To be honest, as cheap and as poor as I am, if I could manage, I'd turn the heaters off at night. The air gets impossibly dry and static-y. The house smells like burnt something. And of course, I worry that it's going to skyrocket my gas bill. All of these things are bad. Alas, the house is just big enough and poorly insulated enough that we need to keep things on at least the lowest setting.
Even still, my bedroom is always cold. Though, I have to admit, cold is a relative term. This bedroom is far warmer than the last one I had. Before we moved into Gran's old house, I slept in a 10x10 trailer bedroom on a single bed that was pushed up against the wall. The only way to make the room functional (due to vents, the door, and plug-ins) was for my bed to be by the double window.
Okay, keep in mind, trailer walls are about as thick as a full package of printer paper. Also, it helps to know that my double window was missing a layer of panels. That room was hella cold and even with the heater on at night, I froze.
It isn't as bad here. I have a layer of stone then wall, plus real windows, curtains, and my bed is against an interior wall for the most part. It isn't what one would call toasty though. Because of this, I have to sleep under many blankets.
My blanket method is far from conventional. The problem lies in the fact that I have issues with so much continual heaviness on me. Too many blankets causes my legs to go to sleep or my knees to ache for some reason. You know, more so than they usually do.
What ends up happening is this kind of blanket craziness. I have one thin blanket covering my whole body, the way normal people sleep. Then I have a series of other blankets covering the rest of me.
One really heavy, oversized wool afghan is at the end of the bed. It never gets completely unfolded, so it stays really thick. Part of it goes under my feet and then tacos over to cover the top of my feet. This way, I have a whole level of barrier between my feet at the wall. Then there is a comforter that gets thrown over my legs. Depending on how restrictive things feel, it's usually the first thing to get tossed from me when it gets too hot.
Another larger comforter covers my torso. It's so horribly ugly. It's from the 80s and has various abstract shapes in primary colors with swishes of black mixed in here and there. Part of this comforter is kept to the side because if the cat decides to sleep with me, it becomes the part that tents over her so she can stay warm.
Depending on how cold it is, I probably will have my hoodie on as well. My arms tend to flail in my sleep, so most of the time, they end up uncovered. With sleeves on, I can make sure they stay at least marginally warm. If it's ungodly cold, I'll also be wearing arm warmers.
Because we lose so much warmth from our heads, I also usually spend winter nights in a hat. Said hat is kind of this horrible first attempt I made at knitting a hat with ear flaps on Mr. Plastic Loom. It's just so bad, but it serves its purpose. As an added bonus, when I wake up, I always get to play a game called How Stupid does the Hat Look this Morning?
You know though, I'm not going to complain about the cold weather or my weird reactions to it. At least I can take steps to get comfortable. Where I live, summer heat makes it almost impossible to be comfortable when you sleep. I may bundle myself up in strangeness, but at least I sleep in contentment.
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