Apartment Life - "Brrr, It's Cold in Here"

Tips on How to Keep Your Apartment Warm and Your Utility Bill Affordable

If your utility bill is not included with your rent, you have noticed the cost to keep your place up and running has increased. Trying to keep your home warm during below zero temps is not only a comfort challenge, but also a financial challenge. The following tips may help you stay warm while also mitigating some of the cost. You can save money without having icicles form on your eyebrows.

1. Humid Air is Warm Air

You can make your apartment feel much warmer by using a humidifier sparingly. The additional moisture in the air will aid in allowing the heat to linger longer and you will not have to keep cranking up the heat. Purchasing house plants will also help. The daily watering will push more moisture into the air while also purifying and adding oxygen!

Another trick to maintaining higher levels of humidity in the apartment is to keep the bathroom door open when you shower. This will release warm, damp air into your home.

2. The Secret to Maintaining a Warm Tropical Breeze

Here is a quick hack to spreading warmth throughout your apartment: change the direction your ceiling fan spins. There is a small switch on the side of your ceiling fan that controls the direction of the blades.When the weather is warm you want the fan to spin counterclockwise to have the airflow pushing down to help cool you off. When it’s reversed in the fall, the fan should spin clockwise to push warm air from the ceiling down into the living space.

If your kitchen or bathroom fan vents to the outside, every time you turn it on you are pulling warm air out of your apartment to heat up the outdoors. Granted, there are times when you have to get rid of heavy cooking odors that cannot be easily hidden by air freshener. Just be sure to shut the fan off as quickly as possible.

Historically, winter is the season of freshly baked bread and homemade soups. Both will help keep your home warm. Soup simmering on the back burner adds humidity to the air while leaving the oven door propped open after you have taken out that fresh loaf will allow the heat of the cooling oven to add to the heat of your home. Whether you are baking up your secret casserole recipe or just heating up a frozen TV dinner, let your meal preps add to the warmth of your kitchen.

3. Let the Sunshine In

Opening your shades and curtains during the day to let direct sunlight into your apartment will aid in warming your home at no extra cost during a cold winter day. By closing the curtains in the evening, you will trap the heat that you captured during the day. Another consideration is to purchase and hang thick thermal curtains. They pay for themselves the first winter they are used.

4. Creating comfort zones in your apartment

Comfort zones are those warm, inviting areas of your home where you can relax on the couch with a hot cup of cocoa, a good book, and snuggle with your pet. Don’t overlook adding fuzzy blankets, fluffy pillows, and thick area rugs to help retain heat in the apartment and the warmth of your body. Personal note, two can share a blanket and the warmth it offers (hey, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner!).

Combined, all these small adjustments will help keep your apartment warm and your bills down.