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?
Look into adding more insulation to your house! They can blow in cellulose insulation from the outside, which is helpful for old houses that were not built with any. And check if your state has programs to help assess and pay for energy upgrades- in MA MassSave will do a free evaluation, and will cover some or all of the costs to insulate and do oil/gas to electric conversions. All the strategies you mentioned are helpful for short term, but buttoning up the building is going to make a bigger difference and you’ll be more comfortable. (Architect here, so this is also my personal bias)
So… heating oil and diesel are cousins, not twins. They both come from the middle distillates of crude oil but are refined differently. They aren’t interchangeable (at least not safely for the long term). While diesel has doubled, heating oil is “only” up around 30%. It all sucks.
I recommend an oil-filled space heater for Paul’s office. My office is in a room without a radiator, and my little oil space heater keeps it warm without noise or blowing air.
If you have drafty windows, that plastic sheeting that you stick on and then shrink with a hair dryer works really well.
Also you can put space heaters on smart switches and set them to turn on/off, if the auto shutoff thing doesn’t work for you.
Oh also draft stoppers under doors!
This. We actually just keep our window insulation cling film on all year. It reduces both AC costs and heating costs by quite a lot. It does mean that the house doesn’t air out as much, and we can’t open the windows while it is up (so it is less useful in the summer for places where it *does* get cool at night in summer), but it makes SUCH a difference, esp. if you kill drafts around the window frame (where the window frame meets the wall). Some of the “window frame meets the wall” areas in our house were caulked when we bought the house, but there are a lot of options for blocking that really-narrow space.
I’d especially endorse the cling film for bedrooms+offices, but if you are okay with how it looks: EVERYWHERE. It augments whatever r-value the window itself has, as well as blocking actual drafts.
Also door draft blocking. We have a rice snake for one back door that just isn’t feasible to insulate but that we also don’t use much – tube of fabric, rice, shove it up against the crack at the bottom of the door: no more draft. But there are also various stick-on or nail-on draft-blocking products.
The between-room curtains (if you want them to be fancy you can call them portieres) are great for making Heating Zones or Cooling Zones but keep in mind any points between which you are sometimes carrying a full load and have no hands (aka consider strongly before putting one between the kitchen and dining room).
There are companies that can identify where your drafts are, or your library may have a tool you can use – some sort of temperature camera, basically, that you look around to see where the heat differentials are. This is easiest/most effective when the inside+outside temperatures are farther apart, though.
This year we put in a homebrew solar+battery system which we use to run a window AC unit in the summer so that we can have the house HVAC at a higher temp but have one room that is cooler (it’s a heat pump sort of unit and is SUPER quiet; it can also do heat as long as it’s above 40F outside, but we haven’t tested that yet). We have a lot of full-sun days, though, and full sun vs. cloudy makes an annoyingly large difference with solar.
I’d also endorse looking at what the costs are for heat pumps are in your area. They can save a LOT. (but: first kill at least the most egregious of the drafts, if you haven’t already)
While I 100% agree the window cling film is fabulous, I have found it is NOT so fabulous when one also has cats, who then claw holes in your stupid painstakingly-applied film ::cry::
I use an electric mattress pad. Only rarely has a cat vomited so aggressively that it managed to soak through the comforter and top and bottom sheets. And i expect electric blankets will hold up in the wash these days if theyre anything like the new generation of heating pads (which my cats manage to puke on surprisingly often).
Second heated mattress pad. I used a lot less heat last winter because I just spent most of my time in bed with the mattress pad.
To be fair I live alone in a studio so that might work less well for you all, but I still recommend them!
Our electric blanket/mattress pad unclips from the electric cord so that you can put it in the washing machine, although as you say, it’s under all the sheets so it doesn’t get anything spilt on it or anything – I just give it a wash before packing it away in the spring
I was coming down here to comment about the plastic shrink-wrap stuff for windows. We used that in my drafty college apartment and it worked great.
I’ve also heard of water heater blankets that insulate the hot water heater tank. I don’t know if they’re worth it, since the one time I looked into it it was apparent we can’t wrap anything around our water heater because of where it is and pipes close to it, etc.
I’m also scrolling the comments for suggestions for might house as well!
Good on ya – I’ve basically had to have that kind of sit-down with myself, since I live on the ground floor flat in a 100 year old building that has thick walls but no real heat retention whatsoever, plus cold coming in from below. I sympathize! I also found I had a *lot* more to say on the issue than I thought, so this is… let’s call it thorough (wordy, that’s what it is, lol).
