Frugal ways of keeping warm on a budget.
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2024
- December is coming & it's getting colder. Can you keep warm on a budget? Yes you can! I tell you how.
Frugal Queen in France
We are a British couple living in Brittany on a budget.
Frugal recipes, days out, home renovations and day to day making do in France.
We’ll give you hints, tips, advice and an insight into our life in France.
Website www.frugalqueeninfrance.com/
Instagram / frugalqueen. .
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When I get cold sitting and doing handcrafts on my comfy chair, I invite my two little dogs to join me. Everyone benefits and we all enjoy each other’s company.
Too cute
Love really keeps you warm!❤
My favourite way of keeping warm in the evening is to have a warm doggie on my lap 🥰
The best way!
I use my dog, Pepper, to keep my feet warm as he snuggles under the duvet.
Another great video Jane and Mike. Yes, these businesses are having a good time out of all this, at our expense. Annoying, but as you say, we just have to get through it the best way we can. This year, I too have invested in a thermal door curtain to partition the hall and kitchen. It's fine open plan in the warmer months but I found that in winter, when the heating WAS on, a lot of heat was being lost. What a difference this has made. I'm layered up right now and always cover myself with a blanket when watching TV. I do find that my hands feel the cold so, I've cut a finger and thumb out of an old pair of gloves and whenever possible, I put them on. This enables me to do stuff and still use my phone etc; without removing them. Again, what a difference this has made. I live alone now and find I'm becoming more and more creative in my frugality.😆 My parents had me late in life and many a time I think about the measures they took to keep us warm in the winter. Don't think this ever leaves you does it. Right now I refuse to give these energy companies tons of my money every month therefore am trying my best to reduce the amount of time that my heating is on, whilst at the same time, keeping the house aired. Thanks again to you both. 🤗
Thanks Shelia
I find that a really cold day is a good time to get the ironing done. It warms me up and I end up with a pile of nicely ironed clothes 😊.
That's a great idea
Thank you Jane and Mike. My mom used to tell me when she was little they would put a brick on the cook stove and warm it up and then wrap it in an Old Sock and put it at the foot end the bed at night under the blankets and it would keep them warm.
That’s great.
Lol yes, you've just reminded me of this, and how the chorus would go up... who's got the BRICK, when the next person went off to bed and wanted it re-warming!
Thank you. I appreciate your advice and "common sense".
My husband and I live in Maine. We heat with coal and close off unwanted rooms. Actually, with our cold climate, a closed off room makes a wonderful cold storage for our onions and root vegetables. Wearing a hat, even in the house is huge for keeping warm. I also like to use fingerless mitts inside. Our house is older so we bank it to retain heat as well.
We keep food in our unheated basement.
Open blinds on sunny days and closing them at sunset , as well as changing to winter curtains were what my mother did. Also, we used flannel sheets and extra blankets on the beds. My mom had a sweater ( jumper as you would call it) that I remember her wearing every day in the cold weather. My parents had 9 children, so there were many frugal activities.
Great tips.
We keep the blinds closed on the front of our home here in Florida in the summer to keep the heat out.
We've got several hot water bottles and are sitting watching tv with one each on our tummies! Very cosy
I remember my Grandad had his bed in the front room x
Hi I am 59. You brought back a memory, when I grew up blankets were mattress protectors.
Congratulations on reaching 30K subscribers, Jane and Mike!
Thanks so much!
Canadian tip I haven’t seen in the comments yet: that camping gear is usable inside. We used to use our sleeping bags on top of our bed blankets as an additional layer or just slept in them under our quilt. They’re really really warm. I remember sweating 🥵
Here (Michigan), too! A cold-weather sleeping bag is a great cover over the wool blanket and flannel sheets.
I also use camping vacuum bottles to immediately store the "extra" coffee and heated water for later use.
@@jbalconi9903 Michigan is practically Canada right? 😉
Great tip!
I love love love my hot water bottle this time of year. It is a real lifesaver!
