can go down to minus one
degree. I either turn the thermostats down very low or turn it
off when I leave the house. During the day, I only have the heat
on in the den. During the evening, just before I go to bed, I
heat up the bedroom. Then, in the morning, when I get up, I turn
the thermostat off. The utility company will tell you it costs
you more to heat it up than leaving it at one temperature all
the time. They are wrong and they are looking out for money in
their pocket instead of mine!
The sun comes in many
windows so I open the
curtains as I head from the bedroom to the
kitchen, a one-story home. I use 'draft dodgers,' small blankets
that are pushed up to the inside doors to keep drafts at bay.
One is in the dining room and one by the den door. They do make
a difference!
My home is approximately 2,000 sq. ft. Most
people with this size house have a utility bill of $200-$300 a
month, as did the renters when I
had the house rented for a few years. Now, my
utility bill runs from $45 - $100. Since I am low
income, I could not afford to pay $200-$300 a
month." ~ Betty G.
"This is in response to
those of us in the colder parts of the USA and how we control
utility costs. It is a really long discourse so please cut and
use it as you will.
HEATING AND ELECTRICITY
1. My husband insisted when we looked for a house that it have a
backup heating system that was not dependent on an outside
utility service. We bought a house with a woodburner (8 inch
pottery flue). For the first 12 years we heated with the
woodburner. I was a stay at home mom and could afford to feed it
every few hours. Our heating costs were about $350 a year. We
bought logs and a chainsaw, and got about 8-10 cords of wood
from a tri-axle log load. The chainsaw cost $600 and we recouped
that cost in the first year. Our neighbors heating bill with
baseboard electric for a home that was 1/3 the size of ours was
$200 a month. They say heating with wood heats you three times
over: First cutting the logs, then splitting the logs and
stacking them, and then you get warm by using them to heat your
home.
2. Our biggest utility was the electric for the hot water
heater. We put an insulating jacket on the hot water heater. We
used a roll of leftover insulation which was thicker than the
store bought kind and duct tape. Saved us about $10 a month.
3. We replaced our incandescent bulbs with fluorescent. Some
brands are more reliable than others. Now I put the date
installed and the place so I can return the bulb if it has an
early meltdown (keep the receipt).
4. When my husband began to travel and did not have the time to
cut and stack logs, we considered putting in another flue for a
coal burner in the
addition we were planning. I also convinced him we wanted a
fireplace. So we added two more flues to our house, one for a
woodburning fireplace with a heatilator and the ability to
convert to a gas fireplace, and one flue to which we moved the
woodburner. Our friends were upgrading their coal burner and we
got theirs 'off the curb' for free. We put the coal burner on
the pottery flue and the woodburner on one of the new double
walled stainless steel flues. Our heating costs are now about
$300 for 3 full cords of wood and all the trimmings (odd logs
for the fireplace, kindling, chips, etc) and about $350 for the
anthracite coal per load (two loads give us three years of
heat). The coal burner provides good background heat, keeping
the house at 60F in the harshest conditions, and the woodburner
provides supplemental heat when the temps dip and the winds
blow. The fireplace provides us warmth in the fall and spring to
take the chill off in the
evenings when we do not run the coal and wood because it would
be too hot to run during the day.
5. We have friends who have their water lines routed via their
coal/wood furnaces and that helps with the electricity costs.
And we have friends
that use gas water heaters. And we have friends that use cold
water washes. We do not do any of these for a variety of
reasons.
6. We recently purchased two new appliances: A clothes washer
that heats the water to a higher temp than the setting on our
hot water heater, and
the same for our dishwasher. This has helped us both with
electricity costs because we can keep the water heat set at 120F
and also with keeping our septic healthier as now I do not have
to use so much bleach to get a sanitary wash.
7. I would say that we have kept abreast of rising electricity
costs and have probably saved money, even considering that
adding flues to the home
raise homeowner insurance costs.
HEAT LOSSES CURBED
1. When we re-sided our house, we had the contractor put plywood
sheeting over top of the homosite or crote or whatever that
flimsy pressed board is. We also had him use house wrap for
moisture avoidance. When the wind blows we have a bit more
substance to the house. We are warmer and the house sounds
warmer as it does not creak and shake like it used to.
2. I use a layering system on the windows both in winter and
summer. I have double paned storms, double paned glass,
miniblinds (for light and sun
control), doubled up sheers, and long panels. I can do a variety
of things with all these layers to control for light, heat, sun
deflection/absorption in all seasons and at all times of the
day.
3. We wear sweaters and undershirts and watch TV with blankets.
I do a lot of home baking which heats the common rooms of the
house. When I get cold, I get up and houseclean. I do work a
part-time job, so I have to get up earlier than I used to in
order to set up the house for the day's
temperatures, but that has been good for my diet (I burn more
calories being busier).
4. And finally, we sit close to the dog who sits close to the
fire!" ~ Ellen
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"We buy our propane during the
pre-buy special at the end of summer. Using the previous years'
usage as a guide, we try to estimate this year's usage. Then we try
to keep the thermostat at 68F as much as possible, dress warmly in
layers, and turn the thermostat down to 55F if we are going to be
gone a few days. Because we have a gauge on the propane tank, we are
able to monitor our usage and adjust our habits if necessary."
