I just read an article that I thought was worth sharing:

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20101115/sc_ygreen/10mistakespeoplemakewithheat

I'll admit that I believed some of the myths were true.

I would take issue with #5.  The way it is phrased is misleading. 

Few people would try to heat the entire house with just space heaters, & it doesn't have to be an "all or nothing" approach. If most of my time is spent in one room, it is much less expensive to set the thermostat to 62 degrees & use a space heater to raise the temp a few more degrees in just that room, than to heat up the entire house. Last winter I saw significant savings, from $50-100 per month, doing just that.

I take issue with #3 and #5.  To a limited degree it pays to close off parts of the house that don't need heat.  I think you need to take this on a case-by-case basis. 

#5 implies that you can't efficiently use a space-heater under a desk to warm the work-area instead of warming the whole house.  This is completely wrong.  Warming the work-area, rather than the whole house is a great way to save on energy. 

3-dog family:

To a limited degree it pays to close off parts of the house that don't need heat.  I think you need to take this on a case-by-case basis. 

I agree.  I think the artticle said not to close off more than a certain percent of the house, or it would increase the workload on the furnace.  That being said, the reverse is also true.  As long as what you close off is less than that percentage, it will not harm the furnace & you will save money. Most people I know who do this do not close off the entire house.  In the winter we use the vents in the rooms to decrease the air flow to the bedrooms upstairs in our split leve, because heat rises.  In the summer, we decrease the air flow to the rooms on the bottom level , which are 1/2 below grade, because cold air falls.  Doesn't seem to hurt the furnace at all, & we are decreasing flow to nearly 1/3 of the house.  

I do find that simply setting the thermostat to 59 at night & 62 during the day saves a lot in the winter.  Opening the blinds on our bay window when the sun is out uses the passive solar heat, & often raises the temp in the house to 68-69 degrees.  We dress in layers, & it works for us.

You can also set the thermostat much lower at night if you use an electric blanket.  We're at 53 degrees at night.

The one about closing off part of the house seems nonsensical. However, I've read that our modern furnaces are designed so that it is not more efficient to close off part of the house. Don't know where.  AM

3-dog family:

You can also set the thermostat much lower at night if you use an electric blanket.  We're at 53 degrees at night.

Although I don't mind breathing cold air, I prefer a heavy warm quilt to an electric blanket.

Besides, the wind hits our house at an odd angle, & parts of the house are always colder due to the radiant heat loss.  59 is as low as we dare go, since some of our water pipes are in the "cold" part of the house, & saving money on heat to spend it on frozen pipes is not very cost-effective.

Anna Marie:

The one about closing off part of the house seems nonsensical. However, I've read that our modern furnaces are designed so that it is not more efficient to close off part of the house. Don't know where.  AM

When I replaced my furnace a few years ago, I got a furnace with enough power to heat both the main floor and the basement, which I often don't heat.  I talked to the installer, who told me that blocking off the vents will not harm the furnace at all, and showed me how to adjust the fan speed (my furnace has 4 fan speeds) to a lower level so the pressure wouldn't blow off the covers.  I haven't had any problems - but I'd check with a furnace company you trust, or your utility company, for information specific to your particular furnace and situation.  Saving a few dollars on the heat to buy a new furnace is not a good tradeoff.

1. wood heat with the new heating we had put in the old fireplace that is replaced.

2. lots of blankets

3. grabbing my weenie dogs to go to bed they retain the heat make great heaters for the bed

5. warm jammies

6. put cold feet on hubby and scaare the crap out of him to put an other log on the fire

7. close off rooms that don't need to heat to keep the house wam

8. put blankets or quilts up on windows to keep warm in

9, seal the bottem of the door with weather striping

10. seal leaks threw windows

I personally think No. 10 is a bit odd.  I've never heard of using light bulbs as a heat source ... I would think it would take a lot of lamps to keep a room warm ;)