My parents in the winter use a curtain between the living room and the walk-through room/dinner table area to keep the heat from the wood burning stove in the living room in the evening. There also is a curtain at the bottom of the stair case to the upstairs part of the house, to avoid too much warm air escaping up there. It works well!
For Paul in his office, I wouldn’t get a space heater that heats up air and blows it, but on that has a heat-radiating panel. A lot more effective and cheaper over time, and it works loads better to actually make you feel warm (I say as someone who works from home in a room that happens to be the coldest of the whole flat and cannot feasibly be heated completely lest I go broke). There are apparently small panels you can mount under the table to radiate down, but I’ve got a standing one that’s been doing a good job.
To keep my back warm, I use varying combinations of long-sleeved clothing. Last winter, I happened to find a puffy west on sale for €7 or so – in my favourite berry colour, too! – and that is doing wonders to keep me comfortable, while being super light weight, too.
Radiating (infrared) panels also exist in big sizes you can mount on walls, or even ceilings when a room simply has no good wall area to have a built in heater. I’m considering buying one for my kitchen, which has two extremely cold walls during winter that make sitting there very uncomfortable. Having a panel like that on a wall behind one’s back would be a game changer. I just need to move around some things and furniture in my kitchen first, so I’ll revisit the idea roughly around 2030, I expect.
If you have high rooms: ceiling fans that can have their turning direction reversed. In summer, they blow down, but in winter, you have them blow up against the ceiling, and they move all that nice heated air that collects uselessly up there (rude!). It gets moved from the ceiling down the walls and to the floor space, rising up again, but you want it to cirlce and not just sit up there.
In my bedroom (which is another really cold room, being on the non-sunny side along with my office), I’ve mostly not heated the room itself for years now. I do take good care to open the window in the mornings to let out moist air, to prevent mold issues.
To keep warm, I’ve had a heated mattress pad (goes on your mattress under your cover sheet) that I would start 20 minutes before going to bed, so I’d slip into a preheated bed, which is heaven. I personally run hot, but I found that getting into a cold bed sucks enough energy from me that it interferes with my ability to fall asleep as my body heats it up. So that’s a no good, apart from also just not nice.
The mattress pad still works, but as it got older, has started to bunch together in the middle and feel lumpy. I meant to try out if getting one of those stretchy things that goes around below the mattress and would usually help keep a non-fitted sheet stretched would help with that, but haven’t done that so far (again, around 2030 or so…). Instead, I happened to find a regular heated blanket of the kind you use on a sofa or chair at Aldi. I wanted to use it in the office (pre puffy west), but that didn’t work. But it’s great for my bed. I have it turned sideways so it’s wide rather than long, and use it on my legs and feet under my regular comforter. That as it turns out, is enough to keep me comfortable.
Last winter, I also started another thing to avoid eventual mold problems in the coldest corners and walls (apart from already not having furniture smack against the walls). There are, again, panels available one can use for that, but the smaller sizes that claim mold prevention vs. heating were weirdly expensive for what they do.
Instead, I went and bought what I’d call heated ropes, that are usually used for terrariums. They come in different lengths that correlate with their heating output, and since they aren’t loops, you can lay them out however you want. Since they aren’t meant to bring anything to boiling, just to keep a cold-blooded pet to catch cold from underneath too much, their electricty cost is quite low for peace of mind. You don’t need much heat to avoid mold, just enough to keep the air moving along and to keep any areas from being cold spots where the moisture collects more than in other areas of the room. My plan is to put mine on a timer, but last winter I just had it either mostly running, or unplugged it in the mornings before leaving the room for the day.
My parents got solar a few years ago, and it’s been a great success. California has some sort of tax credit you can get to offset the cost if you install solar — you could see if your state has something similar. They also have a heat pump to heat/cool the house, and if I’m being honest I have no idea how it works, but it seems to work well and they’ve been happy with it. Getting it installed is a big job, but it pays for itself over time.
When I lived in a freezing cold apartment with no central heat (I could sometimes SEE MY BREATH INDOORS if I turned off the space heaters), I liked to put my clothes/blankets in the dryer right before getting dressed or going to bed. They don’t stay warm for very long, but I warm up a lot faster that way.
I will add to the chorus of people that have mentioned state tax credits as a great incentive to complete energy efficiency projects. We recently installed a heat pump system (uses electricity vs. gas ) and saved many thousands of dollars due to credits. I’m in Colorado, but I think most states have these available. Also, for your space heaters and blankets, check Costco. They usually have good pricing for quality versions of these items!
