Crazy Ways to Reduce Your Heating Bill This Winter
We’ve heard all the regular ways to conserve heat in your home. And hopefully by now you’ve caulked your exterior walls, covered windows with plastic, and insulated the water heater. Now, it’s time to explore these perhaps less known ways to reduce the amount you spend heating your home — without needing to keep your teeth chattering, all bundled up in a Norwegian wool sweater, with down slippers glued to your feet all winter long. (Although, no lie, all those help too.)
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Heat Lamps (like the Incandescent Brooder Light above); available from Amazon
Heat the space right around your body with a portable heater, then turn down the furnace that heats the entire house. You can plug it in and turn it on when you need it. So fancy yourself a little chickie and settle down to roost as you watch television or sit at your desk – in a little bubble of warmth and comfort. You’ll see the savings soon.
Clay Pot Heater; Kandle Heeter (above) available from Heat Stick or the materials for a DIY version are probably available in your garage or backyard
If you want to take it even further, either buy a readymade clay heater, or make a flower pot into a heater using candles. Once the pot heats up from the little frame, it emanates a nice heat. And since it’s candle-powered, no kilowatts required.
Inflatable Chimney Balloon; available from Amazon
Warm air rises and chimneys give that air the perfect avenue to go up and disappear from your house entirely. If you have a fireplace, and want to keep hot air in your home, try one of these handy dandy chimney balloons. Popular Mechanics reports that one will save you an estiamted $100 a year – which means it will pay for itself in a couple of winters.
Japanese-Style Kotatsu; available from Amazon or DIY a version with help from Instructables
A kotatsu is basically a low table with a built-in heat source underneath. The table frame is covered by a heavy blanket, which traps the air. The person sits on the floor with their legs underneath the blanket, keeping themselves nice and toasty. It’s comfortable, but still functional for eating or getting work done on a surface.
→Re-edited from a post originally published 11.4.14-NT