When cooking pasta ...I wait until the water is boiling, add pasta , stir, but cover on and shut burner off. Let set 20 minutes and pasta comes out perfect.
You can do this with many things, rice, beans, anything. Rolling boil for a couple of minutes, wrap it in a towel and put it in the oven. I sometimes also wrap it in a plastic bag (pan/ towel/ bag). We call this the sleeping bag method, it was used by campers first. We used to put a wrapped pot in our bed and would go out for a walk, find dinner ready when we came home. But I was always so scared we would knock it over 😁
During snowstorms I wear flannel pajama pants a camisole with a long sleeve top with a heavy sweatshirt on top to.bed plus heavy socks to bed. I put 2 thick comforters on top of me with a thick comforter on the bed instead of sheets I am super warm.
Even though I live in Florida, it is northern Florida and on occasion like the past few nights it has been down in the 30s. I do not have central heat, and no heat at all in my bedroom, I close the blinds, close the curtains, but the best thing is I put a fleece between my top sheet and my quilt. Talk about a cozy place to sleep? this is the best.
Thank you for your tips!! This is how I lowered my utility bill! I reorganized my daily living tasks so I was able to complete them outside the high peak, high cost period which was 4pm to 9pm. So now I start cooking dinner at 3pm and finish before 4pm. Another example is the new household rule is that laundry has to be done before 4pm or after 9 pm. The lowest charge is between 12 am to 6am. So a load of laundry might be thrown in at 5am and coffee is brewed at 5:50am. I have challenged myself to keep busy with other tasks besides eating dinner during the high cost period such as going for a walk, washing the car, watering the front and back yard and cleaning the house so the television stays off. The drop in the electric bill was immediate!
We have no heat up stairs. Our home 111 years old. We just jumped in bed and covered our heads we were never sick. When our children were young we lay towel on the wood stove. Run it stairs put it on there bed they jump in cover up. We never thought anything about. In fact it was a blessing. We had fun doing this for our children and they still talk about it. We still live in the same old farm house we are very happy. We do have a furnace on lower level. We have electric fire place up stairs. We never use it. Life is good
Yes grew up in house on rock foundation & only heat was a pot belly stove in center room & no heat in rest of house. Used iron andirons to heat bed, no running water, no indoor plumbing, could see thru cracks in walls if the wallpaper was falling off. Survival works
I purchased a child’s bed tent ( they offer some on Amazon that will fit a full size bed , I am 5’10 and I fit in it fine) because it’s intended for a child it has a couple of screen windows I tossed a lightweight quilt over the tent and without any heat on in my bedroom ( windows covered with reflectex ) I actually get hot sometimes in the winter in the Midwest lol
I use a C Pap. In cold weather I cover my whole head with a blanket. Very cosy and keeps me warm. Never thought of this as saving energy but I do keep my room cool.
I live in a 1959 stone house in northern Germany. In the 70ies insulation and double glazed windows had been added, but most of the blinds stayed the same. Heavy wooden blinds, which insulate the windows and wont allow wind/storms to cool the house during the nights. If you have some, keep them. Even if they are really hard to lift in the mornings due to their weight.
A few winters ago I came up with a method to keep my apartment warmer as the thermostat is in another apartment so I have no control over it and have spent a few cold days in Maine winters. I live in an upstairs apartment and heat only rises if its turned on. House built in 1880. I take a tension rod and place it in the window. I then fold a lightweight fleece blanket over it, cover that with a lightweight, navy blue drapery panel , pull the other curtains across and pin them together with wooden clothes pins. Keeps cold out, looks nice from the street below, and no one sees the clothes pins or fleece blanket. Blocks the cold well keeping the room at least 10 degrees warmer. When watching tv socks, flannel pjs , heavy top, blanket and wrap my head and neck in a scarf keeps me cozy
I loved all the ideas! The one tip about blocking cold outside air had me thinking of a way to block the outside air from coming into my house during the winter. We have screened in porches so we are planning to block the screens with plastic sheets this year but next year we are planning to purchased clear plex-glass to fit into the screened windows. This will be added to our budget this year so we have the money to purchase the material. Thanks everyone for your great ideas and thank you Hope and Larry for sharing those ideas.
I too will be trying this. I cook on electric and I do turn the power early and allow things to cook in the residual heat. I also boil the kettle to put in pans of veg so they come to the boil quicker.
We saved and purchased a new heat pump for our home. We knew our electricity bills were much higher than they should be. The savings have been shocking!!! Most months our electricity bills are less than half of what they used to be. I know it was a huge expense, but well worth it!
This is a bit off topic, but when my youngest was really little, there was an ad on TV(we've cut cable since~~yay!) for a product called something like "Earache Bear"~~for use when a kid has an achy ear. She wanted one because it was cute. ;) I did her one better~~we made one! She had a little stuffed bear that she had won picking up ducks at our county fair. I cut a slit in the back and took out the stuffing. I added some rice to an old (Clean!) sock and sewed it tightly. The rice sock could be warmed and inserted into the back of the bear. I sewed a couple of buttons on so the hole where the ric pack went could be secured. It was awesome and we did actually use it for the occasional earache. Great tips! Thanks.
Keeping the thermostat turned down to 65 or less to cut any Propane gas use to a minimum. We are on budget billing so that helps me "know" what my bill will be, no surprises. We are blessed to have a wood stove and also a pellet stove in our lower level/family room and utility room areas. We are able to cut our own wood for free and we do purchase a pallet of pellets every year and keep our supply stocked. Because the heat rises every room upstairs stays pretty warm except our bedroom which we spend a lot of time in. It also is exposed to the outside on 3 walls and we have 4 large tall windows and a set of sliding doors out to the deck, so quite a bit of heat loss. We are big believers in snuggly blanket and I have a plush robe with a hood... love it. I also wear a hat in the house a lot of the time ( i have short hair and this really helps) and I dress in layers. We also have a small electric panel type heater mounted on the wall which uses very little energy. We only use this during very cold days. I'm definitely going to get a meter you recommended to check things out. We keep blankets in all of our vehicles too. We have had an energy audit in the past and got a 75.00 credit on our electric bill. This reminds me I do need to wrap our water heater, we have not done that since we replaced it the other year. Closing curtains at night to keep in the heat and opening them up to get solar heat on sunny days helps too. Hot coffee and hot soup warm you from within. I always leave the oven door open after baking to warm the kitchen. Love all of your tips.
