My little secret ;-)

Right now, outside my house, it is 66 degrees and cloudy. Inside my house it is 74 degrees and very comfortable, and we have yet to turn our heat on. So here's my little secret...

A while ago I read an article that talked about different ways to save money and energy around your house. I wish I could reference the article but can't seem to find it, all I can say is this was not my original idea :p One of the things they mentioned was heating your house with your dryer while it is drying clothes. At the time I thought this was a great idea but kind of pushed it to the back of my mind. Well, there are two reasons I decided to finally give this a try.
#1, last year our heating bill was out of this world! We couldn't afford it last year and we most certainly can't this year.
#2, our dryer vent goes up through the attic and out the side of the house. Not only is this highly inefficient (it's been taking WAY too long to dry our clothes) but it also can be a fire hazard.

So, you ask, how can I heat my house with my dryer!? It's so simple!
Take your dryer hose where it connects to the wall and unhook it. Take a pantyhose sock (or a pair of pantyhose and cut the foot out of it) and slip it over the end of the dryer hose where it would normally connect to the wall. It should fit snugly over it but if not just use a rubber band to secure it. Place it so that the air points out the door of your laundry room. When you use your dryer the heat will blow into your house and the pantyhose will filter the lint out! Just make sure to clean it out regularly so this won't create a fire hazard as well.
Not only is this efficient and cost saving but you are also heating your house with a more humid heat as opposed to the very dry heat that your heater produces.

One thing I would caution, if you are going to use this method to heat your house I would suggest making sure your laundry supplies (detergent, softener, dryer sheets, etc.) are non toxic. We don't typically think about how toxic these things can be. If you use this method and continue to use these toxic laundry products than those toxins are being heated up and blown into your home. Just something to think about before you try this experiment for yourself :)