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Sure, kicking the heater up a few notches should do the trick when trying to stay warm, but when you’re trying to prevent your gas bill from being one hundred thousand dollars, you might be looking for more creative options. Allow me to suggest a few ideas on how to stay warm.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Make sure your hair is dry before you leave your place. Cold hair will chill right to the roots and freeze your scalp. And that’ll most likely make you sick. As for your shoulders and knees, these are key areas for your body. Cold air with access to those parts of your body will more than likely give you that “to-the-bone” cold, which is the worst kind. I know it sounds silly, but if you make sure those parts of your body are protected, you’ll be much less cold. The biggest key is to keep your feet dry and warm. Once your feet are wet or cold, it’s only a matter of time before your body catches it. Take whatever measures necessary to keep those little piggies nice and warm. They’ll thank you later.

Oh Those Windows
If you live in a place that hasn’t upgraded their windows in awhile, you’re probably losing a lot of heat through that weak, thin glass. Fortunately, there is something you can do. Any home improvement store will sell window insulation kits. You can buy it in a kit form or just buy a roll of heat-shrink plastic. It’s basically plastic wrap that you adhere to the frame around the window, and shrink it with a hair dryer. It’s inexpensive and effective. This should help keep that heat bill down.

Heat Control
This one is simple, but it may have been overlooked. Close the vents to rooms you aren’t using, or aren’t using often enough to need them to be nice and warm. Find the unnecessarily open vents and close them up. More heat will go to the key areas of the house and you won’t need to keep the heat on as high. Also try using space heaters as a replacement for a furnace. There’s a huge energy-usage difference there.

These tips may be simple, but they work. If you are missing out on one or more of these, give it a try. You’ll be happier than a Christmas Elf in Santa’s Workshop.

Do you have other suggestions for staying warm during the winter? Share them in the comments below! You can also get more from Vacancy by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.