Seconding the suggestion for the shrink-wrap secondary glazing. You have to put it up each year, which is annoying, but it’s very effective. You can also get insulated linings that you can retro-fit to existing curtains for extra insulation. I use a high tog duvet in winter, and then an extra blanket over the top of that. If you live in an area that is damp as well as cold, a dehumidifier is useful as you don’t want to get mould (your air-con may do this for you already)
For clothing I recommend hiking shops. Softshell trousers (waterproof on the outside and fluffy on the inside) are great. If you knit (or are on suitably good terms with those who do) a jumper in super chunky yarn is very good. Also a fluffy lined hoodie in a size that will go over your enormous jumper in super chunky yarn. Fingerless gloves are good too. Warm orb is a very good winter aesthetic.
where we are propane is cheaper than heating oil, so we will be running the propane heaters this year. also use the space heater for individual room and electric blankets for the living room/nightly tv watching. I worry for a lot of people out there. I hope everyone makes it alright. Note: I think I would like wool blankets but are there any affordable? if you find affordable/cute ones please do a post!
For people seeking wool blankets, always check your local thrift shops. They move fast this time of year but it’s worth a quick check
My electric bill doubled in the last year… thank you, data centers.
Excellent list from your family meeting, I’m going to borrow a few
Ooh, great topic.
Is hanging your laundry out or up to dry rather than using the dryer (if you currently use the dryer) an option? I just keep a drying rack in a spare bedroom and use that, works fine .
No help on consumption of but possibly on price of electricity — our provider offers a “time of day” pricing system whereby (currently) power is VERY cheap from 1-4 AM, a closer-to-standard (but reduced price) most other times, and noticeably pricey from 6-9 PM. Those hours are the summer rates and will change soon (I live in the South) but you get the basic idea. Per our power company, which reports the bill as “here’s how much you owe, and here’s how much you would have owed under the other pricing system” we do save a bit of money each month from this, and it doesn’t impact our planning or choices much. If we had more appliances that could be programmed to come on at a scheduled time (we can achieve this by adding timers to things that plug into the wall, but not with, e.g., our dishwasher or washing machine), I assume we’d save noticeably more.
For sleeping I swear by down comforters in duvets (and heated mattress pads, which several other people have mentioned). I just checked and Costco seems to offer down comforters at reasonable prices, and affordable duvets (I like flannel!) are not hard to find. I think the duvet would protect against most cat vomit situations (I mean, the duvet would need washing, but the comforter should be OK)?
I know I’m not supposed to adore polarfleece (microplastics!) but man is that stuff (or off-brand versions) affordable and cozy both for tops (I’m all in on quarter-zip polarfleeces in winter) and blankets. I also like silk longjohns, as they’re light and not snug the way many longjohns are, but still cozy.
I find Heat Holders brand socks to live up to their name. I gave my kid, who’s going to college in a very cold place with a major that requires substantial outdoor time, a set of electric socks that he says works pretty well. I think they are rechargeable (honestly don’t remember).
My gas company offers an energy analysis and they’ll send someone out to look for issues. The guy gave me a new shower head, a new somewhat smart thermostat, and some window insulation kits all for free. He also changed the aerators on my bathroom faucets.
I didn’t use the plastic window insulation kit because I was worried about the adhesive damaging my paint. I do have heavy curtains though. Anyway, if your energy company offers that, it’s worth it!
Now I’m curious about hanging a curtain at the bottom of the stairs since there’s no door between my basement and the upstairs.
My dad closes the vents in the one unused bedroom at their house. I wonder if an electric blanket would be good for my mom in her recliner. They need new windows but don’t want to spend money on them.
An electric blanket would for sure be good for your mom. It’s worth it to ask her for her particular cold spots though, because there are now heated versions of so many things that you could get something for her specific needs, or get it in addition to a blanket (probably best).
Heated vests, neck warmers, seating pads, foot pads, lumbar pads, floor mats, insoles… just off of the top of my head.
There are washable wool blankets- as a Crunchy I use them as mattress protectors because wool is naturally water and odor resistant. They are not cheap but cheaper than fuel oil. We just bought a large, old probably drafty house with an oil furnace so I am here for this discussion. It also doesn’t have AC, so we are going to put in some mini split units, which can provide heating as well and only in the room you are using. I guess I should report back in a year or so about whether this works.
