In hopes of saving money, I moved off campus this year with a few of my friends. I’m close to campus. We have our own kitchen, bigger bedrooms, and a parking lot. And best of all, I light my room with a touchiere lamp, heat water in a hot pot, and I won’t ever have to hide my toaster again. Off-campus living is the epitome of the good life.
But, now it’s cold. And we aren’t turning the heat on anytime soon.
I’ve been hit with a dose of reality and it’s only October. Living off-campus still has a bunch of benefits that I listed before. But now, I have to pay for heat. And at 2 am, when I’m still awake studying, covered in three layers of clothes and still shivering, I wish I was back in my dorm room basking in its warm comfort. Before now, I had no qualms about turning my heat up all the way and leaving the window open. Warmth was for the taking.
So, here are a few of the ways I’ve learned to keep warm. If you’re cheap like me, and haven’t turned on the heat yet, they might help you out.
There’s free heat all over the place! Spend time away from your cold, unheated apartment and take advantage of your friends who live on campus. Start studying in the residence halls, the Union, or the library. An added bonus is if you fall asleep studying over your books, you get a night of sleeping in the warmth for free and no one will get suspicious.
Another hint: Wash the dishes. I bet you never thought of it this way, but your kitchen sink holds an underutilized opportunity to warm your cold hands. In addition to getting warm, you can finally drink out of a clean cup and eat with clean forks!
Along the same lines, start baking. Cookies, cakes, and brownies: they all require a warm oven. Your oven isn’t perfectly insulated—the heat inside the oven gets out eventually, so you get cookies and some warmth!
Drink warm beverages. Most RPI students have had at least a sampling of thermodynamics; you know that if you drink tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, the heat from the drink will come into equilibrium with your stomach and leave you at least a little bit warmer. A warm coffee mug also offers a chance to warm cold hands. I’ve used this method many times while staying up late studying—caffeine is an added bonus.
Finally, dress in layers. The layers keep you warm, obviously. But what you might not have thought of is the fact that wearing more clothes requires you to do laundry sooner. Do your laundry on a particularly cold day and you get the chance to wear your sweatshirt right out of the dryer.
If after trying these suggestions, you find that you’re still chilly, it might be time to call a conference with your roommates and turn on the heat.