If you live in a mobile home in areas that have snow put snow against your skirting to trap heat under the trailer. It helps prevent pipes from freezing
I put timers on the fridge, freezer and hot water. I turn my freezer fridge and hot water off during the night and have them come on before I get up. Also I found out during cold weather, especially if your room is in the basement that the cold can creep up under your bed. Here you layer yourself that you won't be cold on top only to have your back side feeling cold. Putting a layer of reflective bubble wrap between your mattress and bed box will put a stop to that. Also I have wooden shutters on my windows. I make the shutters close to have the bottoms up so that the cold air has to work it's way up before it comes in . It really makes a difference.
We have an on-demand water heater. We like it. We keep the temp at just what we like our shower temp to be and we never have to adjust the temp by adding cold water.
I used the warm rice in a sock idea for my sickly kitten to keep him warm. Worked so well, but had not thought of using the idea for me. Thank you for a great video.
Great tips! My first apartment in PA had radiators. The home was built in 1901 & I had to put plastic on all the windows in the winter because of leaks & a landlady who didn’t fix anything. I used cedar chips in pantyhose to double as draft dodgers & spider repellants. The rent was $390 for the entire decade I lived there though!
Not sure if you've ever covered this but back in the day the "refrigerator" used to be called the "ice box". When it's cold enough out I take the largest plastic containers I can fit in my fridge, fill them with water, set them outside to freeze into a giant block of ice, then put them in my fridge. Not only does my fridge not run as much, it's very cold too (so could cause issues depending on what you keep in fridge). Also, when I shower I turn off the water when I'm applying soap to my body. When you turn off oven for last 10 minutes of cooking time it's best to add 5 more minutes of cooking time to that to ensure proper cooking.
I moved into our home & immediately DIYed removed the pink insulation. My husband thought I was crazy. My father-in-law worked on yachts & told me that fiberglass insulation deteriorates over time losing its effectiveness. Twenty-two years later, I pay $50 less for heating each month as well as cooling than I did when I moved in. My husband doesn't think I am crazy anymore.
I remember growing up....im 67...lots of folks had curtains hanging over bedroom door entrances or at entrance to hallways. Good ideas y'all shared today
What a good reason to wear my blue Fedora every day! * Thanks for covering this important topic. I've put a lot of your advice to work at my house, and I am saving money. THANKS!
@@larryware1 I bubble-wrapped the really big windows - and it is helping because the BIG CHILL has returned. I will be able to reuse the bubble wrap for winter for years to come.
Putting the thermostat on a timer helps as well. I keep the house at 60 during winter Most of the time especially at night and while everyone is gone during the day. I don’t have AC but I would reverse that and not run the AC as high at night and when the family is out.
That's a great way to save money. Unfortunately, the older Hope and I get, the less tolerant we seem to be of the cold. 65 is as low as we can go for now. I wish we could do 58.
It was just announced that the local gas companies have requested to RAISE their prices by 9.5%!!! I'll be wearing plenty of sweaters, thermal socks, slippers and using that fantastic electric blanket I invested.
I use a rice bag or a corn bag. It’s basically pillow cases or old sheets sewed together that you fill with rice or corn. I heat them in the microwave. I used them as a heating pad for basically anything. I do think the rice bags stay warmer longer than the corn bag but they are both great. Also flannel fabric works great too. Great video! Thank you for all the helpful hints.
@@hazelnutbix the corn doesn’t pop in the microwave. The corn that I use is like corn feed they are larger than a popcorn kernels. I put it in the microwave for about 2:30 minuets. 😊
@@amandal6675 I see, it's like the hard corn grown for cattle feed or corn syrup, not sweetcorn. I do know that some people use the term corn when they are really talking about wheat kernels.
I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderful videos. My husband and I heeded your advice about the price of coffee and we stocked up for many many months. Thank goodness because when we were shopping the other evening, we noticed our coffee had gone up by $1.50!! We are also looking at some of your alternative heat sources to help save money. Thanks again, and many blessings:)
Something simple that we've used for a draft dodger are pairs of jeans, a couple pairs per door way does the trick, especially the front and/or back door. Obviously not your favorite ones that you wear all the time but do you have any that are full of holes and worn out or don't fit like they used to? Draft dodgers!! The material is heavy and jeans are the perfect shape for the bottom of a door. This works really well and is something you already have!
I use a hot water bottle under the covers to warm up the bed and then to keep me warm. I also use a heat pack to warm my back and my shoulders. Just pop it in the microwave and it soothes the muscles too when I watch tv. We also have infrared quartz heaters to heat just the room we are in. I will use a 12v electric throw with one of my batteries if we lose electricity along with hot water bottle.
When I was a kid we had no heat in our 3 season cottage. Mom would wrap warm bricks & cast Iron frying pans to heat our beds. And yes.. we used lots of thermoses.
To keep from putting on cold lotion, put the lotion bottle or tube into your bath water or a small basin of warm/hot water. This warms the lotion to the temperature of the water and makes applying it so much more pleasant. I always did this for my children, especially when they were babies.
I’ve just caught up on your video and your previous energy saving video. I thought I’d share how we save here in France. We have UPVC double glazed doors and windows so we don’t have any air ingress or heat leakage. We also have two types of insulation in the loft. The roof rafters are wrapped in what I can only describe as 30 layers of space blankets, then we have rock wool insulation and then insulated dry wall/insulation. Every wall, ceiling is insulated so if you tap our walls they sound hollow and there’s 10cm thick insulation behind it. Our windows also have shutters so even more insulation. Our water heats up over night on cheap rate and we run our dishwasher and washing machine between 11.30 and 7.30. I have rechargeable devices such as the vacuum cleaner and I charge that at night. We have no central heating, we have a wood burning stove. Our house never gets colder than 18 degrees Celsius and we dry our laundry inside otherwise the air gets too dry. We have ‘air lock’ areas so we have a small lobby by each door so no cold air goes directly into the house. New insulation standards here in Europe are called passive house standards and ours isn’t quite at that standards as it’s an old house which has been refurbished (all by my super husband) He even insulated the floors as they had to be dug down to the dirt as part of the refurbished. I took all your earlier advice and use my slow cooker, instant pot, we batch cook, keep the freezer full. Our total energy bill is 82€ a month.
