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We live in the Netherlands, not very cold. Now it is at night between 3-7 degrees Celsius, at day it is above 10 degrees Celsius. We heat only the kitchen at daytime with our little woodstove. If it is below zero, we heat an extra one at the dining room when the kids are at home. The woodcost are low because my husband helps the people in the village by cutting down threes at there property en he keeps the wood.

We dress in multiple layers especially myself, I count 3 layers today, because I have an hard time adjusting to the cold in the autumn. The kids are used to it en my husband also. 

At day we open al the curtains to let the sun in, we wash al the windows in September to get the most heat of it and  in the evening they are all closed. En we put al the carpets back at the floors, so our feet are not cold.

Thank you Grandma Donna for this post. I really do think we are all starting to notice these subtle changes in climates around the world. Combined with what seems to be rising costs, it is a worrying time. Here in South Australia it isn’t so much the cold that we contend with but the heat. As we approach summer I do worry about the cost of running our air conditioning. Our system had problems last year but we have put off replacing it as it is a hugely expensive job. Here’s hoping it lasts another couple of years. In terms of heat, what we are noticing are an overall increase in temperatures, both day and night. When it’s hot overnight our homes (or us!) don’t get a chance to cool down. Many people, especially the vulnerable and elderly, are negatively impacted by the heat and the cost of energy prevents them from cooling their homes.
Keeping windows and blinds closed and using cooling cloths and towels have helped us a little but it’s still a challenge!
I do hope your winter isn’t too severe

I live in mid Wales UK and similar temps to Marre D in the Netherlands (not too far away).  I have the heating on for an hour in the morning and in the evening for about the same time.  I no longer live in a home with a woodburning stove or with a range in the kitchen, both of which really kept the rooms comfortable.  

I wear three layers at present, and if it's chilly when I'm sitting down, use an electric throw.  Or a hot water bottle.  I am quite active, which keeps you warm - just sitting all day long soon makes you cold.  Hot drinks and soup warm from the inside.

If it's frosty or we have snow, then the central heating goes on for much of the day.  I have to budget for that.  

I live in the east of England and have similar temperatures to Jennie although our climate is probably a lot drier than Wales :) 

Am a great believer in heat the person not the room so the heating goes on for an hour in the morning and two in the evening but during the day we don’t run it. We do dress appropriately for the seasons and layer up in the winter with warm vests or camisoles then a long sleeve tee followed by a jumper. We always wear wool socks in the colder months as  I find these easier to mend than man made fibres and still have my Grandma’s wooden darning mushroom.

We have hot water bottles for bedtime and use sheets & blankets rather than duvets as I think you can regulate the temperature better with layers, I recently saved up for a new wool blanket, made here in the UK with British wool and it’s far better than our old blanket which was polyester

First let me say I am so grateful for you sharing your lives with us, teaching new things or reminding us of things we may have forgotten and being a wonderful motivation for me, at least, to do more as my own ancestors did.

I lived for 55 years in the Midwest, before moving to Tennessee a handful of years ago.  Twenty of those years were Iowa in the middle of corn and bean fields in a house built in 1917, which did not have the best heating system.  Because there were no houses or other structures within several miles, the winds there could be quite a challenge in the winter, especially when it was below zero.  While we replaced our windows and insulated everything as best we could, the thermometer I kept in our bedroom upstairs often showed 40 - 45 degrees Fahrenheit during the wintertime.

About an hour before bedtime, I would turn on one of those oil radiator looking electric heaters, just to take a bit of chill off.  Overnight, though, we wouldn't use it, as we would become too hot, if you can believe it.  That is because, YEARS ago, on a trip to Denmark, we made probably THE BEST purchase - a Siberian goose down duvet which, along with flannel sheets, kept us toasty all night long.  

On the second floor, we also had a pretty tiny bathroom which had southern exposure, so often sunlight would be what warmed that room, since we kept the door closed in the winter.  We also had a ceiling light/fan/heater combo and would turn the heater on a couple of minutes before bathing.  This helped immensely.  