They certainly are
During the first lockdown down (we live in Australia) our income dropped to 10% of what it usually is. It was super tough. We had just moved into our house and it had no curtains and it was winter. We put nails in the window architraves, at the top so no one could see them and sewed loops on old blankets and hung them over the windows in the evening. We also isolated our living room with blankets in the doorways (even though we had a door our children never closed the door so blanket worked better for us). We also did bubble wrap on all the windows. We dropped the thermostat and rugged up. We dropped our heating bill significantly. It wasn’t ideal but we were warm and healthy
Great tips.
A couple of years ago i had to live a year without electricity, water, and had very little money for food. Layers of clothing, layers of blankets and comforters, and for water i had a big plastic tub to catch rain water for washing and flushing the toilet. Drinking water i got from the gas station. It felt like camping in my house. But with a couple of cats that get under the covers at night i was toasty warm.
When I was little we had no central heating or radiators in any rooms the windows were single glass panes, and there was always marks where Jack frost had traced his icy fingers along them, we had a coal fire, where my mum would toast bread and crumpets and the beds were layered with blankets and coats. Now our fuel bills are extortionate, my direct debit is double what I was paying 2 years ago and everyone I know is economising where they can to make ends meet. It feels very much like how we lived in the 70s.
It's a pile of steaming muck! It really is!
There is nothing like toasted bread at the fire. Precious memories.
These tips were the way I grew up. My grandfather was on all these ways of dealing with the cold in the house. Glad I lived my childhood this way, as it definitely prepared me for today!
It prepared us well
Wool socks are a must in the Cold Session. Along with tea and soups reminds me of my childhood. My grandparents always said . Work something it gets you warm.
Your grandparents were so right
I was advised by my older relatives to wear thermal underneath my jumpers ,and blouses when I was younger,and I still do now , they are great to keep me warm, I do love your dogs at the end of the videos they are cute 🥰
Great tip!
Hello frugal queen, thank you for doing this video. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode! I live in the South of England, where it is mildest in the UK. However, even i am finding the weather to be very cold! My late nana Phyllis was an outdoor lady, lover of nature and she used to say that if the berries come come into fruition early it is the sign of a harsh winter. On my local news weather review the weather man said that the berries have come out early this year. I thought then that i believe that this winter will be a colder one! I use large 2 litre hot water bottles and I will be giving hot water bottles to family and friends as christmas presents. Also, i usually give mugs, warm hats, thick or thermal socks, hats, gloves and scarves as christmas presents. This year i am giving fleece throws to some of my friends. I bought a few throws and a weighted blanket during the black friday deals. Also, i have bought thermal under wear top and leggings and of course thermal socks. I'm hoping to get some thermal boots next. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and have some arthiritis in my neck. I am thinking of getting some more thermal under wear to double up with my other thermal underwear, as i feel the cold more due to my fibromyalgia. At night i put my electric blanket on for a few minutes, which my mother tells me is quite economical to do.
Thanks so much for watching and sharing
Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving, lots of cooking to warm us up! Then lots of left overs for the week. Have a wonderful rest of your week.
Happy holidays!
Excellent presentation, as usual. In addition, possibly take a bit of time to check in on elderly neighbors or young families with small children, to see if they need help closing off rooms with curtains, or remembering to use draft protection ( or whatever is pertinent to their own living space).
Every year we hear of elderly people getting very sick or even passing away in homes too cold to live in.
Thanks to you and Mike for all these great ideas.
Great point!
Some great ideas there Jane, some I hadn’t thought of! My mum used to put snakes behind the doors of rooms not in use - tubes of fabric stuffed with scraps, to insulate against droughts coming under the doors and keeping the heat in rooms we were using but turning off the heat in those unused rooms. I’m about to get a new place to live in Belgium so colder than I am used to and that is one of my plans to keep me busy in the evenings (do some sewing) and some snakes are high on my project list!. I already have a few throws and a couple of floor mats in my truckload of things coming to me from home, and all my jumpers and thermals and long socks. (Apart from the few I brought in my suitcase to last the initial 6 weeks).