I was getting csa boxes which had reflex type insulation in them to keep items cool. I saved these and put them in my windows between the storm window and inside window to add a little extra insulation. It was free and my old windows stay a bit warmer. I also bought some reflex to do the rest of them. I have sash windows so I only do the bottom half. Adds privacy but still allows me to see outside and I stay a bit warmer! I have used the terracotta pot heaters they work well for me. I am going to try some of your other ideas to help save money. Thanks for all of your tips. Life is hard enough without worrying about staying warm. Every penny counts these days!
If you are in the UK contact your energy company or the local authority to get free insulation for your roof space. Anyone can get it regardless of income and there are usually schemes running to do this work.
I’ve been using my oven less, shorter showers, dryer vent vents in the house. Changed our windows, insulated the garage properly. I use socks, hats in the house. Heated pad instead of a big blanket. I have rugs on my tile. I’ll be leaving my closet door open. During the day, I leave my bedroom door open because my bedroom gets very cold. I live in Canada.
I firmly believe in wool. A real wool sweater insulates far better than polyesters. My Hudson’s bay blanket is on my bed from October to May. Wool socks , mits and hats are best too.
Izzy from Portugal.. My Dream House here has radiator heat, that is powered by my wood burning stove. It is awesome... in the Winter I heat my water and my house(2,750 square feet) with it. It is very efficient. Throughout the whole Spring, Summer, and Fall I heat the water with Solar panels -also very efficient. My house was built for my late husband and myself 30 years ago this coming January. I have the original fire place and the original solar panels.
I had an energy audit… we failed miserably. Lol. So the cost was $12,000 for insulation and we only need to pay $2200!! The rest was covered by the program. The house is so much warmer. And we are using less energy.
Wow! That turned out to be a super good program for you. I think our insulation was around $6000 and it was completely covered by the program. After we got it done, the first thing we noticed was how much less often our AC was cycling on and off.
I’m in the U.K. and we have radiators! It’s the most common source of heat here! We have a gas fire in the lounge but we don’t need to use it because the radiators are so warm. We had loft & house insulation done free so the radiators only need to be on an hour and it heats the whole house up! We turn the radiators off in the bedrooms tho ( menopausal thing 😂) We did the foil behind our radiators in the last house but it’s not needed here! I love watching your videos and I think we do most of these suggestions and for the last several weeks we have kept reducing the numbers on our gas & electric meters, we keep a spread sheet of our weekly readings and try to reduce usage, it’s becoming a bit of a game trying 😂
I make what i call a snuggly basically a small pillow with rice. Warm it in the in the microwave in 1 minutes increments. Then hold them on my lap in the evening when watching tv, read or crocheting!!! I also put 2 in my bed before i we go to sleep
Temporary insulated walls blocking off 2/3's of my house should drop my electric use dramatically. 3 southern windows should also help when sun shines during day time. Blackout covers at night when I'm at work.
I second the idea that you need to clean behind the radiators. I do mine with an old sock attached with elastic bands to a wire coat hanger bent into a long thin shape. If you damp the sock and push it into the grooves and crevices at the back of the radiator, the dust and fluff will stick to it. But here in the UK, our heating bills are set to rise so much that many of us are just not putting the heating on at all.
Using a Vornado is something I started doing before I got solar and it can warm a room 10 degrees in one hour. Then, you can shut it off. Running 1 Vornado for 12 hours adds $60 to an electric bill in one month, so it can cause an electric bill bump if you use it too long but 6 hours only adds $30 and that really warms the place. I have solar now so I just use them all day long. I have 2 Vornados both on low and it keeps my ranch house too warm if I do that. When I woke up in the middle of the night, my house was 74 degrees and I had to shut one off. It is February in New England and it has been 20 degrees outside.
Hey! Women have longer hair to shampoo and rinse! That’s why we take a little longer in the shower, although my husband takes longer in the shower than I do. 😄. Boy Scouts learn to keep their “chimney”. (head) covered when out camping to keep warmer.
Super ideas! Here we have PECO! We are to expect 45% increase just in time for air conditioning season! Ugh! I like to use cooling towels to help keep me cool in the summer! They work well and allow me to keep air conditioning. High!
Hallo from Lise in Norway I just warched you program and agree whit Stein in Norway, I use wool, I knit myself and use wool in blankets and clothes. Keeps me warm. 😊😁 I live in a flat now and miss my wood stove. Many good tips here. 👍👍 some I use, some New for me, but perhaps I'll try some of them.
My husband and I wear good quality gilets around the house. Husband often works at home so it is colder sitting still at a desk for hours so the gilet is good. He also has an electric heater next to him. There is no other heating in that room throughout the day but a gilet and a heater keep him plenty warm enough.
Most houses here in the UK have on demand water heating, called combi boilers. The boilers heat the water and radiators as and when you need. Usually only old houses have a water tank. ☺️
Great tips, thanks for all for sharing! Just a heads up, at Dollar Tree year round now they have the pool noodles if you want to make the door drafters that was shared. I think it’s due to so many crafters but yes, not just in summer time any more and are located by the registers :) Keep saving, investing and giving where it matters 🎉
Mine 1.use old blankets over drafty windows. 2.pool noodle as a cheaper twin draft guard. 3.block off unused rooms. 4.make sure to regularly clean heating vents and filters. 5.baby plug covers. 6.seal drains.cold air comes in.this way
Add a little sunshine to your life 🌞. Open your curtains when the sun shines to get a bit of free heat. We have been sleeping in a poorly insulated unheated washing room for years now. We have a space heater but never turned it on. When it really freezes outside, two blankets and jogging suit. Our new bedroom will get an heating and air conditioning unit but it won't be turned on often.
We do not have central heating but do have a wood stove and space heater in the far bedrooms. We don't have a dryer but use a folding rack by our wood stove. We use an air fryer instead of the oven for most of our meals because the air fryer cooks faster than our propane oven.
