Handling Cold Weather

With all this "global warming" going around, even people in Texas want to know how to stay warm. I wish I WERE in Texas. Cold here in Virginia constitutes sub-freezing weather.
Each winter before that happens, I let the fresh water tank get empty and drain the hot water heater. I use gallon jugs until I'm sure we've had the last hard freeze, because I hate fixing plumbing. Then I don't have to run the furnace when I'm not home, or asleep, just to keep the pipes warm. This makes my batteries last enough longer to be worth the aggravation.
When I have shore power, I preheat the bed with the electric blanket under the bottom sheet. 2 layers of feather comforter over top will keep you warm in most coldness. If it gets cold enough out I'll hook up the portable generator to do the electric blanket thing, but normally I wouldn't go to that much trouble because I wouldn't want to go out to turn it off. Hot water bottles work well for pre-heating cold beds, too.
Another winter comfort trick is, since the bathroom warms up the fastest and gets the warmest, I hang my pj's and tomorrow's clothes in the bathroom. I turn the heat on a bit before I get up in the morning, and by the time it's warm enough to get out of bed I have warm comfy clothes to put on.
While I seek shade in the summer, this time of year I look for sunny spots and try to park so my curb side faces south. Then I have solar heat through the big living room window.
I have a Mr. Heater for supplemental heat, which uses the one pound propane tanks. It's great for not using battery power, and for that "sitting by the fireplace" feeling. Someone tell me why Food Lion charges twice as much as Wal*Mart for those tanks??? I also have a little electric heater on board, but I rarely use it because so many places I plug in, it's too much for the incoming circuit.

I do not have any tricks to make cold stiff electric hookup cords cooperate, though.