Thanks for sharing
I make lots of soups and slow cooker meals in the fall/winter.
So warming Gladys
Me too, nothing better than a mug of hot soup when you come in out of the cold. My slow cooker and my soup maker are my best friend in winter. Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, stew or curry for dinner all taste and warming meals. I also make a flask of hot coffee so if I start to feel a little chilli I can have an instant hot drink. Water bottle on my knee when sat about and also in my bed at night ensures I am always comfortably warm. I also ensure I am warmly dressed , extra layers including vest and long John’s and thick socks. Also make sure your footwear has a good sole. Light weight soles on slippers do not keep your feet ward. Fingerless gloves and a scarf is it’s really cold. Hat and leather gloves if going out in cold weather.
Great practical ideas Jane. Love your scarf idea. I have short hair and I frequently wear my hat in the house, especially when sitting around not moving about. I also have great warm hooded bathrobe that I will wear over my regular day clothes if it's really cold during the day.
Great idea!
I pull my hair back, just as you do, Jane. When it's cold, I leave it a lot loser, so that the sides come down over my ears s bit. Just that little bit of hair has a warming effect.
I use either flannel or fleece sheets, so that my feet are not cold in bed. I also knitted a blanket out of a crinkly yarn, so that it's very insulative. As it gets colder and colder, I add a fleece blanket over top it, then later, a duvet. I stay so snuggly warm in bed. Sometimes I don't use a top sheet, but have the knitted blanket next to me. It's easily washable. I stay so, so toasty warm and don't have to wait till the sheets warm up.
I love your ideas. My grandparents raised their children during the great depression, so had to evonomize in every way possible. My parents learned that from living it, so I'm used to it. I haven't gone to the extremes my grandparents had to go to, until the last couple of years, but I've always been frugal. Now, I go to the same lengths my grandparents did. At least I know how and don't mind doing it.
When I bake, I leave the oven door open until there's no more heat coming from it.
One thing I've done that doesn't really keep the house warmer, but cuts down on gas and electric bills is insulate the hot water heater. Covers are made and can be bought in a home goods store, like Lowe's. My water heater uses gas, but the switch to turn it on is electric. I do a LOT to keep utilities down, but there's so much to say about that that I'd have to write volumes here! There's so much that I probably could write a book about it! 😄
Thanks Jonna, it’s always great to hear from you
I was lucky to be able to afford extra insulation in my attic. It has made a huge difference.
I love to read in bed and have a small soft blanket to wrap around my shoulders while I read. Warm and snuggly.
That's so lovely
Thank you Jane and Mike! Just sat outside in the shade, and enjoyed the morning 🌅 sunshine! I do stretches, knee bends, and swings in the sunshine! The fresh air is cool, and I just have on tee shirt yoga pants, and socks!
Sounds great!
Hi, sometimes I will wear a beanie hat indoors, that helps too. Thank you for good tips. Thanks Jane and Mike and Puppies.
Great tip.
My darling hubby has a shiny head and that's where he really feels the cold so, for me, it's officially winter here when he pulls on his beanie - which he wears 24/7 - even in bed! I know it's spring when he puts it away LOL. It keeps him comfortable - and he looks cute in it as an added bonus! Cheers from Oz!
Yes, a lot of heat is lost through the top of heads. I often wear my beanie indoors during the colder months and what a difference it makes. 🤗
I am in the US Midwest and have always lived this way. A great investment I made years ago was buying 2 good quality Thermos bottles. They are a good size and I fill them with boiling water each morning for tea throughout the day. You could fill with coffee also. I am a little odd in that I like to drink just plain hot water too😂 if I get cold in the evening I find if I warm my feet in a basin of hot water it heats me right up! Love all the tips😊
Thanks so much for sharing
And funny enough, here in Oz in the summer, when I want to cool down, I soak my feet in cold water - with the added benefit of a bit of barnacle removal and a quick pedi and it helps me sleep better! Hope you have a gentle winter! Stay warm, and cheers from Oz!