This is so timely because we just received a delivery of heating oil a week or two ago and I was just aghast at the price. Even if we only get a delivery every other month this winter (I think that’s around what we received last year?), this cost is not sustainable! So I am eagerly reading all these tips. We do have minisplits in 3 bedrooms upstairs, and I think I will need to rely on them a bit more (not just 1 hour of programmed warm up while we get out of bed each morning). I have not managed to have the kind of perimenopause that makes you run hot (fortunately, I guess?), instead I seem to be cold all the time. Definitely going to look into a heating pad for my desk chair or maybe even one for my feet, plus hand warmers. I’ve made it to nearly 50 without ever owning long underwear, but it might be time.
Oh! Also focus on radiant heat over blow-y heat, esp. for places you/Paul are sitting. Heated rugs are magic, although check whether you are allowed to roll an office chair over them in areas where that is relevant.
I looked into heated rugs when I needed to warm up a cold office space, but I was cheap and got a ceramic radiant heater to stick under my office desk and it was great… just not as great as radiant floor heating, which I have experienced and loved SO MUCH. The heat rises just fine, and there are no floor-level cold spots.
Warmies! I know that they are *technically* for children, but they are much more fun than the boring adult versions. I put mine at my feet at bedtime and in my lap if I am reading and it is extra chilly. There a lot of animals and other characters to choose from and they also smell nice!
My mom used to put our pajamas in the dryer for a few minutes in the winter to warm them up right before we put them on. I still like putting on jammies straight from the dryer.
These are great suggestions. I also use old fashioned hot water bottles at my feet for bedtime and sometimes when I sitting in my rocker. Fuzzy socks and fingerless mitts. We had new windows put in and that made a huge difference, but the cost might not be worth it to you
A request, for those mentioning having/using minisplits — how do you like them, and how expensive are they to run? Our home has 2 bedrooms that basically are woefully inadequately served by the existing central HVAC system — as I understand it, the various ducts that connect all parts of the house are just woefully inadequate to those 2 for some reason, and would apparently be absurdly expensive to fix/replace (I think because of the parts of the house that would have to be torn up and rebuilt to achieve this). So we’ve thought about having a minisplit added for each of those 2 bedrooms but haven’t acted on that thought yet.
I am interested in this, too. Elizabeth’s bedroom is heated only by a vent in the floor that is open to the downstairs—a holdover from the days of fireplace heat. The HVAC guy looked at the situation and said there was no way to loop that room into the system. Her room is about 10 degrees colder in winter than the rest of the house, even colder if she wants her door closed, and I’m reluctant to use a space heater in there, so we’ve wondered if a minisplit might be a good solution.
Our old house had mini splits. Our energy bill for a 1200 sq ft house was lower than friends with 700 sq ft apartments. I’d go that route again in a heartbeat.
We have propane heat and I am dreading what the bill will be when we get the first delivery for the winter.
My two big tips for staying warm as we try to keep the heat low are wool socks and fleece lined leggings. They aren’t as bulky as sweatpants, and it’s like being wrapped up in a nice warm cloud. I think they sell fleece lined jeans too, I should look into that. And I have a space heater under the desk in my home office too.
Here to add a vote to hot water bottles! Great to warm the sheets before bed or to put on feet while you’re on the couch. Very inexpensive and you can get cute covers if that appeals to you. I also love couch blankets! Any night we are reading or watching something we snuggle under the couch blankets. So warm and cozy that I miss it in summer.
Seconding the silk long johns as being warm without added bulk, warmer for me than any other material I’ve tried. Any layer over them helps retain the warmth they provide, as does the warm air trapped between clothing layers. There are also silk sock liners.
After living in unheated ranch houses for 40 years I found that as long as my head was covered and my feet were warm I felt warm otherwise, day or night. Wool socks that are actually wool and not just a small percentage along with polyester or nylon make a huge difference, as do cashmere socks (always purchased on sale if possible), and a knit silk or wool cap under a hooded top helps preserve body heat. People who wore nightcaps in previous centuries knew what they were doing.
Flannel sheets, a silk or down comforter in a flannel duvet, and an electric blanket between them work so much better than cold cotton sheets with layers of cotton quilts. Even an electric throw across the bottom of your bed under a comforter works well to keep your feet warm. A heating pad can serve the same purpose but only for a small area. It’s better suited to being behind your back as you’re sitting in any type chair.
And they’re not stylish unless you’re going for the industrial look, but brooder lamps with the red 250 watt light bulbs that can be clamped onto or hung from something to have the heat go exactly where you want it have been my saving grace. They’re less expensive than space heater usage and the bulbs last a long time, even with 24 hour use.