When you turn the shower on & waiting for it to get warm. Put a 5 gallon bucket under it to catch water that would normally go down the drain. It can be used for washing vehicles, mopping the floor, general cleaning or to flush the toilet. But. Heating thing but a way to save water. I live in. Desert. Water is very costly. More than my electric bill!
We heat strictly with wood. Our upstairs stove has a wireless wood stove fan on it that sits on the top of it. Works great and when the electric goes out it stills pushes the heat out into the room. We have a system that has a pipe the goes thru the wood stove. Heats the water and goes to an exchange tank. Thus preheating the water before it goes into the hot water tank. In the summer the solar panels heat that and goes into the Solar hot water tank.
Excellent suggestions!! The curtains dividing/closing off rooms is a great thing. I've done that and it works. It always reminds me of old Victorian homes with the heavy velvet curtains dividing rooms. My electric company has the (TOU) time of use discounts. I used it for years when my children were home and saved hundreds of dollars a year. Now alone, it was costing more to continue it bc I use such little electricity as one person. Some months it would be $5.00 extra dollars on my bills and never a savings.
Thank you, R N. We're having mixed results from our utility's program and I think we're going to opt out. It was great when we had the electric car which charged during low rate intervals.
@@larryware1 Same here. I had a Leaf. Loved it. But bought a Hybrid Corolla last month for convenience. I've been averaging 65 mpg. It is the Prius engine in the Corolla.
Larry & Hope, when I worked for my state's Dept of Transportation, my division got moved into a brand new building. We noticed the moment we went to unpack boxes and set up our desks, etc that the air conditioning was working overtime and the place was like a refrigerator. I was standing in the front hallway shaking my head when a male voice asked, "so, what do you think?" I answered, "I think whomever designed this place needs to go back to school and learn about thermodynamics!" There was a thermostat for the whole floor on a south-facing wall of windows where the sun poured in and heated the hallway and was triggering the A.C. It turned out the male voice had been the architect who was visiting and expected everyone to kiss his ring.
We use bubble packing wrap on windows to insulate them. Use the large bubble packing cut to size and stick it to the inside of the windows by using a sponge to wet the window. The packing strips will stick to the window and will peel right off in the spring. Reuse yearly.
We do not have curtains on our windows much of the year. They passively heat our house. In the winter I put up command hooks and hang a curtain rod with blankets ( or thermal curtains). I also use bubble wrap on the coldest windows.
I can't wait till my daughter is older. We have one particular room in the house that gets COLD in the winter. So we have to run a space heater in her room at night. However I don't want her getting wrapped up in an electric blanket at night.
When we bought a house in 2004, it had an electric hot water heater. We removed it and put in a propane on demand water heater. Our electric bill went down by half. We don't know how much it added to the propane bill because we were heating with propane at the time and always got one tank fill a month. There didn't seem to be any discernible increase in propane usage.
When home alone, the central heating doesn't go on unless it is lesthan 12,5 degrees celcius (around 54 Fahrenheit I think). I just use a blanket to drape around shoulders and back, and that's it
If you have a sleeping bag,unzip it fully and use it as the top covering on your bed,on top of your blanket(s),like a bedspread,it will keep the heat in.Most sleeping bags are well insulated,but even the cheaper thin ones can make a big difference.Also use a blanket under your fitted sheet or flat sheet on top of your mattress.It will also keep more heat in your bed.Combined the two methods (sleeping bag&blanket on top of the mattress) are surprisingly effective.
We have a vent director on our dryer. In the summer, when you don't want the heat in your home, you vent it outside, and in the winter you let it vent into the home. This allows for moisture to cancel out some of the lower humidity for the winter, prevents cold are backdraft, and we cover the vent into the home with a knee high stocking. The stocking prevents unwanted lint from coming into the home and, when full, the stockings are great to use in our wood stove.
When cooking pasta ...I wait until the water is boiling, add pasta , stir, but cover on and shut burner off. Let set 20 minutes and pasta comes out perfect.
I will do that next time when I cook pasta ! Thank you
You can do this with many things, rice, beans, anything.
Rolling boil for a couple of minutes, wrap it in a towel and put it in the oven. I sometimes also wrap it in a plastic bag (pan/ towel/ bag).
We call this the sleeping bag method, it was used by campers first.
We used to put a wrapped pot in our bed and would go out for a walk, find dinner ready when we came home. But I was always so scared we would knock it over 😁
defitnely going to try this! and less steam coming off into the home 👍🏽
Well...I tried it tonight and...it realy works 😃 I can't believe I didn't know that. Thank you Chris for sharing.
Thank you!
During snowstorms I wear flannel pajama pants a camisole with a long sleeve top with a heavy sweatshirt on top to.bed plus heavy socks to bed. I put 2 thick comforters on top of me with a thick comforter on the bed instead of sheets I am super warm.
Even though I live in Florida, it is northern Florida and on occasion like the past few nights it has been down in the 30s. I do not have central heat, and no heat at all in my bedroom, I close the blinds, close the curtains, but the best thing is I put a fleece between my top sheet and my quilt. Talk about a cozy place to sleep? this is the best.
Thank you for your tips!!
This is how I lowered my utility bill! I reorganized my daily living tasks so I was able to complete them outside the high peak, high cost period which was 4pm to 9pm. So now I start cooking dinner at 3pm and finish before 4pm. Another example is the new household rule is that laundry has to be done before 4pm or after 9 pm. The lowest charge is between 12 am to 6am. So a load of laundry might be thrown in at 5am and coffee is brewed at 5:50am. I have challenged myself to keep busy with other tasks besides eating dinner during the high cost period such as going for a walk, washing the car, watering the front and back yard and cleaning the house so the television stays off. The drop in the electric bill was immediate!
We have no heat up stairs. Our home 111 years old. We just jumped in bed and covered our heads we were never sick. When our children were young we lay towel on the wood stove. Run it stairs put it on there bed they jump in cover up. We never thought anything about. In fact it was a blessing. We had fun doing this for our children and they still talk about it. We still live in the same old farm house we are very happy. We do have a furnace on lower level. We have electric fire place up stairs. We never use it. Life is good
We love flannel sheets and sleep on them all winter. You never get into a cold bed!
I recently bought fleece bedding.
