Hello, writing from Southern Australia here. Our seasons are very much influenced by the fact that we live in a solid concrete home that was built in 1939! The thick concrete walls make it very cold in the winter. I always have 3 layers on and Sox and ugg boots. In the evening we have a gas heater and a hot waiter bottle for bed. Our home is a dream in the summertime as the thick concrete walls are fantastic insulation from the summer heat, which can get to 48 degrees Celsius in the peak. If we have a week of over 40 degrees, the house takes three days to heat up. We use ceiling fans to cool, which do a fantastic job. Most summers we do not need air conditioner. We used it several years ago when we had family staying. We also have roller shutters over windows, which help to cool and darken the room and keep the warmth in during winter. I purchased a gel type mat to use under sheets in summer which helps cool the body at night. Haven’t tried it yet, but will be useful when we have power cuts due to thunderstorms in summer

I live in Virginia and this morning it was 26 degrees Fahrenheit.  I thought about the ice storms we have here and our power outages.  We have outages for days.  The most we have been without power was 7 days.  We do a lot of the things that others have talked about in the comments so I can't add to much there, but I thought I would tell about what we do when the power is out.  We have a house that is mainly the first floor with a bonus room on the 2nd floor that runs under the roof ridge.  When the power goes out the first thing I do is call the power company and report our outage, don't wait for someone else to do it.  Then if power is off in a large area, it will be off for a long time, I will put large sheet of plastic over the top of the stairs so heat doesn't go upstairs.   

The rooms with southern windows I will open the curtains and the rooms on the northern side I will keep the curtains closed and close the doors.  Can roll towels up and put on the floor in front of the doors.  Dress in layers.  If the sun is out our house will stay warm.  

For a chest freezer don't open it and put cardboard on the top as an extra layer of insulation. Make sure not to cover in vents.  A full freezer will last longer.  Add more ice to fill it up if needed.  We have a Sterno folding stove to warm and cook simple foods on.  There are 2 kinds of Sterno so you need the green Sterno to use in the house and only for short periods of time.  I have mostly warmed foods, but I have made scrambled eggs on it.

At night we use lots of covers and if really cold we put hand warmers in the bed to warm it up.  Someone else said to use a hat at night and this is a good time for that hat.  Also put your clothes for the next day in the bed with you and they will be warm in the morning when you get dressed.

We are seniors and we like a warm house so as long as we can keep the furnace running we will, but thinking of these things I see that if I needed too I could cut the energy bill by doing some of these things.  

Everyone stay warm on this cold day.

@Grandma Donna thank you :-D

I just went down quite the rabbit hole, trying to find out what would be a similar product to Pine Sol, available in Australia.  It looks like I could try straight up Isopropyl; I do have a spray bottle of Isocol here that I use for various things.  Pine Sol has a few alcohols in it, and the closest thing I could find to a degreaser/disinfectant made with several alcohols that are cleaners and solvents, is a product called Ajax Professional Bathroom Disinfectant Spray.  That's the one with mould killing properties.  It also rated the highest (along with some other products) for being 95% effective at the job it claims to do, by an organisation that tests these things, called Choice.  Anyway, that was quite the rabbit hole, it's hard to find the ingredients on most of these cleaners.  Also interesting was the history of Pine Sol, how often the company kept making false claims, and that there's no real pine in it now lol.

I cleaned the windows using a mould and scum removing bathroom cleaner, followed by proper window cleaner.  I am going to get some Ajax just before Winter and try wiping the windows over with that.  An experiment worth doing.  Better than cleaning off mould.

That's very interesting re: your cottage windows experiencing heat-cold-heat-cold, because that's what happens here.  Now that I've cleaned the windows I am going to take a leaf out of your book and start keeping a log of things that happen around here.  When my plants do well, when I open a new bag of cat food and what's going on with my mouldy windows!

If anyone can tell me how I tag another forum member I'd appreciate it. 

Mel B -- Awhile back I went looking for a real pine cleaner after reading about PineSol on Grandma Donna's blog, and found this pine cleaner on Amazon. I haven't ordered it yet, it's in my saved for later, so I can't tell you how good it is, but it's made from pine oil. 

King Pine Concentrated Pine Oil Multi-Surface Cleaner Industrial Strength, Original Black, 20 Fl Oz

Since you mentioned having cats, it's important to research the ingredients in any new cleaner you want to try.  I don't know what the laws are in Australia, but here in the US products unfortunately don't have to carry warnings when they're toxic to pets.  In particular many cats are poisoned by walking on a floors that have been cleaned with phenol (carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) and then licking their paws, and that's not the only ingredient to watch out for.  Even some essential oils, just from being too strong in the air, can harm sensitive kitties.

