Free Heatby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 05 Jan 2009 01:34 PM
One of my favorite ways to stay warm when I am coldest is with some slightly strenuous activity. You can try exercise to warm up or decide to tackle some hard work around your home that you have been putting off. Some ideas on tasks that generate body heat include scrubbing the floors, chopping wood, dancing around with a toddler or preschooler in your arms, scrubbing the stove and oven, running up and down the stairs with baskets of laundry (don't pause in between), scrubbing the walls, or scrubbing the tub (yes, there is a lot of scrubbing in my list). Then there is the opposite approach to strenuous activity, and that is just staying in bed where it is warm. During the holidays when I didn't have to get anyone up and ready for school, I could take my laptop into bed with me where it was nice and warm under our comforter. Free heat can also be found when little ones wander into bed, turning the normal bed into a family bed. Hey, little ones generate a lot of heat. If you have some laundry to do, don't let all of that heat escape. I've talked in the past about buying a dryer diverter to get all of that heat and humidity into the house. Well, my husband recently made his own diverter using a mesh laundry lingerie bag fitted over the dryer hose. We look forward to doing laundry in the winter. He always asks me to save the laundry for days when he is working downstairs in his office. Check back again tomorrow when I share some more practical ideas for having free heat including one that let's you be comfortable indoors at 57 degrees. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: Getting Serious About Heat Conservation Getting Serious About Heat Conservation Part 2 Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments drpr (20) 05 Jan 2009 04:02 PMNice idea. My only concern is the lack of mention of how to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning when incorrectly diverting heat into the house. It is important to have a carbon monoxide detector installed in the home to avoid tragedy.  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 05 Jan 2009 05:20 PMOh, and I want to add that the diverter should be only done on an electric dryer! Community Tags free heat, frugal living, heat conservation, saving money Discuss this article
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