I like hot water too, first thing in the mornings in winter. I think you dehydrate overnight tucked into a warm bed. Conversly in summer I drink a cup of tea when I first get up lol
nothing like cooling your toes at the beach in summer . I'm in oz too ,what state are you in?@@andersonomo597
And you've made me think.......I make a pot of tea most mornings and it goes cold before I've had my several cups. We've got Thermos bottles we hardly use, so duh, why am I not using them like you are doing! Thanks for the tip!
The trade off i have for the brutal heat/humidity we have in the summer, is that our winters are usually mild. Plus, im at that lovely time of life that i rarely get cold😅.
I definitely tend to drink more coffee and eat more soup this time of year. I also pull out my fuzzy socks for bedtime!😊
😊
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for the video. I am making double layer fleece blankets for Christmas presents for my grown children. I found lovely long John type tops for the ladies and I have pulled out the super cozy socks I was given last Christmas. Also, you're talking about soup make me realize I have all the ingredients for soup and so I started chopping onion and celery.
Thanks so much for watching
Our house is a house of curtains. We spend most of the winter in one room - our small living room. In the winter, we make space for a small table and chairs, in addition to our couch, love seat, and tv. Curtains keep the warmth from the wood stove in the living room.
Sounds great!
Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap... Keeping your head warm is a must. My husband is bald and has a fine knit skull cap he wears to sleep when the temperatures plunge.
Gosh - my darling is shiny headed too (we don't use the 'b' word around here LOL). The minute it gets cold he whips on his knitted beanie and wears it 24/7 until it warms up in the spring. Our winters here in Sydney are pretty mild but it can get nippy at night and in the early morning. It's nice to know that there are others who wear head coverings to bed!
It's amazing how much a second layer helps and actually tucking your shirt in heats up your body! It's hard to get kids to do that.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you Jane, I’m 60 and remember so well no central heating. The Rayburn downstairs heating only the living room. On our bed we had flanalette sheets, blankets, eiderdown and a bed spread. Inside was the hot water bottle that had been put in the bed an hour before bedtime. I still use a hot water bottle in really cold weather, even if I’m sitting in the evening. A hot water bottle on the back warms me right up. I also wear my bed socks during the day when it’s really cold. You do what you have to do. 😻🙏❤️
Thanks for sharing
Our house definitely shrinks a bit in winter! When it's really cold we tend to both sit in our small cosy living room rather than using/heating other rooms. I love cooking warming winter casseroles, soups, stews and pies, and lovely winter vegetables. I made a curtain for the one remaining single glazed window and that has made a difference. For very cold weather I also have an old draught-excluder at the front door. Great advice as always Jane.
Thanks for sharing!!
I remember having 1 fire to heat a 3 bedroomed house, no heating upstairs meant we had real wool blankets, fleece like bedding, feather eiderdowns on top of candlewick covers, we had more clothes on in bed than out of it, but we were never cold, I’ve recently inherited some of the old fashioned cream wool blankets, I’m going to put some under the bottom sheets just like my grandmother did.
We still have that, just one fire to heat the house.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Hope your windows are better than the old single glazed sash windows we had, brrrr, luckily my grandmother was a seamstress and could make good curtains to keep some of the draft out, didn’t stop Jack Frost coming in though.
We have air tight double glazed doors and windows and every floor, wall, ceiling and roof is insulated. It doesn't meet passive house standard but it's never cold and no drafts
Our grandparents and parents did the same things regardless of where they lived 😊. 9 or 10 years ago Lowe’s had insulation on sale for $9.99 and were purchased enough to add another layer to the attic. We heat with wood and the house holds the heat extremely well, we load the stove before bed time and it’s warm all night. We made heavy plastic covers for the windows 🪟 with 1X1 wood frame and plastic used for greenhouses and staple to wood frames.
Very wise
We do wear warmer clothes. I open drapes to let sun in all day and close at night. They are the thermal kind to help keep cold out. (In summer keep heat out with closed from sun!) I do appreciate all of your posts and things to do to save money.
