In December, we talked about five simple ways to mitigate the recession, including lending/borrowing, making something out of trash, and finding a free hobby.

This generated a lot of discussion, and some great tips in the comments, including dumpster diving, and a reminder to take full advantage of your local library.

A few people who found our suggestions a bit too simple or obvious. So this post is for you. Five budget-friendly ways (and a bonus!) to keep your home warmer in winter months. These methods may take a bit of work, but can really pay off on your monthly budget for those of us in colder and seasonal climates.

1. Heat your home with wood.

Not possible for everyone, but well worth it if you have the option. We generate most of our heat from wood. The wood is free, because most of it comes from our property. But if you live anywhere near woods or farms, you probably know someone who wants to get rid of a tree. We have burned a farmer’s old apple trees, a fir tree that grew too near a neighbor’s house, and several alder trees cut down by the electric utility because they were threatening power lines. If you burn found/downed wood, don’t worry about pollution. This is basically carbon neutral heat, because the tree would probably have rotted or been pulped if you hadn’t burned it, returning its carbon to the atmosphere regardless.

Construction site trash piles have lots of scrap wood, but it may be more trouble than it’s worth. You don’t want to burn anything that has been treated, painted or glued, or is full of nails.

It’s a lot of work to split and chop wood and kindling, but the exercise is free, and therapeutic. As the old saying goes, heating with wood warms you twice: When you chop it, and when you burn it.

As a bonus, you can use shredded junk mail for fire starter.

If you haven’t got a wood stove, don’t despair, there are plenty of ways to generate “free” heat:

2. Cook in your kitchen.

Bake potatoes, stew soup, make waffles. Home cooked food is cheaper than packaged or restaurant food, and generates “waste” heat that is anything but a waste in the winter. Run a crock pot during the day, and turn on the oven when you get home. Bake extra, and freeze it in casserole dishes for the nights you don’t feel like cooking from scratch.

3. Drain the heat, not the tub

Wait — don’t drain a hot bath or a hot washer, not yet! 20 to 50 gallons of hot water can significantly raise the temperature in a room. So if you’ve taken a bath, let the water sit until it’s room temperature. And if you’re washing a load of whites, let the washer sit, or put it on soak mode, before the drain and cold rinse cycle.

The same goes for cooking — keep your pasta water, or your dish water in the room until it’s room temperature.

4. Recapture heat from your dryer.

Dryers put out a tremendous amount of heat. Most people vent that heat directly outside. If you have a crawl space, consider routing it under your house, where you can recapture that heat as it rises into your floorboards. If you don’t have a crawl space, extend the length of the tube so that it can radiate some of that heat back into the room before it exits the building.

Note of Caution: The longer the tube, the more likely you are to get a ball of lint blocking it. If you do extend the tube, make sure there are no obstructions, and that you religiously clean your lint catcher. You don’t want a clogged tube to become a fire hazard.

5. Weatherize your Home

Yeah, this one is obvious and possibly expensive. But there are cheap and or free ways to make a good start.

Assuming you have a decently insulated roof, the next thing to check is cracks around windows and doors.

We (and by “we” I mean my spouse) sewed three loops in an old duvet cover, and hung it over a glass door. This provides the trifecta of insulation, privacy and light control, without any expense, and with much better insulating capability than most curtains or blinds.

Some sneaky leaks you may not think of checking: Electrical outlets, holes for internet or TV cables, the gap around your bathroom ceiling fan, or anywhere else someone might have cut a hole in your home.

If you don’t mind spending a few bucks to recoup a bundle, here’s a great excuse to buy that $50 laser sighting infrared thermometer you had hoped was in your xmas stocking. Split the cost with some friends and go on a heat leak scavenger hunt.

And the bonus: Snuggle! Preferably with flannel pajamas, a hot beverage and another warm body or two.

So what did I miss? Any better ways to generate or recapture free heat for your home?

For those of us under 40, a serious economic downturn is a bit of a novelty. We’re used to discretionary cash, guilt-free shoe shopping, and a global economy geared toward producing goods for American consumers. While there are any number of guide to tell you how to spend less and save more, here are five quirky tips for hacking the recession that you may not find elsewhere.

1. Skimp on “the man,” splurge on the waitress.

I’m used to ordering a $4 coffee drink, and paying a $1 tip. Lately, I’ve been skipping the espresso drink and ordering drip coffee for $2, and leaving a $2 tip. Net result? I save a buck, the barista gets an extra buck, and together we gain a bit of solidarity against “the evil faceless corporation.”

2. Lend something/Borrow something

Because seriously, how many chain saws does one family need? This week my dad borrowed my chain saw to go to my aunt’s house to cut up a fallen tree for firewood. It was a little extra work to clean it up, box it up, and take it to my dad, but he saved $150, and my aunt will save at least that much in heating costs by burning some wood instead of gas this winter. Also, my dad sharpened the chain for me, and so my saw is actually now in better shape than it was before. Net result? $300+ in savings for the extended family, and a sharper saw for me.

3. Make something out of trash

Keep it simple to start. A plastic grocery bag can replace a trash bag. Junk mail can be folded into origami ornaments, or envelopes, or cut into snowflake decorations.

Once you get the hang of it, move up to a trivet out of old wine corks. Or a wind sculpture out of old CD-Rs.

4. Fix something you used to throw away

Invest a couple of bucks in needles and thread. Sew a button on that shirt — and if the button doesn’t match, all the better! It’s now a designer item.

If you’re more electronically inclined, add RAM or a larger hard drive to your laptop instead of buying a new one.

5. Find a free hobby

Examples? Board games. Jam sessions. Scavenger hunts. Yes, these hobbies require friends. But you can also do them online with virtual or remote friends. Solitary hobbies can include gardening or knitting, which can double up your recession hacking (see #3 and #4).

So what did we miss? How are you hacking, or planning to hack, your way through the recession?
[read the sequel post, More Recession Hacking: Five Free Ways to Heat Your Home.]