Here’s a typical winter morning for me in this large, cold house.

See, it’s a big house. That’s a story for another time. But it’s a 3 bedroom half-double. The stairway to the upstairs is between the two houses, so we don’t get any residual heat.

I sleep in a 20 degree sleeping bag. That means that it will keep me warm in temperatures down to 20 degrees. That’s a good thing, because at night, I turn off the heat. I can’t afford to keep it on all night.

By morning, it is about 45 degrees throughout the house. I’m honestly surprised that it is that high. Of course, temperatures haven’t dropped too far below freezing, so maybe that explains it.

Anyway, when I wake up, I’m mostly warmish. I’m never fully warm. Not in this house and not in winter. I sleep with a sweater and a hat. Upon waking, leaving the relative comfort of the sleeping bag is fairly difficult. Normally, when I’m awake, I hate lying in bed (or in bag). I must get up and do things. Or at least not be lying down. But now it takes me a few minutes to work up the courage to slip out of the sleeping bag and into the 45 degree air.

Once out I make a b-line to the bathroom (cause I usually have to pee really bad!). There is no heater in the bathroom. And there’s a window that leaks air. This, unsurprisingly, sucks ass. So I bought a space heater, which is against the rules of my lease, but seriously, fuck that. The space heater heats the bathroom to what I can only assume to be about 65 degrees. That is enough, when combined with the steam from the shower, to warm it up a to a somewhat comfortable atmosphere.

And then there’s the shower. The shower’s hot water will last about 5 minutes. Sometimes 6. It then doesn’t get cold, per se, but it sure as hell isn’t warm. It’s just cold enough to tease you with warmth, while giving you a hell of a chill. You can feel it when it’s about to change, so if you turn it off right before then and stand in front of the heater to dry off, it’s usually ok. And by ok, I mean not as shitty.

Because the bathroom is now the warmest room in the house, I have to get fully dressed there because anywhere else is amazingly too cold. 45 degrees, remember?

My typical “around the house in winter” garb is: pants, two pairs of socks, two shirts, a sweater, a hoodie, a scarf and a hat. The hat is a must.

And then I leave for work, where it’s actually warmish.

And if you’re curious about the rest of my time in this miserably cold house, when I return from work, I turn up the heat to 64. And there it stays until about midnight when I sleep. This keeps the heating bill to an almost manageable $60 – $70 a month. And we haven’t really had a cold winter, so far.

This is hell. I fucking hate it. Every morning, I curse my decision to move into this place. For this, and other reasons, it is one of the dumbest things I have ever done.

Because of the cold in this house, my skin is horribly dry and crackling in places and my sinuses are almost constantly swollen and inflamed and bloody (betcha wanted to know that, huh?).

This will be my last winter here.

Related posts:

1. Winter must be coming… (Route 66 and some travel stuff)
2. Cold again. (General update)
3. So like… suddenly it’s winter or something?
4. The Cure for the Winter Blues
5. Morning Rides