Thanks so much
In my Austin, Texas, that's very well insulated. It was overnight dropped to 40, house temp. 68, no heat on. Open all blinds because the sun is out, and it will keep the house warm.
That's lovely
I have developed a new love for the hot water bottle, but these now have covers, so retain heat a lot longer. I always had one in my bed as a child - typical house with no heating - but they used to be wrapped in old bits of towel or sheet. I piked up some Welsh wool blankets a few years ago, a couple were seconds, apparently had faults in the weave which I couldn't see, so heavily discounted. Definitely a good buy. And a big yes to layers, I have quite a collection of vests and also T shirts which have got a bit dull or worn, perfect for wearing underneath and out of sight. I am amazed at how much warmer I feel just having a pair of thick tights on and I've adopted your scarf habit. We have no heating in our large kitchen, I spend a lot of time out there. I fill the oven and, when finished, have been known to stand there with the door open, warming my knees. Following your idea, I know I have a few offcuts of carpet in our shed, so will bring these in to stand on, no more hopping from leg to leg peeling and preparing veg!
Love mine too
I made draft exculder out of old leggings stuffed with old socks an t-shirts to put at bottom of my front door ,I also have hot water bottles to keep me warm while crafting or watching TV .
Thanks for sharing
Thank you very much for the reminders of things our grandparents did.
An electric blanket or trow, are great for watching TV. Nice and toastie😊
Nice and toasty
After WW2 there was a solid fuel shortage in UK which which rivalled those for much of the war. Mum's solution to not having fuel to burn...? She took us out, well wrapped up, for bracing walks and then when we came in, we were glowing. it meant she didn't have to even try to light a fire for a couple of hours longer, until the last vestige of that warmth was gone. I don't need heating very often in my ultra modern, shoebox sized apartment with great insulation, and I find that if I light a big pillar candle, safely inside a hurricane glass, it provides more than enough warmth to sit by in the evenings. And I also have a big plush throw which sits on my sofa, winter long, in which i wrap myself for watching TV or reading.
Thanks for sharing
Congrats!! The both of you deserve it!
Thanks
Thanks for sharing these important tips. I use the sun to heat up house in the winter by opening curtains early to allow heat in then close curtains when the sun goes down.
That's amazing how much rain you receive there. Have a Great Day!
Great tip!
Thanks SO MUCH for your thioughtful commentary on being as careful as possible with keeping our homes COZY ENOUGH but not wasteful of our limited dollars and resources. You spoke of layering clothes, shutting off rooms we dont really need during the cool snaps, and so on. The value of hot drinks was appreciated as well. We live in Montreal and winter here is an exquisite challenge. With climate change we are confused, too, because we can get springlike weather in the midst of a deep winter that results in thaws and even flooding of rivers that would normally be frozen!
Thanks you two. Youu really are an inspiration to us and we need people like you to remind us that we must just try our best to cope as well as we can during these interesting times. All the best from Canada..1st
Thank you
When you are finished with the batch cooking if u.have an electric oven for example (and as long as pets and kids are not in the room and kept safe away) keep the oven door open until its cooled, the rest heat can heat up a small kitchen easy and you are not wasting the energy. Also if you have to use a tumble dryer use it when you want to heat up the room as long as the tarrif is OK and the left over heat will also keep the room warm. Check when the winter sunlight is the greatest and open curtains then to heat up and shut after and set your Timers accordingly. And porridge and a cheeky hot drink.on.the odd occasion can really create a bit.of warmth (in measures of course).
Great tip, thanks.
For us Yanks, is a, “cheeky hot drink” something akin to a hot toddy? Thanks!
@@bradlafferty a Britishism for you, you can have a cheeky anything if you're a Brit: any drink, alcoholic or not, chocolate, snack, it's anything we have or do when we shouldn't.....a cheeky takeaway...is an example
absolutely @@bradlafferty
Tight or cuddle duds in our family. Soups and hotdishes are a winter thing weekly.
