If your heat goes out, turn your faucets on to a dribble of warm water to help prevent freezing pipes.

If you rent, buy an oil-filled, radiant heater, the heaters that look like electric radiators. They're safer than electric coil heaters and put out a lot of heat even on low settings. You may not use it often, but you'll be thankful to have it when the heat fails.

I had two in Indiana during that extreme cold snap years ago when it got down to 30 below. It wasn't optimal but I didn't freeze in my barely-insulated, two-bedroom bungalow, and neither did the pipes.