Keeping Warm This Winter
October 14, 2005 by admin
Filed under Green Living
Old Man Winter is starting to knock on our doors here in North America, and with oil prices up where they are, this is going to be either a very expensive or a very chilly winter for many of us. In looking for tricks and tips on how those of us who can ill afford to keep the thermostat at the usual temperature this year can keep from freezing, I came across an interesting discussion this morning on a private forum talking about some ‘lower‘ tech ideas.
If everyone in the home wears warm clothes in the house like good heavy sweaters, body warmers, woolen socks and slippers, it’s possible to keep a house at around 60 degrees F (15 degrees C) all day long and it’ll be all right. It’s entirely possible that everybody will get use to that temperature and not even notice it after a while. The important thing to remember is to keep your back, your belly and your feet toasty warm. If you can do that, the rest of your body will take care of itself.
Eat hot meals, like porridges or oatmeal for breakfast, and then hearty soups or stews for lunch and dinner. Go for food that provides heat and burns slowly in the body. If most of the occupants are going to be in the house for the day, choose dinner recipes that require the use of the oven, stove or crock pot for a long time. It’s the right type of food in a cold season and the cooking will release heat slowly, helping to keep the kitchen warm.
Heat up some bricks or flat stones in the oven, wrap them up in many layers of newspapers and then put them under the sheets at the foot of the bed. The newspaper acts as an insulator, preventing any damage to the sheets or the sleeper’s feet and it allows the heat to be released slowly. The stones should stay warm until morning and as it provides a dry heat, it can help balance out the dampness that occurs when a room is not heated enough.
It’s estimated that about 50% of the rooms that we heat in North America are never or rarely used. Do an audit on what rooms you’re using in your home, and if you can do without one for the winter months, close it off and block the heating sources in that space. Many years ago, our elders would often spend their winters in just one or two rooms of their homes. They didn’t have central heating or baseboard heaters. They had a fireplace and an oven to keep warm by and they were able to get by just fine.
I’ll leave it at that for now, but I’m going to be doing more posts on conservation over the coming weeks, especially considering what many of us are going to be facing this winter. Living unplugged isn’t just about using alternative sources of energy, it’s also about learning how to live with less.
If you have any good conservation ideas that you’d like to share, please feel free to send your tips to me here and I’ll add them to my future posts.
Hi Kevin–really fascinating stuff here, and great writing, too. I realy appreciate this entry, because this is my first winter ever in a cold climate, and I had no idea what to do. Keep up the coolness!
Oh, and a question–do you know if keeping the thermostat at 60 is okay for pets, or will they get cold? Thanks!
Hi Rhys — I would imagine that keeping the temp at around 60 degrees would be fine for your pets, depending of course on their health.
Dogs are outside during the winter anyways, even if it’s just for short periods of time. Cats on the other hand might lodge some complaints.
I had to keep my thermostat turned down most of last winter, and my 5 cats survived fine. One trick that worked really well was to wrap a hot-water bottle in a towel and place it where the cats generally sleep. They seemed to enjoy that, and I’ve found that pets, especially cats, will seek out your body heat if they’re feeling too chilly, so you can use that as an indicator too.
Best of luck in weathering your first true winter and thanks for stopping by.
Cats and laptops are both great little heaters. I don’t have a laptop right now, but I do have a kitty who thinks she has to sit on my lap whenever I’m not standing up.
I hate the cold, though, and I get cold so easily – there’s no way I can put the thermostat at 60 degrees. I’d be miserable. I’ll just have to deal with the high oil prices.
Cats and laptops…not the greatest combination ever…I have found myself doing all sorts of very silly things to discourage our cats from using my PowerBook as a belly-warmer – such as piling paperwork, daytimers and other slippery detritus atop the closed ‘book. This has worked pretty well for the most part. Now all I need to do is find ways to keep them off my lap when I’m trying to work. That, and teach our Siamese that it is not my sole function in life to carry her everywhere she wants to go!
mom,
when are you going to learn that missy thinks that you are at her disposal. just kidding. but seriously she might just be cold. And that maybe you are her SpaceHeater…. anywayz mom, i love you and i’ll talk to you later….
there i didn’t use a single instant message short form….
lots of love
Monkey also known as Shayna or YOUR DAUGHTER
XOXOXOXO
We live in an old farmhouse in a rural area. Our furnace and hot water heater are powered from liquid propane, which is delivered by a large truck and stored in a pressurized tank outside our house. To save money we have our thermostat set on 62 degrees, and we follow all of the suggestions in your article (which is very well written, I intend to make this a regular stop – LOL)
It IS possible to get used to it, and be comfortable. When our children spend the night elsewhere (like visiting their grandparents) they complain they can’t sleep because they have come to prefer the cooler room temperatures for sleeping!
Thank you for a great blog! Look forward to reading more!
I was just reading a few articles relating to this subject.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1976_January_February/How_The_Japanese_Stay_Warm
http://www.ruhooked.com/artman/article_703.shtml
Now for some ginger tea straight from the root.
Two years later and the oil prices are much higher. Back in 2005 when this post originated I installed a pellet stove. Best decision I ever made. Spent approximately a third of what I would have on oil. Purchased all my wood pellets back in May and stocked them in my garage – and I have enough stocked to keep the house at a comfortable 70/72F through April.