Growing up in Northern Florida, USA, in my Grandparents home, Summers were so hot and humid & Winters cold - they had an oil heater that struggled to warm a portion of the house...socks were worn to bed & sleeping bags were opened up & were the top covers on the beds during Winter....
Oh wow!
Something we do to keep the house warm is to make certain there's no draft coming from under doors to the outside. When it gets very cold (single digits in Fahrenheit), we even block the dog door to the outside, which the dogs don't mind because they have to be encouraged (i.e., pulled, pushed, bribed) to go outside when it is very cold anyway.
I will often have a jar candle lit in kitchen & place one of the metal utensil holders over it as provides tad more heat, can heat cup of coffee or tea on it too but also nice to hold hands over it to warm hands up💕😇
Great tip!
As I was watching this this evening, I have on warm fleece and flannel pajamas and a fleece housecoat (all from our local free group!), thick socks and slippers, with a thick blanket on me and two cats snuggled up. It’s my nightly routine which is both relaxing and warm. The heat is kept very low here and supplemented with small electric fireplaces when needed. It seems to work well for us and saves on expensive natural gas.
Sounds great!
thank you for your videos. I remember when I was little my dad would tell us to put another jumper on.
We live in Alabama in the southeastern United States, and it is hot most of the year. Our electricity bills drop significantly when winter finally comes and we can stop running the air conditioning. We still do many of the things you've mentioned to keep our heating bills (if it's cold enough for it) even lower so we can save up for when summer comes again! As it is the season of Thanksgiving over here, I want to thank you for your channel!
Thanks for sharing
Doing household chores as energetically as possible provides us with exercise and keep us warm when it is raining outside. So it has a dual purpose.
Thanks
I love my flannel sheets! Also have 2 comforters on my bed-- sometimes fuzzy socks, too.
I am now a slipper convert having gone from ridiculously silly slippers when younger to the furry boot type slippers nowadays designed to actually keep my feet warm lol
I’m aiming for slippers like snow-boots, French houses have tiled floors.
Big congratulations on 30 thousand subs, great tips and reminders today, do kids still wear vests these days LOL, and woolly tights, essential in my childhood and hot water bottles and coats on the beds too x
Thanks so much
❤ your delivery at the beginning! Great Video!!
Thank you so much!!
Good information additionally I would add get some “insulated “ drapes for every window. In the summer I dropped my electric bill by about 1/3 using them and the same with my gas bill in the winter. Mom always had bricks warming on the stove to use as foot warmers in the evenings as well as bed warmers. She would wrap them in newspapers or paper bags.
Thanks for sharing
Excellent tips as usual Jane! 👍
Thanks
Hello. I just found you and truly enjoyed your video. I will be watching all of them. Thanks ❤❤❤
Glad you like them!
Another excellent video Jane. You are always worth listening to.
Thanks again!
Your comments about the big companies is spot on. It just makes me even more determined to not give them any more $$ than I have to. I used to turn on the little electric heater in the morning, while I made the wood fire, just for an hour to take the chill off, but now I go back to bed where there is a nice warm husband. Good idea about the scarf, I will try that for my arthritis.
Thanks
One thing I recently invested in is a good dehumidifier. Cheap to run, improves air quality and sorted out condensation. Dryer air is more heat efficient, consequently lower temperature & less time CH on. So far, not had Gas CH on, just a 1kw Oil filled radiator on in the kitchen if needed, the dehumidifier circulates the warm air too. A much more comfortable environment throughout the house.
Agree on that, we have one in our basement.
Great tips!!!! We also love our hot water bottles, knitted hats and fingerless gloves, and quilts. 😊
The best!
Wonderful, common sense tips - I’ve used many but you’ve given me some new ideas. Thank you!
