Heating Bills..

[HipChick]

Now the cold is here to stay...

How do you try and save?

I only heat one room in my house...does this make me cheap? I leave the thermostat so at least pipes don't freeze, but its just me and I tend to stay in one room more than anything else...so I just have a small oil heater in there, and it suffices

[RedCloud]

1. Here is "all" I have done.

Re-roofed with upgrade.
Thermal shielded the attic.
Thermal shielded the water heater.
Retrofitted side walls will more insulation.
Replaced HVAC and furnace with 2013 models!
Upgrade to a modern thermostat.
Will get windows installed next Friday.
I have critters big and small so the house must be total.

Stay warm HipChick!

[magical thyme]

2. I do pretty much what you do, although I heat 3 rooms, one part-time

Also, during the day while I'm at work once the real cold hits, I'll close my bedroom door and turn the heat off in there. At night, I turn the thermostat on the other 2 rooms down quite a bit -- as long as the birds don't do more than "put on sweaters" by slightly puffing their feathers -- they're fine.

The last 2 years I attended a workshop on making interior storm windows -- antiques without storm windows are prevalent in Maine. I made interior storm windows for my attic which saved me quite a bit as well as making my finished attic more comfortable -- turns out I was losing a lot of heat out of 2 smallish upstairs windows. I also made them for my bedroom, which has been another significant savings. That room is a modern sunroom addition with fancy double-pane windows, but it saved me quite a bit in there anyway.

My electric blanket uses very little energy and enables me to keep the thermostat relatively low at night.