It is freezing outside.  And I hate when people tell me “you’re from NY and Chicago; you must be used to it.”  No, I’m not; I’m never used to it.  In NY and Chicago, I had carpeting, a huge coat and heat, glorious indoor heat.  This brings me to today’s money saving topic.

A while ago, I posted about small vases, small things you can buy yourself that will help you save a lot of money.  Now that winter is here, I thought I’d share with you another small vase, portable space heaters.

The mazgan (heating/air conditioning) is one of my biggest expenses.  I live in what many call a small, glorified closet (2.5 rooms) and I usually pay a pretty penny (agorah?) every month for the mazgan.  And while I love the fact that I have central heating/cooling, sometimes it is better to use a space heater.  Let me give a couple of examples:

(1) When leaving the shower.  There is nothing like cold air to slap you in the face after a nice warm shower.  Nonetheless, turning on the heating then is a bit pointless.  By the time the heating takes effect, you’ll already gotten dressed and left.  The space heater works instantly and can be put right in front of you (not too close though.)

(2) When you are alone and only staying in one room, central air is also a waste.  You’d be heating or cooling an entire house when you just need one room.  This is exactly what a space heater is made for.

Some words of warning: do not leave on a space heater unattended.  Space heaters tend to shoot out fire once in a while (the ones that shoot out fire warm you up the best, but are potentially life threatening), so always be on the lookout just in case something goes wrong.  Never sleep with a space heater on; better a slightly bigger electricity bill than a burned down house.