High-tech tips for keeping warm this winter don’t have to cost and arm and a leg. Some of the best are available at any big box store for less than $50 USD. The following six tips for keeping warm this winter are all simple, effective, and designed to lower home heating bills without any big upfront investment:
Stay warm in front of the computer or TV with a USB blanket. USB blankets don’t eat up a lot of electricity, and will keep you warm and toasty while surfing the Internet or watching television at night. Some USB blankets even come in robe-like shapes for this exact purpose.
Keep feet toasty with battery powered heating socks or wool slippers. Battery-powered socks keep feet warm and dry for a fraction of a cent per use. Wool slippers are even cheaper. Wool is the only fabric that retains warmth when wet, but don’t throw wool socks or slippers in the dryer! Wool shrinks if not laid out flat after a cold water washing.
Maximize your home heating efficiency with a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat can be purchased at any big box home improvement store or hardware store for as little as $30 USD. Easy to install, a programmable thermostat helps you to keep warm in the winter without turning up the heat by turning down the heat automatically when you are out of the house or asleep. This single high-tech tip for keeping warm can pay for itself in a single month in colder climates.
Stay warm while texting with touch-screen gloves. A company called A glove sells special indoor gloves so thing and responsive you can actually text or type while wearing them. Paired with an automatic blanket, touch-screen gloves are one of the best tips for staying warm in a cold house while enjoying any relaxing activity.
Insulate outlets to put an end to cold drafts. One of the cheapest and simplest tips for staying warm is to insulate all your electrical outlets. Many local hardware stores sell outlet insulation panels that just pop in behind the outlet cover, or you can easily make your own. Cold drafts can seep into a room from seemingly small spaces, and many people forget about the air that gets in through holes in their walls cut for electrical outlets.
Celebrate a bygone era with a hot water bottle! A basic tip for keeping warm that few people today remember is the hot water bottle. Inexpensive to buy and cheap to fill, a hot water bottle can keep you warm on the couch or in bed all winter long for a negligible cost.
Notice that most of these tips for keeping warm involve keeping individual bodies warm as opposed to entire houses. During the years when energy was cheap, most households got used to romping around a winter home in bare feet and shorts, but in times gone by, wool long johns, heavy socks, and toasty quilts were staples in every winter home.
Employing basic or high-tech tips for keeping warm involves changing old habits. Keeping a body warm is lots cheaper than heating an entire home. Try any new tip for keeping warm for three weeks and it becomes a new habit—a habit that will be reinforced when reduced home heating bills start tolling in!
