It is finally starting to feel like winter here in the south. Coming from the mid-west, I am ready for lots of snow and cold by this time of the year, but this southern winter is just a bit different.
With temperatures dropping into the 20s at night and 30s during the day, though, we are thinking about staying warm this winter like every body else. And like everyone else we are thinking of ways to do it cheaply, or better yet for free. I imagine you are too.
Most of the options available for heating are quite expensive and revolve around electricity or gas – both of which we are trying to get away from in terms of a long-term sustainable (read free) option. So, in thinking on these things, I thought I’d share a few ideas for saving on energy this winter.
Consider Sustainable Options
We are currently huge fans of our wood stove, a one-time purchase, and the wood my husband spends a lot of time cutting from our land (free!). Wood heat is an excellent choice for anyone who might have wooded land, a relative or neighbor looking to clear his or her land, or anyone with access to fairly inexpensive firewood.
There are loads of other alternative heating options, most of which I am not familiar with. Stoves exist that burn everything from pellets to wood to corn cobs. There is solar heating from the sun and geothermal heating from the ground. The options are bigger than you might think.
It is worth taking a look around your region at what resources might be available cheaply, or for free, and deciding what would be a good renewable resource to use for heating.
Changing the Temperature Expectations
Ever since we’ve been introduced to off-grid living in the colder temperatures I have been thinking that our society has funny expectations of what temperature the indoors should be when the outdoors are below freezing. Seventy two degrees just seems silly if it is 20 below zero outside. But what about 65 or even 60?
Nobody wants to be shivering in their living room, but if we dress for cold weather outside and inside then perhaps it isn’t such a stretch to keep the thermostat around 60 during the day and 50 at night. Likewise, dressing warmly at night (my husband loves to wear a hat!) and pulling out those heavy wool blankets could save you more than you imagine.
Cook to Heat
Finally, I think one often overlooked method of heating the house is in the kitchen. If you have to cook a meal anyway, then why not do so in a way that maximizes the warming up of your home.
Using an oven for breakfast and dinner is a great idea, as is foregoing the microwave and heating up leftovers in the oven. Big pots of soup or stew will make anyone happy coming in from the cold and the warmth of the food will lessen your desire to crank up that thermostat.
How do you recommend saving on energy costs?
I like to use a heating blanket to stay warm at night. This allows me to set the thermostat lower than I normally would. This year we got a great deal on a space heater and plan to use that in the bedroom at night. The rest of the house will stay cool and we’ll stay warm in the bedroom without having to run the furnace. (We live in Florida otherwise this wouldn’t be an option due to freezing pipes, etc).
I would like to say that heating your home with a wood stove is good it helps ; also heating with when cooking is true ; I would like to aks if anyone knews anyone in the state of Indiana that has a wood stove that they would be willing to give to a disabled lady who has a spinal cord injury and needs help heating her home she really does freeze in her home every winter please anyone out there that will help her thank you for helping if there is anyone out there to help her at all .
david and Madison
I love the idea of cooking to heat. I do that alot in the winter. It is so cozy. If I need to anyway, a lot of times, I’ll run my oven’s self-cleaning cycle when the wind outside is howling. And ever since reading the LHOTP books, I’ve appreciated snuggling in the the covers pulled up to my chin (and cuddling up to my “heater” AKA “Husband”) so much more!
I do agree that using a wood stove is more environmentally friendly in the long run, as long as you harvest wood in a sustainable way. I don’t agree with using the oven to warm up your house. Warming something up in the oven uses a lot more energy then the microwave and therefore is not an efficient way to *add* heat to your house. If you are opposed to microwaves I would suggest getting a used toaster oven, the space inside the toaster oven is a lot smaller than space inside the oven and therefore takes less energy to heat when you are warming up some food.