During this time, I was away from the home about 13 hours a day, working in a distant city and my husband was travelling for work 75% of the time, so often was not at home.  When I got home from work, I changed into heavy wool socks, sweat pants (sometimes with thermal underwear beneath, if it was below zero out, plus a turtleneck at that temp), and a sweatshirt topped by a zip-up fleece jacket.  Oh, and I wore slippers - not the cute ones, but ones that were like booties and came up over my ankles and had a sturdy rubber/synthetic sole to them, so the cold didn't come up through the floor and freeze my feet (I had frostbite when I was younger and have found I really don't tolerate cold feet any longer).  Oh, and if I was sitting still, I would read, crochet, whatever, under a quilt.  ;0)

Now that we are in Tennessee, I'm having to figure things out for the weather here.  The first winter here, I pulled out the duvet and after the first night it was immediately removed and packed away!  We practically sweated to death.  I have thought about donating it to my favorite thrift store when I'm back in the Midwest, but we go camping and it can get pretty cold at night, so we are reserving it to use for those times.  

The past couple of days, the temp has been 72 - 74 degrees and my house has been opened up to capture the warm breezes.  Once it begins to cool outside, I shut it up again.  In the summer time, I open up the house and have a couple of small window fans to pull the cooler air through and close up in the early AM, usually before sunrise.  I long for what we had in my childhood in Northern Illinois - we called it "the Big Sucker" - one of those large attic fans in the ceiling in the center of the house.  Once the outside air was cooler than the inside, we opened all of the windows and quite a cooling breeze rushed through the house.  This was a pretty common thing for the houses in our area at that time.

Again, I thank you and all of those in the Forum for sharing.  I greatly look forward to new postings.   Gayle

I live in Boston and it does get very dry and cold, though the last few years winter was milder. We manage dryness with portable humidifiers kept in the bedrooms. We save on heating by doing sensible things like: owning a home in third floor in a sturdy but 55 year old cement/brick (not wood!) structure helps insulate and reduce the costs of heating. Our old home was a one level ranch style that had oil heating and it was extremely costly to heat in winter. Living with smaller square footage (about 1000 for three people) really made a huge difference for us too.

Other things: we wear wool socks and house slippers, we layer our pajamas - long Johns then flannel on outside, and we have a heated electric bed pad for each bed. My daughter sleeps hot so she keeps hers on the lowest setting. My husband and I have dual controls and he keeps his on the lowest whereas I’m always cold and keep mine at the middle one. We are able to sleep warm without cranking up our electric baseboards. 

Also, I find that if we do not dress properly and keep warm when at work or school during the day then we never really warm up well when we get home. We all walk to work or school about a mile each way from the center of town regardless of the temperature or conditions. Over that last fifteen years, I’ve thrifted or invested in the best winter outdoor gear we can afford- insulated waterproof winter shoes, fleece lined tights and wool socks, a down jacket plus water proof layered coat, gloves and hats. We each have snow pants too for very snowy days. With care they have last for many years.

Stay cozy <3
 

Thank you for this article. Basic necessities are getting very expensive. We, currently, live in a very large house (ranch style with a full finished basement) that is on one thermostat. Frankly, I think this is ridiculous, but it is what it is. In our prior home, which we had built, there were three zone thermostats and we could keep areas much cooler that were not being used. 

Our winters can be either brutally cold or, what we call, mild. Temperatures can range from 30 below zero to 45, in winter. We purchased small electric heaters that look like old wood stoves for downstairs, in the rooms that are used most. They take much less electricity and space heat nicely. We, also, have a woodburning cookstove in our kitchen, but haven't used it for ten years. We used it quite alot in our past house as power outages were much more common and the space to heat was much larger.

We have thermal curtains on windows on the north side of the house. The Southern windows are large and provide heat during the winter. Our elevation, in our city, is 5,150 ft. The sun gets very hot on the south side, even in winter.

I apologize for not having more suggestions. I enjoy reading everyone's comments.