winterize the home residence

[follicular]

The draftiness of our 1920's home is horrendous, especially this year. We have 15 first floor windows; none of them double-pane or insulated. They are all the original sash, american oak frames and covered with thin metal screen/storm window combination units. The second floor has mostly vinyl windows but not double-pane.
Everything is drafty and the quotes I am getting--$300-400 per window is prohibitive. I could purchase them piecemeal I suppose but am first looking for some low cost alternatives. Besides I really like the oak and don't want to pull it out for the sake of the rather unattractive andersen windows. Any suggestions?

[geekette]

Look for shrink film kits for the windows. They really do help.

[rockstache]

We're going through the same thing, our walls aren't insulated either. We got the shrink kits and they do help somewhat. Another thing my husband did was pull the trim off the windows and re-caulk the gaps along the sides and then nail the trip back on. I will be following this to see if anyone has any other ideas for sure.

[rocksinmyhead]

our house was built in 1918, with similar windows, and I also don't think our walls are insulated. we also rent, so we're kind of limited in what improvements we are willing/able to make. we did plastic-wrap our north-facing windows, which were pretty drafty, and that seemed to help... I should probably get around to doing all of them :)