Best thing ever and wasn't very expensive. 🙂
My favorite tip as our home looses power during the winter for up to a week. Thermal pajamas,flannel sheets,fuzzy socks!
My grandma uses socks with rice for sinus headaches. Lay it across the forehead and or eyes, don’t get it too hot, and it works perfectly.
Fleece sheets are so soft and incredibly warm
Yes grew up in house on rock foundation & only heat was a pot belly stove in center room & no heat in rest of house. Used iron andirons to heat bed, no running water, no indoor plumbing, could see thru cracks in walls if the wallpaper was falling off. Survival works
I purchased a child’s bed tent ( they offer some on Amazon that will fit a full size bed , I am 5’10 and I fit in it fine) because it’s intended for a child it has a couple of screen windows I tossed a lightweight quilt over the tent and without any heat on in my bedroom ( windows covered with reflectex ) I actually get hot sometimes in the winter in the Midwest lol
I use a C Pap. In cold weather I cover my whole head with a blanket. Very cosy and keeps me warm. Never thought of this as saving energy but I do keep my room cool.
I live in a 1959 stone house in northern Germany. In the 70ies insulation and double glazed windows had been added, but most of the blinds stayed the same. Heavy wooden blinds, which insulate the windows and wont allow wind/storms to cool the house during the nights. If you have some, keep them. Even if they are really hard to lift in the mornings due to their weight.
A few winters ago I came up with a method to keep my apartment warmer as the thermostat is in another apartment so I have no control over it and have spent a few cold days in Maine winters. I live in an upstairs apartment and heat only rises if its turned on. House built in 1880.
I take a tension rod and place it in the window. I then fold a lightweight fleece blanket over it, cover that with a lightweight, navy blue drapery panel , pull the other curtains across and pin them together with wooden clothes pins. Keeps cold out, looks nice from the street below, and no one sees the clothes pins or fleece blanket. Blocks the cold well keeping the room at least 10 degrees warmer.
When watching tv socks, flannel pjs , heavy top, blanket and wrap my head and neck in a scarf keeps me cozy
A heated mattress pad is a Godsend here in New England!
I loved all the ideas! The one tip about blocking cold outside air had me thinking of a way to block the outside air from coming into my house during the winter. We have screened in porches so we are planning to block the screens with plastic sheets this year but next year we are planning to purchased clear plex-glass to fit into the screened windows. This will be added to our budget this year so we have the money to purchase the material. Thanks everyone for your great ideas and thank you Hope and Larry for sharing those ideas.
Thank you, Katherine. There are always things we all can learn from each other. Hope and I love sharing ideas we glean from our viewers.
I too will be trying this. I cook on electric and I do turn the power early and allow things to cook in the residual heat. I also boil the kettle to put in pans of veg so they come to the boil quicker.
We saved and purchased a new heat pump for our home. We knew our electricity bills were much higher than they should be. The savings have been shocking!!! Most months our electricity bills are less than half of what they used to be. I know it was a huge expense, but well worth it!
Super! Doesn't that make you smile?!
This is a bit off topic, but when my youngest was really little, there was an ad on TV(we've cut cable since~~yay!) for a product called something like "Earache Bear"~~for use when a kid has an achy ear. She wanted one because it was cute. ;) I did her one better~~we made one! She had a little stuffed bear that she had won picking up ducks at our county fair. I cut a slit in the back and took out the stuffing. I added some rice to an old (Clean!) sock and sewed it tightly. The rice sock could be warmed and inserted into the back of the bear. I sewed a couple of buttons on so the hole where the ric pack went could be secured. It was awesome and we did actually use it for the occasional earache.
Great tips! Thanks.
Great ideas.i use left over crochet thread to crochet covers to go behind my heavy curtains. I get to use all my pieces of yarn up and stay warm
Keeping the thermostat turned down to 65 or less to cut any Propane gas use to a minimum. We are on budget billing so that helps me "know" what my bill will be, no surprises. We are blessed to have a wood stove and also a pellet stove in our lower level/family room and utility room areas. We are able to cut our own wood for free and we do purchase a pallet of pellets every year and keep our supply stocked. Because the heat rises every room upstairs stays pretty warm except our bedroom which we spend a lot of time in. It also is exposed to the outside on 3 walls and we have 4 large tall windows and a set of sliding doors out to the deck, so quite a bit of heat loss. We are big believers in snuggly blanket and I have a plush robe with a hood... love it. I also wear a hat in the house a lot of the time ( i have short hair and this really helps) and I dress in layers. We also have a small electric panel type heater mounted on the wall which uses very little energy. We only use this during very cold days. I'm definitely going to get a meter you recommended to check things out. We keep blankets in all of our vehicles too. We have had an energy audit in the past and got a 75.00 credit on our electric bill. This reminds me I do need to wrap our water heater, we have not done that since we replaced it the other year. Closing curtains at night to keep in the heat and opening them up to get solar heat on sunny days helps too. Hot coffee and hot soup warm you from within. I always leave the oven door open after baking to warm the kitchen. Love all of your tips.
If you live in a mobile home in areas that have snow put snow against your skirting to trap heat under the trailer. It helps prevent pipes from freezing
yessss !
Yes cleaning ductwork and replacing filters often helps with furnace efficiency and allergies.
I put timers on the fridge, freezer and hot water. I turn my freezer fridge and hot water off during the night and have them come on before I get up. Also I found out during cold weather, especially if your room is in the basement that the cold can creep up under your bed. Here you layer yourself that you won't be cold on top only to have your back side feeling cold. Putting a layer of reflective bubble wrap between your mattress and bed box will put a stop to that. Also I have wooden shutters on my windows. I make the shutters close to have the bottoms up so that the cold air has to work it's way up before it comes in . It really makes a difference.
I have a blanket Hoodie & it works well with helping to keep you warm.
We have an on-demand water heater. We like it. We keep the temp at just what we like our shower temp to be and we never have to adjust the temp by adding cold water.
I have the on demand hot water heater.and love it! Keeps my gas bill down!
I used the warm rice in a sock idea for my sickly kitten to keep him warm. Worked so well, but had not thought of using the idea for me. Thank you for a great video.
