I learned something new on NPR, and it is that “diesel” and “heating oil” are THE SAME THING. Our house is heated with heating oil. That means that when the news talks about diesel prices more than doubling since February, they mean our HEATING OIL prices have more than doubled since February. AND OUR HEATING OIL PRICES WERE PLENTY HIGH IN FEBRUARY

Meanwhile our electric bill has been going up and up, even with our usage staying steady (or even decreasing, with fewer people here), and we just got the one for the month of peak a/c use, making me think THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. And we are not profligate with the a/c! That’s been easier since I got into perimenopause and my internal thermostat broke, making me QUITE CHILLY if I sit still for awhile. And we have a lot of fans to move the air around to make it feel cooler, and on cool nights we put fans in the windows to bring that cooler air into the house, and so on. But still, the price of the electricity (and, more irritatingly, of the delivery) has gone up.

I called a household meeting. Present: Paul, me, William, cats. All humans were on board with the idea that Saving Money and Saving Energy were both worthy goals. We made a list of things we can do and/or increase this winter to reduce our energy usage/costs (many of these things we do already, but we can do some of them SIGNIFICANTLY MORE INTENSELY):

1. Electric throw blankets / heating pads set up in our usual sitting places. This will increase the electric bill, but by using more localized heat we’re hoping to bring the heating oil bill down much more than that.

2. Electric blankets or wool blankets on the beds. My brother’s family uses wool blankets on the beds, and when I slept over I was astonished by how they FEEL as if they are GENERATING heat. I was so cozy! We do have cats who sometimes barf on bedding—but washability is an issue with electric blankets, too. Paul has a carpet/upholstery-cleaner that he says he is pretty sure he can use to spot-clean a wool/electric blanket.

3. Sweaters and wool socks and thermal underwear and fingerless gloves. Maybe cute slouchy fashionable hats that don’t look weird indoors? We have an L.L. Bean credit card (it’s the one we like for college kids, because it breaks down all charges into WHO MADE each charge), and with the kids on it now we’re gradually accumulating more store credit than we know what to do with.

4. Turn down heat to unused rooms / close off unused rooms —being careful about pipes.

5. Space heater for Paul’s office. That room is two rooms away from the rest of the house, so we can close off those two rooms and he can use a space heater (and electric throw blanket, if needed) on the days he works from home. He already has a heated keyboard pad (I should note that the first one broke after just a couple of months, but the company sent a replacement for free; the second one lasted over a year so I just bought a replacement; the third one has lasted over three years so far). I made a note to get a space heater with an automatic shut-off, because Paul is not good at turning things off (or closing drawers, while we’re here), but probably they all have that. Even our electric throw blankets have auto-shut-off.

6. Sunny-window curtains OPEN during the day; nice thick curtains CLOSED when it’s dark, to help insulate windows.

7. We have a propane fireplace that is not working well (LOUD FAN or, worse, no fan) so we haven’t been using it. I don’t know what propane prices are like right now, but we could get that fireplace fixed. It’s in the living room, so that would help in the evenings.

8. Reinstall the curtain system the previous owners used: there are holders across some of the doorways that look like they held curtain rods. Paul is pretty sure he saw one of those curtain rods up in the barn. We could curtain in, for example, the living room, which has the propane fireplace in it, and keep that room pretty cozy in the evenings, while letting the rest of the house be colder.

9. This is maybe a little silly to include on the list—but we have a treadmill and an exercise bike, and I have used those for a few minutes when chilly as a way to warm up.

Paul is also going to look again into homeowner solar panel systems, starting with something that would be easy to get going immediately, without very many decisions, if such a thing exists; we both do better with new things if we start small and then can level up once we better understand what the options are.

Hey, are you freaking out about energy costs too? Do you have more ideas to throw into the pot for all of us to pick from?