It might just be me but it seems like this winter is colder than usual.  It could also be that this is my first winter in 9 years and I am having winter amnesia and missing the 70 degree weather in sunny San Diego.

While I’ve been dreaming of nice warm days and nights,  my husband and I are finding it harder and harder to keep our little one bedroom apartment warm.  Especially this last month.  We have a programmable thermostat that we’ve set at 68 degrees for the day and 65 for the night.  However, I just got our Excel bill yesterday and it has gone up more than $36!  Most of the information I’ve read so far suggests lower the thermostat but with our drafty windows and doors this isn’t really helping.  At this rate we will be cold and poor!

I did some research today and I found this great article on ways to help save money on heat at night.  I think some of these can also be implemented during the day, especially if you are like us and work from home.

The main tips from the article are to:

1. Dress warm – throw on a pair of wool socks, a sweater, and/or a hat

However if you’re not a fan of piling on wool here are some other tips…

2. Use a programmable thermostat and lower the heat by 10 degrees for 8   hours a day.  You could initially save up to $46 dollars a year on your heating bill.

3. Insulation, insulation, insulation….this can be an investment but can save you up to 50-60% on your monthly heating bill.  Putting in wall installation can only be done on owned properties of course. There are options for apartments, see the next tip.

4. Air sealing – this is an easy way to fix drafty windows in an apartment because it can easily be taken down once the weather starts to warm up.  All you need is a heavy-duty clear, plastic sheet and some tape.  Use it on windows and hopefully the drafts are gone!

5. Keep lowering your heat – while it might sound crazy if you keep your heat at 60 degrees you can save even more money.  However, this will only really be effective if you properly winterize your home.

6. If you can’t bare the thought of setting your thermostat at 60 degrees try 65 degrees and use a space heater.  This is what we are going to try since we work from home and have limited options as to how we can winterize the apartment.  The idea is to only heat the rooms you occupy instead of trying to heat the whole apartment or house.

If you have any tips to share please let me know.  It’s always nice to learn new tricks to keeping in the heat! Also, the link to the article is listed below.

Savings Experiment: How to Save Money on Heat at Night.

Here is a link to my Green Irene website if you want to check it out.  You can see my catalog there and if you have any questions just let me know!

Meet Your Local Eco-Consultant – Green Irene Eco-Consultants.

I just got a new book that I love and I think might be my bible for living more green. The book is called Easy Green Living by Renee Loux and so far I have learned a great deal about using nontoxic products and better understanding labels. I will most likely be referencing this book a lot as I get started. Hope you guys like it as much as I do:)

Here is an interesting article about CU dorms that are going green.  The university is exploring options on implementing shower times for students to help reduce water usage and to also save money.  Cost savings could be passed along to students but nothing is certain yet.  A decision will be set in the next month or so and it will be interesting to see what students and parents think about the idea.

http://cbs4denver.com/green/University.of.Colorado.2.1367389.html