My roomie and I pride ourselves on being very thrifty. We’re both creative types; we would rather have more time to make our art and follow our dreams than have lots of money! In consequence, we know how to live on a little and are very responsible with our money. But despite our efforts, Wintertimes are always hard for us. Since the two of us live in the northwest, our Wintertimes can last for more than six months and be entirely severe, with numerous blizzards and long stretches of below freezing temperatures. While there isn’t much that can be done for it, the two of us try to be as frugal with our outdated oil furnace in this house as is possible. This morning was the first time the two of us had to scrape ice off the pickup to drive into town. However for most folks, this means turning on the central heater. For my roommate and I, it’s time to dust off the furnace and get it going. The two of us were entirely careful to buy a little electric furnace that is both safe and efficient. It has an auto shut-off to prevent overheating, is cool to the touch. This model even has a thermostat, so it turns itself off once it reaches the desired temperature. This economical heater is an infrared model, so it warms up the house with non-drying air. This is really nice on our hands! Since it’s still fall, we’ll keep using our area furnace in the kitchen to work on our art. The furnace makes it straight-forward to unplug it and transfer it to bedroom hallway with us at night. We’re waiting until we get a major storm to turn on the oil furnace.