20 "Poor Woman's" Ways I'm Getting Ready for Winter (And Proud of Every One)

There's a foam pool noodle slid onto the bottom of every outside door in my house right now, and it's the first of twenty poor woman's ways I get ready for winter on a fixed income. Some of these are the cheap old fixes for a drafty house, and some are phone calls to the light company that most people never make. After the noodle comes a dollar shower curtain liner for the drafty window, then the light company itself: asking for a low-income rate or a hardship program by name, and what budget billing does and doesn't do. You'll hear why a thermometer belongs by your chair, why sixty-eight is the number to watch in an older body, and how to call about the heating help, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, with the free referral line to find your local office. I walk through the Weatherization Assistance Program, which can seal and insulate a house at no charge to households that qualify, with older folks served first. Then the rest of the house: foam behind the outlets, my grandmother's quilt over the doorway, keeping the pipes safe in the rooms you close off, window plastic, a heated mattress pad, and the simple arithmetic that shows what a space heater costs you a night. For oil and propane, the difference between a fixed and a capped price. Last, the letter from your doctor that can hold off a winter shutoff in many states, plus the fake shutoff call to hang up on. Making do is nothing to be ashamed of, and neither is asking. You paid into this. Tell me in the comments what's hanging over your doorway this winter, or what your grandmother kept on the back of her stove. Where to check: Cold Weather Safety for Older Adults National Energy Assistance Referral | The LIHEAP Clearinghouse How to Apply for Weatherization Assistance Applying Plastic Over Windows Project Scammers Pretend To Be Your Utility Company I'm not a financial adviser. This video is general information from my own experience and the official sources above. Rules and amounts change every year and differ from state to state, so confirm anything with the agency before you act on it.