Heating your apartment/house

I was dreading opening January's electric bill but was relieved to see I it's just under Y4000. How did you do on this month's electricity bill?

Kotatsu is by far the best way to stay warm during winter. It's super cost effective, because you don't need to heat up your entire place. It is designed to retain heat. Best of all... its super cozy! Nothing like wasting a Sunday afternoon with a bag of Mikans in the Kotatsu.

Yes I agree with @urara an electricity bill under 5,000 yen is crazy. @Elizabeth TotoE

For our 1LDK I believe we pay about 11,000 a month… but it’s because we keep on the aircon heater 24/7 in the winter because we have a very cute but temperature sensitive hedgehog. He stays in a 3 tatami mat room, so it’s not that big, but still as soon as it gets warm enough, we turn off the heat, he also has a heater for his cage, but anyways, I don’t want to risk losing him just to save money. (if he goes into hibernation, he could die).

For our bedroom/ living room/ kitchen we almost never turn on the heater, and have about 5 blankets on the bed, or use the kotatsu.

@urara Does your kerosene stove smell like gas? My in-laws use those but I hate eating around the smell of gas, it’s not appetizing.

Also I agree about thick curtains, we bought noise canceling curtains, which also keep out heat, and they are great.

Wow that you manage to have an electricity bill under 5,000 yens in winter, even for a 1LDK, is impressive.

I do the same as you : living in my kitchen/living room during daytime since it gets warm when sunny. When it's too windy or cloudy it's cold tho.

At nights I use an electric blanket to keep me warm in bed. I only sleep with 2 other regular blankets and a futon. Our bedroom and that side of the apartment is very cold and more humid. Some mornings it's around 8°C.

I hate aircon so it's a no. We only have a removable one for cooling the bedroom in summer because my husband cannot sleep with the heat.

I've tried various heating systems such as aircon and oil heater (?) (in Japanese it's オイルヒーター, warm, not dry but heavy on the kWh). This year we're having an kerosene stove for the first time.

It's not electric but you have to buy the kerosene. I like it the best so far : nive warmth and I can place a pan on top so I cook on it which saves use of the electric IH.

I also use curtains in the living room at night, which might seem obvious but I don't have curtains in my apartment except for the bedroom.

I'd like to place a curtain at the entrance because I feel like most of the cold enter from the door but I haven't figured out a manageable system yet.

Oh btw even with switching heating to kerosene and not using the IH our electricity bill is still between 7,000 and 9,000 monthly for November and December.

PS: i too live in a apartment with single paned windows and poor isolation..it's really unbelievable from my perspective since in France they have a energy cost efficiency rating system for buildings and also house appliances. I've heard that in Hokkaido double paned windows are a standard and that some new houses even in warmer areas are built with double paned windows (even triple sometimes, Japaneses do or do not lmao).