Great tips! My first apartment in PA had radiators. The home was built in 1901 & I had to put plastic on all the windows in the winter because of leaks & a landlady who didn’t fix anything. I used cedar chips in pantyhose to double as draft dodgers & spider repellants. The rent was $390 for the entire decade I lived there though!
I made a reflector for my areo garden from a car solar windshield & it really made my plants grow faster & better
Not sure if you've ever covered this but back in the day the "refrigerator" used to be called the "ice box". When it's cold enough out I take the largest plastic containers I can fit in my fridge, fill them with water, set them outside to freeze into a giant block of ice, then put them in my fridge. Not only does my fridge not run as much, it's very cold too (so could cause issues depending on what you keep in fridge). Also, when I shower I turn off the water when I'm applying soap to my body. When you turn off oven for last 10 minutes of cooking time it's best to add 5 more minutes of cooking time to that to ensure proper cooking.
I moved into our home & immediately DIYed removed the pink insulation. My husband thought I was crazy. My father-in-law worked on yachts & told me that fiberglass insulation deteriorates over time losing its effectiveness. Twenty-two years later, I pay $50 less for heating each month as well as cooling than I did when I moved in. My husband doesn't think I am crazy anymore.
I remember growing up....im 67...lots of folks had curtains hanging over bedroom door entrances or at entrance to hallways. Good ideas y'all shared today
Micro fleece for bed sheets, throws, and pillow cases amazing,
I use a 1 1/2 quart slow cooker instead of a larger size. It's only 150 watts and makes two dinner-size servings of soup or stew.
What a good reason to wear my blue Fedora every day! * Thanks for covering this important topic. I've put a lot of your advice to work at my house, and I am saving money. THANKS!
Thanks, Bri. So nice to know it's working for someone else.
@@larryware1 I bubble-wrapped the really big windows - and it is helping because the BIG CHILL has returned. I will be able to reuse the bubble wrap for winter for years to come.
Yes I make the rice socks 🧦 and use them for heating pads and in the bed too. I give them away as gifts too.
Putting the thermostat on a timer helps as well. I keep the house at 60 during winter
Most of the time especially at night and while everyone is gone during the day. I don’t have AC but I would reverse that and not run the AC as high at night and when the family is out.
That's a great way to save money. Unfortunately, the older Hope and I get, the less tolerant we seem to be of the cold. 65 is as low as we can go for now. I wish we could do 58.
It was just announced that the local gas companies have requested to RAISE their prices by 9.5%!!! I'll be wearing plenty of sweaters, thermal socks, slippers and using that fantastic electric blanket I invested.
I use a rice bag or a corn bag. It’s basically pillow cases or old sheets sewed together that you fill with rice or corn. I heat them in the microwave. I used them as a heating pad for basically anything. I do think the rice bags stay warmer longer than the corn bag but they are both great. Also flannel fabric works great too. Great video! Thank you for all the helpful hints.
Thanks, Amanda. Great way to stay warm.
doesn't the corn pop when you put it in the microwave?
@@hazelnutbix the corn doesn’t pop in the microwave. The corn that I use is like corn feed they are larger than a popcorn kernels. I put it in the microwave for about 2:30 minuets. 😊
@@amandal6675 I see, it's like the hard corn grown for cattle feed or corn syrup, not sweetcorn. I do know that some people use the term corn when they are really talking about wheat kernels.
Make sure to out a cup of water in at the same time so u dont burn them
I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderful videos. My husband and I heeded your advice about the price of coffee and we stocked up for many many months. Thank goodness because when we were shopping the other evening, we noticed our coffee had gone up by $1.50!! We are also looking at some of your alternative heat sources to help save money. Thanks again, and many blessings:)
Something simple that we've used for a draft dodger are pairs of jeans, a couple pairs per door way does the trick, especially the front and/or back door. Obviously not your favorite ones that you wear all the time but do you have any that are full of holes and worn out or don't fit like they used to? Draft dodgers!! The material is heavy and jeans are the perfect shape for the bottom of a door. This works really well and is something you already have!
I use a hot water bottle under the covers to warm up the bed and then to keep me warm. I also use a heat pack to warm my back and my shoulders. Just pop it in the microwave and it soothes the muscles too when I watch tv. We also have infrared quartz heaters to heat just the room we are in. I will use a 12v electric throw with one of my batteries if we lose electricity along with hot water bottle.
My free space heater (Teena Kitty) keeps me warm every evening 😻
Lol ! Mine does too, evenings and nights. 🐈⬛
When I was a kid we had no heat in our 3 season cottage. Mom would wrap warm bricks & cast Iron frying pans to heat our beds. And yes.. we used lots of thermoses.
To keep from putting on cold lotion, put the lotion bottle or tube into your bath water or a small basin of warm/hot water. This warms the lotion to the temperature of the water and makes applying it so much more pleasant. I always did this for my children, especially when they were babies.
I like using a heating pad as smaller when sitting on the couch🐾💕
My 25 year old heat pump went out I installed a mini split unit and save 30% on my electric bill winter and summer.
I’ve just caught up on your video and your previous energy saving video. I thought I’d share how we save here in France. We have UPVC double glazed doors and windows so we don’t have any air ingress or heat leakage. We also have two types of insulation in the loft. The roof rafters are wrapped in what I can only describe as 30 layers of space blankets, then we have rock wool insulation and then insulated dry wall/insulation. Every wall, ceiling is insulated so if you tap our walls they sound hollow and there’s 10cm thick insulation behind it. Our windows also have shutters so even more insulation. Our water heats up over night on cheap rate and we run our dishwasher and washing machine between 11.30 and 7.30. I have rechargeable devices such as the vacuum cleaner and I charge that at night. We have no central heating, we have a wood burning stove. Our house never gets colder than 18 degrees Celsius and we dry our laundry inside otherwise the air gets too dry. We have ‘air lock’ areas so we have a small lobby by each door so no cold air goes directly into the house. New insulation standards here in Europe are called passive house standards and ours isn’t quite at that standards as it’s an old house which has been refurbished (all by my super husband) He even insulated the floors as they had to be dug down to the dirt as part of the refurbished. I took all your earlier advice and use my slow cooker, instant pot, we batch cook, keep the freezer full. Our total energy bill is 82€ a month.
Micro fleece sheet sets or throw. Incredible keep your own temperature!