As far as I know there's not a way in this forum to tag anyone in the sense that they get a notification.  We just click on the bold "B" at the top left of the typing window before typing their name, to help it stand out who we are talking to.

I’ve very much enjoyed reading what everyone has had to say. We are in NE Ohio and we have electric baseboard heat which is extremely expensive so we keep it around 64-66F. We have a wood stove in the basement with a fan hood that distributes the heat throughout the house. Sometime it does too good of a job and I’ll have to open a window, lol! 

The only downside to keeping our home so chilly is that when I go other places I become overly warm because I’m used to our home being much cooler. Anyone else struggle with that? 

Dear Grandma Donna,

I'm a bit late to the party, but I just wanted to thank you for another lovely post.

To answer your question regards keeping warm in Winter. Where I live in New Zealand, in the North Island, our coldest Winter temperatures would be around 7 - 8 degrees Celsius. When we get a hard frost it will be minus 2 degrees. We have air conditioning that we put on in the mornings to take the chill off, but we only heat the room we are in at the time. Our kitchen/living area is quite large and open plan, so its a big space to heat. My husband normally will light the wood burner each day and even if I am away working some of the time, their will still be coals left and I can just stir them up and add some kindling to get a warm fire going again. The fire left going to burn out will still keep the house from being cold.  We will go through 3-4 cords of wood each Autumn/Winter. A cord of wood costs around $390.00 NZ dollars (about $220.00 US). So its always about $1,000 to keep warm. We budget for it, so we always have the money we need. The problem is the cost keeps rising :(

Regards clothing to keep warm. I've started wearing a warm singlet for the first time during the colder months and I find it to be so lovely and cozy. I also like to wear Merino wool items as they are not bulky, do not need continual washing and last a very long time. I like warm wool socks too. I'm also a scarf wearer and will wear one everyday, even inside. It's very important to keep the neck and upper chest area war, especially if one suffers with asthma like I do.

We also will have a lot of nourishing soups in the cooler weather and warm drinks, as all of that helps too.

Well that's all I have to contribute on this topic. Our concern in this hempisphere is staying cool right now. Many blessings to you all ~ Linda

Thanks Stephanie G!  I will look into that one. 

And thanks Tea S I went from 0 to expert in one second :-D

I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments and suggestions. I live in central NC and we have varying degrees of temperature weekly. A few days ago it was 45 degrees Farenheit and in a few days it will be 75. We live in a 1500 square foot home with an open concept living, kitchen and dining area. This makes it easier to heat the rooms most used during the day.  We keep our thermostat at 68 degrees. During colder weather we try to limit the use of our central heating unit by using our natural gas log fireplace.The monthly cost for this is 25 dollars a month and this includes the use of the stove/oven as well.

My husband and I wear layers, warm socks and use fllannel sheets on our bed. Lots of warm beverages, soups,  cozy blankets and our 2 cats  also help. :)

Angela

Hi Crunchy con,

  I bought a thick, flannel nightgown from VermontCountrystore.com last year. Warning, it was $55, I think the brand is Lanzen.  I have found these in Northern thrift stores in the past, but couldn't find another new to me one after a 2 year search, so I got a new one.  They are excellent quality.  The flannel is 1thick and 100% cotton.  My thrifted ones lasted 4 years before I cut them up for house cleaning rags. My new nightgown keeps me toasty warm and it even has pockets.

  I think LL Bean and Landsend have similar nightgowns, but I can't vouch for their quality.

Ellie in AR

I am in rural Kansas. in a poorly insulated house built in 1951.I have a natural gas furnace and prices to heat the place are pretty reasonable.  We do produce oil in this state.  I have three sets of merino wool underwear. They weren't cheap but have held up for several years. I wear them at night too. I have a number of wool blankets and have always stocked up on warm clothing.  I knit so I have sweaters and shawls to wear. 

I did buy a big roll of that hot water heater insulation.  It looks like bubble wrap with a silvery coating on both sides.  In the coldest months, I put this up around the wall in my bedroom.  It does help. For some reason, that bedroom doesn't get much heat. I like it cooler, but not as cool as it gets in February.  

Yes. I do! We keep our home on the cool side, too and when I go to my Mom's house I start sweating. She is on blood thinners, so she is always cold and keeps her thermostat on 72 or higher. I have to start taking off clothes while I am there and then put it all back on when I get home.  ;-)

I really feel too warm when I go to other's houses that are kept on the warm side. I make sure to dress in layers and sometimes I simply can't take anymore off, so I sweat.