~ Robyn in AZ
"We live in Canada, so we
generally have very cold winters. Last night it went down to
-43C with the wind chill factor. We have a wood/oil furnace in
the basement & a woodstove upstairs. We heat entirely with wood
because we have a woodlot on our property with about 20 years worth
of dead or dying trees that need to be cleaned out. We only
use the oil part of the furnace in emergencies or if we are going to
be away overnight. We wear layers of clothing even in the
house. Our house is small with an open concept which helps
(less area to heat). We use energy efficient light bulbs and
try to only have one light on after dark in which ever room we
are using. We do not have a dishwasher, instead doing dishes
by hand & having a small basin in which to rinse the dishes in
if they are going to drip dry. Our electric bill dropped in
price when we replaced some of our ancient appliances with newer
energy efficient ones." ~ Jan
"Much depends on your heating type. We have individual room
electric heaters, so during the day, we close the bedroom doors and keep
them unheated. About an hour before bedtime, I'll go in and turn the
heaters on and shut the doors to pre-warm them. We keep the bedrooms
cooler than is comfortable because we wear warm pajamas and use lots of
blankets and comforters. We have special 'inside shoes' that we wear in
the house
(they don't go outside and track in dirt for Mama to vacuum!) to keep
our feet warm, and we wear sweaters in the house. We bought a great
product at the hardware store this fall called 'Great Stuff' and used it
on a windy day (when the drafts coming in were like gales) to fill the
holes in our drafty wooden house. We plugged all the empty wall electric
sockets with baby-proofing plugs. Finally, we hung quilts over the doors
that we don't use. This stops an amazing amount of cold air! We have
been
able to shave almost $70 a month from our propane bill and our one
little propane heater in the living room really doesn't run that often
anymore!" ~ Peggy in Oregon
"We live in central Sweden and can get very cold winters.
To help with heating costs, we keep our entry hallway, staircase, and
upstairs hallway cold. We have turned the heater way down in these areas
and keep the doors shut between the hallways and the living spaces.
This works fine as we are only in the cold areas when we are entering or
leaving the house--or running upstairs. Even our 4-year-old is
careful to keep the hallway doors shut. We also keep
our bedrooms cooler and have bought goose down duvets to keep us warm
and cozy." ~ BethAnne
"This may be a little different than what you're looking for,
but this winter, we have a new baby and wanted to keep our small
bathroom warm while she takes a bath. I went to price the small
heaters, but (1) our bathroom is small and there really isn't room and
(2) my husband
was unemployed so it seemed like a luxury. SO, I decided to go
into the bathroom a couple of minutes before baby's bath and run my hair
dryer. It warmed the bathroom up and I didn't have to buy anything
new!
It works great!" ~ Leann in TX
"I bought a soundproof board to put in my bedroom window.
I wanted to cut down on noise as we sleep during the day. I put
insulation felt around all the cracks in the window with aluminum metal
tape. Then I
put up a piece of pretty material to cover the window and taped it in
place. Next I put in the piece of sound proof board and since I had the
material covering the window no one knows I have insulated it. Next I
added some thick plastic over the window, gotten from a furniture store,
that was going to throw it out. To cover my handiwork on the
inside I added a pretty curtain. I leave this up year round
because it gets up to 116 degrees or more in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The leftover piece was covered in plastic to prevent pieces of the board
flaking off onto my rug. I use it in the winter to cover the patio
door where I sit. It stops drafts and now I use less heat to keep
warm. That board may seem a bit expensive but if you cover it in
plastic you can use it for many years. Put it in in the winter and when
it gets warmer remove it so you can get sunlight. You could cover the
plastic with pretty material and tape or staple it in place." ~
CSINBAD
"This past fall we added extra
insulation in our attic. We purchased 20 bags of insulation (on sale
and with a $50 rebate) which entitled us to 4 hrs of use of the blower
at no cost. My husband and I fed the machine while our 23 yr old son
was up in the attic spreading the insulation around. Just the other
day I mentioned to my husband that our furnace sure doesn't seem to
kick in as much as in previous years. I figure we are saving between
$10 and $15 a month off our gas bill.
Some of the other things we do are to
burn all the free wood we can in our woodburner. (We have about 3 yrs
worth cut and stacked.) We also participate in our energy company's
off-rate electric plan which saved us over $11 last month. And we open
shades on the south side of the house during the day which lets in
light and heat while we keep the shades drawn on the north side."
~ Kathy
"Right now the province of
Alberta, Canada, is in the deep freeze, highs of -27' C with a wind
chill of around -40', so we're concentrating
right now on keeping warm! We have a wood stove we use as
back-up heat, and have put the word out to friends that if they need
deadfall trees removed that we'll do it for them. My husband and
a friend got a trailer-full of wood last weekend for the price of
labor and gas to get there and back.
Another thing we've done in our home is buy a front loading washer (an
Asko from Sweden) which uses very little water (from 5-15 gal,
compared to 45-55 gal with the regular top loading washers). This
isn't for everyone, but the other thing we've done to reduce our water
consumption is to install composting toilets (Phoenix system). We're
very happy with them, and the water truck only has to come every 2-3
months to fill up our cisterns, compared with most people in our area
who get the water
truck every 3-4 weeks!" ~ Lesley
"Before becoming a stay-at-home
mom, we would just turn the thermostat down to 62 degrees upon leaving
the house in the mornings, and then when we returned home in the
afternoons, we'd boost it up a couple of degrees at a time until it
was 67. But now that I'm home a lot during the day, 62 degrees is too
chilly in the house. So to keep warm when I'm home while my husband
and the kids are out of the house, we keep the thermostat set on 65
and I wear socks and shoes and sweatshirts. If I have baking to do,
I'll use the oven later in the day and that gets the house a little
more toasty for when the family arrives home, plus the smell of warm
baked goods makes a house smell warmer! Same thing with scented
candles (used carefully)." ~ Cindy D.
Editor's Note: Thanks to everyone who took the time to share
his or her ideas!
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