Hey Patrick! Great point on the gas usage with water heater. Maybe it depends on where the water heater sits? Mine is in a tiny laundry room on the far end of the kitchen. Then again, I live in California and have turned my heating on exactly 3 times in 10 years :)

That’s great about the water in the shower trick. Love it! Why wash “warmth” down the drain when you can keep it in your house!? Nice!

I live in a small (<1000 SF) house. I keep the bath tub drain closed when I take a shower so the tub fills up with warm water. Once the water releases all its stored heat, that's when I drain it. You would be surprised how much this actually keeps the house feeling warm. To a lesser extent, the dish water from washing dishes, although there is substantially less heat to recover. Water stores incredible amounts of heat, and heating it takes a lot of energy. Instead of letting that energy that you already paid for literally go down the drain, use it!

I also only use the oven in the winter (or in the summer when it's cool enough at night to open the windows to let that heat out). In a small house like mine, the oven will absolutely warm the entire house, whether I want it to or not.

Having a wife on board with these eccentricities is crucial.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog! I’ve had that song stuck in my head since writing this post! Haha.

The dog tip can probably work with cats too… But instead of 3 you might need like 7 cats to fill your bed. Actually, another bonus would be that because cats are more flexible, you can bend them and shape them to fit the contours of your body. Like a bunch of furry hot water bottles!

I did the same thing! Haha. I flicked the switch and played around with the fan for about 10 minutes trying to feel the wind direction. I’ll definitely be using this trick during the winter!

That’s an awesome tip, Megan! I just found a bunch of youtube videos and plastic wrap kits online. Seems really easy and will save a ton of money. I guess the only sucky thing could be that you can’t see out of the window that well while the wrap it up. But, depending on the weather and your apartment direction, that might not be a big deal – it still lets the light in!
Cheers for sharing!

Whoa! Well I’m glad you were able to quickly solve the problem. DIY fixes aren’t fun at the time, but they are great lessons you’ll never forget!

I currently live in a 1920’s build house… and am proud to say I’ve only electrocuted myself 2 times in the last 8 years fiddling with circuit breakers :)