I was getting csa boxes which had reflex type insulation in them to keep items cool. I saved these and put them in my windows between the storm window and inside window to add a little extra insulation. It was free and my old windows stay a bit warmer. I also bought some reflex to do the rest of them. I have sash windows so I only do the bottom half. Adds privacy but still allows me to see outside and I stay a bit warmer! I have used the terracotta pot heaters they work well for me. I am going to try some of your other ideas to help save money. Thanks for all of your tips. Life is hard enough without worrying about staying warm. Every penny counts these days!
When using flannel sheets don't forget flannel comforter, they work wonderful. Also, keep the bathroom door closed, it keeps the bathroom warmer.
I subscribed to this channel yesterday. Family and I have covid so I'm going to binged watch your videos
If you are in the UK contact your energy company or the local authority to get free insulation for your roof space. Anyone can get it regardless of income and there are usually schemes running to do this work.
I’ve been using my oven less, shorter showers, dryer vent vents in the house. Changed our windows, insulated the garage properly. I use socks, hats in the house. Heated pad instead of a big blanket. I have rugs on my tile. I’ll be leaving my closet door open. During the day, I leave my bedroom door open because my bedroom gets very cold. I live in Canada.
Thanks for the mention on a very stormy night in scotland. Loved hearing all the tips x
Oh geez got retro flashbacks as a child with my grandmother shouting at me “Shut the fridge door!” Lol. 😂 stuck with me in my adult life.🥰
LOL! I'm afraid we all have those memories.
We have two gas tankless hot water heaters. Split system so hot water reaches each end of our house faster. Saves tons of money.
I firmly believe in wool. A real wool sweater insulates far better than polyesters. My Hudson’s bay blanket is on my bed from October to May. Wool socks , mits and hats are best too.
Izzy from Portugal.. My Dream House here has radiator heat, that is powered by my wood burning stove. It is awesome... in the Winter I heat my water and my house(2,750 square feet) with it. It is very efficient. Throughout the whole Spring, Summer, and Fall I heat the water with Solar panels -also very efficient. My house was built for my late husband and myself 30 years ago this coming January. I have the original fire place and the original solar panels.
I had an energy audit… we failed miserably. Lol. So the cost was $12,000 for insulation and we only need to pay $2200!! The rest was covered by the program. The house is so much warmer. And we are using less energy.
Wow! That turned out to be a super good program for you. I think our insulation was around $6000 and it was completely covered by the program. After we got it done, the first thing we noticed was how much less often our AC was cycling on and off.
I've made the rice sacks years ago! I've used flannel fabric put rice in works well! I love using with tooth hurting or cramps!
Hi Hope and Larry, yes when I was a child we had no central heating in the house, coal fires were used and a paraffin heater in the bedroom.
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I think we tend to forget that it's, honestly, not been that many years since central heating was installed in homes.
I’m in the U.K. and we have radiators! It’s the most common source of heat here! We have a gas fire in the lounge but we don’t need to use it because the radiators are so warm.
We had loft & house insulation done free so the radiators only need to be on an hour and it heats the whole house up! We turn the radiators off in the bedrooms tho ( menopausal thing 😂)
We did the foil behind our radiators in the last house but it’s not needed here!
I love watching your videos and I think we do most of these suggestions and for the last several weeks we have kept reducing the numbers on our gas & electric meters, we keep a spread sheet of our weekly readings and try to reduce usage, it’s becoming a bit of a game trying 😂
I make what i call a snuggly basically a small pillow with rice. Warm it in the in the microwave in 1 minutes increments. Then hold them on my lap in the evening when watching tv, read or crocheting!!! I also put 2 in my bed before i we go to sleep
Buy some thermal vests/t-shirts. Not too expensive and not too bulky to restrict movement.
A thin layer that makes a difference. 🙂
Temporary insulated walls blocking off 2/3's of my house should drop my electric use dramatically. 3 southern windows should also help when sun shines during day time. Blackout covers at night when I'm at work.
Would love to see a comparison video on electric blankets. Thinking of getting one for great grandparents.
I use bed warmers and love them .
I second the idea that you need to clean behind the radiators. I do mine with an old sock attached with elastic bands to a wire coat hanger bent into a long thin shape. If you damp the sock and push it into the grooves and crevices at the back of the radiator, the dust and fluff will stick to it. But here in the UK, our heating bills are set to rise so much that many of us are just not putting the heating on at all.
Using a Vornado is something I started doing before I got solar and it can warm a room 10 degrees in one hour. Then, you can shut it off. Running 1 Vornado for 12 hours adds $60 to an electric bill in one month, so it can cause an electric bill bump if you use it too long but 6 hours only adds $30 and that really warms the place. I have solar now so I just use them all day long. I have 2 Vornados both on low and it keeps my ranch house too warm if I do that. When I woke up in the middle of the night, my house was 74 degrees and I had to shut one off. It is February in New England and it has been 20 degrees outside.
Hey! Women have longer hair to shampoo and rinse! That’s why we take a little longer in the shower, although my husband takes longer in the shower than I do. 😄. Boy Scouts learn to keep their “chimney”. (head) covered when out camping to keep warmer.
Super ideas! Here we have PECO! We are to expect 45% increase just in time for air conditioning season! Ugh! I like to use cooling towels to help keep me cool in the summer! They work well and allow me to keep air conditioning. High!
Hallo from Lise in Norway I just warched you program and agree whit Stein in Norway, I use wool, I knit myself and use wool in blankets and clothes. Keeps me warm. 😊😁 I live in a flat now and miss my wood stove. Many good tips here. 👍👍 some I use, some New for me, but perhaps I'll try some of them.
Put a see thru shower curtain on the windows - creates a barrier. Double layer curtains. Use wool for all bedding
My husband and I wear good quality gilets around the house. Husband often works at home so it is colder sitting still at a desk for hours so the gilet is good. He also has an electric heater next to him. There is no other heating in that room throughout the day but a gilet and a heater keep him plenty warm enough.
That's saving you money. Excellent, TermiteVideo.
What's a gilet ?
@@debrabrown5728 I don’t know what you call them in America but it is a padded, sleeveless jacket. Very practical as,ar
Arm movement is unimpeded but all vital organs are kept toasty warm!
