Welcome to sunny Alaska — formerly known as Alabama

Most of us live in the South because we enjoy the climate. That's a nice way of saying we don't like cold weather.

When it's freezing outside (32 degrees) that means it's too cold. If we enjoyed below freezing weather, we would all live in Chicago.

If we wanted to endure days at a time where the temperature stayed below freezing, we would have moved to Alaska.

Unfortunately, Alaska is coming for a visit this week. Tonight (Wednesday, Jan. 14) the temperature is supposed to drop below 20 degrees. The talking weatherheads on TV have told us it will not rise above 32 degrees until sometime Saturday afternoon. The forecast low for Thursday night is 10 degrees. On Friday night, things will warm up all the way to 15 degrees. The high temperature both days might reach 30.

A cold snap like this can prove to be very costly on your next month's electric bill. Heat pumps are excellent for home heating and cooling here in the South with our warm spring, summer and fall months and our moderate winter. But, when the mercury takes a swan dive, heat pumps have to use strip heating in order operate, and strip heating uses A LOT of electricity.

Our best advice? Turn down the thermostat as low as you can possibly stand it, and bundle up! Wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt or fleece pullover around the house. Curl up in a quilt on the couch. Throw an extra comforter or blanket on the bed. TVA's energy right program recommends setting your thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter. Over the next several nights, your home heating system is going to have to work extra hard to maintain that temperature, so every degree below 68 is money you will save and keep in your pocket.

I knew a young man once who lived in a older home that would get frigid inside on the coldest winter nights. He told me he would sleep in sweats with a warm pair of socks on his feet, two blankets and a wool snow cap pulled down over his ears and eyes, leaving just his mouth and nose uncovered. It wasn't pretty (or so I'm told...) but the electric bill didn't break the bank.

We're not suggesting you put your family through episode of Survivorman inside your own home for the next three days. Just be aware that a hard freeze can be hard on your electric bill, but you can find some relief by dropping your theromstat setting a few degrees.