Thanks for watching
Thank-you Jane totally agree with what you are talking about, iam in Australia ilove my country the fire 's are not good and they make more and more money here and all around the world. Wishing everyone to keep cool and warm were you all live.😊🙏
Sorry to hear that
Great tips, thank you. l buy a new set of joggers & matching sweat jumper in Autumn. They are loose enough to wear my old summer teeshirts under and warm thick thermal tights under. Very cozy in winter & very comfy for doing housework in. Over winter l make thick crochet tube socks, head warmers and fingerless gloves from recycled wool for the following winter. The earwarmers head bands are great in early morning. Even my grandson loves his l made for his Uni digs. We make sure all the hefty jobs to do are done first thing ie vacuming, deep cleaning, gardening etc which gets us warm very soon, then the lighter jobs ie dusting done afterwards. Shopping/ library /going for walks is done in the afternoons, so we only have our heating on first thing in the morning to get washed, dressed etc, then heating back on at dusk when we get home about 3 or 4 pm to a ready hot meal from our slow cooker that cost very little to use.
Thanks for sharing
Love your videos!
Glad you like them!
I do the curtains in the open doorways to rooms or hallways. It definitely helps. I'll use curtains in summer also to keep just a room or two cool with my window air conditioning.
Thank you for your video! As I sat and enjoyed it, the warm sun is coming in my window. I migrate to the places in my house like a cat where the sun comes in, when we are so lucky!
Wonderful!
We live in NE Ohio USA and our winters can be very cold. We keep warm blankets on our sofa to cover up with in the evenings. I have arthritis in my knees and they hurt much less when kept warm. We also have hot water bottles to use to keep warm at night in bed. So many things you can do to reduce the cold. Additionally we utilize "draft dodgers" which is a long piece of fabric stuffed with something to make it puffy. These are pressed against your door to ensure a cold draft doesn't enter your home through the bottom of the doorway. Love your videos....Congratulations on your 30,000 subscribers!
Thanks, are your houses insulated with thick walls and insulation in the roof space too?
Yes we have a well insulated home built by Amish workers. However the windows are single pain and not double pane so we feel some cold air at times. In keeping within our budget we keep the thermostat down and wear warm clothing and utilize blankets. This house was a brand new build and for sale 5 years ago when we bought it. I think we could use a little more insulation though.
@@susanjacks8830 sealed unit double glazed windows made from
PVC that never rot or leak air are a European standard and really insulate our homes.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance We need that here for sure. I call these contractor grade windows. They are nice but don't block the cold or heat enough.
Great ideas,, I just put a warm blanket on the back of my sofa... feels cozier already.😉
Thanks
I like to take plain dry rice and put into a cotton sock I tie the top closed and warm for 1 min in the microwave to use as a “dry” hot water bottle so I don’t have to worry about drips if I take it to bed. Also I felt old wool sweaters and make microwaveable rice packs for my coat pockets and back pockets to keep hands and backside warm when I’m outdoors or having to sit around at work
Thanks so much
Last winter When I felt cold, I enjoyed having a hot water bottle on my lap. It is wonderful to warm the fingers up and get warm again. If it is still too hot, wrap it in some cloth. A hot water bottle is great to have in bed, too, to put under your feet.
We agree on that one. Thanks for watching.
Evening Jane and Mike our childhood house had one coal fire in the what we called the kitchen and no heating upstairs so in really cold times for extra warmth hot water bottle and army coats on top of the blankets =-cracking video
Great video again, I so look forward to them. Some good ideas for keeping warm, I'd add a few more things; wear a woollen hat both in the house and outside, to keep your head warm as you lose a lot of body heat from that area. Wear fingerless gloves, as these help you keep your hands warm but still allow to do things around the house. If you're sitting down, cover your legs with a woollen blanket, and have a hot water bottle on your back. Light a candle or two as it gives the illusion of fire if you don't have one, and gives off a little bit of warmth too. These are difficult times for sure.
Great tips, thanks so much
👍👍👍
The best purchase I made this fall, on sale, was an electric throw for the sofa. I can put it across my legs and turn on level 1 and it keeps me warm and keeps the heat turned down. Wear 2 or 3 layers with socks and fuzzy bedroom shoes. Have hot drinks handy.
