Tips for Coping With the Cold
Today feels like winter. Serious winter. It is supposed to get into the single digits tonight, and the wind is howling across a fresh glaze of snow and ice. It isn't just cold: it sounds cold, it looks cold, it even smells cold.
So it seems like a good time to present tips for coping with the cold. Not the cold outside, but the cold inside.
In my quest to save money on our heating bill, we've set our thermostat to 55 degrees Monday through Friday (68 on the weekends), on the theory that we're not home and awake most of the week. There's no question that this is saving us a ton of money: the amount of energy it takes to heat a house is proportional to the difference between the outside and inside temperatures. Keeping the inside temperature 15 degrees cooler than normal reduces the temperature difference a lot.
But 55 degrees is, at best, barely comfortable. When the snow flies and the wind hows, it feels decidedly unsnug. So here are some coping strategies:
Tip 1: Sleeping is the easiest to deal with. Lots of blankets, and an electric blanket on the master bed (the kids get footed PJs instead). A warm bed in a chilly room is surprisingly snug, and we all sleep really well. No problems here.
Tip 2: Keep moving. If you just sit still, you will start to feel cold. But if you're moving around, you don't notice the chill.
Tip 3: Warm clothes. Duh. Heavy sweaters and sweatshirts are the norm in the Frozen North household.
Tip 4: A warm haven. In our house, we have a separate furnace for one of the rooms off the kitchen (it was an addition, and apparently it was easier to add a second furnace than to connect the addition to the existing system). If necessary, we can close the kitchen doors and heat just the kitchen and one other room. This is much cheaper than warming up the whole house. A space heater or a roaring fire can also create small warm havens.
Tip 5: Calculate savings. If we're going to be uncomfortable, it helps to know that it's worth it. When the gas bill arrives, get out the calculator and figure out how much you're saving this winter.
In addition to saving money, we've discovered some other advantages of keeping the house cool. We're reducing (dramatically) the amount of CO2 we emit into the atmosphere, though a little global warming might feel good on a day like today. We're also more acclimated to the cool weather, so the cold outside doesn't feel quite as cold.
Remarkably enough, the kids haven't complained at all about the chill, though none of them have expressed any desire to wear T-shirts to school (as has happened from time to time in previous winters). The only complaints have been from She Who Puts Up With Me And My Crazy Ideas, and even She's been a pretty good sport.
Wood Heat Update: Our stove insert has arrived, and now we have to schedule an installation date. The earliest date we can get is 11/28, about a week and a half from today. Unfortunately, we have to get the chimneys cleaned first, and that won't happen until 12/6. I'm going to see if there's any way I can get an earlier date for the chimney sweep, though I'm not optimistic.