People seem to think I’m nuts, because it doesn’t bother me wandering around in sandals or such in the winter, down to about 20F - to include snow. I usually bundle up on top (double sweatshirts or something), and it gives me great flexibility to cool off via standing on cold pavement, or in the snow.
Also, I heat from my feet in my office, with a foot-warmer-pad under me at my desk.
Who else enjoys the art of cold feet in the winter?
I find that how winter “hits” varies tremendously how you’re “attacking” it, along with how (let’s be frank) fat you are!
I personally find that by the time I’m done running the snowblower on the driveway, my jacket is open, my heated gloves are off, and I’m sweating. But if I forget my snow pants my legs get very cold and I don’t even really notice.
If I’m just hopping in the car to run to the store, I won’t even bother “getting snow dressed” and be seen walking in at -40º in shorts and a t-shirt. I should actually stop doing this because if the car were to fail I’d be walking to the nearest store in such, or I should get some emergency cold weather gear in the trunk.
One advantage of keeping the house “sweater cold” is that you will already be wearing some moderate clothing.
Yeah, storing some coats in the car is a decent idea. We normally do that.
The house lives around 68 in the winter, which is a compromise - warmer than I’d prefer, cooler than my wife would prefer. But we’ve been experimenting with various heat sources. They’re staggeringly expensive for what they are, but the 800W (looks like it actually draws about 700W) thermal panel is quite popular this winter. It heats people, not the whole house. And the kerosene heaters get used some as well for “high power spot heat.” We could run the house a lot colder if there was reason to, but with banked solar energy in the kWh bank… eh. Whatever. I was hoping to heat more on compute this winter but the projects I run have been unreliable with work at best.
My office, meanwhile, varies wildly. On a cold, grey day, it’ll be 45-50F in here by the end of the day, and on a sunny day, it’s 80 and I have the window open.
While working from home (and the wife isn’t home), I will turn the heater off. it’ll get down to 60F, and my extremities get very cold, almost to the point of pain. A hot water bottle with just hot (120F) tap water minus piping losses tucked into my shirt keeps me warm for hours. Even cheaper than any sort of heater!
I really need to get some hot water bottles to experiment with. Any brands you’ve found work well?
Fashy, a German marque, makes quality ones that are available fairly easily. You can get them with or without custom blankets.
I have whatever random hot water bottle I found at the local store. I’d recommend something with a large mouth in case you want to fill it with ice, vs the traditional small mouth bottle. this one feels rubber like.