Tough economic times exist, and the coverage ranges from ‘OMFG’ to ‘It’ll be okay’ and everything in between. I’m sharing some basic tips that may help trim some excess, depending on your situation. Some of these tips might be ‘duh!’ obvious, however, once in a while, it’s good to say them aloud just to be sure.

Nickel and Dime the Heating Bills - Most folks aren’t blessed enough to live in California, where cold weather arrives much later than other places. Now that it’s cooling off considerably here, our fleeces come out (and fleece is a wonderful material– you don’t even need to drop serious cash at an REI or other sporting good store–even supermarkets like Safeway have been known to sell cheap ones). Put off turning on (or up) the heater for an extra hour. It’s something our parents told us years ago– and it still applies.

In addition to that, look around and see what rooms in your home are warmer or have the potential to get warmer. Kitchens, bathrooms/bedrooms, rooms with computers tend to be warmer by default because of the use of stoves, hot showers and warm CPUs. Close those heater vents entirely if you can.  Cook more soup, boil more water, use the stove more than the microwave. Microwaves don’t heat the room, a hot kettle will.

Additionally, have fun outdoors. I’m certainly not a person to dish out the ‘turn off the video game and go outside’ line, but, there’s something about being acclimated to your environment that will make that normally freezing 60 degree house seem like a walk in the desert. Spend some time with a laptop or Nintendo DS outside, walk the dog more, exercise (even if walking), or clean out your car. The more time you adapt to a certain temperature, the easier it becomes to tolerate it. If you must stay indoors, try and do active things when it’s colder– anything from vacuuming or sweeping, to playing with your Nintendo Wii (the more flail-y, the better)

Use smart lighting, turn out lights, and maybe use one or two non-smart lights like Halogens in certain areas. A halogen torch lamp (be safe with these) in a computer room almost guarantees little need for a heater in temperate climates, especially when coupled with wearing a hoodie from your favorite failed dotcom startup.

Use your social networks to get advice from your friends in other climates. Look, I’ll be straight up with you. Anything less than sixty degrees in the house is arctic to me, but that’s because I live in a place where 70-80 degrees and sunshine rule the day. I don’t live in snow, I visit snow. Ask your pals from Boston how they cope. Take advantage of your Facebook or Myspace page and reach out.

Use the mobile web, or to put it bluntly, ‘deal with the awful state of mobile phones and how they can’t seem to display the internet properly’… Getting stressed out to religious proportions about how your favorite phone provider is better than someone else’s, isn’t too productive. So deal. The better you become at navigating goofy interfaces, the better you’ll be able to handle any device that comes your way. And since you might spend a little more time at work or in the car/on the train, you’ll be reducing the use of energy spent that comes from running your computer (if you don’t double up and use it to heat a room), and catching up on reading. If you have a laptop, use it, and charge it in the car (be mindful about leaving it in your car, yet don’t rule out the option of that extra energy source in your driveway).

While these aren’t rocket science tips, they might help get synapses firing for you to invent or discover your own solutions for trimming the inevitable during our first winter of weird times.

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