Frugality paying off/Gas bill!

[Alkenny]

Last year, our gas bill budget amount was $77 a month. With rising gas costs, last fall they raised it to $108 a month.

I took some steps, keeping the back bedroom shut off during the day with a towel rolled up at the bottom. Also wrapped the back windows in plastic AND encased the whole back door in plastic (we'd tried weatherstripping before, and it was still too "leaky"). It also helped that it was a mild winter here, so I won't take ALL the credit...but...

I just got my new gas bill in the mail, and this is the first time they have ever done a mid-season budget adjustment....down to $52 a month!

I cut my gas bill by more than HALF with just a tiny amount of effort.

[cj'smommy]

Isn't it great when things like that happen?

[root*children]

How did you plastic off your whole back door? I need to do that to a door in our house that doesn't open, but does leak an insane amount of heat/cold Did you just use the window plastic stuff from the hardware store, like the stuff you put on with a hair dryer?

[Alkenny]

We actually bought a huge roll of painter's drop cloth at Home Depot a few years ago ($26 and it lasted us about 6 years) and we use that around our windows and the back door. It's not perfectly clear like the hair dryer kind, but it is way thicker and holds up better to little fingers that try to poke it.

I cut it slightly bigger than the whole door and duct taped it to the wall (paneling, we live in an old mobile home) surrounding the doorway. It held all winter, and we didn't even have any tape marks like I thought we would.