When we bought a house in Oct, it had a programmable thermostat installed. This little thing has made a world of difference in our gas bill and comfort level this winter.

Having it automatically switch from the 60s to low fifties during the day when we are at work/school, and then warm up before we get home, and then cool down while we sleep has been great.

I would highly recommend them as opposed to trying to remember to turn the heat up and down manually.

We plug our electric space heater into a programmable lamp timer. We've programmed it to go on an hour or so before we normally go to bed, so the bedroom is nice and warm, and to turn off in the morning shortly before we leave for work, because I tend to lounge around in bed much longer than I should if my other option is getting up and dressed in a freezing cold room. It keeps the bedroom warm when we need it to be, and it's programmed to turn itself off during the times we're not usually around. It's been a huge help.

A wheat bag is safer than a hot water bottle. There's no risk of scalding hot water. It's basically a bag filled with wheat that you microwave for a couple of minutes.

We are taking #6 to heart. Right now were working on some home improvements geared at making the house more sellable and waiting for the markets to hopefully recover next year. But we decided not only were we just sick of dealing with northern weather but sick of the heating and cooling bills. So our goal is to move to one of about four cities or areas we have targeted that have a more moderate climate both high and low. Here we go from 100 highs in the summer to 50 below zero before the wind chill in the winter. The areas were looking at tend more toward 80 degree highs and 20 degree lows (as averages). If we find a place with decent insulation and possibly some back up heating source we should be able to lower our utility bills cutting our overall expenses. We also looked for places that had a similar or better cost of living.

We reuse shower water to flush our toilet. In the winter a tubful of hot water also heats the air (for a little while, at least).

Oh, I hate to admit this, but cleaning the house will warm you up in no time! I'm the only one in my house that feels the cold, but mopping the kitchen floor, sweeping the living room, or scrubbing a bath tub has me peeling off one or two of my three or four layers of clothes.

On nights I don't clean, I am in that bath tub, with a stack of books, magazines and notebooks for a few hours. A hot bath at 7 can keep me warm until I crawl under my electric blanket, which I only use to preheat the bed.

And I certainly don't think you're a wimp, but I live in San Diego, so my opinion probably doesn't hold much weight:)

A small (1 gal per min minimum)electric pump at your water heater, delivering water to the hot water faucet furthest from the heater will result in nice warm water to each faucet in the house. No more washing your hands in cold water or waiting for the water to get hot. The initial installation will cost around $100.00 depending on how much of the installation you do yourself. The side benefit is the water doesn't go down the drain while waiting for the shower or sink water to get hot. We use a low amp timer in series with the pump so it shuts off at night and comes back on in the a m before the hot water is needed. The lamp timer available at the hardware store ($5.00) works fine.

Ceiling fans - they push down the hot air, especially important if you have high ceilings.

Attic insulation. - pretty much a no-brainer. Heat rises. If you have a good quality insulation then you will loose less heat making it easier to warm your home.

Plastic over the windows - this works well for old windows. A roll of shrink film, double stick tape, and a hairdryer.

Insulating house paint - for those that paint the outside there's a type of paint that uses several coats (a type of primer, one being a ceramic paint, and the outside color being a paint /rubber mix) that can reduce heat loss by 10-15%, and as a plus the vendor that I saw guaranteed the paint for 25 years. Theres also paint for the inside of the house for the ceiling.

We went and bought one of those electric radiant heaters that are filled with water, we plug that in and then place a fan behind it to blow the heat out. It has reduced our heating bill tons. We are in Colorado in the mountains and we hardly use any propane anymore. We used to pay about $120 for propane, we have reduced that to about $40 for the cost of about $20 more in electricity. Well worth it.

Word of Caution they take a bit more than $20 in E :-) at 600 watts the lowest setting they will set you back $58 in electricity PER month if run 24 hours (and they only work well if you run them 24 hours)

Most medium and up homes need at least 3 to keep from being horribly frigid. Thats $180 a month in E (still cheaper than gas or propane but not nearly as warm)

Crank them upto 1500 watts like we had to a few times and now your talking $146 a month in E PER heater.