Hi Jane and Mike, not all places in Australia are hot YET! I live in the snowy mountains not far from the borders of Victoria and New South Wales. I'm watching you at 7am in long pj's ,dressing gown and slippers. Our house is nearly 100 years old Timber built with iron roof. Some of our floors are tongue and groove timber but the two main bedrooms have 10" wide rough sawn timber floors. When we renovated Insulation was a main worry, Ceiling and walls were easy as we replaced the saggy wall plaster and ceilings., but we were at a loss as to how to insulate the floors with the big air gaps. Our solution- it is common to wrap house frames in Australia with a vapour barrier or sarking ,we laid this insulated, reflective material on our bare floors and stapled it down before the carpet layers arrived-it has made so much difference to the warmth of the house. On the wood floors we have removable carpets because it can reach 40degrees C in summer . Yes that's right we get snow and high temperatures like you. The other thing, we don't heat our bedroom and we don't have a box spring-so we have a big air gap under our bed. You can buy under bed storage boxes with lids our out of season clothes get rotated ,but are in easy reach and it keeps us warmer in bed in Winter. Keep up the good work -stay warm ( or cool) everybody ,and thanks for the information you give and the forum for us to respond. Cheers🏅
Thanks for sharing
I’m in the US Midwest. I keep my heat at 60F/15C in the winter. I set it and leave it. I’ve always run hot and it’s gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. I go as long as I can into the late fall without turning on the heat. It’s been a game I’ve played with myself for more than 20 years. I wouldn’t turn the heat on at all if I didn’t have to worry about the pipes freezing! Right now our temp is 38F/3C? Heat isn’t on. I’m in bed with some nice cozy blankets. I layer them so I can flip on and off as needed.
15°c is a bit chilly. Our insulation keeps our house at that without heating. Stay safe.
The weather where you live sounds just like the weather in south west wales! Rain, cold, and more rain! Oh and a few storms too! 🥶🥶🥶🥶
Yep, similar, we get warmer summers?
@@FrugalQueeninFrance I wish we had warmer summers! I love the sun and the heat! Xxxx
Hot water bottles are a huge help! Griftflation is killing us. All over the world
Yep!
The sun is warming up my frontroom as i write this. There was a nightfrost and it is just enough to keep the room warm. No heating on here.. (U.K.)
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I have blinds directly near my windows, I let them go down at night, during the day they are only half way up. "Your" double curtains stay year round (heat and cold) a flask with hot tea, a banket and fleece poncho or a hoody has made it possible to only put the heat on only a couple of times for an hour. I only heat living room and kitchen, airout the other rooms. Have a great weekend!
I do a lot of canning and keep a large pot of hot water simmering in the stove to keep the air in the house warmer; especially when we had a failure in our power grids in Texas for a week !!!
I had hot water for coffee, tea and instead soups!!
Great tip!
Hello Jane and Mike . I’m totally in love with that blue and white pumpkin behind you . Have been frugal my whole life . Greetings from Belgium .
Oh thank you!
The military teach troops to wrap their legs in plastic .Saw this done with Saran Wrap.Done it myself by wearing a clear garbage bag under clothing layers.❤
Great tip
You are my voice of reason! Thank you! Warmest regards from Cyprus 🇨🇾
Thanks so much
Remember the magic that is wool!
Down comforters keep you super warm at night.
I'm in sweats with socks. When I go out, I have tights under my pants. If very cold a thermal top under my sweater and a scarf.
Nice and Cosy
Great vid, full of great ideas. I take quite a bit of Vitamin B3 (niacin), the type that makes you flush. I bought a onesie that I can wear around the house in the day - very warm with leggings underneath. I went to the cinema in it, coat over top. Nobody noticed 🤔 Also, either a thin cashmere jumper or vest with t-shirt underneath, lovely! I’m boiling hot most of the time. Always wear a hat on coldest days and even around the house if need be.
Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Jane good sense as always the hot drink in the morning I boil the kettle just the once for my coffee fill the flask and have enough for my coffees through the morning just a little thing but saving money and when I finish my house work it’s there ready win win
Sounds great!😊
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