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Help me stay warm this winter!
TKid
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys!
I'm currently living in a pretty old apartment. I was looking at moving, but it's just not financially feasible at the moment. So that being what it is, I am stuck in this place until at least next summer. This apartment is really poorly insulated and the windows are pretty horrible, so the electric bills were running me about 400-500 dollars a month. The apartment is heated with several floor panel based units that are controlled from one thermostat.
I had a boyfriend here last year who has since moved out, and I can't afford those kinds of bills alone. What can I do to help make this place more energy efficient? Keep in mind I am renting and can't make any changes to the unit itself.
I'm currently living in a pretty old apartment. I was looking at moving, but it's just not financially feasible at the moment. So that being what it is, I am stuck in this place until at least next summer. This apartment is really poorly insulated and the windows are pretty horrible, so the electric bills were running me about 400-500 dollars a month. The apartment is heated with several floor panel based units that are controlled from one thermostat.
I had a boyfriend here last year who has since moved out, and I can't afford those kinds of bills alone. What can I do to help make this place more energy efficient? Keep in mind I am renting and can't make any changes to the unit itself.
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Use one of those shrink wrap window kits to seal your windows up and stop drafts. It's basically a roll of double sided tape and some shrink wrap, all you need to provide is a hair dryer.
Buy some flannel lined jeans from llbean.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=pelonis+heater&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7096445461605458707&sa=X&ei=0F-jTozGL8LW0QGb2sW5BA&ved=0CJ8BEPICMAY
I've had space heaters before which are ridiculously expensive if you leave them on all night. If you're going to do a space heater, I suggest turning it on right before bed to warm up the room. Strangely enough, if you do this you should splay-open the sheets to your bed to let the mattress absorb some of the heat, otherwise your sheets will trap cold air in your bed. Use your hair drier (while the space heater or radiator is unplugged!) to warm up your sheets before bed so that they're nice and cozy for you. And maybe dip your feet for 4 mins under the warm water in the tub/shower before bed -- i have to do that sometimes due to poor blood circulation in my feet.
if you stay in your bedroom or a certain room most of the evening, keep the heater in that one room and KEEP THE DOOR CLOSED! That will retain the heat well in one room. Candles will help, psychologically, and tea is also lovely (or hot chocolate). If the kitchen gets too cold, turn on the oven broiler and the room will heat up in no time (if you have an oldie for an oven, that is).
good luck!
Delzhand is right about the blankets, I usually sleep with three comforters on my head. Invest in some big heavy blankets and you'll be toasty when you sleep! I always have a couple pairs of thick warm socks from REI that I wear around as well. I can't sleep with socks on cuz it feels weird, and if you're like me then you keep them in the bed with you (under the pillow maybe?) so that they're not cold when you put them on in the morning!
Showering is the WORST cuz the bathroom is steamy and warm but the rest of the house is an icebox! I bring all my clothes in with me into the bathroom and make sure I'm all dressed and my hair is dried before I go out! Even if you have short hair, taking a few minutes to blow dry it could keep you a little warmer
You could also invest in some warm long underwear, like the kind skiers wear. I usually stuff like that around my apartment, because even though it isn't much of a fashion statement it keeps me cozy!
http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Heat-Micro-Fleece-Low-Voltage-Electric/dp/B002MUB9II/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1319334114&sr=1-3
it does bump up the electric bill but maybe $20-30/month total...
That is ridiculously cold!
When you're getting electric bills of $400-$500 each month, you're wasting about $350 because of inefficiency. The answer really isn't to just use more efficient heaters. You're just going to lose that heat. The answer is to prevent heat from escaping in the first place.
If you rent, talk to your landlord about taking some steps to correct the issue. Since you pay for your own utilities, it's really up to him to make sure your apartment isn't losing heat like that. With those bills, though, it's likely a lot more than just some draughty windows. The walls themselves are probably really poorly insulated, and the wind beating on the outside of your apartment is negating a lot of the heat. I suggest calling your local tenant board and asking what your landlord is responsible for. Tell them what you're paying per month to heat your apartment.
We pay about $125-$150 per month to keep our house at about 70-75 year round. It jumps from being a gas bill in the winter and an electric bill in the summer, but it's a 1600 square foot place with a finished basement for an extra 600 square feet. I'm assuming your apartment is a lot smaller.
My apartment is considerably smaller, yes. The tricks to why the bill is so high here is not just the inefficiency of the unit or the heating that is here, but also in the electric company. The company I am with BUYS their power from other providers and "delivers" it to us. It then charges us to deliver the power on top of the cost of our usage. The delivery fee is usually about 100-175 dollars more than the usage. My bills in the summer are about 110 a month, with 30 dollars of usage, the rest delivery fees.
I am not under lease here, and pay month to month. I'm not really sure to what degree my landlord is liable at that point. I'll look into some of the smaller comforts to help me feel better, thanks for those suggestions.
I work from home, and subsequently spend most of my time in my living room. Would it be cheaper to run a space heater in the living room and close off the rest of the house? And how efficient are blackout curtains at preventing heat from escaping the windows?
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holy moley. that is crazy high. we have been keeping our house between 68-70 since we have a newborn and i sweat my balls off. i couldnt imagine 75
At the very least you want some heavy curtains - if you can handle blackout curtains on your windows, these work particularly well. I tacked mine to the wall all around the window on the inside of the crease so they still looked nice but were flush to the wall at all points. If your walls feel like they are also letting in cold, you can also line your walls with fabric in much the same way... it won't entirely fix the problem, but it will help a little bit. Plastic wrapping windows and heavy curtains will cut down on a lot of heat loss from the windows. Also personal anecdata here but in my experience electric baseboard heat is the most expensive and least effective way to get a room up to a proper temperature, you'd be better off setting it at a lower base temp and using an oil-filled radiator like that Pelonis or a Delonghi to keep the room you are in warm. The only thing to keep in mind with an oil-filled radiator is they are not extremely fast heaters - you aren't going to turn it on and feel toasty five minutes later, but if you turn it on and leave it on low for the night you are going to wake up in a really nicely warm room that will stay warm for a low utility cost as long as you leave the preheated radiator heater going. Put carpets or rugs on the floor if you have hardwoods, and preheat your bed before you go to sleep by getting a corn bag or heating pad and slipping a heated bag/pad between your sheets 5-10 minutes before you go to bed, I also put a corn bag between my pillows since I sleep with my hand between pillows, and then curl up with the heated bag against my chest until I fall asleep.
A note though, if you don't have doors or enclosed rooms even a radiator heater is not going to help much, because you're going to be trying to heat your entire coldass apartment with one radiator heater. Unless you've got a very small/studio apartment, a radiator heater is going to be best in a place like a bedroom or any other room where you can close it off from the rest of the space so that only that small space requires heating. And depending on how shit your baseboard heat is, it may actually be cheaper to heat your place with two radiator heaters than use the baseboard heat at all, again depending on size.
Another thing you may be able to do is to take your electric bills to your landlord and have them do something about the insulation. This obviously depends on your relationship with the owners and what sort of people they are. I had a roommate who's window was very leaky and he took our electric bills to them to show a marked difference in heat loss. They sent over maintenance and sealed our windows with foam tape in the sills and a plastic wrap over the window frame.
The heater is supposed to be crazy good, but its probably like $400.
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For about 6 years I lived in an apartment much like the one the OP is describing though. Extra blankets and the window kits helped so so much. Space heaters weren't ever my thing because I had cats and I was worried they would burn themselves on it. Electric blankets are awesome for the night though.
Also now is a great time to get into baking.