If you use an electric room heater in your bedroom at night, you can then turn the heat WAY DOWN for the entire rest of the house at night.

Fireplaces aren't very efficient, even though you can improve them with ventilated grates (made of tubes with an attached fan to circulate the heat into the room. When you're not using the fireplace, some of your heat goes right up the chimney even when the flue is closed. Fireplaces are nice decorations, but not so great for heating.

Wood-burning stoves are far more efficient... they really get good and hot, and will radiate significant heat into the room even from the stove pipe. You'll get far more heat from every log if you burn it in a stove.

Hi folks People that mentioned using ceiling fans to push heat back down are on the same track, but I have yet to note anyone that mentioned running their furnace fans continuously (those that use forced air heat, anyway). I was very surprised when I tried it on the advice of my retired neighbour, who used to be a burner mechanic for a major Atlantic Canada heating oil distributer. No cold spots in the house and the burner actually runs *less*. So much less that we leave the thermostat set at 70F/20C day and night all winter long, and are still saving money. We can now get by for about 300.00/month - about 2/3 what most of my neighbours pay. We are very well insulated, too. We're the last house on the street to melt the snow off of our roof, so that doesn't hurt. One caveat, though. The third horsepower fan motors are not really up to the task. They run a little hot, so have to cool down for about 15 minutes before they will restart after a power outage. They actually are fine for continuous run and last a proper lifetime - it's just in the case of the furnace losing power. If the motor is too hot, the excitor circuit (which starts it) drops out on an internal limiter until the thing cools down a bit. Like I said, about 15 minutes. But spending $30.00 more (i.e. $110.00 vs. $80.00) gets you a 1/2 horsepower motor that won't kick out its starter circuit. Why does it matter, you ask, if it doesn't actually affect the life of the motor (and doesn't even suck any more current)? Because when the power comes back on, there can be a call for heat (if the power outage hits just about when the thermostat was going to kick in the burner anyway - if it's a power outage longer than 15 minutes, then it doesn't matter), and even with a burner limiter, you don't really want it running with the circulatory fan unable to start. Can you say cracked firebox?

The most painful part of winter heating is the $$$ cost. It cannot be avoided. And it hits like a Budget Buster every time.
If you use oil-- you may have to pay for EACH delivery IN FULL to the tune of Hundreds of dollars. If it's Gas, you can spread it out over the entire year-- but then you're still paying for winter in the middle of the summer when you need a coupla hundred to pay for the AC.

This is a trick my mother told me-- and it's easier now with internet access. Add up your current Winter bill, let say your Oil bills. Let's say it about $2500. Divide by 52 and add about $5.
Then create a separate acct-- go for a HIGH interest SAVINGS acct like E-Trade or ING direct. Transfer $55 every week the the requisite amount every paycheck and learn NOT TO TOUCH it. No Vacation. NO Car. No New HDTV.
Global Warming aside, WINTER will STILL come around again, but it will be less predictable. Except now, when the bill comes, you pop the cork on the oil bill acct you created and pay the bill from there. If the Winter is MILDER than the previous one, you may use less and have some money left over plus interest. Start Over.
If you have the financial room-- do the same for AC costs. But remember-- we CAN sweat through heat in the summer if you really have to. But when it's cold-- the HEAT MUST STAY ON.

Absolutely use your fireplace, its amazing how entertaining sitting around a fire can be. Keep in mind, 65 is a healthier room temperature than 72. The lower the temperature, the more calories you burn to keep warm internally. Don't freeze yourself, as thats not very healthy either.

Wasn't there a public announcement in the radio (on either AM 740 or 810 in bay area) that tells people not to burn wood? it pollutes air quality for everyone in the neighborhood and also could cause global warming..

I'm a college student in a very cold winter climate. I live on the second story of a two-story apartment building and my roommates and I didn't have to turn on our heat once during the winter. If you can, I highly recommend looking for an apartment or duplex that is on an upper floor with someone living below you. Heat rises, and luckily the couple who live below us are from Pheonix, so they like to keep it nice and toasty. Just something to think about!