@@TermiteVideo Thank you. We would call that a vest. They are popular, functional, and even fashionable. I appreciate the vocabulary lesson !
Most houses here in the UK have on demand water heating, called combi boilers. The boilers heat the water and radiators as and when you need. Usually only old houses have a water tank. ☺️
Great tips, thanks for all for sharing! Just a heads up, at Dollar Tree year round now they have the pool noodles if you want to make the door drafters that was shared. I think it’s due to so many crafters but yes, not just in summer time any more and are located by the registers :) Keep saving, investing and giving where it matters 🎉
Oh, thanks, Lady Marie. We'll look for them!
I use pool noodles to cover my exposed water pipes
Mine
1.use old blankets over drafty windows.
2.pool noodle as a cheaper twin draft guard.
3.block off unused rooms.
4.make sure to regularly clean heating vents and filters.
5.baby plug covers.
6.seal drains.cold air comes in.this way
Add a little sunshine to your life 🌞. Open your curtains when the sun shines to get a bit of free heat.
We have been sleeping in a poorly insulated unheated washing room for years now. We have a space heater but never turned it on.
When it really freezes outside, two blankets and jogging suit.
Our new bedroom will get an heating and air conditioning unit but it won't be turned on often.
We do not have central heating but do have a wood stove and space heater in the far bedrooms. We don't have a dryer but use a folding rack by our wood stove. We use an air fryer instead of the oven for most of our meals because the air fryer cooks faster than our propane oven.
You two are Awesome! Thank you! Great Tips! God bless you both.
When you turn the shower on & waiting for it to get warm. Put a 5 gallon bucket under it to catch water that would normally go down the drain. It can be used for washing vehicles, mopping the floor, general cleaning or to flush the toilet. But. Heating thing but a way to save water. I live in. Desert. Water is very costly. More than my electric bill!
We heat strictly with wood. Our upstairs stove has a wireless wood stove fan on it that sits on the top of it. Works great and when the electric goes out it stills pushes the heat out into the room. We have a system that has a pipe the goes thru the wood stove. Heats the water and goes to an exchange tank. Thus preheating the water before it goes into the hot water tank. In the summer the solar panels heat that and goes into the Solar hot water tank.
Great tips everyone! I was surprised that I already do some of them!
My parents heated bricks on the coal furnace then wrapped them in blankets or towels to heat the bed.
We bought a bed heating sheet it goes under you and works better than a heated blanket
If your bed is freezing give it a quick blast with the hairdryer under the quilt before getting in.
Excellent suggestions!!
The curtains dividing/closing off rooms is a great thing. I've done that and it works. It always reminds me of old Victorian homes with the heavy velvet curtains dividing rooms.
My electric company has the (TOU) time of use discounts. I used it for years when my children were home and saved hundreds of dollars a year. Now alone, it was costing more to continue it bc I use such little electricity as one person. Some months it would be $5.00 extra dollars on my bills and never a savings.
Thank you, R N. We're having mixed results from our utility's program and I think we're going to opt out. It was great when we had the electric car which charged during low rate intervals.
@@larryware1 Same here. I had a Leaf. Loved it. But bought a Hybrid Corolla last month for convenience. I've been averaging 65 mpg. It is the Prius engine in the Corolla.
@@RN-mn3jn I didn't know Toyota offered a Corolla hybrid. That's GREAT mileage.
Yay! Thanks for the mention! I loved all the tips and am looking forward to putting them all to good use! Xx
You're SO welcome, KaelaLee! We loved these tips!
Larry & Hope, when I worked for my state's Dept of Transportation, my division got moved into a brand new building. We noticed the moment we went to unpack boxes and set up our desks, etc that the air conditioning was working overtime and the place was like a refrigerator. I was standing in the front hallway shaking my head when a male voice asked, "so, what do you think?" I answered, "I think whomever designed this place needs to go back to school and learn about thermodynamics!" There was a thermostat for the whole floor on a south-facing wall of windows where the sun poured in and heated the hallway and was triggering the A.C. It turned out the male voice had been the architect who was visiting and expected everyone to kiss his ring.
I love this story SOOO much!
We use bubble packing wrap on windows to insulate them. Use the large bubble packing cut to size and stick it to the inside of the windows by using a sponge to wet the window. The packing strips will stick to the window and will peel right off in the spring. Reuse yearly.
We use many of these tips! Thanks for sharing
We do not have curtains on our windows much of the year. They passively heat our house. In the winter I put up command hooks and hang a curtain rod with blankets ( or thermal curtains). I also use bubble wrap on the coldest windows.
When showering wet yourself down turn the water off then wash then turn the water on and rinse off
I can't wait till my daughter is older. We have one particular room in the house that gets COLD in the winter. So we have to run a space heater in her room at night. However I don't want her getting wrapped up in an electric blanket at night.
When we bought a house in 2004, it had an electric hot water heater. We removed it and put in a propane on demand water heater. Our electric bill went down by half. We don't know how much it added to the propane bill because we were heating with propane at the time and always got one tank fill a month. There didn't seem to be any discernible increase in propane usage.
When home alone, the central heating doesn't go on unless it is lesthan 12,5 degrees celcius (around 54 Fahrenheit I think).
I just use a blanket to drape around shoulders and back, and that's it
If you have a sleeping bag,unzip it fully and use it as the top covering on your bed,on top of your blanket(s),like a bedspread,it will keep the heat in.Most sleeping bags are well insulated,but even the cheaper thin ones can make a big difference.Also use a blanket under your fitted sheet or flat sheet on top of your mattress.It will also keep more heat in your bed.Combined the two methods (sleeping bag&blanket on top of the mattress) are surprisingly effective.
It works. We made those terra cotta heaters.
These are really good thanks for compiling
We have a vent director on our dryer. In the summer, when you don't want the heat in your home, you vent it outside, and in the winter you let it vent into the home. This allows for moisture to cancel out some of the lower humidity for the winter, prevents cold are backdraft, and we cover the vent into the home with a knee high stocking. The stocking prevents unwanted lint from coming into the home and, when full, the stockings are great to use in our wood stove.
My vent makes the kitchen floor wet which i then use to mop 😂😂